SOP Sample for MS in Computer Science Data Science - USA

STATEMENT OF PURPOSE

[NAME]

Mathematics is one topic in which I have excelled right from my school days. There is an abstraction in mathematics which I learned early on, and then, later on, during my computer science studies, I was introduced to ML and Big Data for which Mathematics is one of the essential facets. Mathematics may be an abstract science, but it has real-life applications as its progression into information technologies, especially ML and AI. In consequence, as a natural progression, I wish to advance my learnings in Computer science, specifically in Data Science and ML where I can utilize my natural talent for Mathematics.

Excellence in academics has always been my forte, especially in mathematics. I won the State level award in the science talent test in my 10th standard, which I passed with a 9.8 CGPA. I scored 100% in mathematics in my intermediate (12th standard) exams with an overall score of 97%. I then joined [UNIVERSITY] to do under graduation in Computer Science Engineering and completed the course with an overall score of 7.2 CGPA. In these four years of study my sincere efforts as a self-learner have been worthwhile when comprehending a concept and I was one of the top 1% of students to secure the highest marks in a technical seminar.

While I became proficient in big data analytics with lab work based on Hadoop, Hive, Pig, and Spark, I also took on extra courses as part of my drive to increase my knowledge levels. I have attended seminars dealing with related topics such as Machine Learning, Big Data, Blockchain, and Artificial Intelligence, and especially Apache Spark, my favorite tool. These bits of extra learning and my natural proclivity for mathematics led me to win the Math Mania competition at my college technical festival. I concentrated on excelling in the use of Apache Spark due to its features such as data lineage and in-memory processing as well as Query optimization techniques. The Spark engine stands out for the way it leverages map-reduce. I made it a point to learn more about these when I was in college, and it did come in useful when I took on a project on Distributed Data Processing Engine under the guidance of [PROFESSOR], head of the computer science department in our college, which was inspired by the AWS. I collected old and unused computers and networked them into a secure server with Apache Spark in order to carry out big data analytical work. Even today, students in our college are using this system, which is a matter of happiness. I am a certified data bricks Apache Spark developer, and I also have obtained a Blockchain developer certification from Coursera.

During my college, I worked as an intern where I dealt with multiple standards of healthcare data and worked on creating unified software to ingest and analyze healthcare data of numerous standards. After graduating I joined [COMPANY] in July 2019, where I learned about practical, real-life applications of data analytics, working on hospital management system development. I created a basic solution to help small and medium-sized hospitals manage their operations and data, but I saw huge potential in public healthcare using data science, and ML for diagnostics, genetic disease identification, drug discovery, and more. It solidified my intention to advance in this field and learn more about big data analytics using ML with practical applications in mind.

On the strength of my application-oriented analogies, my work was appreciated and I was promoted to the post of Data Engineer in September 2020. My work duties entail maintaining big data tables in data warehouses, translating project requirements and objectives into efficient big data pipelines, and analyzing inputs from these pipelines to derive desired intelligence. As I started analyzing data to solve real world problems, my appreciation for machine learning deepened. Working here on big data intensified my desire to specialize in areas of computer science such as machine learning and data science so as to be able to climb to higher levels of responsibilities and take on tasks that benefit the human population in India. I think the way to advance is to join this MS program in computer science with concentrating on Big Data Systems as a major.

Arizona State University suits my interests because of its advanced academic curriculum offering a wide range of courses such as "CSE 512 Distributed Database Systems" and "CSE 511 Data Processing at Scale" and much more to choose, along with the world-class research Labs specifically "Data Mining and Machine Learning Lab (DMML)" and "Data Systems Lab". I'm particularly interested in research on "RTEM: Rapid Testing as Multi-fidelity Data Collection for Epidemic Modeling" that is being carried out by [PROFESSOR] and would love to explore if provided the opportunity to work under him. I chose this program for its specific emphasis on big data for analytics and to derive actionable intelligence that can be the basis for advanced solutions in various spheres such as education, business, agriculture, and healthcare. It is so exciting to know that this program and expertise in the various topics I will learn here will enable me to work on predictive capabilities. I chose this university from several others due to its reputation for excellence, its ranking, its approach to teaching, and its fine facilities in terms of library, campus life, and research.

My plan is to harness ML and Big Data to create practical solutions in specific fields such as healthcare or agriculture, or education, which will positively impact the industry segment and people and their lives. I hope to gain entry as a middle-level developer in this segment in a leading information technology company once I graduate. I would dearly love to work for the government of India and use my skills to improve the condition of our economy and our people. Maybe, in 15 years, I will head my own IT consulting company and offer high-level ML and AI-based solutions to the industry or the government. This program is vital inasmuch as it will put me on that road and bring career success as well as a feeling of fulfillment. I hope you will grant me admission based on merits. I am focused, work hard, and have the discipline that will take me forward, and I hope to make the university proud if I am selected. Thank you for taking your time to read my statement.