Please, take a look at my personal statement.

Hi everyone,

I am so glad I found this site, you are doing gtreat job. I come from Poland and plan to pursue graduate studies in US. Please take a look at my personal statement. For me this letter looks Ok but I am sure there are lots of mistakes.

Thanks for any help.

Kristoff

Commodore Amiga 500 - it was the very first computer I had contact to. Bought, after the fall of communism and opening the borders,in west Berlin, Germany, preceded months of pestering my parents. This small piece of cables and matallic parts became the root cause of everything I do today. At first it was fascination of games, like for each kid in that age. But after some time I discovered that I can control behavior of a computer by writing and running code. The perspective that device will do what I told it to do was absorbing. I started to buy professional magazines, chatting with other computer enthusiasts in order to enrich my knowledge and abilities. It resulted with tents of programs, that maybe were not so advanced when I recall that times today, but it was promising beginning of my passion. I always had an inkling that my future lay in science and technology since I really enjoyed fixing things and learning how they work. But the experience with programming on Amiga 500 proved beyond question that my future is connected to computers.

As a result of my passion, few years later, I initiated a LAN project in my neighborhood. With the group of fellow computer enthusiasts I started to built our dream of access to the world - network connected to the Internet. This project provided me wide range of experiences, from planning, searching clients, through fastening wires, convincing stubborn neighbors to our idea, to programming servers. Together with my friends I have to fix each of this tasks personally. Thanks to persistence and enthusiasm the project accomplished and I have gained extensive knowledge in the area of network and programming.

The LAN venture consumed much of my time and was on the last year of my high school studies with computer science specialization. The pressure to prepare for the final exams was high but it did not prevent me from participation. I managed to built our network and pass tests so well that I was admitted to a faculty of Computer Science at XYZ University of Technology.

My studies exposed me to a wide variety of computer science problems and high competitive and demanding environment. I must admit that years spent at university was exhausting and completely different to what I was used to in the high school. I committed much more time to studying that I ever had before, poring over textbooks and working at computer into the early hours of the morning. I was determined to solve a problem that I could work on it unceasingly, till I found the result. Some projects were so absorbing that I got myself many times on loosing sense of time when hours passed like minutes. It was because I wanted to find the gist of problem and know every aspect of it. Such conduct provided me cognition that I utilized to optimize solution and, by this, ameliorate final programs. I can recall some projects, out of many, like writing own compiler where I optimized process of generating machine code, parallel programming where I analyzed problems and choose best approximation method or client-server quasi business application where I improved database processing and user's interface. Results of such devoted work were commendable and reflected my grades. By the second year of the studies I got scholarship and kept it receiving till my graduation.

Academic projects were not the only ones that I participated. My strong interest in software engineering field led me to programmers groups like 'XYZ Programmers' Group' and other associations. Issues presented there were more advanced and gave opportunity to learn techniques closer to professional business problems. It provided me knowledge, topics that I always wanted to work on, and confidence that software engineering is the thing that really absorbs me.

My broad interests in computer science field reflects also two other experiences I have gained. Since 2000 I am consultant on IT problems at XYZ. I supervise computer systems there, train crew in using software packages, maintain hardware devices and peripheries, support and advise on question of hardware and software. I also implement and adapt new technology to improve system efficiency.

Training at XYZZ is the second place I practiced my abilities. XYZZ is an Internet provider with more than 500 clients. I participated there in connecting new hosts, programming servers and planning network. These two positions equipped me with solid awareness of a real IT problems faced by businesses.

My pleasant academic records at university enabled to be chosen for European exchange student program. Five months spent in France exposed me to wide range of different situations and enriched, at the same time, personality with resourcefulness and adaptability. I worked there in an international group of people on large variety of projects. One of them included trip to Switzerland where I organized food, hotels and transportation, another was exposition of polish culture where I prepared presentation and few traditional polish meals, third involved project on international student guide where I lead the group. This broad spectrum of experiences armed me with additional skills of dealing with unexpected events in foreign environment, communicating abilities and understanding others culture.

My passion in software engineering reflects thesis on 'Intelligent Data Access Techniques in .NET Environment'. It was well evaluated research where I demonstrated innovative data access solutions and techniques that enable to build faster, effective and more reliable applications. At the graduate program I would like to continue exploration on the subject of creating applications that compose complex informational systems. All my previous research and work I have pursued with relentless energy and clear focus. To this program I will bring the same sense of determination that has made my once distant goals now close within my reach. I am particularly interested in the possibility of establishing informational systems that would imitate human thinking and perform complicated processing easing people's life.

In terms of career, through a focused program of study, my goal is to develop expertise in software engineering, an area that is becoming more and more important to all information systems producers. I plan to become information systems designer where I would be responsible for planning and creating complex, intelligent and cooperative applications which compose informational system. Professional Programs in Computer Science will give me extensive exposure to software engineering, and will allow me to take a step toward creating huge information systems that I have always wanted to develop. My advanced research in data access field and my experiences in computer science have given me the analytical ability, motivation, and theoretical knowledge to excel in a rigorous graduate program. It will allow me to envision my future as a successful software engineer.