The following personal statement is written by an applicant who got accepted to the masters program in Machine Learning. Variations of this personal statement got accepted at Duke, Rice, and Georgia Tech. Read this essay to understand what a top personal statement in Machine learning should look like.
Sample Personal Statement in Machine Learning
The dawn of broadband connectivity in my country coincided with my first steps into adolescence. Looking at my newly expanded world of free information, I would often admire how computers provided me instant access to science, history, music, recreation, and communication. Drawing a parallel, I could see how computers also offered a window of progress to third-world countries. It was then that I started to seriously explore computer science. After writing my first game at age 15, I fell in love with how simple statements and mathematics could give me such visible results with absolute control. I chose Software Engineering as my undergrad discipline despite it not being a popular choice among students with similar credentials. My family also pressured me to stay with them. However, I applied to the best research-oriented CS institute in the country and got selected.
Two years later, the loss of direct financial support from my family gave me the opportunity to enter the professional world earlier than most. Through my first job as a software developer along with my endeavors in the freelance world, I learned that technical skills are only part of the equation. I learned to build and sustain interdependent relationships in both professional and personal capacities, strived despite having few rewards in sight, and kept moving despite hurdles.
After securing a few permanent clients and scholarships, I quit my job and focused on my research objectives. At the Smart Machines and Robotics Tech (SMART) lab, I witnessed machine learning research help advance healthcare techniques. I was amazed at how computers could acquire the characteristic human attributes of getting better with experience. After my assistive role at the SMART lab, I led a research project in my senior year.
Defining my problem in the face of uncertainty, working on a problem that no one had worked on before, eliminating distracting forays that look good on the surface, setting my deadlines, and assigning tasks to my team showed me what the actual research looks like. I came to love the independence, adventure, and sense of achievement that came with it. Even though five of my attempts at publishing this work in reputed conferences failed, I did not lose heart. Instead, I kept improving the technical quality of this work and submitted it to SIGCOMM this January.
I have had the fortune of meeting three spectacular teachers throughout my academic life. Whatever I am today, as a computer science professional, a responsible citizen, a critical thinker, and a friend, I owe it to their continuous guidance and support. The mentoring effect these teachers have had on my life is so profound that it has become my ideal to touch people’s lives similarly. In experiencing firsthand, the diversity of life – from the fast-paced metropolitan city to the rustic calm of rural cities and from the urban serenity to the majestic mountains and sacred valleys of – I have found two things in common: beautiful, hardworking people but with lack of direction and exposure. I believe I can play my part in alleviating this problem as a research professor. I have aspired to deliver on this ideal by teaching kids with TABA Youth Chapter and Community Services Club and my peers at the university in peer-to-peer form, study groups, workshops, and voluntary lectures.
Through the master’s degree, I aim to expand my exposure, conduct meaningful research in machine learning, and later serve a university in teaching and research roles.