Statement of Purpose
My decision to pursue the Master of Data Science at the University of British Columbia[1] is not a pivot. It is a continuation of a trajectory that began in my second undergraduate year, when I built a recommendation system for the campus library at Delhi Technological University[2] that cut average search-to-checkout time by 31%[3].
Since then, I have worked for two and a half years[4] as a junior machine-learning engineer at a Bangalore fintech, shipping credit-risk models used in production by more than 4 million monthly active customers[5]. This work taught me what coursework could not: that domain judgment, not model choice, is the binding constraint. I want the program at UBC specifically because Professor Alessandro Valcarenghi[6]'s work on interpretable gradient-boosted risk models maps onto my next decade of career.
My ties to India[7] remain strong. My parents own a small retail business in Gurgaon[8] that I intend to modernize on my return; my sister and brother-in-law are physicians in Delhi. My spouse, who will remain in India for the program duration, works as a senior clinical research associate — a role with no Canadian equivalent in her seniority band.
My funding is fully secured: CAD $52,400 in a GIC[9], plus a confirmed sponsorship from my employer for the first academic year