Khalifa University Statement of Purpose - Personal Statement Example

I had only completed my grade 7 education when dad came home one day, very upset, dull and frustrated. Since that day, my life changed for the worst. I remember vividly how enjoyable life was before until this day that my dad was fired from his job as a database administrator at Adobe Center. I could not fathom much by then. All I knew is that everything changed drastically and it became inevitable for me to face the miserability of life. I kept questioning the reason I had to switch from private to public school, why we had to shift to living in shanties, and the reason life was becoming so unbearable. Until one day when dad told me that while he was on duty working at Adobe Center, the database was compromised by some malicious hackers and that he lost his job as a result. His statement was brief as though he left something for me to figure out.

When I joined high school, my computer science teacher noticed my enthusiasm when I first asked him what is a database, how it can be hacked, and why would someone lose a job due to system hacking. Honestly, I did not understand any of these terms, and I needed someone to explain it to me. Although my computer science teacher told me that the concepts are studied at an advanced level, he elucidated the idea using laymans language. Little did I know it would trigger more interests than ever before. Since my primary school education, I was always a smart science and mathematics student. To this list, I added computer science in high school, which has become part of me.

While studying my undergraduate degree in Computer science at the United Arab Emirates University, the contingency theory, security policy theory, management system theory and risk and management theories that were taught by Professor Walid Ibrahim grabbed my attention because they shed light on my endeavor to understand how my dad lost his job. Indeed, I learned later that all these theories were conjoined to build the theory of Information Security Management (ISM). My desire to comprehend the sophisticated issue of information security has been fueled by the recent case of cybercrimes and attacks like the case of ransomware that compromised many systems in different countries in the world. To dig deep into the aspect of information security, I have studied various security courses such as sans sec 201, 401, 411, 480, 511 and 620 beside my course work during my undergraduate studies.

While working as an intern at the National Bureau of Statistics, I was appointed to work with a group of system analysts to assess the security potholes and weaknesses of this body. I felt challenged because I could not contribute much. Indeed, I learned more than I contributed while working on this project. I felt as though I am not fully equipped, and I have opted to pursue my career to higher educational levels. Even though many universities are offering this course at masters level in the nation, I have chosen Khalifa University due to its reputation in the pursuit of the advancement of science and technology. I want to be a part of this institution that will help in achieving its vision of becoming a leading international center for higher education and research in technology and science.