Master Of Science Personal Statement

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On completion of my secondary school education in Lagos, Nigeria, and while waiting for my undergraduate admission into the university, I sometimes watched/ assisted my dad whenever he was preparing project proposals or actually executing building construction projects. I didn’t know it as at then, but I think that was when I started having this unconscious attraction toward anything that had the word project written next to it. Any mention of the word project and my ears would be on alert. My education and life experiences over the years have gotten me to this point, where I am excited to be applying for a Master of Science (MS) degree program in Technology Project Management.
I can recall my first group assignment during my undergraduate days in the university. It was an engineering workshop project where I was the leader of my group and we fabricated a cooking stand used in most rural households in Nigeria. We had an ‘A’ in the project and I remember that we had to work as a team to get the right kinds of materials and construct the cooking stand down to the exact specifications. At that point, I had begun to understand the concept of ‘project work’, the importance of communication and getting everyone involved in performing different tasks to achieve one goal. My experiences after I graduated with a Bachelor’s degree in Geology have helped me to further strengthen my resolve to pursue this master’s degree program. During my mandatory one-year youth service in Nigeria, I worked in a firm where I supervised different water-borehole drilling operations and other projects. I gained more insight about how projects were executed because I worked closely with the project manager. I watched as we sourced for materials we used for projects, worked with other contractors and, managed our resources. I later worked with my father’s firm on a part-time basis where I became more involved in supervising field operations. My personal attributes, which largely have been influenced by my exposure to these environments, include dedication and reliability, as well as effective communication and my ability to interact with people of different backgrounds. I also developed decent managerial, time management and analytical skills, although obtaining this master’s degree is essential to improve and apply these skills appropriately. My love for information technology has also grown especially in this age we find ourselves in. Over the years, I had only known how to use the basic Microsoft Office packages (Word & Excel) which are what I made use of during my undergrad days. The need for more knowledge has prompted me to take steps to expand my scope of information technology. I have recently completed an A+ certification course and I intend taking more courses. Of particular interest is data management where I hope to handle
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I have had to ‘make a fresh start’ in a system that is different from the one I grew up in. I took up various odd jobs in order to stabilize myself and I now work as a correctional officer. But that’s not where I want to end up in. I have enjoyed working in a project management environment in the past and I intend to work in this area in the future. Being faced with the challenge of living in a new environment empowered my desire to learn and strengthened my self-belief and perseverance. I am excited about the prospect of returning to higher education and completing a master’s degree to the best of my abilities. This would enhance my current academic level with advanced and newer knowledge professional

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