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imo, they are serious.

I have applied to U of T + 3 others and now I wait.

While these are not the best examples, they are successful SOPs from international students to Caltech. Start there... http://alumnus.caltech.edu/~natalia/studyinus/guide/statement/samples.htm

I understand, but it isn't too late to get a good app together. Many universities take applications right into march and even april. Once you have an excellent app together, and people willing to write letters on your behalf, you might as well apply while it is all still fresh! remember, the supervisor needn't have identical research interests to your own. good luck, and I hope whatever you decide works for you.

I meant that you should apply to other institutions in addition to your primary choice. There is always a chance that you will not get in, and given your worries, you should make contact with many professors. Since you have more direction, you would probably have a better chance of admission. You can decide which is the best fit once you have a bunch of offers. Applying to 12 places is a lot and you could certainly write an excellent application to 3 or 4 institutions. There are people of all ages in graduate school. You may even feel young as a 30 year doctoral student.

Apply to other institutions.

stories of personal growth and other such anecdotes, in my opinion, do not belong in an admissions statement for graduate school. these are generally filler and utterly useless. the requirement of the original poster seems fairly standard and is worded to cut through all the superfluous information that the adcom must receive. all of that info could definitely be included in a single page. write it out and we can help you edit it down.

I think that you should hold your degree in higher esteem because not everyone can successfully accomplish an engineering degree. I have glanced at your paragraph. It is too technical and does not refer to your ideas and objectives. Perhaps you will find this format useful: "While studying structural engineering, I became fascinated with LRFD because it represents a significant improvement over ASD. I believe that the statistical approach used in LRFD could be used in other facets of structural engineering, such as..., to improve the efficiency of ... Therefore, for my dissertation, I would like to... in order to". Use this as a starting point and incorporate it into your first paragraph.

It's pretty good. A once over of the writing style may be useful to tighten up some sentences, but it is specific.

You may want to rephrase your opening paragraph using a standardized format such as "I am interested in such and such aspect of statistics". "This is an interesting and meaningful subdiscipline because". "I would like to research this further in order to". "The graduate degree will help me achieve my career goals of ... because" Your second paragraph could easily be incorporated into your first. This would leave room to talk about your excellent preparation for a graduate degree and how wonderful of a student you are. Is there a professor in the department whose research interests intersect with your own? Now would be the time to mention him or her. You can mention if you have made contact with a potential supervisor. What you have written is not terrible but it isn't specific.

i'd think that the last thing you'd want is your phd supervisor feeling duped because he or she would have avoided taking you on as a student. it's hard to imagine a committee of people deciding to reject a person based on their parental status - but i guess it must happen.

I personally wouldn't - it could even harm your chances. there are lots of ivy league educated parents with terror children.

your pedigree is completely irrelevant.your choice of university should be based only on your intellectual goals and to a lesser degree on your career goals.

I applied to a department that had a 1000 character limit on the application but soon after submitting, the graduate coordinator e-mailed to inform me that a 1 page letter is preferable and would be appended to my application. It might be useful to contact your department to find out if they would accept a full length statement, in addition to your abstract.

How long has it been? If it has been over 3 weeks then I would politely remind your referee in person that you need your report submitted as soon as possible.

Have you looked at any example SOPs online? Here are some examples of successful statements from international and american students: http://alumnus.caltech.edu/~natalia/studyinus/guide/statement/samples.htm Your opening paragraph is vague. The admissions committee already knows what you are applying to. You should follow a format such as "I am interested in..." "Therefore, I would like to study...". "It is my goal to" "Professor X would be a good fit to supervise this research because..." "I would be an excellent fit in department Y at university Z because" "I have excellent preparation for research of this sort because" etc Be specific and only focus on positives. E.g., you could replace "my academic background is not in a technical field however..." with "my undergraduate degree in linguistics has prepared me for work in computer science because". I would exclude your 'no hard drive' anecdote since it does not express how booting from a floppy has helped you develop analytical skills. It isn't anything impressive. Focus on your accomplishments during your internship and work experience. Your statement has not expressed an academic purpose - what aspect of computer science do you want to study and what do you hope to achieve.

It is well written but try to incorporate paragraphs 1 and 4 since your opening is a bit vague.

"I am pursuing ... in" change this to "I am interested in..." (...) "I would like to study..." (...) "Graduate studies at...would help me accomplish this by..." Be specific - you won't be held to your SOP but it will show the committee and your potential supervisor that you have direction and vision.

Writing the SOP was a breeze compared to writing my MSc manuscripts and scholarship applications. Remember that you are mostly going up against terrible writers. Focus on style, use proper grammar and be concise. You don't need to take the academically dishonest path. Writing an SOP should not be difficult.

Your admissions committee wants to know: (1) your specific research interests; (2) your academic and professional goals; (3) your specific reasons for choosing their department; and (4) why you are a great researcher and student. The death of your friend and your subsequent solution to drunk driving is a good example of how engineering can solve human problems. However, the project sounds impressive on its own - you needn't invoke the death of your friend. I suggest that you read some sample letters before reconstructing yours. You can try this caltech site which includes a number of successful letters written by international students: http://alumnus.calte...ent/samples.htm Good luck

Hi, I think that your opening paragraph should be more specific. Before discussing your academic background, you should explicitly state your research interests and academic goals. You should then state your reasons for applying to the department. Only then should you discuss why you are a great researcher and student. In its current form, the admissions committee will have to dig for this information. Good luck.