PHD Chemistry Personal Statement of Purpose Help Samples
- Robert Edinger
- Sep 20
- 3 min read

I am a 26-year-old man from India who is currently studying towards the MS Degree in Chemistry at the University of ____. I want very much to continue my studies next year at the doctoral level and this is why I am applying to your highly esteemed program. I am particularly interested in doing research in the synthesis of anti-cancer and anti-bacterial compounds.
I want to devote my professional life to research in this and related areas because strongly that this is the greatest contribution that I can personally make to society, laboring to better understand the chemical foundations of cancer and, particularly, potential cures for the disease. I am especially interested in doing research into the total synthesis of natural products, developing new reaction methodologies and organ catalysis.

My inspiration to devote my life to the study of synthetic chemistry resulted from my work in a laboratory during my undergraduate studies in India. One day, we synthesized aspirin as part of our practical course work. Even though aspirin has already been used for centuries as a medicine and was already synthesized in the laboratory over a century ago, I was enormously excited, as if I were the one who was synthesizing it for the first time. I date my profound desire to devote my life to chemistry to this day which will always be so clearly etched in my memory.
I have a great deal of research experience with the Indian Institute of Chemical Technology in Hyderabad, India as well as here at the University of ____. I am also experienced at the art of delivering scientific presentations:
I served as a member of the faculty at "The Nalgonda College of Arts & Sciences" teaching organic chemistry to B.Sc. students from June of 2007 through July of 2008. I taught: Organic Reaction Mechanisms, Organic Reagents, Stereochemistry, Conformational Analysis, Pericyclic Reactions, Organic Spectroscopy (UV& NMR) and Organic Photochemistry. The accolades that I received from students further strengthened my desire to become a professor. Here at the University of ____, I have been working as a Teaching Assistant for the last 2 years, teaching an Organic Chemistry Laboratory class. I would like to continue to serve in this capacity in a doctoral program.

Growing up in India, I always ranked as the best or second-best student in my class. I was the National Cadet Corps (NCC) best student of the year in 2004, and military officials taught us the value of strict discipline and high professional standards. This helped me to learn to deal with any task at hand, physical or mental, giving my all to my work and pursuing my goals with great commitment and audacity.
This resulted in my being awarded a highly competitive research fellowship through the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR). Two hundred candidates were selected from among 50,000 students who were chosen to take the examination. When I was preparing for this entrance exam, I didn't even leave my room for several days.
Due to a lack of funding, my advisor at UNO stopped my research project after I had worked on it for 14 months and another project failed to advance because I needed a special instrument but, again due to lack of funding, my advisor was not able to make this purchase. Thus, I became understandably disappointed with my progress. As a result, I informed my advisor that I wanted to finish the master's degree and go to another university to study towards my PHD.
PHD Chemistry Personal Statement of Purpose





Comments