PHD Statistics Statement of Purpose Sample

I see your particularly distinguished PhD Program in Statistics at the University of XXXX as the optimal springboard to launch my career, so as to maximize my contribution to the development of global society. I am highly motivated by the fact that, in the words of the Global Bank: “We are drowning in data and starving for insight.” I hope to earn the PhD at XXXX so as to become a master professional on the cutting edge of data - generated across industries, disciplines, and international boundaries. I could not be happier to be gearing up for a professional lifetime fully immersed in the mammoth task of organizing information, making it sensible, and translating it into a form that is suited to a vast array of specific purposes, especially with respect to human behavior and business trends. I see myself as an ideal fit for the program since I am profoundly drawn to the interdisciplinary nature of your program and the vast opportunities available at XXXX for participating in research endeavors on the cutting edge. I am particularly engaged with and excited about Data Mining, Machine Learning and Data Visualization.

Giving my all to my projects for my classes in Statistics and Econometrics has enabled me to become adept at managing large datasets and running simulations using R and STATA. Thanks to my Computer Science classes I am now efficient in modeling data structure and algorithms using Java and Python. At Data Fest, I mastered data cleansing and sample splitting, while modeling energy consumption predictions based on numerous industrial factors. Working on a research project with Professors Tania, Trapani, and Halvorsen helped me to master the statistical analysis of given data sets of interspike-intervals based on the mathematical models suggested. I learned new methods and how to run them such as Method of Moments, Newton-Raphson Reiteration, and the Kolmogorov-Smirnov Test. I have also cultivated perseverance and find great joy in my engagement with state-of-the-art research.

Since completing my undergraduate studies, for the past 3 years, I have been working as a PPC (pay per click) analyst. I run ads on Google for the company’s products and pay whenever users click ads. One of the most wonderful aspects of the PPC industry is almost everything is real time: cost, revenue, clicks and even customer data; millions of clicks are accompanied by millions of possible new customers and their data. Not only managing advertisements, I also deal with big data. I have honed my interpreting skills with real-world projects through SQL and Excel. One of my favorite projects was to analyze ad performance based on distance between the buyer’s shopping address and destination addresses where the purchased products would be in use. With the results, I built ad campaigns where different strategies where employed for different radii targets. In fact, the data that I am compiling has almost endless potential.

While utilizing data is a hot topic in the online marketing industry, I have been able to find only a few tools equipped with reliable technologies that can actually help marketers at deeper levels such as reading contextual signals upon which to base predictions. I look forward very much to contributing to developments in this area in the future. I am convinced that my destiny lies in data mining, machine learning and data visualization, and I hope to immerse myself in these subjects as a graduate student.

I have given countless hours to a variety of regressions models, classification methods and learning models including support vector machines. I have also made a constant effort to polish my visualization skills through Tableau, R, and Python. I have had ample opportunities to present my contributions to academic research, class projects, and workplace projects, and I increasingly appreciate how visualization is as important as the data itself since well-visualized data can be comprehended by almost any audience.

While data mining and machine learning have limitless potential in countless fields, the specific area in which I would like to make my mark, beginning with research in your doctoral program at UMass Amherst, would be to develop a tool that can diagnose diseases based on individuals’ online activities including search queries and posts on social media. Ultimately, I would like to design and develop a personalized medical assistant that tailors itself to the medical needs and resources of each individual, thus increasing and enhancing access to medical advice and treatment at a reasonable cost. With an observational study I conducted as a final project for my statistics class in college, I could see that coming from a low-income family, for example, has a more significant effect on students’ academic achievements than race or even disability. I further confirmed the notion that low-income families are more vulnerable to changes in health care systems through a project for my macroeconomics class dealing with US health care system. These prompted me to include helping the least fortunate members of society to improve their circumstances as part of my own professional goals. I aspire to build other personal tools later on as well, all of them oriented towards the noble goal of helping individuals and organizations.

Beginning my doctoral studies in Statistics will be the beginning of a new journey that will never end, and I wish I can start it at the Pioneer Valley. As a graduate of Smith, I am well aware of how much investment and support have been put in statistics and data science in the valley, providing students and researchers ample research opportunities. I have faith that I can continue to grow enormously and better myself personally, intellectually, and professionally, just like I did at Smith. I also firmly believe that my research can contribute to your university and academic community as well as millions of people who would benefit from the research. For all these reasons I am confident that University of XXXX is a great place for me to pursue a PhD. I thank you from the bottom of my heart for considering my application.