SOP(s) from 2002

In my early teens I used to stay busy doing Mathematics all day long. I devised a way of finding the next term of a given truncated sequence, which I later realized is an extrapolation using the difference method, and gives one possible solution for all the sequences except for the Fibonacci-type sequences.

The tests where one has to reproduce what he or she remembers never attracted me. I always wanted to solve problems that were harder and harder. This attraction toward difficult problems resulted in winning many talent search awards in my school days. However my first major achievement was getting selected in the Regional Mathematical Olympiad in my 10th standard, because in my country most of the participants are in the 11th standard.

After completing my Higher Secondary education I was selected in Joint Entrance Examination for engineering. But, I also got the chance of studying in the B.STAT.(HONS.) program in the Indian Statistical Institute, Calcutta. Every year all the good Mathematics students of my country sit for the B.STAT.(HONS.) Entrance Examination. I was among the selected few. And, I took this wonderful opportunity to be a part of the organization where P. C. Mahalanabis and C. R. Rao taught once.

In the first year of my B.STAT.(HONS.) program, I was introduced to Matrix Algebra. The behaviour of idempotent matrices is remarkably similar to that of multiplicative identities. I used this idea to write a paper on the Maximal Multiplicative Group of Matrices. But the result was found to be existing in linear transformations, and hence remains unpublished.

In the same year of my study I got deeply moved by several theories and methods of statistics in the course Statistical Methods-II. That is when I first developed a liking toward the subject, and decided to pursue a career of research in it.

In the third year of B.STAT.(HONS.) curriculum I was introduced to Non-parametric Inference and Sample Surveys. I found both of these subjects very very interesting. In the same year I devised a Non-parametric test for goodness-of-fit and wrote a paper on that. This paper is currently under revision status in Communication in Statistics. In the same year I visited the Tata Institute of Fundamental Research at Mumbai under the Visiting Student Research Program. That year I also worked on a project on the smoking habits of the adult population in Calcutta.

After completion of my Bachelor's degree, I joined the M.STAT. program at the same institution. In the first year of my Master's program I was introduced to Applied Stochastic Processes, which turned my attention toward the stochastic models on Genetics, Epidemiology and Operational Research. In the final year of the program the courses on Statistical Methods in Genetics and Asymptotic Theory interested me very much. In the same year I took up a project on the eigen-values of random matrices.

Throughout my post-secondary curriculum, I concentrated my attention to problem solving, rather than remembering what is already known. I also enjoyed looking at an existing concept from a new and different angle. So, I feel I am right in choosing a career of research.

My present research interest covers, but is not restricted to, Non-parametrics, Asymptotics, Sample Surveys, Statistical Methods in Genetics, Applied Stochastic Processes, Applied Probability, and Applied Multivariate Analysis. In general I am ready to work on any problem which I find interesting.

I wish to be a part of the Ph.D. program in your esteemed university. I feel that I will be able to honor any chance offered to me.

Thank you.

(Arindam Roy Choudhury)

Date:

I am a student , currently in the M.stat final year course of Indian Statistical Institute , one of the premier schools serving as a hallmark in statistics and Mathematics in the Orient .Currently my goal is to get the chance of working in your esteemed institute and to reveal my caliber as a statistician .

I was born in 1979 , in a family of general background of educational and cultural awareness . My father served as an engineer in the Electric supply corporation . Starting from the day I first went to the school, at an age of 4 , I was facile in grasping new ideas and I wanted to know more and more , often outside the prescribed course materials .

When I was in class V , I shifted to one of the best schools in India ,Ramakrishna Mission Ashram , at a wonderful location , far from the urban drudgeries . The picturesque setting of our beloved school resembled that of the ancient Tapovanas of the Aryans . In those formative days , under the auspices of my teachers and hostel wardens , I flourished as a versatile person . Typically , the residential nature also helped a lot to inculcate camaraderie , sincerity , discipline , honesty . Also , I developed an intriguing habit of not accepting anything without verifying it thoroughly . The teachers also encouraged me in developing the urge to know and learn . I represented my school in several all India competitions and secured high ranks e.g. 1st ('93) and 2nd ('91) in Science talent search examinations in my state of West Bengal , 4th ('95) in All India Mathematics Teachers' Examination in West Bengal . In 1995 , I was selected one of the 750 students all over the country to receive an annual scholarship for NTSE , from NCERT , the education council of India .

I secured ranks of 16th and 5th in the Secondary and Higher Secondary exams of our state among 600 thousands and 300 thousands students respectively . In the entrance for the technical institute, I ranked 9th .But the biggest achievement of my career came in 1996 . I was selected among the top 30 students in the country to prepare in a one-month-long training camp for International Mathematics Olympiad . The training camp was held in Mumbai , and exceptional mathematicians gave us lectures on Graph Theory , Combinatorics , Geometry , Number Theory , Algebra etc. Though missing the opportunity to represent the Indian contingent of 6 persons by a whisker , was a little despairing , but the camp was really enjoyable and fascinating .

In the school days , I was also taught the preliminaries of statistics and its inner beauty enthralled me . The deep liaison between statistics and mathematics intrigued me a lot . I was also interested by the proximity of real life observations to statistics and its interpretations that could be made by making inferences on that data . Though I got chances in both engineering and I.S.I. , I preferred the latter since I started to be in love with statistics by then . Moreover I was captivated by the prospect of learning under big guns in the I.S.I.

When I commenced the classes in I.S.I. , from the first week I started to realize the inner depth of the field . Here also, instead of blindly accepting what the lecturers said , I tried to follow everything by logical understanding . The courses in Probability Theory and Linear Algebra were the foundations on which the various statistics courses were built up . I mostly enjoyed the courses on Statistical Inference , Design of Experiments , Stochastic Processes and Statistical Methods in my Bstat course . During my final year , I participated in a project on " Smoking habits of Calcuttans : last 30 years " . The entire work on data collection , forming the questionnaire and analysis of data was very enjoyable . The project also brought forward my virtuoso handling of real life data . In all , I secured 85.9% in my B.Stat program and stood 4th in my class . I also received prizes in form of books for my praiseworthy performances during that course . The entire three years were very helpful in forming a sound knowledge and deep understanding of various aspects of statistics .

The M.Stat program , as it stands by now, is unparallel in the sheer magnitude of the heavy workload . In the first year , we were taught several theoretical courses . The most fascinating ones were on Measure Theory , Decision Theory , Multivariate Analysis , Time Series Analysis and Applied Stochastic Processes . After the first year , we had a month-long training program in C.S.O. New Delhi . The program, though held during a very hot and humid summer , was mostly fascinating .

In the first year of M.Stat course , my overall score was 89.8% which was quite satisfactory . I also analyzed a time series data on Lake Huron water levels to find interesting results in that time . In the second year my specialization is " Mathematical Statistics and Probability " and am willing to undergo a project in the second semester . We have quite a few interesting courses like Advanced Probability , Non Parametric Methods ,Advanced Design of Experiments , Statistical Methods in Genetics etc.

Actually after developing a good background in both Theoretical and Applied Statistics , now I am in the pursuit of a career as a researcher . The prime aspect of that target is to apply my knowledge and myself in the field of venturing new areas and being successful would be a good enough prize and incentive for that . Therefore I request you to admit me in your department so that a hard and sincere effort on my behalf can enable me to fulfill the goal .

Thank you for considering my application

Jayanta Kumar Pal

Click here for the SOP as a MS-Word file.

I wish to apply for admission to the PhD program in Statistics at your esteemed university, commencing from Fall 2002 . I am currently studying in the second year of the two year Masters program in Statistics at the Indian Statistical Institute, Calcutta, known all over the world for the seminal contributions that some of its alumni have made and are continuing to make i n the field of Statistics - both theoretical and applied, after having successfully completed the three year Bachelor's program in Statistics with distinction, full stipend and scholarship from the Government of India.

My academic endeavours at the institute have been quite encouraging. I have been consistently ranking fifth in my class for the past few semesters at the institute which has culminated in my receipt of an award in the form of books and cash. Ranking amon g the top few in class was not something new to me as I had been doing so right from my days at school. At school, mathematics and the physical sciences used to be my favorites and I mastered the subjects with unmatched proficiency.

Upon making it to the Indian Statistical Institute after high school and after clearing a tough countrywide admission test, through which only thirty students are selected among ten thousand candidates, I was introduced to the world of Statistics and Probability. Prior to my matriculation at the Indian Statistical Institute, I had some elementary idea about Statistics and Probability but I had seen them from entirely disjoint perspectives. At the institute, I could visualize the subjects working in tandem and in the process solving problems and throwing up new challenges. Over a score of courses were taught at the Bachelor\rquote s level in the areas of Statistics, Probability and Mathematics. The courses on Multivariate Analysis, Linear Statistical Models, Sample Surveys and Design of Experiments particularly attracted my attention. In the process of studying these cour ses I could see the theory being applied in solving both theoretical and basic real-life problems. While the practical applications of Statistics fascinated me, I was also overwhelmed by the theoretical development of the subject. At the Master's level, I had the opportunity to attend some excellent lectures on the Theory of Probability, Applied Stochastic Processes, Multivariate Analysis and Regression Techniques to name a few. I was particularly motivated towards pursuing research in Statistics while studying the course on Multivariate Analysis where I studied conditionally-specified distributions, methods of inference, mixture distributions and testing hypotheses in the multivariate setup and some introduction to multivariate directional data. I also plan to take up courses on the Theory of Advanced Multivariate Analysis and Directional Data . Through the course on Applied Stochastic Processes , I could see direct applicati ons of probability in genetics and epidemiology which aroused in me an interest towards biostatistics as well. My sheer interest in the subject saw myself engaged in various projects involving modeling and analysis of real-life data, the most notable amon g them being the analysis of data on water quality that required the consideration of thirteen explanatory variables.

As a result of my complicity in such projects, I had the added opportunity to get well versed with programming languages like Fortran and C alongside standard statistical software like S-PLUS, SAS and BMDP to name a few. During my days in the Bachelor's program, I also took the opportunity of presenting, to my class, a few topics from some statistics courses like Linear Statistical Models and Regression Techniques and every bit of cheer and applaud from my audience has filled me with enthusiasm and encouragement to hone my pedagogical skills.

During the course of my study at the institute, I also had the opportunity to study some excellent courses on Mathematics like Differential Equations and Complex Analysis to name a few and quite a number of courses in Probability and Mathematical Statistics. I have always believed that knowing theory is absolutely essential for applying Statistics to practical problems, and so have taken up Mathematical Statistics and Probability as my specialization.

As of now, I aspire to quench my thirst for both knowledge and practice in the field of Statistics and in the long run dream of contributing something to the society and to mankind in my capacity as an expert in the theory and methods of Statistics. I am confident that your esteemed university can provide me with the academic nourishment I shall require to fulfill my dreams.

Thank you for considering my application.

( PINAKI BISWAS )

I wish to apply for admission to the PhD program in Biostatistics at your esteemed university, commencing from Fall 2002 . I am currently studying in the second year of the two year Masters program in Statistics at the Indian Statistical Institute, Calcutta, known all over the world for the seminal contributions that some of its alumni have made and are continuing to make i n the field of Statistics - both theoretical and applied, after having successfully completed the three year Bachelor s program in Statistics with distinction, full stipend and scholarship from the Government of India.

My academic endeavours at the institute have been quite encouraging. I have been consistently ranking fifth in my class for the past few semesters at the institute which has culminated in my receipt of an award in the form of books and cash. Ranking among the top few in class was not something new to me as I had been doing so right from my days at school. At school, mathematics and the physical sciences used to be my favorites and I mastered the subjects with unmatched proficiency.

Upon making it to the Indian Statistical Institute after high school and after clearing a tough countrywide admission test, through which only thirty students are selected among ten thousand candidates, I was introduced to the world of Statistics and Probability. The most appealing facet of Statistics that actually motivated me to think of a career in the subject is its usefulness in catering to real-life problems. Right from my days at school, I have had a penchant for any scientific thing that would work in practice . Statistics was one of them which I have seen being applied to diverse areas from tossing coins to launching rockets! At the institute, I was particularly enthusiastic about participating and successfully completing several projects on data analysis, the most notable among them being the analysis of data on water quality based on thirteen explanatory variables.

My first encounter with some problems in Biostatistics came about when I was studying subjects like Design of Experiments and Stochastic Processes . Applying the theory developed in these subject s to some areas in Biostatistics like clinical trials and modeling population parameters was gradually taking shape in my mind. Courses on Biological Sciences and Anthropology and Human Genetics have also helped me appreciate the statistical problems in such areas. I also undertook a few small projects, out of my own interests, to gain some experience in this field. My interest in the subject was further fuelled when I was studying a course on Applied Stochastic Processes , where I was exposed to certain probability models having direct applications in population genetics, epidemiology and other allied areas. In a course which I had attended informally, on Mixed Effects Models , I was introduced to the analysis of categorical data. Currently I am taking a course on Life Testing and Reliability and have been motivated towards applying lifetime distributions to survival data. I also plan to take a course on Survival Analysis in the coming semester.

As mentioned earlier, I was associated with quite a few project s on data analysis and as a result I had the added opportunity to get well versed with programming languages like Fortran and C alongside standard statistical software like S-PLUS, SAS and BMDP to name a few. During my days in the Bachelor's program, I also took the opportunity of presenting, to my class, a few topics from some statistics courses like Linear Statistical Models and Regression Techniques and every bit of cheer and applaud from my audience has filled me with enthusiasm and encouragement to hone my pedagogical skills.

During the course of my study at the institute, I also had the opportunity to study some excellent courses on Mathematics like Differential Equations and Complex Analysis to name a few and quite a number of courses in Probability and Mathematical Statistics. I have always believed that knowing theory is absolutely essential for applying Statistics to practical problems, and so have taken up Mathematical Statistics and Probability as my specialization.

As of now, I aspire to quench my thirst for both knowledge and practice in the field of Biostatistics and in the long run dream of contributing something to the society and to mankind in my capacity as an expert in the theory and methods of Biostatistics. I am confident that your esteemed university can provide me with the academic nourishment I shall require to fulfil my dreams.

Thank you for considering my application.

( PINAKI BISWAS )

From my childhood, I am always curious to know the "why"s rather than "what"s. This intrinsic curiosity helped me to gain interest in Mathematics. I always felt the challenges and thrills of problem solving. It is this penchant for problem solving that drew me to the Regional Mathematical Olympiad, the first stepping-stone towards the International Mathematical Olympiad. It led to my first major success in my favorite subject, when I distinguished myself by standing 2nd among 500 other fellow compatriots from my state.

In my high school I took Statistics as my elective subject. I really enjoyed it. Particularly the chapters on probability theory, testing of hypothesis and analysis of variance attracted me a lot. On the other hand, I loved to study topics like combinatorics, number theory, calculus and algebra.. Thus I was more or less determined that I would take Mathematics and Statistics as my career. Then my Mathematics teacher told me about the Indian Statistical Institute, a premier institute in the world of Mathematics and Statistics. I decided I would try my best to join the Institute. However this was no way easy since the Indian Statistical Institute selects only 50 to 60 students out of 5000 to 6000 students who appear for the entrance examination all over India.

In my high school I performed well. I stood 13th in the Higher Secondary Examination (the state-wide final examination after 12th grade) out of 3,00,000 examinees and also at the same time, found only 23 examinees ahead of me in the final standings of the engineering entrance examination of our state, where about 50000 students tried their luck. Still all of it was overshadowed by my performance in the entrance exam for B.Stat at the Indian Statistical Institute(ISI), in which I was selected. It was my dream come true - a chance to study in an institution where world famous personalities like Profs. P.C. Mahalanobis and C.R. Rao once used to work and Profs. S.R.S. Varadhan and K.R. Parthasarathy were students.

After coming to ISI my interests in both Mathematics and Statistics grew further. In addition to usual lectures, assignments and exams, other things like projects, reading papers and making presentations, seminars and summer programs helped me to build a solid background to my academic career. On completing B.Stat in the first division with honors, I joined M.Stat at the same institute in the year 2000. I am currently a 2nd year student of M.Stat and have taken Mathematical Statistics and Probability as my area of specialization.

In both B.Stat and M.Stat I did a lot of project-works. Some of them involved data analysis. Others were projects based on simulations. I took part in a major data analyis project with my classmates to conclude that the smoking habit of the male population of Calcutta of age group 15 - 60 has not changed over time but has changed significantly over generation. Another project of mine dealt with the dependence of skin-cancer on the sun-spot cycle. In yet another project, I had to compare three subspecies of Iris flower analyzing Fisher's Iris data. The simulation projects, that I did, include verifying the robustness of LAD regression, checking the accuracy of bounds of type I and type II errors given by Wald in SPRT , comparison of the residual bootstrap and the pairwise bootstrap techniques. I learnt the statistical package S.PLUS 4.5 in order to work on these projects.

I tried to use the vacations to study topics beyond my syllabus. With this motive I visited the school of Mathematics in Tata Institute of Fundamental Research(TIFR), Mumbai thrice. I studied topics like group actions and Sylow's theorems, Galois field theory, semisimple rings and algebras, Wedderburn theorem,representation theory of finite groups and algebraic number theory.

In addition to my regular courses in ISI, I attented two informal courses - an Algebra course with senior students and a Basic Topology course with the research scholars. I also had the zeal to attend seminars even if the abstract seemed to be discouraging. In fact, as I find out now, those seminars helped me a lot. I could not of course understand the whole lecture, still it gave me ideas which helped me in future.

Also from these lectures, I learnt how to present a particular topic to a group of people. My courses had often required me to make presentations on many topics like Multivariate Statistics, history of Bayesian Statistics, a paper on Logistic Regression, a paper on a new and more robust Bootstrap method and Ulam's Theorem. My love for teaching drove me to organize many informal seminars addressed to all undergraduate and postgraduate students of the hostel of my institution.Thus I developed the skills of teaching, which has become a passion of my life. One of the reasons I want to stay in academics is that I want to be a good teacher. Teaching, in my opinion, is the best way of learning a subject.

I never neglected my regular studies at ISI. I was sincere enough to secure 2nd rank in both B-Stat and M-Stat 1st Year. In 3rd semester I got my lowest score (81.75 %) ,the only instance in my 8 semesters in ISI that I failed to win prize-money for good performance. That too since I could not do well in a subject where I had to learn by rote, something, I admit, I am really weak in.

Some of the courses that I took in ISI had immense influence on me. For example,I gained my interest in probability theory from the course Probability III, which was given by a famous probabilist and an outstanding teacher Dr. B.V. Rao. In this course different modes of convergence of random variables were first introduced. The way the typical analysis arguments are carried out in probability thoery using events and inclusions really impressed me. For the the same reason, I enjoyed the course on measure theory as well. Right now I am going through a course on martingale theory, which will be followed up in the next semester by a course on brownian motion and a course on ergodic theory. Another course on probability theory that I liked is applied stochastic process which dealt with branching process and stochastic modeling of genetics and epidemiology .

As I have already pointed out I am interested in Probability Theory. It is my motivation for applying for graduate studies in the Universities in the USA - I want to get the best exposure in the subject. It is my dream to contribute to the subject of my interest. Where else but in Cornell University can I get that opportunity ?

Thank you for considering my application.

PARTHANIL ROY

It was nearly the end of my high school when mathematics suddenly appeared to be more interesting than any other subject that I studied earlier. Introduction of combinatorics was the first turning point. Later I also got a more rigorous view of calculus materials like limits and continuity from an advanced book, and quite abruptly I realised that mathematics is more than just a mechanical way of solving equations or integrating very complicated looking functions. It has an immense appeal to the logical reasoning power and visualisation ability of the mind. With this new realisation I decided to join Indian Statistical Institute which, for a student fresh from the school, is definitely one of the best places in India to pursue study of maths. It is here when my area if interest gradually shifted to statistics and probability. Mathematics still continues to be the most beautiful subject on earth to me but its very little connection with the real world discouraged me to view at it as my research topic. Statistics, on the contrary, seems to be of greater scope. It is as much mathematics as one can wish to have. And, to me it seems to most efficiently bridge the gap between the stringent world of mathematical axioms and uncontrollable real life chaos. My decision to go for doing a Phd. in statistics is mainly driven by the desire to explore this wonderful bridge, that has so far unfolded before me, only a little part of its unfathomable beauty. My plan is chiefly to pursue the line of mathematical statisctics. Asymptotic theory is my current zone of interest and I am looking forward to the courses on Advanced Inference and Advanced Stochastic Process which will be offered in the next semester. I would like to include as many Algebra and Analysis topics as possible in my future course of study and do sincerely hope, in future, to be able to apply some theory of algebra to statistical problems.

It might be a coincidence that all the interesting courses in statistics that have been offered in last couple of years, namely Inference II, Statistical Decision Theory and Asymptotic Theory, were taken by people who are known to be more involved with the Bayesian approach. It just made me curious about that approach and as I talked to my professors in here, I felt that it might be more suitable to me, since, according to the impression I got from the discussions, it can be more handy in solving problems without losing the mathematical elegance. But it is still just a curiosity as I don't have enough information about the topic to be able to make my mind whether to join this line or not. Maybe, in future I will consider to work in this field.

I think, with the detail exposure to stat that I had here in last five years, I have gradually developed a good concept of the subject matter, that comprises of a fair amount of intuition but more importantly the adequate base of mathematical knowledge that helps a lot in consolidating ideas. I would also like to count as a plus point, my ability and willingness to work very hard for anything that seems appealing to me. My inability to retain the things that are less interesting and sometimes very cumbersome continues to be my weakness as I myself have encountered situations where those apparantly dull topics come to rescue in solving many interesting problems. The best I could do to overcome this weakness is to go through the topics again and again so that even if I can't remember them fully, at least I can recall sufficient portion of it to obtain the required result, maybe with some effort. Statistics and mathematics have always been fascinating to me and I do want to make the learning of these subjects a part of my life.

(Surya Tapas Tokdar)