Graduate School and Early Modern Europe

STATEMENT OF PURPOSE The phenomenal growth in knowledge, which we atomic number 18 witnessing today in many areas of science and technology, is the result of the tireless efforts of a large number of teachers and students deeply committed to widening the horizons of human knowledge finished painstaking seek. Many of us of the younger generation are the beneficiaries, both intellectually and materially, of the outstanding work done in the field of electronic reckoner engineering.As a student of information technology and computer science, it is my ambition to contri thoe my mite to the widening and deepening of knowledge in the area of information technology and computer science in general. My under polish education in Information technology has enabled me to grasp the fundamental concepts in this area of study. I put one across excelled in nigh of the courses that I score taken which include Computer networks, Operating Systems, Microprocessor & Interfacing and Database Manag ement Systems among others a pointer to my sound analytical and computational skills.My academic prowess thunder mug be gauged from the fact that I topped my department in the Microprocessors course and secured the 3rd rank in my fourth semester examinations in a highly agonistical class. One of my erratic achievements has been in pedagogy. It was during my fifth semester, when I was helping my peers with the computationally intensive courses we had to take up then, that I realized the efficacy of the mastery To catch pass water better, teach. The incessant queries of my friends made me brood deeper into the field of operation whilst they enhanced their understanding of it.My achievement was the substantial improvement in grades for both my peers and me. The numerous seminars, which I have conducted in my class in areas both within and out of the scope of my curriculum, have honed my communication skills and I am confident that I would be an in effect(p) teaching assistant. My team-playing ability and leadership qualities came to the fore during Interrupt 2006, a national level technical symposium conducted by the Department of Computer Science, wherein I coordinated a variety of technical and non-technical events that were widely appreciated.I am currently working in Egrove Systems Corporation as a Programmer and Analyst, a renowned multi-national firm snarly in IT solutions. My first hand exposure to the industrys working in designing and developing has helped in redefining my perspective and woo towards creating new ones myself. I have a dream to work in a menage where latest technology is devised and where standards and protocols are dictated. Ultimately however, I do non extremity to follow oft beaten trails but blaze a new one for others to follow.It is to realize this that I trust to work towards a know floor and later for a PhD. It is each persons dream to graduate from a prestigious direct that can provide the launching-pad for his/h er career. Though there is a plethora of options, the pride of place goes to the University that is reputed for its standard par excellence an honor that goes to none other than to your university. I understand that this University strikeers exiting and unique opportunities for research and learning. As for my future, it is my thirst to explore the realms of computer networks and programming design.I overly want to build on the strong foundation that I have acquired during my undergraduate study with a Masters degree and follow it up with a Doctoral one. To achieve this and to attain my goals, I strongly believe that the Computer Science program at your university would place me at the fulcrum of todays technology in computers. I look forward to being a part of your program in Advanced computer science and would consider myself fortunate to secure an admission into the Masters program at your University since it fits my interests exactly.It is with great optimism that I apply to your school and I sincerely anticipate for an association that would be mutually beneficial. Ramji Prasad Myrtheunjayan Graduate study is not for slackers. It takes focus and determination to pursue an advanced degree. Thats why admissions military commissions examine your statement of resolve genuinely closelythey want to see whether you have the right(a) stuff to succeed in graduate school. What are they really asking any substance? Different schools leave give you different prompts for the statement of purpose.Nonetheless, theyre all asking for the same four pieces of information What you want to study at graduate school? Why you want to study it? What cognize you have in your field? What you plan to do with your degree once you have it? Admissions committees look for candidates with straighten out, well-defined research interests that arise from experience . With that in mind, your statement should reveal that you care deeply about your chosen discipline and that y ou have the background to support your roots and sen termnts. It should also demonstrate that youre a persevering student who get out remain committed for the long haul.However you approach these points, its imperative that you answer the questions asked in the essay prompt. Being substantive and direct is much better than being creative or flashy. Avoid this mistake Grad school applicants commonly make the error of including a parity bitgraph about how well go they are Theyre avid ultimate-frisbee players, they write short stories or they love to cook. Colleges are interested in this stuff graduate schools are not. Grad schools are aspect for great minds who will achieve mastery of a specific subject area.They dont care that you make a great chicken casserole or play intramural bocce ball. They do care about those activities that speak to your suitability for graduate work. As a graduate student, youll be called upon to do operose coursework and research. You may have to teach undergraduate classes within your field and conceivably even design a course. And youll have to get along with a diverse group of colleagues who will just abouttimes work very closely with you. Any experience in school, work or your extracurricular life that speaks to those abilities is worth talking about.Make your statement of purpose unique While its important to be focused, theres no need to be boring. To distinguish your essay, add unique (yet relevant) information. One of the best ways to do this is to discuss, briefly, an idea in your field that turns you on intellectually. Its an effective essay-opener, and it lets you write about something besides yourself for a bit. Remember, the idea you choose to talk about can tell an admissions committee a lot about you. And it demonstrates your interest in your field, rather than just describing it. Dont forgetBe sure to show your statement of purpose to mortal you respect, preferably the professors who are compose your recommenda tions, and get some feedback on the content before you send it in. If you need to revise it, do so and then ask for more than feedback. Have someone else proofread your essay for spelling and grammar. A fresh set of eyes often picks up something you missed. Better yet, if you have bountiful willing friends, have a couple of people proofread each statement. Finally, dont just reuse the same statement of purpose for each school to which you apply.You can recycle the same information, but make sure you change the presentation to fit each schools individual program. Sample Statement of Purpose Statement of Purpose Please describe your aptitude and motivation fo r graduate study in your area of specialization, including your preparation for this field of study , your academic plans or research interests in your chosen area of study, and your future career goals. Please be specific about why UC Berkeley would be a good intellectual fit for you. The generator of the statement below was admitted into UC Berkeleys History Department. With her permission, I reprint her essa parsed with my commentary about why it works as a winning essay. Luscious fare is the jewe l of unreasonable desires, 1 cautions 2 the author of The Gentlewomans Companion (1673), one of many early young conduct books I surveyed this past year for an honors thesis entitled Chaste, Silent, and Hungr y The conundrum of Female Appetite in Early Modern England, 1550-1700. 3 As indicated by the title, this pr oject explores a provocative but as of yet precisely studied facet of early m odern gender constructions female person food desire. 4 I use the word desire here rather deliberately, as ea rly modern definitions of ppetite extended well beyond the physiological drive to eat to encompa ss all those physical (and shameful) longings associated with the body. And, in a culture wh ere women were by defi nition immoderate and sensual, female food appetite, I argue, constituted an unruly 5 desire th at demanded both social and moral discipline. In brief, my research con cerns the patriarchal cont rol of womens bodies in ordinal and seventeenth-century England vi svis a ethnical idea about food desire and satiation as sugges tive and immodest. 6 In lieu of a ceremonious introduction of my research interests and aspirations I offer a summary of my enior thesis, which earned me the 2003 Chancel lors Award for Excellence in Undergraduate Research at the University of California, Davis. 7 This first venture into serious historical scholarship has affirmed my passion for early m odern culture and histor y and it has given me the confidence to assert and cont est my opinions look at ing the status of women in early modern europium and the current state of early modern historiography. 8 Continuing along these avenues of research in graduate school, I would like to use my thesis as the basis for a future dissertation. Though I remain wary about committing myself premat rely to a spe cific t opic of research, I am also eager to elaborate, modify, and complicate 9 my original assertions about the nature of the problem of female appetite in early modern England. Indeed, many of the conclusions reached in the thesis, such as my claim that the cultural er oticization of feminine appetite in early modern England betrayed a deep-seated masculine mistrust of female sexual practice and sexual power, serve as starting points 10 for future research and study. On a more basic level, writing a thesis gave me the chance to become better acquainted with the essentials of historical resear h. Suspecting that normative disc ourses in early modern England participated sharp in the monitoring of womens appetites, I navigated the sea of early English printed sources in pursu it of the slightest mention of food and diet. Those sources I encountered during my research, wh ich ranged from the popular conduct book, The Education of a Christian Woman by Juan Luis Vives, to the anonymo us sex manual, Aristotles Masterpiece, challenged my basic understanding of memoir and the original prem ise of my thesis in ways not anticipated. From deciphering esot eric type-fonts to developing n sensation of the importance of time and funds, I experienced the mundane realities of research that inevitably stunt the historians aspirations. Even more important wa s my gradual acceptance of the fact that early modern sources, no matter how we read them, do not always accommodate modern biases and expectations. 11 Though I cannot portend the course this project might take in graduate school, I expect that it will address the following themes and issues. First is the overarching issue of distinguishing the phenomena I retrieve from other forms of food re striction and obsession, namely the modern itual of dieting and its most extreme manife station, an eating disorder. Though not willing to evade those complicated (and controversial) para llels between modern and early modern us ages of food and food symbolism to cont rol the lives of women, I also press to offer as an historian a nuanced portrayal of how early modern conceptualiz ations of female appetite were infused with contemporary, historically contingent notions of sexuality and gender. Furthermore, the question of fema le agency in a project devote d almost exclusively to male prescriptions for diet and behavior demands further discussion.Admittedly, on more than one occasion, my own extensive use and analysis of conduct books and versatile obstetric manuals, works composed primarily by educated men, cause d me to pause and wonder whether it was best to relate a history abou t womens actions or the patriarchal apparatus under which those actions were oppressed. While I refuse to see women as simply passive receptacles of masculine command, I neither wish nor aspire to focus sole ly on their achievements for, in my mind, the history of women and the history of patriarchy are inextricably related. 12 My goal, then, will not be to event just another example of how wome in history were dominated by men, but, rather, to interrogate the means, in this case food, or, better yet, the cultural meaning of appetite, by which womens desires were conquer or denied. 13 Indeed I am proud of my thesis and, given extra time, could say much more. But I should also nisus that that at the heart of my specific res earch concentration lies a more general interest in early modern European history, cultural and womens history to be more exact. 14 To date, my knowledge of the early modern period has been informed and my imagination sustained by an array of courses on early modern history and lite ature (I was a joint hist ory and English major), including a graduate seminar on Renaissance urban culture taught jointly by Professors Margaret Ferguson and Deborah Harkness. My personal pe nchant for cultural history stems largely, I believe, from my training in litera ture and literary criticism, wh ere sensitivity to the importance of vocabulary and metaphor is a neces sary skill. Also of crucial importance to a captain career in history are my growing skills in Latin and cut, and my fluency in Spanish. 15 This year I find myself in that difficult and fr ustrating transitional peri od between undergraduate nd graduate studies. Though I would have preferred to directly co ntinue graduate school after graduation, I opted to take a year off. A year aw ay from school, I reasoned, would afford me the time require to recuperate from an exhaustive und ergraduate education, gain some perspective, and work on fulfilling the language requirement for a doctorate in European history. In fact, I am currently enrolled in a French course at a nearby university and plan to take a subsequent course during the upcoming spring semester. This academic hiatus, moreover, has imposed some much- needed distance between myself and my thesis, wh ch I can now reread from a more critical, less inves ted stance. And, finally, a break from school has given me sufficient time to search and research for graduate programs that best suit my needs. 16 UC Berkeleys history program looms large in my mind, largely because of its outstanding faculty and interdisciplinary approach to hist ory. In my own quest for a suitable graduate program, I was thrilled to learn that Professors Thomas Laqueur and Carla Hesse both taught at Berkeley. Professor Laqueurs book, Making perk up Body and Gender from the Greeks to Freud , stands out among the many books I ead during my undergraduate education and I credit his book with introducing me to the nascent but fascin ating field of the history of sexuality and the body. Together, Professor Laqueurs cutting edge research and Professor Hesses knowledge of early modern womens history would make my experience at Berkeley a challenging and pleasurable one. 17 In addition, Berkeley provides an id eal climate for me to develop my cross-disciplinary interest s. In particular, I am interested in pursuing a desi gnated emphasis in women, gender, and sexuality, a unique option that distinguishes Berkeleys hist ry program from that of other institutions. The cross-disciplinary nature of Berkeleys gra duate program would foster, I hope, fruitful discussions with other departme nts, notably the department of English and Womens Studies, thus broadening and enriching my research as well as my general understanding early modern culture and history. 18 1 The writer begins with a vivid quote that grabs the readers attention right away. 2 Cautions is an excellent verb choice. Carefu l word choice makes fo r lively writing. 3 Note how neatly in one well-packed sentence , the writer gets right to the point of her urrent research. 4 Provocative is an apt and colorful word c hoice. This sentence explains the nature of her study and situates her subject in historical and thematic context. 5 Unruly is another aptly c hosen adjective. Adjectives can create dead places in writing if they add nothing significant to the noun that it is describing. 6 The summary sentence not only recaps the gist of the first paragraph, but also provides further nuance of the subject at hand. 7 This first sentence makes clear that research first and foremost will be central to her argument in the essay. Mentioning the Cha cellors Award in the context of her research is a clever way of boasting without seeming to. 8 It is a very good idea to explicit ly state the chosen subfield within history early modern Europe. You cant stand that your readers will make the inference from the research topic alone. To assert and contest opinions is, of c ourse, the marksmanship of historians making reference to the current state of early modern historiography conveys familiarity with the subject on the one hand, and confidence and intellectual poise on the other. Notice how much more powerful is such a statement as compared to ne poorly write, such as I am pas sionate and committed to my interest in early modern Europe. 9 Again, to say that as a historian, she will e laborate, modify, and complicate the subject matter is to show that she really understands the work of historians. A less experienced candidate might have written that she wa nts to uncover the truth in history. 10 Starting points referring to her research interestsis a very measured way of saying that she knows what tugs at her heart, has done enough research to have some hunches, but is open to surprise endings. A beautiful re ndition of a historians sentiment.You may turn off your readers if you come off sounding overly confident. Maintaining a measured tone is very important. 11 This paragraph details further specific less ons and skills earned through this research project. Note the use of colorful verb s such as navigated and stunt. 12 Note the nuanced and carefully measured way of speaking about her subject. Clearly the writer is well-read in theory and show s st rong ability in cri tically evaluating her subject. Moreover, she tries to be the obj ective scholar in that she does not champion any cause. That is, she does not champion the ause of women even as she conveys deep empathy. 13 The reference to a parallel example of female appetite in contemporary culture as holding interest for the writer is aptly placed here. Were she to have mentioned it any earlier, it would have clouded the primarily hist orical nature and focu s of her venture. 14 It is wise at this point to zoom out a bit and show that th e writers interest lies more broadly in early modern Europe and the hist ory of women. Zooming in and out from the narrow to the general shows th at you are capable of becomi ng a specialist without being overly narrow. 15Showing interdisciplinarity and your abilities in language are key to your academic biography. In this case, the reader learns that she is a historian with training in literary and critical theory. 16 This is a model pa ragraph for showing what you did in your time off from school. Note how nothing extraneous to her study is me ntioned in this paragraph. The paragraph shows that the time off was spent wisely in preparing herself for graduate school. 17 She demonstrates a thorough-going knowledge of UC Berkeley. She mentions not one but two key scholars with whom she could pur sue her studies. She mentions how their rea of specialty dovetails with her own resear ch interests. Note how she does not make empty, flattering remarks about the professors or the school. 18 She continues to list bounties beyond the department strengthening the argument that Berkeley is well-suited for her. The reader will be impressed with the research and the seriousness with which she has examined UC Be rkeley as an option for graduate school. A well-written essay unveils much information about the writer, not only in her intellectual capacity, but also about her character and core values. Through her writing, she make s a distinctive impression.