SOP Sample for MS in Cognitive Science - Fresh Graduate

Statement of Purpose

When I was a child, I lived in a small town near Delhi. I would see a lot of sadness around me. I used to wish to become a fairy. I wanted to be someone who could take everyone's troubles away. Growing up, somewhere on the way, I realised this might not be possible.

When I first took psychology at school, it was because I thought if I couldn't wish peoples' troubles away, I could maybe help them deal with it better. For the longest time, I wanted to be a psychologist. Then I came across research on gene therapy to help with mental disorders. This opened a whole new world for me. Genetics and psychology were my most favorite courses back then. I joined an undergraduate college where I could learn it all. The nature of my courses allowed for me to realise how much I enjoy reading and learning about almost everything under the sun. I would one day want to be someone whose knowledge isn't limited to just one discipline, which is why I believe an interdisciplinary course like cognitive science is the best for me.

Although my background is quite different from most people that pursue research in cognitive science, my degree in BSc Biology has equipped me with knowledge in various courses like genetics, molecular biology and biochemistry. These courses have given me some lab experience as well. Although maybe not all lab skills that I learnt might directly apply in my future endeavours, I think knowing the basics of lab skills required in a biology laboratory is always going to help me. In college, I have also done courses in R, biostatistics and calculus. These courses have helped me learn how to form models and deal with large datasets. In my opinion social media is one of the most important industrial applications of cognitive science and it also shapes a lot of our behaviors, which is why I minored in media to understand it better. The courses offered honed my analytical and writing skills.

I have also taken an elective in biophysics. This course encouraged me to ask questions and think about how laws of physics govern the biological world. It made me understand how to apply fundamentals of various courses to answer a research question. For a project proposal I wrote as part of the course, I looked at how microbes might be detecting sounds. This course helped me understand how interdisciplinary studies are done. The course also in itself has applications in the field of neuroscience.

Apart from courses that directly apply to biology, I have been fortunate enough to take courses like 'Brain and Behavior' and 'Science of Happiness and Wellbeing' at my college. I have also taken a course called 'Fundamentals of Neuroscience' from the [UNIVERSITY] series and a course on 'Introduction to Psychology' from [UNIVERSITY] through [PLATFORM]. These courses have helped me get a good grasp of the basics of psychology and neuropsychology.

However, the Science of Wellbeing and Happiness course started out being a little conflicting for me. I had taken the course around the time the second wave of the pandemic hit India and people were desperately looking for beds, oxygen cylinders and medicines. This course, although eventually just felt like some sort of horrible irony, reminding me of my privileges, allowed me to explore a really important line of research. For my honours project, I conducted an exploratory study to look at meaning making during pandemic by college students and how that affected their wellbeing, distress and resilience levels. I used a mixed method to collect my data. For understanding meaning making, I interviewed college students from different colleges in India and for looking at its impact I used questionnaires like Ryff's Well Being Scale, K-10 Distress Scale, etc. I am currently using NVivo for coding and analysis of my data. Hopefully, the research will provide insights into human nature and also give us a way to better cope with the pandemic.

I also attended a summer course called Mind and Behaviour offered by [UNIVERSITY]. From reading works of great minds like [PHILOSOPHER] and [RESEARCHER], to learning how to phrase arguments well, this course made me think about philosophy and ethics in research.

For a while now, I have been charmed by the human brain. We perform multiple complex tasks in the span of seconds. I would like to understand better how we think, how our beliefs influence our brain, and how we are conscious. I would also like to delve deeper into the ethical and philosophical debates regarding these questions as well, which is why I believe that this esteemed institution is the best place for me to pursue my Masters. I would love to interact with faculty and guest lecturers and learn more from people whose work I have been only reading so far. It would be a great pleasure for me to study and research at an institution with excellent lab facilities. I believe through this university, I can bring in important change and make worthwhile contributions in the field of cognitive science.