Statement of Purpose (SOP) - General Tips

Statement of Purpose (SOP) - General Tips

The statement of purpose should convince readers– the faculty on the selection committee– that you have solid achievements behind you that show promise for your success in graduate study. Think of the statement of purpose as a composition with four different parts.

Important Links

1. What is Statement of Purpose (SOP)?
2. How to write Great SOP ?
3. Download Sample SOP [PDF]

1. 1. Avoid Childhood, Kinder garden and High School stories (Focus more on Under-Graduation)
2. 2. Every Paragraph somehow relates to your research area, interests and future
3. 3. What to include : weak vs strong if weak (keep it minimum as possible => Ways you are trying to overcome your weakness ( absolutely necessary)
4. 4. Avoid Excuses (Excuses is for losers) unless it is medical illness etc. You don’t want to make excuses, but you have to talk about the mistakes you’ve made as a learning experience
5. 5. Including Faculty with whom you want to work with => shows you have done your homework
6. 6. Write specifically for a department ; not an overly general statement
7. 7. Emphasize on positive perspective => Use ACTIVE VOICE not PASSIVE voice while writing
8. 8. Demonstrate everything by example; don’t say directly, for example, that you’re a persistent person—you must demonstrate it
9. 9. Demonstrate everything by example; don’t say directly, for example, that you’re a persistent person—you must demonstrate it.
10. 10. Make sure everything is linked with continuity and focus
11. 11. If you graduated and worked for a while and are returning to grad school, indicate what you’ve been doing while working and why you want to go to grad school.
12. 12. Give concise examples.
13. 13. Refrain from repeating yourself
14. 14. Have strong opening and closing paragraph.
15. 15. Thank the admissions committee for their time at the end of your statement of purpose.
16. 16. Length : General ( 1- 2 Pages standard font 12 pt, 1″ margins) Alarms!!!
17. 17. Personal information should be minimized, if needed eliminated if not relevant to research
18. 18. Don’t compare your SOP with other SOP since it’s you, you are unique so will be your SOP
19. 19. Don’t tell you are passionate about it => Show how passionate you are and what you did?
20. 20. Do not exceed the word limit (if mentioned). This shows you can ability to follow instructions.
21. 21. Don’t overuse “I” =>They already know it is your SOP
22. 22. Try to keep out of Platitudes, Clichés, Quotes & passages, Contractions ( Informal writing => Don’t, Can’t, Won’t)
23. 23. Don’t assume that everyone knows the Acronyms (NYU, NCSU, ASU, Gatech,UCLA)
24. 24. Refrain from starting neighboring paragraphs the same way.
25. 25. Avoid using vocabulary that you do not know or learned for GRE.
26. 26. Do not make things up!
27. 27. Don’t copy and paste from Sample Statement of Purpose from online sources.
28. 28. If possible don’t even search for sample. It hinders your creativity.
29. 29. Get the SOP reviewed
30. 30. Again – Be Original, Be Unique and Be Yourself.

That’s some tips to write your Graduate School Statement of Purpose.

In your Statement of Purpose try to answer most/all of these questions listed below to the admissions committee.