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Sample Personal Statement for Information Technology
My purpose in writing this essay is to impress upon you my very
carefully considered professional, as well as personal, reasons for
applying to your school and, thereby, to convince you of my likely
superior future value to the field should you admit me to your
excellent school. I am applying for admission to the Ph.D. Program in
Management Science at M.I.T. with a concentration in Information
Technologies (I.T.).
I have always believed that education in itself is the most satisfying
pursuit, a value instilled by my mother, herself a teacher for many
years. Along the way I have learned to focus that value and match it
closely to my increasing experience and desire to work on the current,
most advanced issues in my field.
I have two reasons for making the decision to apply for Ph.D. study.
First, I want to become a professor in order to do advanced research
in my field. Secondly, I want to develop the abilities of other
students in the field. Both of these types of activities, research and
mentoring, have already given me substantial satisfaction.
I am choosing to apply to schools in a foreign country for admission
to a Ph.D. program in order to benefit from those programs and those
scholars in my particular chosen field and to receive guidance in the
advanced research that I want to pursue.
The chosen program of study in I.T. requires professors who can teach
and supervise research in these areas. This field at that level is
little developed in my own country (China). It is not a part of most
university business school programs and it is seldom applied in
practice. If I eventually want to work in China and have a role in
developing this field there myself, I feel that it would be wise to
learn theory and best practice from the experts. A second very
important reason for choosing to study abroad is the opportunity to
actively research any ideas and issues that naturally arise during the
academic period. The close relationship and even joining of academics
with research and development is not only more available but far
superior in the U.S.A.
I have decided that the Sloan School of Management is the school where
I would have the best opportunity to pursue my objectives, receive the
best guidance and benefit the most. First, the entire University’s
focus on bridging the gap between the academic program and industry by
joining research skills with issues of practicing managers reflects my
own devotion to implementing my ideas with practical advances. During
my course of study, I would hope to work with Dr. Wanda J. Orlikowski
whose own work in I.T. I greatly admire. I specifically want to know
more about information flows and resource management and, ultimately,
how managers evaluate that information in decision-making systems in
different environments. Then I want to go on to work on developing
technical support for real-time decision making.
There are several sources for my keen interest. One source is my past
work experience in the computer industry, beginning in China as
salesman, then starting my own business in network design and
installation, and finally moving on to a position as Research Engineer
with a world-class computer company in the U.S.A. I have a solid six
years of experience in this field. It also should be said that some of
my questions in this specialized topic specifically have come out of
my experiences in two very different cultures. Traveling this career
path has included education in both China and the U.S.A. and
understanding the different approaches to management. Then a third
source of my interest is my team and small working group experience in
the U.S.
The above identified influences gave rise to my focus on
decision-making for future research. One of the important processes
that I observed was the large variation in quality of management
decisions. Especially during periods of major workplace change,
including restructuring, I observed markedly poor decision-making.
Those observations particularly sparked my interest in decision-making
pertaining to improving the economy of labor and other resources.
During my six years of experience in the I.T. industry, I have learned
to make decisions based on a combination of reason and practical
experience. This approach has enabled me to work out advances and
improvements in software development. In every case, it was this
combination of reason or theory paired with implementation and the
reinforcement of the two that has led to my learning and professional
satisfaction.
I have demonstrated this practice of following up ideas with practical
results in my now extensive work experience as a Systems Engineer. My
work has been, and is, productive. I alone, or in a major team role,
produced advances in software. I designed and implemented both the
On-Line ROM Flash Utility for Microsoft Windows and Linux on Compaq/HP
Enterprise-Level Proliant Servers and also the PCI-X Driver on Open
UNIX8 for PCI-X Capable Proliant Servers. One of my inventions is now
being reviewed by a Compaq/HP committee for patent filing.
Truly great decision-making requires another element. It needs to be
joined by equally good communication skills. The power of good
communication skills paired with good decision-making skills in making
for a winning team has impressed me in various areas of life. One who
excels in this area and whom I admire is Lakers coach Phil Jackson. He
combines leadership, communication skills and decision-making so
effectively in one challenging situation after another. His real-time
decision-making is outstanding. I will have this ideal before me in my
own work as I hope to produce a winning team too in the future.
I already have experience and knowledge gained from working on earlier
teams in long-term Research & Development projects in this very field
that I want to pursue further. I know the satisfaction and pride that
these past achievements have given me and also the desire to produce
additional advances. In all my various past roles in the I.T. industry
I have faced challenges that I learned to resolve. I know that there
will be challenges in every situation and I feel very strongly that I
am prepared for those in the Sloan School of Management.
I believe that the combination of continuing desire for
self-improvement, increased learning, combined with my insistence on
approaching problems with both reason and practical application, and
thus to lay new paths with new ideas, is my defining character. I
further believe that this character will take me forward successfully
to explore new paths and lay new ideas in I.T. At the same time, I
strongly hope that you will recognize my solid experience in the
computer field, my U.S.-earned M.S. degree in Computer Science and my
strong motivation compelling me to leave an established,
personally-owned business as clear indications of probable future
success, and admit me to the Sloan School of Management. |
