SOP for Wisconsin Madison University - Sample SOP Letter

Long Term Goals

My undergraduate studies in the Department of Computer Science and Engineering at the **** has exposed me to a stimulating academic environment where learning and research go hand-in-hand. Through the many opportunities I have had here, I have found that I have a deep interest in research work and a strong aptitude for the type of problem solving and problem discovery that it involves. I have, therefore decided to pursue active research in Computer Science as a career.

Areas of Interest

Of the many fields in the Computer Science spectrum, I am interested in computer systems. In particular, I am interested in Databases.

Immediate Goals

I plan to work towards a Ph. D. with a focus on Databases. I would also like to follow up my interests in Computer Systems through my course work. I feel that this should be my next step on my road to a research career in Computer Science. I would be most willing to work directly for a Ph.D. if it is possible. However, I would be willing to do M.S. as a first step towards obtaining my Ph.D.

Academic Background

Throughout 12 years of schooling, I had always been among the top ranking students in the class. I was ranked 47th out of 80,000 students (99.94%ile) in the national level entrance examinations to the ****. I was ranked 2nd in the state level entrance examinations for the state engineering colleges. Currently with G.P.A. of 9.00 on scale of 10.00, I am among the top 5% of the students of my batch in the Institute. This high level of consistency in my academic record makes me feel confident enough to hold my own against the very best.

Preparation for Graduate Study

My undergraduate preparation at the Computer Science and Engineering Department of the **** has given me a very substantial knowledge of the basic areas of Computer Science. Any amount of learning in Computer Science would be incomplete without hands on experience of Programming. In this regard I completed various mini projects both out my own interest and also as a part of some of my courses

My senior year dissertation under Dr. yyy (Ph.D. Wisconsin Madison) is titled B+ -Tree Concurrency Control Algorithms in Real-time environment. Operations on B+ -Tree are crucial while maximizing concurrency in a Database System. In real-time environment in which each such operation has associated deadline it is more crucial. There are specialized algorithms for the purpose. As a part of the project, I will be doing performance evaluation of these algorithms. To consolidate my knowledge in my field of interest, I had credited the course Advances in Database Technology in the fall semester. The course involved the study of various classic papers in Databases. I presented a seminar on Main Memory Databases as a part of the course. I am also crediting a course on Distributed Databases in the spring semester. I am also an active member of SIGDB (Special Interest Group in Databases) of the institute, which keeps me fully informed about the latest development in Databases. I have presented some latest papers during its meetings.

Teaching Experience

I was a teaching assistant for the freshets course CS101: Computer Programming and Utilization during Fall 93. I was also an organizer during UNIX workshops and C language workshop conducted by students of our department. This has made me confident that I will prove to be a very good teacher.

Reasons for selecting University of Wisconsin

Your university is considered to be one of the best universities in databases Research. Your faculty has distinguished researchers in the field of databases. I am also familiar with some of the research papers published by them. My guide Dr. yyy, an alumnus of your university has encouraged me to apply here. As a result, I am very enthusiastic about joining your university for graduate Studies.

Summing Up

I am aware of the hard work and perseverance necessary for research work and I know that it is not always as exciting as the published results seem to indicate. Nevertheless, I am sure that my aptitude and drive will see me through the challenge. Looking forward to joining University of Wisconsin at Madison.