Personal Statement:Speech and Language Processing

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Speech and Language Processing Personal Statement

My main reasons for applying to the course is firstly to increase my knowledge, secondly because I find the subject matter interesting, and finally to help me achieve my ultimate career goals. I was introduced to linguistics through flatmates at York who were studying in the Language & Linguistics Science department. I found their course material very interesting, specifically the syntax, semantics and phonology modules. In my own Computer Science degree I found the modules that were related to the topics my flatmates were studying - Chomsky grammars in Theory of Computation and syntax in the compiler construction modules, particularly engaging and interesting, and these modules ranked among my favourite. Whilst working in industry during my sandwich year, I made the realisation that I wanted to work in industry in a role that was not just software development, but one that allowed me more freedom including the opportunity to do research and work on the state of the art. I decided that gaining a Masters degree in a more specialist area would give me greater opportunity to do this, and a degree combining my knowledge in Computer Science gained as an undergraduate with the interest in linguistics I discovered would be the best option available to me.

Currently, my ultimate career plan is to work in industry in a research & development role. I feel that my chances of getting such a role, as opposed to a more usual software development role, would be greatly increased with a masters degree. I made the decision to study in a specialist area I find interesting and enjoy in order to make my ultimate work in industry more interesting and rewarding. I have not, however, ruled out the possibility of further academic research completely, although I believe it to be unlikely, and I await the experiences of a year ahead to fully shape my decisions.

I feel that the course structure and module choices at Edinburgh provides a good fit to what I desire to learn during a Masters degree, and the academic excellence of the University would also support my desire to use my postgraduate degree. When discussing postgraduate choices with my current academic supervisor, Edinburgh was the first University I was recommended to look in to.

With my past experience with computing through my Computer Science degree at York, in addition to my interest and limited academic experience in linguistics through the natural language processing module I will be taking in May/June, I hope that I will be able to add myself to the course, as well as to the discipline in general through my dissertation.

Non-academically I've been involved in the JCR Committee of my college at York - Alcuin, in the form of IT Officer, and additionally I am currently Technical Director for the student newspaper and website Nouse. As part of this role I'm in charge of organising two teams - a technical one and web content one, as well as liaising with the other senior editors and directors and individual section editors and external bodies, as well as being ultimately responsible for the website and the infrastructure in the office.

Universities Applied to:

• University of Sheffield (MSc Computer Science with Speech and Language Processing)

Grades Achieved:

• Unknown

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