Mechanical Engineering Personal Statement Example 16

Being born as a son to two former engineers, I was raised in an environment where curiosity is treasured and nurtured.

It wasn't surprising that as I became older, my fascination towards science and technology also grew along with me.

My father -a mechanical engineer, turned corporate businessman - loves to tell me stories of how he would drive along the natural gas pipelines of Peninsular Malaysia and inspect the terminals where the compressor stations he helped designed were situated.

For a small village boy, stories of such strange machines intrigued me and it wasn't long before I started to turn to reading to feed this new hunger. I begged my parents to buy me books and encyclopedias with scientific articles the moment I knew how to read. My mother - an electrical engineer turned teacher - gladly complied. Eventually, reading became a hobby.

However, later on, during my late teens, I began to realise that such knowledge can only be useful if I use it for the sake of helping others and the environment. While I was in college, I volunteered in a program to motivate orphans of a rural village called Kampung Jijan.

I also searched for other ways to help out, play a part in society but there were too many problems on the face of the Earth that I couldn't decide at all. It wasn't until my final year in secondary school that I finally chose a cause to work for.

The whole cycle of extracting, processing and distributing petroleum has always given an impact on not just the environment but also towards the economy. Looking back on my father's job inspired me to one day develop a greener and more sustainable system of extraction and processing. I believe a career in mechanical engineering would be the best way to do so as it has varying degrees of roles in the industry.

From then on, with a goal in mind, I worked as hard as I could in studying and succeeded in getting straight A's with 7A+ in my SPM (Malaysian Certificate of Education). Soon after, I was able to land a scholarship with MARA (Indigenous People's Trust Council) to continue my studies in A-level.

In the effort to better improve myself, I ran for the Student Representative Council of my college and was elected as the Executive Council of Student Welfare. During my term, I founded the Student Welfare Bureau as a volunteering platform for students to become involved in improving the standard of living in the institution.

This position had given me the opportunity to hone my leadership skills and learn the traits of a leader as I lead the members of my bureau. Due to the overwhelming workload, I also had to learn to juggle my responsibilities efficiently.

Furthermore, I have entered various competitions such as The Star-English Speaking Union Malaysia Public Speaking Competition 2011 to further enhance my oratory and argumentative skills.

With determination and hard work, I successfully emerged as a finalist for the competition and was featured in several articles ( http://goo.gl/LXVf8 and http://goo.gl/ALqsq ) in The Star newspaper for my speeches which were entitled "Independence 101" and "Flavours".

In addition, I also organised a tour for my classmates and me to the PETRONAS Melaka Refinery Complex - an important source of crudes and condensates in Malaysia - where we learnt in further details the process of offshore oil drilling and fractional distillation.

I am confident in my abilities to fulfill my goals but I admit that I am lacking in experiences and knowledge.

However, I believe that all these can be obtained once I enter one of the five prominent universities I have chosen in the UK.

I hope that I will be selected as a student of mechanical engineering as this would certainly help turn my aspirations of becoming a professional engineer into a reality and contribute towards the betterment of the environment and my country's people.