For PhD admission - Personal Statement Example

My desire to attain my PhD at the of Maryland in Criminal Justice is not a choice that I have made flippantly. Instead, it is the result of years of study and a further thirst and desire for knowledge relating to criminal justice that has been exhibited throughout my educational career; as well as my brief professional experience. Ultimately, it is my innate belief that by attaining a PhD from the University of Maryland, I will master even further research based knowledge with regard to my interests in Criminal Justice and how these relate to prescient issues that are faced in both global and domestic environment.

The program itself is predicated on a heavy research background; something that I am partially familiar with and interested in understanding and engaging to a more profound degree.Essentially, my current research background has been limited to a 2012 publication in the Academic Journal of Chongqing University of Posts and Telecommunications. However, I also engaged in a great deal of research with respect to my Master’s degree while studying at the University of New Haven. Moreover, my internship at China Taiping Insurance Company helped me to realize that very few current issues that are represented throughout the world can be addressed without performing adequate research and understanding the unique variables that tie in to each and every situation.

Quantitative and qualitative research in terms of crime prevention and sociological understanding are of primal interest to me as well. Although I only had a few opportunities to leverage these interests in undergraduate school, I fully intend on focusing on both of these methodological approaches within a graduate program. Likewise, focusing on crime theory and sociological ramifications of crime is a predominant interest that I have with regard to the field. Similarly, as with any other field of study, understanding dynamics of crime and crime prevention ultimately reduces to an understanding of finance; something that further intrigues me.

Essentially, these are two differentiated research interests and ones that I believe can lead to further relevant understanding of the field of criminal justice. The first relates to the way in which crime can be better understood and potentially prevented, whereas the second is mainly contingent upon the resources that individual departments allocate to crime scene investigation and how this correlates with their overall rates of successfully solved crimes. Obviously, these two research interests are not the only ones I have, however, they are the ones that have come to my attention as salient and relevant topics within the realm of criminal justice over the past several years.

Further, my background in mathematics and the interpretation of quantitative research has provided me with both the interest and the ability to perform at a high level with respect to the graduate program that I am applying for. As the background in mathematics is essential in understanding and accurately representing statistics and other numerical representations of data, I believe it will provide a helpful and extraordinarily powerful stepping stone for the furtherance of my education and my professional career.

With admission to the program in question, I fully believe that new pathways will be opened up and a new level of interest might be piqued with regard to different aspects of criminal justice. As such, I am not putting myself forward for admission based upon a pre-determined research project but rather illustrating some of the interests that I believe might be pursued as a function of shedding further light on the way in which criminal justice is practiced and understood by stakeholders. From the information that has been represented within this statement of interest, it is my profound hope that my academic interests, in tandem with my prior research and training, will cause the University of Maryland to consider my application for admission and provide me the opportunity to gain a further grasp upon higher levels of understanding relating to criminal justice.