Cornell has a good program in Operations Reseach. A lot of cutting edge research initiatives are being under taken there. If you are applying to this program, or similar operations research / management programs - this SOP might be of interest to you.
“It requires a very unusual mind to undertake the analysis of the obvious.” ~ Alfred North Whitehead
Man’s insatiable thirst for knowledge forces him to explain every perceptible phenomenon. Man developed Science because it always begins by assuming that the world is inherently understandable and that we can learn how it works by observing it and by examining the processes that affect it. We are now entering an era in which new ideas and disciplines are helping …

Many times, it so happens that one would want to apply for more than 1 graduate program, at the same of different universities. At such a time, you need to have the skill to be able to market your skills in different ways to different people. The same achievement may go to prove your worth as a computer science professional, and you may have to use that to prove how you gain valuable domain knowledge (such as finance) through the same project. Basically, being able to present the same idea in more than one way to different people in your statement of purpose is what is required. Here is the perfect example of that happening. Below is the SOP - …

As the world economy slows down, more so the American economy, more and more people are going back to school for graduate education. This has been a trend which has been observed in the past. And now universities are already seeing an increase in enrollment. One of the major reasons why students go in for a slightly longer stint at grad school in a slower economy is that since the employment opportunities are on the lower side, having higher level degrees under your belt is a definite plus as the economy tries to come out better and stronger on the other side of the economic slow down. One thing is for sure, economic slow downs are cyclical and are not …

MIS has been a popular course for which many people apply to the US from India. We were lucky to have someone who had applied to an MIS course give out their SOP to us. Here is what it looks like. The SOP has been structured in a way which brings out why the candidate would be such a good choice for the program in MIS at CMU.
“Every person is born with an innate flair, the moment your realize it you become a great person”. It was at high school, that my fascination for electronic gadgets coupled with a desire to be a skilled programmer, prompted me to choose Computer Engineering as the major for my Bachelor’s Degree.
During …

Here is a sample statement of purpose you might find useful to peruse through. It contains some very helpful pointers as to how to structure sentences in a flow - with one thing leading to another. Starting with a pertinent quote is also good.
“It is a wretched taste to be gratified with mediocrity when the excellent lies before us.” Isaac Disraeli
The tradition of excellence has always been part of my family. My grandfather pursued his Bachelors in Civil Engineering from the University of Edinburgh, Scotland. My father, following in his footsteps, did his Masters in Chemical Engineering from the University of Mumbai. Both of them being the thing educated professionals have strongly emphasized the importance of education. …

The New York based, Institute of International Education has released its annual report detailing the state of international admissions at US universities. In its Open Door’s report, they say that with 94,563 students coming from India, makes us the nation with the highest amount of talent coming to US universities to pursue higher education options. Here is a quick jist from their study.

Total foreign student numbers up 7%; New enrollments up 10%

Top three sending countries post double-digit increases

India up 13%, China up 20%, South Korea up 11%

USC is top host university; California is top host state; NYC is top host city;

Business and Management (20%) is top field of study followed closely by engineering (17%)

Here are some more graphs for …

Here is a sample statement of purpose, which is short and succinct. Its to the point and does not have sentences taken out of fantasy novels. Its a SOP which reflects why the candidate is a good fit for graduate education.
During my undergraduate education, I have had the benefit of taking a variety of courses
in the computer science curriculum. Though these courses have given me a solid foundation in
several advanced topics of computer science, I often wished there was more time during the
semester to go into more depth within a subject. What drew me to the graduate program at
was the balance between breadth and depth. Students have the opportunity to have a
degree of expertise within …

Can you tell us about your background? Your undergrad institute and what you are doing now?
I have graduated from IIIT Allahabad in Information Technology. Before that, I did my schooling from my home town and secured a rank in IIT JEE in 2002. But that is an old story and I don’t think anybody is interested in those details.
After graduation I took a job in CSC India as a Windows System Administrator. Since 26 June 2006, I am bruising my ankles in CSC only.
Why did you think of applying to US universities?
I never thought of doing MS in my college. In fact I was surrounded by many talented technical geeks (whose life style scared me) and I used to think …

Virginia Tech is among the top universities in the engineering and science research in the US. It has a very competitive program at the graduate level. Recently Prof. Mili was awarded $2 million grant for sustainable power, communications infrastructure research. At any such point when a professor gets a lot of grant money, it is usually the case that a number of RA positions would be opening up in his/her group. And hence it would seem that in the ECE department at VT, the funding scenario would be pretty good in the next few months to come. We spoke to Kshitija Deshpande, a PhD student in ECE, specializing in Radio Astronomy.
1) …

Wichita State University is among the finest in the country for higher education in Mechanical, Aerospace and related areas. The program from Mechanical dept. has some very nice course for FEA, CAE, Injury biomechanics, Stress analysis and Vibration. We spoke to Nilesh Dhole, who graduated from College of Engineering, Pune and is now pursuing a Masters in Mechanical Engineering from Wichita State. Nilesh talks in detail about the kind of profile that is required to get in to Wichita State. And about the funding options at the university. Here is more from his interview:
1) Personal Details
a. Name : Nilesh Dhole
b. …