The Statement of Purpose (SOP) happens to be one of the essential pieces of your graduate admissions application.
Why? Because it gives the reviewers of your application an understanding of your field of interest and academic background. Your statement of purpose is what sets you apart from other applicants.
About 75% of graduate applications are ending up in the trash can because of a lousy SOP
Most students believe that the reviewers will not have the time to go through the massive number of SOPs that submitted to them. But this is not true.
SOP is one of the highest priority components in your graduate application. In general, the admission committee assigns at least two people to go through a single SOP.
The SOP is often the deciding factor while considering whether the university should accept a student.
What Are Reviewers Looking for in an Statement of Purpose ?
It is essential to take your time to write an excellent statement of purpose as they are the only part of the application that you can fully control.
Reviewers will take drastic measures about your capabilities from your statement of purpose essay. Here are some the things the admission committee look for in an SOP
- Your Story
Reviewers expect you to tell them your interest in the applying field, tell them about the person that you are.
Also, they want to know why the program at their university is crucial for your career and future goals.
Additionally, most reviewers read SOPs to assess whether the candidate is competent as well as a measure of their personality.
It does not necessarily mean that you have to write more about your childhood or a made-up story about how you get the intention to apply for graduate school.
Be honest and responsible about the things you write on a statement of purpose essay.
Most students seem to write more about an inspirational childhood story to convince the reviewers that they are incredibly interested. As a result, content about the interest in the relevant area of study might be missing from these essays.
The lack of technical and professional proficiency in these types of essays are easily discoverable. Most reviewers state that these types of statement of purpose essays are vulnerable enough to reject the application.
The only convincing you need to be doing in your statement of purpose is that you are interested and have been working on a relevant area of study.
- Connection
Furthermore, reviewers usually check to see if there is a connection or disconnection between a candidate’s SOP and their letters of recommendation. A good statement of purpose should show your enthusiasm to learn.
During your undergraduate studies, your areas of study are much broader (Compared to graduate studies). So writing about a broad subject area, projects you involved with, additional courses would not be the best idea.
Graduate studies are always focusing on an extremely narrow area of studies. Therefore, it would be a better idea to carefully choose the content you write under your experience on your statement of purpose.
Include only the relevant courses, course works, projects you involved while comparing them with the graduate program you chose.
- Background and Preparedness
The candidate’s SOP is an integral part of any application, which is evaluated with great attention to details by the reviewer. Hence, candidates should include a background consisting of their education details, volunteer work, work experience, and relevant personal experiences.
Universities like Harvard University want to know how the background has been able to prepare the candidate for further education at their university.
Reviewers are impressed when the students spend time learning about their field of interest from external resources. It shows the passion and courage of an individual.
- First Impression
Since universities receive many applications, to be able to stand out, you need to make a strong first impression.
Reviewers are most probably will judge your capabilities from the first three sentences you wrote in your statement of purpose essay.
An excellent first impression will allow the reviewer to pay attention to what you are saying, thereby giving you a higher chance of consideration and acceptance.
- Fill the Blanks
Your SOP is supposed to help fill in the blanks in your profile. Personal details about candidates mentioned in the SOP can sometimes make a world of difference when deciding about admission.
Maybe your graduate studies did not entirely cover some critical areas of your interest field of study.
Statement of purpose is a much better chance to convince reviewers that you wanted to learn those areas even though they did not include in your regular syllabus.
Online courses (MOOCs), workshops, and attending academic conferences are some of the best ways to gain knowledge externally.
What Not to Do with Your SOP?
Never write a generic statement of purpose! A statement of purpose is usually an indication of a candidate’s communication skills. A good communication skill is more critical for MS/MA/MBA students.
Most importantly, it must be unique. Your SOP should only demonstrate your personal experience and achievements.
If you copy some template from the internet, edit it, and use it as your statement of purpose, a lack of originality will show. Probably will be ended up with rejection.
Also, a candidate needs to research the university, the course, and the faculty. Please do your research and let it reflect in your SOP. A generic essay allows the reviewer to lose interest.
Conclusion
To have a better chance of getting admitted and taken seriously by the admission committee, you need to write an original and honest essay.
Your statement of purpose needs to intelligently connect your research interests and your future goals in an exciting field of study.
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