<p>Hi all. I finished my statement of purpose but am scared it’s a little to risky.
I was thinking at the end of it I found a really nice picture of 4 people putting puzzle pieces together that are shaped like the world… you’ll see what I’m talking about after you finish reading.
Questions: Should I not use the puzzle anology? Also being that this is in the social sciences (meaning there more liberal and laid back) do you think I should include the small pic of the puzzle or not?</p>
<p>Let me know what you think! : )</p>
<p>My personal belief is that solutions to problems are in the form of small pieces to one large puzzle. We as human beings all hold a piece to the puzzle; it is our duty to discover where it belongs. Unfortunately, with the many problems that exist in the United States of America alone, many people, including a disproportionate amount of minorities, are not given an equal opportunity to realize their full potential. Minorities in particular deal with preventable issues such as psychological maladjustment, academic underachievement, and low socio-economic status. The aforementioned inhibit those who hold an equally important piece from knowing where to place it.
I feel my piece to the puzzle lies within the field of Human Development. In particular I would like to further explore buffers to the variety of problems that affect minorities such as racial socialization, identity, as well as other factors that lead to resiliency. As a minority I feel a personal responsibility to assist future generations in reaching optimal development so they may too successfully contribute their piece to the puzzle.
None of the problems I have mentioned will have easy solutions. In the past the research has taken only one approach towards solving problems. However, just as humans are multi-faceted and complex, so are societal conditions that research attempts to ameliorate. Some researchers are still hesitant to acknowledge this however; I am elated that the PhD program within XY&Z takes an interdisciplinary approach towards their research.
My preparation for a life-time career in research is evident in the breadth of experiences I have had, In the interest of time (and the 750 word limit), I will highlight only a few experiences to give a better idea of my background (for full detail please reference C.V.). I began my first research experience my sophomore year of college at XY University. I, and another colleague, explored interpersonal attraction among same-sex friendships. The project idea arose from my noticing friends of the same ethnicity tend to look similar. Finding something that puzzled me and to seeing if there was significance to my original hypothesis was absolutely enthralling. For my junior year I received a National Research Service Award from NIMH which enabled me to broaden my research experiences for the next two years. During year one of my fellowship I worked doing neuroscience research at AB University. The following summer I went to the CD University Department of Human Development and developed a project entitled, XYZ. This project was then presented at the XY Colloquium; it was here that I realized my love for presenting my research.
During my senior year of college I began studying infancy and attachment. I, along colleagues, worked with our mentor to develop a project to explored links between depressive symptomology and mother-infant attachment. I was fortunate enough to receive a grant from the National Institute of General Medical Sciences which enabled travel to the National Conference of Undergraduate Research to present our results.
Upon graduation I entered a PQ University. PQ University fervently emphasizes viewing research through the lenses of theory, research, and application. I have taken this approach to heart and appreciate the X Universitys emphasis on this as well. At PQ University I was also able to gain more valuable experiences by working on an evaluation project. I, and colleagues, created and implemented an evaluation system for the EFG. I have also developed a Masters Thesis which explores the links between x and y.
In closing, I am fortunate that my passions are in a field that is capable of addressing larger conceptual issues which have shown to have deleterious effects on development. I am very interested in the Z program not only because of the approach towards research as a whole, but also because of the great alignment between the research interests of Prof A, PhD, Prof B, PhD, and my own. Having the opportunity to work with them will not only help me to achieve my full potential as a researcher, but will also help me to successfully contribute my piece to the puzzle.</p>