My name is Sandeep Jaganath, and I am an engineering undergraduate student at the National University of Singapore. I expect to graduate in July 2009 with a major in Mechanical Engineering.
I am an Indian national, and did my schooling in India. Having been raised around a typical South Asian bias towards engineering over other faculties meant that I always favoured Engineering as my choice for university education. My deeper interest in physics and mechanics prompted me to apply for the Mechanical Engineering course at NUS, with eventual success.
I am an individual with varied interests. Aside from recreational sport, I am passionate about issues of animal rights, environment, health and nutrition. I have participated in projects such as movie screenings, exhibitions and other events both on and off campus to promote awareness on these subjects. I am also an avid reader and a member of several internet discussion forums on these issues. My pursuit of extra-curricular interests has helped me keep in touch with the problems, needs and evolving nature of the society and the world around me.
The broad-based curriculum at NUS has equipped me with knowledge in faculties such as the arts, economics and science as well. Having to take care of myself in a foreign country away from family has taught me to manage resources and responsibilities independently.
I am confident that the skills, values and knowledge I have acquired over the years will help me tackle challenges successfully and make the most of the opportunities to come.
Dear Ms. Lim,
ReplyDeleteMay I know if it is necessary to adhere to the "you-attitude" in bio-data seeing how most of the lines are invariably about "me", "my" interests etc?
If yes, could you please share some useful tips on how to incorporate the you-attitude here? I reviewed my blog post several times to see if it could be done, but there wasn't much scope.
Regards.
Hi Sandeep, thanks for the informative biodata above. You have shared with us very useful information about yourself, i.e. your passion in engineering as well as issues on animal and environmental rights. You have also mentioned briefly your strengths and skills, which is great. However, I would prefer to see less of your life as an undergraduate in Singapore and NUS. After all, your biodata is about yourself, your qualifications, your area of specialization, your achievements, your strengths, your interests etc.
ReplyDeleteDo you adhere to the 'you-attitude' here? Good question. What do you think? In a piece of writing, what would appeal to the reader? What about an autobiography? What would be the reader's expectation? In this case, you are writing your biodata, what would be the best approach?
I would love to hear your's and your classmates' comment on this [we could also discuss this in class when we discuss selected blog posts].
Dear Ms.Lim,
ReplyDeleteYes, I now understand what you mean by lesser emphasis on how NUS has helped me acquire skills and more focus on the skills themselves. I think this is a sign that I have spent too much time on writing resumes and cover letter for innumerable job applications (since i am graduating soon). Anyhow, I have edited the post, and hope it is better now.
As for the "you-attitude", I think it helps to keep a casual reader better engaged. But I also think it is most convenient to convey the point of the bio-data across with simpler sentences focussed on the subject himself/herself. For this reason, I think sticking to the "you-attitude" rule may not be essential here.
Hi Sandeep: Through our biodata, I realized that you love engineering a lot. As I have a lot of friends that are complaining about how bad engineering is when they are studying in the course. Perhaps my friends do not have the same amount of interests compare to you, that why they keep on complaining about it. By the way, did you participate in the "Earth Hour" as well?
ReplyDeleteHi Sandeep!
ReplyDeleteIt is very interesting to know that you are an environmentalist! Many people claimed themselves to be one, but I doubt many of them actually try to do their part as an environmentalist.
I like your research topic very much; it has intrigued me deeply. Prior to this, I did not know that meat consumption has so much devastating effect on the environment! I only thought that it cause massive deforestation only. You certainly taught us quite a few things there!
By the way, I think your Bio-data will be more interesting if you mention more things about yourself, like more facts about your achievements. In addition, I'm sure many of us would like to know your personality, character and such.
@Sin Fook: Yep, I was a volunteer at the NUS Earth Hour event at the SRC.
ReplyDelete@Sky: I tried to keep my bio-data more on the professional lines, because the blogging schedule mentions preparing a bio-data for job applications or something similar.
I'm glad our research topic interested you :)