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. Surrounded by such examples of academic brilliance, I too have been motivated to make my mark and carve out my own niche of excellence.

It was during the junior year of my undergraduate course in Computer Engineering at D J Sanghvi College of Engineering that I was introduced to a subject that impacted the course of my academic career. Socket programming for the transmission of data between computers on a LAN formed part of the curriculum. Inspired by what I had learned in class, I started writing small programs that used sockets and was amazed at the ability of the network protocol stack to pass data packets in the required format between terminals. While I realized intuitively that a complex version of this elementary network could achieve much, at that time I had no idea just how far these achievements would go in changing the world. Now, I know that Networking makes possible a plethora of applications from video conferencing over the Internet to linking banks through private networks. To me however, it still seems like magic, or rather a grand adventure - one that I most certainly want to be a part of.

During my undergraduate studies, I was exposed to subjects like Microprocessors, C and C++ Programming, Computer Networks, Mobile Computing and Distributed Computing. I was particularly interested in topics such as GPS, Wireless LANS, Bluetooth, the protocols like TCP/IP that make the concept of the Internet possible, and the security issues accompanying them. But I also realized that though the curriculum was exhaustive enough to give anyone an in-depth theoretical background of every subject, as an Engineer is it enough? I needed to have something extra in my repertoire. In pursuit, I started involving myself in many projects like ‘Time Table Editor’ and ‘Online Adaptive Tests’ and also got myself the tag of Database Associate’, IBM Certified (DB2 Universal Database V8.1 Family) .

My interest in computers went further than merely wanting to acquire the latest gizmo. My curiosity about the functioning of machines even prompted me to dismantle and reassemble the CPU of a computer to learn about its components. The Internet fascinated me and I started surfing the Net as a hobby, but over the years I was curious to understand how two terminals miles apart could interact to the extent of creating such wonders like real time video communication. Such an interest had always helped me keep abreast with the latest issues in Networking like Hacking, Intrusion Detection in Ad-hoc Networks, and monetary transactions over the Internet. I was now determined to focus on Networking for my final year project.

I worked on my final year project at the Indian Institute of Technology in Mumbai. At IIT, me and my team were allotted the project titled “A Framework for cascading payments in P2P”. The basic idea of the project was to introduce a cascading payment system in Gnutella Network wherein the owner gets the royalty for his content and the intermediate peer gets the commission. Various important modules that we implemented were payment distribution, secure routing and content exchange modules. This project gave me the opportunity to work with some of the best minds dedicated to engineering research in India. I gained a lot from this association, in particular, an idea of how rewarding and meaningful a career in networking could be. Further, me and my team were awarded a scholarship of Rs 50,000/- under the ‘Red Hat Scholarships’ program conducted jointly by REDHAT India and Kanwal Rekhi School of Information Technology at IIT, Bombay . This project was the highlight of my academic career. Most importantly, it gave me a focus and strongly motivated me to study the advancements in Networking Technologies.

Based on my performance during my undergrad study, I was consistently ranked in the top 10 out of 32 students within the Computer Engineering department. I am currently working as Associate Systems Engineer – Trainee at Tata Consultancy Service, one of the most reputed organizations in India. Having just finished my training, I now am looking to forward working here for coming months and I believe this experience will help me to acquire a higher level of knowledge, leadership skills and problem solving ability to tackle the most diverse and intricate problems. It will also enrich me by transforming me into a complete professional and providing me with the raw materials necessary to get a winning edge over others.

Having spoken my academic interests, I would now like to talk a bit about myself. I am a highly motivated individual with varied interests. I love reading books on Paranormal Science and also performing magic tricks for my friends and family. My passion in Paranormal Science was aroused when I attended a seminar on ‘Miracle Sciences’ at school. But at that point of time, the topic was conceptually beyond my grasp. The ‘grandfather paradox’ seemed like a fairy tale. But after years of reading, books and articles by prominent scientists like Carl Sagan, Kip Thorne and Ronald Malett I got a grasp of the subject. This prompted to write a technical paper on the same, which covered the theoretical possibilities, practical limitations, available and proposed technologies to build a Time Machine. I was selected to present this paper at ISAAC’03, PROTOCOL’03 and TECHTRIX’03 which are intercollegiate tech fests organized by the IEEE and Computer Society of India (CSI).

I actively participated in several inter collegiate events like Junkyard Wars, Programming Contests, Software Presentations, Treasure hunts etc where I won several prizes and accolades. As a member of the Computer Society of India (CSI) and IEEE, I volunteered to organize various events and competitions and in the process had a chance to hone my organizational and leadership skills. I was also responsible for organizing and heading “Cric Superselector” which is model based on the Superselector contest of ESPN. I also spent time with the, ‘The National Association for the Blind’, to help them achieve their vision.

In the near future, my aim is to attain an advanced education in Computer Networking through a Masters Degree Program. It will provide me the intellectual stimulation, guidance and creative energy to work on the cutting edge of technology in today’s computing field. In pursuit of these goals, I decided to apply for the MSIN program at Carnegie Mellon University. I intend to follow this up with a Ph.D., and later a career in research. I have consulted with my professors, seniors and colleagues about my choice of university, and have chosen to apply to Carnegie Mellon University, impressed by its research facilities like Cylab, CERT and CWBN. The department web site too revealed an expert faculty involved in extensive research in the area of Information Networking, under whom I would consider it a privilege to learn and which has served to strengthen my resolve to study at Carnegie Mellon.

I hope to bring with me a strong grasp of fundamentals in computers, an aptitude for learning and teamwork and a zest for challenges. At the end of the course, I would like to take with me, in addition to knowledge of Computer Networks, a network of strong and lasting relationships with my teachers and fellow students. I am confident that I will live-up to the high standards set by Carnegie Mellon University and hope to be a part of the class of 2008.