What drives me/is my passion?

What drives me to pursue a Ph.D.? Well, it is hard to say. I don't seem to be driven by noble motivations, such as world peace or the welfare of human beings. I would guess there are two things that lead me to the doctoral program.

First, it might be my family and life experience. Both my father and my uncle are professors. They are well respected and set models of success for me when I was a kid. I grew up in a university campus. Most of my neighbors and a great number of my family's friends are professors or work for the university. I guess this influenced my perception of what a good life is like, and thus my decision to go for a doctorate degree with the hope of getting a position in academia after graduation.

Second, it is my interest in doing research. While working as a programmer, I sometimes got bored with doing the same stuff repeatedly everyday. Research thus draws my attention as a way to discover new things. Although I am often considered as a "techy person", I have a broad range of interests and enjoying read about various subjects, including politics, business and history. Therefore, I've been expecting an opportunity to to integrate knowledge from different disciplines. That might be one of the reasons why I applied for this program, because IST hosts a diverse body of faculty members and provides a good environment for interdisciplinary research.