University of Minnesota, Fall 2014 My attempt at civil engineering began with a stint at my uncle's company, 'Transys Consulting Services Pvt. Ltd.', which specialized in infrastructure construction.Over the years, my experience working in certain sectors of construction, ignited in me a deep interest and zeal for studying civil engineering and ultimately made it my career choice my studies in civil engineering at SRM university which is an ABET, accredited course in the United States. Pioneering courses such as Mechanics of Solids and Strength of Materials laid the foundation of structural engineering. I was further intrigued by the courses in Structural Analysis and Earthquake and Special Structures. I then decided to major in structural engineering and embrace it as a career option. During my senior year, I had the opportunity to lead a team working on a project titled “Analysis and Design of a water supply system for a colony". We analyzed the water source, designed the intake structures such as ground level RCC tanks, elevated RCC tanks, planned a distribution network and prepared a comprehensive cost estimate. During the course of this project, I gained valuable experience in using professional software such as STAAD.Pro, EPANET and AutoCAD. My understanding further expanded with 2 internships of 2 weeks each that I did during my university studies. The first internship was at Trident and Oberoi Hotels, Hyderabad, where I was engaged in designing and executing pile foundations and carrying out pile load testing. As a result, I understood the construction sequence of the cast-in-place bored pile and its load testing using the Kentledge method. My second internship was at the Airport Authority or...... middle of paper ......Structures, earthquake resistant structure design, prestressed concrete structure design and bridge engineering. Your university brochure and department website suggest experienced faculty with sophisticated research facilities. I am very interested in Dr. Arturo E. Schultz's research on health monitoring of transportation facilities and with my knowledge of transportation facilities, I wish to possibly work with him. This admission to the University of Minnesota will ultimately help me realize my dream of becoming an entrepreneur and owner of a structural engineering consulting firm, specializing in cost-effective and optimized structural design, especially for civil infrastructure projects. Considering my solid academic knowledge and industry experience, I request you to consider my application for a Masters in Civil Engineering at your prestigious university.