The following personal statement is written by an applicant who got accepted to the doctorate program in Artificial Intelligence at Imperial College in London. Variations of this personal statement also got accepted at Caltech, UCLA, and Rutgers University. Read this essay to understand what a top personal statement in Artificial Intelligence should look like.

Sample Personal Statement in Artificial Intelligence

I’ve always had a penchant for creating things to solve problems. The first time my proclivity utilized computers was when I made a simple quiz program in Visual Basic for my school Mathematics class at age 11. I still remember the accomplishment I felt, followed by imaginative thoughts of what else I could do with a computer. In retrospect, this was probably when it was decided that computers would somehow be well-woven in my career.

I worked hard and gained admission to the country’s top-ranked engineering university, Caltech, where I performed exceptionally well in computing courses and particularly enjoyed the lab modules. During my studies, I wondered how everything I learned could be applied to deal with the current problems around me. My thoughts culminated in my final year project, where I developed a remote energy monitoring, profiling, and control system for smart grids to deal with the energy crisis in third-world countries. Designing and developing the prototype was an enthralling experience for me, leading me to choose a career in product development. I applied and was successfully offered a role at the Center for Advanced Research in Engineering (CARE). Since joining, I have been on the Software Defined Radio (SDR) project’s development team. As a result, I have gained a professional understanding of reliable technical coding for multiple platforms in various programming languages.

While working at CARE, I was sponsored for my graduate studies in Computer Engineering. Intrigued by articles on Artificial Intelligence (AI) in the MIT Technology Review magazine, I first formally studied Machine Learning (ML) in my graduate coursework. Although I was initially skeptical, primarily due to my ignorance of the field, the futuristic subject captivated me by its applicability to modern problems. My enthusiasm led me to work on an experimental project of a human crowd motion classification system that intelligently detected panic states in crowds. The idea was that this would facilitate effective policing by automating the monitoring large numbers of live security feeds. The project helped me practice and develop my knowledge and further strengthened my interest in AI. AI is currently revolutionizing the industry with its applications in the healthcare to the automobile industry, providing exciting new avenues to explore. It is changing the world, and I want to be a part of that change.

My long-term goal is to be in a leading technical role in the industry utilizing specialist AI for consumer-driven applications. I am sure that my expertise in embedded systems will be helpful in this path. As the next step towards my aim, I’d like to build on my knowledge and study advanced AI concepts in a focused graduate degree. The specialist programs at Imperial College London are the most comprehensive in the UK. Moreover, London is the AI start-up hub of the UK, spawning companies like Deepmind, Babylon Health, and Verv. During my studies, I would also be on the lookout for part-time internship opportunities and possible industry collaborations while working on my master’s project to gain valuable industrial experience. Aside from academics, as an avid guitarist and singer, I would be looking forward to joining the universities music society, where I could learn from the multicultural experience Imperial has to offer while contributing from my own.

In my undergraduate studies, I was heavily involved in extra-curricular activities. Although I gained invaluable life skills which have benefitted me immensely in my professional career, I also learned the importance of maintaining balance. As a result, I lost focus on my studies, and my CGPA suffered. However, determined to make things right, I recently graduated with a 3.63 CGPA in my master’s and scored 331 on the crucial GRE. I believe this is an accurate indicator of my academic ability. I am fully aware of the challenges of a graduate degree at a top-tier institute like Imperial College London. I am confident that I possess the relevant exposure, intellect, and resolve to best these challenges and make significant contributions to the industry.