12 Tips For Writing High Impact Statement of Purpose

A statement of purpose (SOP) or college admission essay plays an important role in the graduate school admission process.

It indirectly speaks about you – who you are, what have you accomplished, how you will contribute to the development of the university, and many more.

An SOP must be crafted to explain some important questions that any graduate admission committee will be looking for in every candidate who applies for college/graduated school admission.

Statement of Purpose – A Complete Guide contains tips from a computer science assistant professor.

And here are a few more tips that can be included in your SOP that will likely make your application standout from the rest of the students who apply for college admission.

  1. Clearly state your area(s) of interest
  2. Opportunity to your state educational and research accomplishments
  3. Relate your accomplishments to a planned research interest in a graduate program.
  4. Include awards, certifications, paper publications, etc.
  5. Outline any teaching and work experience
  6. Teaching experience(s) will help you get a TA position
  7. List leadership roles from previous work and school related activities
  8. List volunteer work
  9. Focus on the positive side of your accomplishments
  10. Tailor on the specific program; mention faculty with whom you would like to study with
  11. Use correct paragraph construction, spelling, and grammar to demonstrate writing ability
  12. Length: brief but informative, and stay within any stated page limits  (max of 2 pages).

Recommendation letters also play a major role in the admission process.

Here are some of tips on writing recommendation letters and some sample recommendation letters.

Similar Posts

17 Comments

  1. hi, thanks for these wonderful tips.

    I'm writing my sop to continue my education in order to get my M.A.

    Please send me sop in French literature. Thanks

  2. Hi.i have master in microbiology ,i want to study in U.S. in molecular biotechnology as a master (i want to get another master).so could you please help me get an sop?thank you

  3. Hi.I finished my U.G. in Aeronautical engineering and would be applying for msc aerospace in U.K.I would like to have sample sop to have in reference in writing my sop.So plz could you send me one.Thankyou.

  4. Please send me an SOP FOR METALLURGICAL ENGINEERING………and which U.S. universities are better for M.S IN metallurgy/materials science.

  5. Additionally, I think POINT #1 should be ‘maintain the human touch’. I have read several of these SOPs and the best ones not only highlight briefly all you have outlined, but have their personal story sprinkled within. This kind of SOP is not cut and dry, though it has all the ‘cut and dry elements’ but it really is a true testament to creative writing. These have personal stories – examples from one’s life that highlight some of the cut and dry elements but make them stand out more- makes the reader visualize what this person has experienced rather than just read some boring words on a paper.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *