By: Graduate School Candidate7   

Subject:   Duke Biotechnology

Excited by the idea of becoming a scientist since I was a small child, my interests in pursuing graduate studies intensified during my undergraduate education and my research experience. Rather than discouraging me with the tremendous amount of work and demands for creativity, my college years motivated me to earn a Ph.D. and to continue pursuing a career as a research scientist. Although my exact research goals have yet to be refined, my interests include studying the genetic basis of disease and the genetic mechanisms that govern various cellular processes, such as the cell cycle, apoptosis, and tumor formation.

Although I entered college without a clear research direction, the Biotechnology Program at Rochester Institute of Technology helped develop my interest in the field of Genetics. I found much of my laboratory training at RIT to be extremely rewarding. For example, one experience that early on convinced me to seriously consider genetics was a project involving the construction and characterization of a recombinant plasmid. Since I worked independently for the most part, the project played a key role in increasing my confidence and helping me to understand various concepts pertaining to genetic analysis. It was this experience that motivated me to seek a position as a teacher’s assistant for a course in Microbial and Viral Genetics. As a TA, I learned how demanding the teaching situation is and how much teaching a course can contribute to my own learning.

By this time, after discovering my passion for research and the joy of teaching, I began to seriously contemplate graduate schools. To excel in graduate school, I decided I would not limit my experience to my formal education at RIT. Instead, I wanted the opportunity to explore my career options to make a well-informed decision as to the area of my future research. With these goals in mind, I chose to take advantage of RIT’s Cooperative Education Program, which meant earning my Bachelor’s degree in five years instead of four. In December of 1997,Astra Arcus USA Pharmaceuticals hired me as a research assistant in the Electrophysiology department.

At Astra, I learned research techniques not taught by RIT. For the past year, I have been working with a subset of neuronal glutamate receptors via voltage clamping on Xenopus oocytes. The research of our lab is geared toward the study of central nervous system diseases. Working with Astra and earning an education in biotechnology from RIT sparked my interest in learning more about the genetic basis of disease.

On a personal level, I’ve gained quite a bit from my cooperative experience. Confident in my ability to adapt to new environments and learn techniques that I have never encountered, I have also learned a great deal about the nature of private-sector research and the lifestyle of the researchers. Familiar with the amount of dedication and hard work essential to project advancement, I am more focused on my goal of becoming an excellent researcher than I ever have been. No stranger to the frustration and disappointment inherent in research work, I am spurred on by the thrill of discovery. I find a great deal of enjoyment working in research and plan to stay at Astra through the summer of 2005.

I feel that my course work as a Biotechnology major at RIT and my research experience at Astra have adequately prepared me for graduate study. Eager to continue my education and improve upon my weaknesses, I am particularly interested in becoming more familiar with emerging technologies relating to genetics and in gaining more exposure in working with eukaryotic genomes. Most importantly, I want to gain the knowledge and skills necessary to design and perform research according to my interests in genetics and disease.

With these broad interests and specific goals, I am very attracted to the Graduate Program in Genetics at Duke University. With great flexibility in choosing a degree, the program would suit me well. At Duke, I would welcome the opportunity to explore my interests in Cell Biology, Neurobiology, Pharmacology, and Cancer Biology. I am also interested in learning more about possible involvement with the Duke Center for Human Genetics. My motivation to succeed is reflected in both my academic standing and my dedication to research. I feel that these attributes, combined with a profound interest in the Biological Sciences, will ensure me success as a graduate student at Duke University.

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By: Graduate School Candidate6.1   

Subject:   Stanford Engineering Masters2

Evera since I can remember, I have heard older people complain about being tired of this thing or that thing. With the increasing complexity of technology and career skills, they have to do more and learn more with every passing day. Until now, technology has perpetuated itself not by giving the average person more time to pursue humane concerns, but by increasing efficiency. People can turn out more widgets in an hour now than they ever could, but they also work more than ever learning new things. For example, the average employee spends an hour a day writing and receiving email, but still must accomplish everything else she used to do. There is now more to do in less time, and adults are right to complain that they wished they had more hands or more time to accomplish their daily chores. From this simple observation, I became interested in robotics and in Stanford.

Early on in my education, I started reading and learning about software and hardware engineering. An Engineering Institute in Madras yielded the first but almost incredible qualification in hardware engineering. It has been my objective since then to identify with an institution that shares my vision and ambition to lead the global march towards environment induced solutions to day to day living. Stanford is this institution, and now is the time for me to follow my vision.

Certain that this is the ideal time to pursue college education in computer engineering, I see technology becoming increasing pervasive and important and wish to now make the next important step to helping technology make life easier, rather than harder. With my demonstrated aptitude for computer hardware engineering, I am confident that Stanford will hone my skills and turn me into a world class researcher / inventor. With my interests and a Stanford background in computer engineering, I will be able to pursue research in robotics and realize my career goals.

I am certain that modern-day technology can alleviate, rather than add to, the tasks of the average person. In the foreseeable future, I envision affordable robots that can do all the tiresome day to day chores in our households and free us to focus on the humane aspects of life. With dedicated input from the curriculum developed at Stanford, we will invent robots that can understand the human moods from tonal variances and for application in the industrial and medical world. By employing technology to save time rather than to absorb it, people will have more time for love and relationships and children. Rather than humans becoming the robots in an increasingly mechanical, technological world, we will regain our humanity. Stanford is important to me because I cannot find a better place to work with world class faculty; Stanford will provide me the tools for creating time-saving advancements.

2. Write about a book/idea that is intellectually exciting. ( 175 words)

“The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People" written by Stephen R. Covey is an interesting and thought provoking book. Covey identifies these habits as the qualities of personal vision, personal leadership, personal management, interpersonal leadership, empathic communication, creative cooperation and balanced self-renewal. Covey believes that with these qualities, the reader can also become a highly effective person.

I found the book intellectually exciting because the principles would give us the security to adapt to change and the wisdom and power to take advantage of the opportunities that change creates. The author emphasizes that the principle of interdependence has a higher value than independence, and uses "paradigms" to explain his theories. I found this approach to problem solving interesting, and something I hope to use at college.

By centering our lives on correct principles and creating a balanced focus between doing and increasing our ability to do, we become empowered in the task of creating effective, useful and peaceful lives … for ourselves and for our posterity. Since I am constantly striving to improve my own personal effectiveness, I found this book intellectually exciting and would recommend it to everyone.

3. Write a letter to your future room mate telling him about a persona; l experience revealing something about you. (150 words)

Dear John

While I don’t want to worry you into thinking I’m some sort of single-minded engineering student who never discusses anything other than engineering, I’d like to tell a story about the time that I made a useful and inexpensive gadget by applying some simple classroom knowledge. My mother often used to complain that whenever it rained, all the clothes got wet before she could retrieve them from the cloth line fixed in our garden. To solve this problem, I made a rain alarm using water’s property of electrical conductivity. My project had two metal plates placed very close together and was connected to a battery, buzzer, and a switch. It also had two transistors forming a high gain direct amplifier along with two resistors, a relay and a diode. Whenever the first drop of rain fell on the sensor plates of my gadget, the buzzer would raise a shrill alarm, and my mother would hurry to collect the clothes. A hobby of mine is to apply engineering knowledge to solving everyday problems and helping to put people at ease.