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Hi all-- I'm currently working on my application for a Biological and Biomedical Sciences PhD program, and was wondering...What are the best resources for getting help writing a Statement of Purpose? I've already written my Statement, but am looking for feedback and ways to make it better. Any suggestions would be helpful. (I looked into paid editing services already, but was told that most schools don't allow this, or discourage applicants from using these services.) Thank you for your help.

I wrote two introductions for my SOP for Harvard University, both taking a bit of a different approach. These are, of course, rough, and will probably not make it into my SOP without significant editing. My research interests center on the broad intersection of gender and ethnicity in American cities during the twentieth century. I am particularly interested in the way that second-generation immigrant- specifically, Italian, Greek, and Jewish -women were present in the public sphere. Using their involvement in sexuality, fashion, beauty, consumption, and political movements as a focal point, I intend to complicate the current historical narrative around immigrant women, which centers around their productivity. Further, I seek to highlight the attitudinal differences across generations and the place of non-Protestant religions in female life. I have an ancillary interest in the way that American culture and society reacted to these women, paying particular attention to media and cultural texts. Above all, I am interested in the immigrant identity in the second generation and its expression by women. or I am applying to the PhD program in history at Harvard University in order to explore the broad intersection of gender and ethnicity in urban America during the twentieth century. Using sexuality, fashion, beauty, consumption, and involvement in political movements as a focal point, I intend to research the lives of second-generation Italian-, Greek-, and Jewish-American women and the expression of an immigrant identity. I have an ancillary interest in the way that American society reacted to this expression, paying particular attention to media and cultural texts. Any feedback would be much appreciated!

Hello, I have some research experience, but not a whole lot. But I do have a good amount of work experience, extracurricular activities, and volunteer experience that's related to my major and the field I want to study in a PhD program. Are there any tips on how to incorporate everything and make me look like a good candidate even though I may not have as much research experience but a ton of everything of everything else that can translate to good research experience? Through my work experience I definitely have some research interests in mind by the way. Thanks in advance!

Hello everyone! I'm in the process of applying for a Graduate program which requests I submit a Statement of Purpose. This is my first time doing one so I would really appreciate any advice on how to make mine better before I submit it. If you are up for reading what I have so far please send me a PM and I'll send you a PDF of it (unless you want a .word or .Page file instead). The program I'm applying for is Aging and Neuroscience so if you happen to have any advanced education in either topic then I would especially appreciate your advice! I look forward to your help, and I appreciated you taking the time to look it over.

Hey all, Some people have told me that, before applying to PhD programs, it's a good idea to contact the faculty members with which you wish to work. I was just wondering what types of things people generally say or ask while reaching out to potential faculty. Thanks in advance!

Hi all! I am about to apply for the Post bacc program in Communication Disorders at SUNY New Paltz. Anyone who applied before notice that the app doesnt require a letter of rec? Am I reading it wrong? Just want to be 100% sure. Any tips for writing a good statement of purpose? I have never written one before. Also, any other speech post bacc programs online that allow start in the Spring or late fall? I only noticed Northwestern but that one is too expensive. Thanks!

I plan to apply for a scholarship and Could someone to help me for advice SOP? as below : My passion with data science started to grow when I studied Master’s degree. I found that big data is powerful tools which can help business with analyzing the mass of data and making decisions. With the ability to analyze new sources of data, businesses are able to analyze information immediately. Such first insight of how data is more essential for organization incited me to delve further into the field. Because of love in data over the years, I have been able to devote the time and energy to academic accomplishment. I have A- and B in Business Intelligence and Database Management respectively. In addition to focusing on my own studies, I also learned to program in Data Mining, which in turn, fascinated me to apply the concept in my project “Statistics of student resignation based on 2007 - 2012”. The project uses components such as Microsoft SSIS. I have run into roadblocks using this process, which led me to an alternative approach which relies on using staging tables. Moreover, During my job at ABC company as a BI Analyst, I have effectively designed an interactive reports project which showcases client's sales performance and at the same time provides them which help CEO in business decisions. It was be achieved by cleansing data from different sources by executing the process flows and use OWB to manage metadata for generate reports. Now I am working at TEST company in the position of Data Management. To drive the performance of leasing business, I assigned to design new ER diagram where I solved data structures problem relating to Leasing business. Apart from these, I have also effectively generated unstructured data into client-specific format with the data tools such as SAS. For the SAS BI project, I was introduced to the concepts of ETL, analysis of variance and design of experiments which were used to relate the factors considered, analyze the differences among the different user requirement and perform on dashboard. I aspire to work as a data analysis, and University of ABC would enable me to realize aspirations and interests that exceed my existing career. Furthermore, with the reputation of high quality education is the main factors which have encouraged me to apply this university. In the future, I would like to share my knowledge from what I have learned through the University of ABC for student in Thailand and share vision of working towards a more just and equitable world. Finally, Completing this degree studies at university should provide the experience for me to achieve my aspirations Thank you for this review

Is anyone interested in mutual assistance with their applications to universities for masters and phd? I'm thinking reviewing each other's statement of purpose, offering suggestions, reviewing applications and answers to their questions, etc. Tips on studying for the GRE, etc? All free mutual assistance. I am applying to a masters degree at an ivy league school. We can use this forum or other platforms. Hope to hear from people.

One of the hardest parts about grad school applications is writing your statement of purpose (SOP). When I was working on mine last year, I had no idea where to start. So, instead of Googling it and ending up with a generic SOP, I attended three different open houses and asked a lot of questions to find out what schools really look for. In the end, the answer was pretty simple: Schools want to know that you can be successful academically, even when faced with obstacles. With that in mind, I made a list of the challenges I faced throughout graduate studies and picked the ones I thought would best show the qualities that SLP programs seek: persistence, dedication, confidence, and a passion for helping others. I wrote about how I worked full time and studied at night, and how I still managed to make the dean's list. I wrote about how I did not initially qualify for any graduate programs, but found out what I needed to do and persisted in meeting those requirements. "GRAD SCHOOL IS HARD!" This is what everyone tells us. Admissions committees just want to know that you are a candidate who will not give up when things get tough, and that you are a person who will go above and beyond to become a well-rounded clinician. So before you write your SOP, make an outline: What made you want to become an SLP? What challenges did you face while working on the academic requirements, and how did you overcome those challenges? What qualities do you have that helped you face those challenges? (Focus on qualities important for SLPs) What are the things the school is most proud of? (Have a unique paragraph for each school, describing what specific things made you want to go there) Why is that school the best option to help you reach your goal of becoming an SLP? When you have the answers to these questions, it will be a lot easier to start working on writing your essay. Please add any additional tips below! I know I would have loved a thread like this last year when I started working on applications!

Hey all, I'm starting to draft my statement of purpose and was wondering if any of you had any advice about the general structure of how the statement should look. It'd be great to hear any other advice as to what you believe the the essential aspects of a successful statement are Applying to sociology PhD programs and a couple of MA programs in theology, but would be happy to hear advice from those outside of these disiciplines as well. Thanks in advance!

I am a freshman Computer Science student who is applying for a prestigious research internship at IST Austria. This is my SOP: I am applying as an intern at the Lampert Group for Computer Vision and Machine Learning at IST Austria. Being aware that the best way to learn about any field is to start working on it, I decided to take up a project on Machine Learning. My journey as a Machine learning newbie began with this project. After some thorough searching, I thought about solving the problem of classification on unbalanced datasets. It is difficult to implement classification algorithms on these datasets as there is a danger of overlapping of classes. Solving this problem led me to this paper on Mahalanobis Data-Oversampling. It uses Mahalanobis distance as a metric to measure the covariance in place of the the euclidean distance. It also made me realise the importance of machine learning in solving real life problems like detection of anomalies, fraud detection in banking transactions, etc. Success in this project led me to another project on an interesting problem. I took up a project on the problem of audio classification. Substantial work had been done on a similar problem of image classification. Here, deep learning and convolutional neural networks succeeded where traditional techniques had previously failed. Some of these networks even passed human classifiers in accuracy. Audio classification brought with it a different set of interesting challenges. SVMs and deep convolutional networks continued to dominate the scene here too. Initially, I solved a simpler single label classification problem on the Google Audioset. Taking cue from the results obtained, I tried solving a similar problem for multiple-labels. During this, I learned about many multi-label classification algorithms and also about the various problems in multi-label classification. This also gave me the required exposure to a variety of problems like incorrect labelling, computationally expensive applications, etc. This also cleared my brain of misconceptions about having a lucky breakthrough in science. The goal of research is not to publish but to make an impact to the field. It is important to fail in research and learn from the failures. It also helped me on my journey from a machine learning newbie to a machine learning enthusiast. During my work on the audio classification problem, my professor recommended me to use Zernike descriptors for the project. Studying about Zernike desciptors helped me cultivate a different approach towards my problem and introduced me to Image Processing. Zernike moments help in giving an invariant transform of images and play a big role in Computer Vision too. Learning more about Zernike descriptors led me to study their applications in 3D object retrieval and other fields like bioonformatics too. I also became aware of the interesting problems in Computer vision like learning from continuous data. One of the most important work to solve this problem is being performed at IST Austria. In my whole journey, I realised the importance of having an excellent peer group and teachers. Lampert Group has been involved in solving some of the most intriguing and difficult problems of computer vision. Working there will help me learn from some of the most esteemed professors in this field and also help me progress in my journey from a machine learning enthusiast to a machine learning student. This is the first time ever that I have written a statement of purpose. I would love to receive your feedback regarding the same.

Hi guys! I came across this post on facebook recently- I follow a lot of these GRE related pages in the hope of finding something exactly like this Anyway, this appears to be a webinar by a graduate of Stanford University on how to approach writing your SOP for your Masters or PhD. I've attended one of her webinars on a different subject before, she had some great advice to give. So I thought I should share this in case anybody else is looking for tips and would like some quality advice. Here is the link to the facebook post- PS- I copied the link to the webinar from their facebook page- http://bit.ly/2mUlmkQ

"Every carbon atom in every living thing on this planet was produced from the heart of a dying star." As a child I found the infinite vastness of the universe as a mesmerizing and overwhelming.People often experience fear when the word, "Nuclear" is mentioned. In high school, my innate curiosity of the universe was silenced by my strong fear of math, physics and chemistry courses. It was not until my first year in undergraduate studies that my childhood passion was ignited by a challenge from my professor, Mr. Newton to major in STEM. Once again my curiosity was sparked to further explore the grandeur of the universe through Nuclear Engineering Technology. With my passion, I became stronger as a student and as a person. For my academics, I received two scholarships: Department of Energy's WORC Grant and Nuclear Regulatory Commission's Trade School Scholarship. I began to network with professionals in my field of interest. I interned with the Mechanical and Electrical Departments of Southern Nuclear Company. I participated the American Nuclear Society (ANS) Student Program for the 2017 Winter Conference. I become apart of the Young Professionals Group of ANS. I was appointed Vice President of the Excelsior College American Nuclear Society Student Section. Through volunteering in STEM workshops and speaking at conferences, my greatest experience in undergraduate studies was inspiring female high school students the possibilities in the Nuclear Industry. in My passion transcended into a bigger opportunity as I accepted a job offer within the nuclear industry. As a future Nuclear Engineer, I would broaden my platform and expose people to the positives of this vital energy source. After receiving my masters and advancing in my career into retirement, I would like to become a professor of engineering and influence my students to major in something challenges and expand their insights to their potential. Through my journey, I have learn that a driven work ethic with a passion would bring many opportunities. As Mr. Newton did, I challenge myself to succeeding further in my studies of Nuclear Engineering with University of Pittsburgh.

If I post one of my SOP's here? Can I get some comments and feedback please? Writing is not my strong suit so any help would be incredible.

Hey! I've been way too stressed out obsessing over my SOP and would love any feedback from a fresh pair of eyes. Many thanks. After completing my bachelor’s in linguistics at ------ and three years of national service with AmeriCorps, I now seek a master’s in speech-language pathology in order to pursue a career in early intervention services. I am most interested in working with a nonprofit or state program such as Early Start to provide therapy to children and families free of charge. Working with AmeriCorps has been invaluable in developing my awareness of both how important social justice and working with children in early childhood are to my professional and personal goals. Throughout this work, I have confirmed the importance of using my strengths to serve my community in the most effective and equitable way possible. My freshman year at ------- I began working with -------, which trains teams of young people to implement a literacy-focused curriculum in under-resourced preschool classrooms. I loved my mornings with the group of preschoolers assigned to me, and I relished the challenge of tailoring the ------ curriculum to students with varying language abilities due to age, learning English as a second language, or different rates of language development. I spent another year with --------- where I took on the role of Family Involvement Coordinator, in which I ensured families were informed about their child’s educational progress. I currently work with the education nonprofit ---------, where I have had the opportunity to expand upon existing tutoring and mentoring skills while also growing in leadership skills. I work closely with a partner teacher in a third grade classroom to provide academic and behavioral support throughout the school day. Four times a week I pull out groups of children at least one grade level behind in math and English for targeted intervention. Thanks to --------, I have had the chance to work on a diverse team of 16 other Corps Members, build relationships with educators, school administrators, and the speech-language pathologist who works with two students in the classroom I serve. Looking back on my years in education, there is no doubt that I love working one-on-one and in small groups with children. Speech-language pathology gives me the chance to do this while also incorporating linguistics into my future career. After taking -------'s Introduction to Phonetics and Phonology as a required course for the linguistics major I was in awe of human speech and hearing physiology. Wanting to learn more, I looked into the department’s Linguistics Research Apprentice Practicum and was immediately drawn to the dissertation project of ---------. The spring of my sophomore year I began to work with ------, work that I continued until after graduation. I assisted with her dissertation on the effect of altered auditory feedback on articulation of the American English [r]. I helped with acoustic analysis in the program Praat and used R to process data. I conducted a literature review of similar projects to inform the experimental design. I ended up discovering papers that also discussed altered auditory feedback, but instead of investigating articulatory compensation, these experiments showed the value of altered auditory feedback for people who stutter. I found the results fascinating and I started to read more and more about speech and language disorders. I confirmed my interest as I took coursework -------- offers at all related to the field. I took a language acquisition class in which my favorite parts of the curriculum discussed phonological development and childhood language and developmental disorders. I went on to take a linguistic field methods course in which I worked in a small group of students with a speaker of Kana, an Ogoni language of Nigeria, to describe the language, addressing everything from phonetics to semantics. The course was invaluable for real world practice transcribing using the IPA and identifying non-English speech sounds. Finally, I took an introduction to neurobiology to inform my interest in language and the brain and a speech and communication disorders course in which I received an introduction to aphasia and fluency disorders. These courses, as well as my research experience with --------, have inspired an interest in pursuing research and a PhD after I practice speech-language pathology for some time. My research interests include early childhood language development and multilingual populations. ---------’s program will give me the opportunity to complete a thesis and continue to grow in my research skills. The program’s strong multicultural focus is essential as I plan to continue to work with diverse populations. The wide range of clinical practicums available, including the Child Clinic at the ---------- Center for Communication Disorders housed right in the department, will allow me to gain relevant experience that is directly related to my career goals.

Hello, all! I was wondering if anyone would be willing to give me some feedback on my SoP for a terminal MA program in Classical Studies. It's due in February, so I have a bit of time to make corrections before I send it off. Thanks in advance!

I am confused. If there is no upload location for the letter of intent that is required for a school, do I include/attach it to my curriculum vitae pdf? It's U of Nev.

Hello, I have a question regarding word and page count guidelines. Some Statement of Purpose guidelines say to keep it under 500 words, but people on this forum have indicated that it is not necessary to strictly adhere to these restrictions. Some program websites have also gone out of their way to say it is not a strict cutoff, while others don't specify. The same applies for word/page counts on writing samples. If this is the case, what would you say the limit is? For example, for a 500 limit, is 600 too far over the threshold? 700? 800? I typically follow the rules provided, so I automatically don't feel extremely comfortable submitting anything over 500 in this case. My current letter as stands is ~700 words and I am not eager to cut any of it down any further, but I am also hesitant to submit something ~40% larger than requested. Thanks!

This is pretty last minute, but hopefully this will be of use to other people applying down the road as well. This is my current version of my essay for the University of Virginia. I'm specifically interested in feedback on the strength, or lack thereof, of the introduction. Any and all feedback is welcome. “The Annals of Rome were the mirrors into which revolutionaries constantly gazed in search of self-recognition”, observes Simon Schama in his history of the French Revolution. His statement highlights two themes which occupy my research: the eighteenth-century’s fascination with the fashioning of identity, and the receiver’s role in the production of historical meaning. The great Roman orators these men “recognized” in the mirror were in part effigies of their own making, a synthesis of historical fact and politicized projection. Reception scholars have recently grappled with this issue, and the metaphor of history as a mirror reflects a prevailing trend in the discipline, abbreviated by Charles Martindale’s dictum that meaning “is always realized at the point of reception.” This perspective marks an intriguing shift of emphasis from historical “fact” to the interpretation of historical events and objects by subsequent audiences. In this spirit, my research explores how Enlightenment political consciousness shaped, and was shaped by responses to antiquity. A sojourn in Berlin sparked my interest in the phenomenon of German philhellenism, the origins of which I would trace in my summa cum laude thesis on the politics of aesthetics in the work of Johann Joachim Winckelmann. Drawing on my training in art history and Early Modern philosophy, I examined Winckelmann’s decision to vilify the Romans and embrace the Greeks as the true model of antique perfection. Following threads started by Alex Potts and Moshe Barasch, I reasoned that this preoccupation reflects a deep antipathy towards the Roman imperial political model, which Winckelmann blames equally for the inferiority of both ancient Roman and modern Baroque art, with its paternal institution of ancien regime autocracy. Expanding on the work of several German scholars, I argued that Winckelmann’s contributions in historiography and aesthetics constitute a radical social critique which would come to color the emergent neoclassicism of the Enlightenment. Winckelmann’s image of antiquity, much like that of the French revolutionaries, was part of a discourse in which the present seems to define the past as much as the reverse is true. The methodology I utilized for this work was influenced by my research under Steven Ostrow and Matthew Canepa in the Art History department at the University of Minnesota. Steven Ostrow’s work on the religious function of post-Tridentine sculpture and public spaces has trained me in the study of iconography, topography and patronage, as well as the power of art to seamlessly integrate ideology into public life. Under Matthew Canepa I pursued questions about how the production, re-use and appropriation of artistic and religious history is used for self-fashioning and legitimization of political authority through techniques ranging from spoliation to ritual performance. In 2014 I focused on the Hellenistic Near East, contributing a term paper on the adoption of Babylonian rulership practices and rituals by the early Seleucids in Hellenistic Mesopotamia for a graduate level course. Later that year I was awarded with a research grant during which I studied aspects of art theory in the French academic circle and their (quite imaginative) basis in antiquity under the direction of Steven Ostrow. These research methods were formative in my approach to art history, fostering my preoccupation with the power of the past and its expression in the visual arts. The McIntire Department of Art is uniquely well-suited to support me as I continue to address a variety of current issues in Early Modern visual culture. Along with the late Mary Sheriff, Sarah Betzer’s work has been formative for my study of gender and viewership in the Rococo. Betzer’s forthcoming book will certainly present new questions relevant to my focus on the reception of antique sculpture, and converges with my extensive training in Early Modern philosophy, topics that could be expanded upon and developed in my future research under her guidance. Anastasia Dakouri-Hild’s approach also dovetails significantly with my past study of how ritual performance and space (both architectural and topographical) can be used to shape political identity in the ancient world, issues which have significantly guided my approach to art history in general. In addition, the prominent inter-departmental strength in the classics is a major incentive to study at the University of Virginia. Classical reception, central to my interest in the eighteenth century, quite obviously requires close study of antiquity. My background in Latin will provide the requisite skills to refine my understanding of the Roman sources which exercised immeasurable influence upon the artistic and literary figures of the Enlightenment. In this area, I plan to draw on the expertise of faculty such as John Dobbins and John Miller whose expertise in Roman literature and reception will be invaluable as I progress in my doctoral work. The University of Virginia thus provides the ideal atmosphere for me to engage, and ultimately contribute to, ongoing conversation about receptions of antiquity in the Early Modern world.

Hi everyone, I wonder if anyone is willing to have a look at my SOP. I am happy to trade as well. If you are interested, PM me!

I have currently started working on my statement for MPH and while English is not my first language, I'd like to think I have a decent grasp of the language. I'll primarily be applying to Canadian universities and was wondering how I'm supposed to write which streams of mph I want to study in. For example, in the University of Alberta program, they offer several streams such as Epidem, Health Policy and Management, Environmental etc. I want to mention in my statement that I primarily want to study in epi, however wouldn't mind if I got chosen for Health Management either. Now this might sound stupid, but I'm from Bangladesh and have never worked on applying to a university before. I'm assuming I need to select a particular stream which I want to study in and write about it in my statement? I want to write down other streams as a Plan B in case they don't have any more seats in the stream I want. I'm just curious as to how I'm supposed to word it properly. I'm interested in multiple streams with more emphasis on a few particular ones which interests me. On a side note, I'm writing down some fieldwork and volunteer work which I've done here in Bangladesh but that got me thinking. I'm writing down my experiences but have no proof of what I did. How will the University know I'm telling the truth and not just making up false information just to beef up my chances? The information will be written in my CV as well and I'll write down my references as well but even then, is that viable enough? Any feedback would be appreciated to this foreigner!

Hi Guys, I'm going to apply in an European MA program in Continental Philosophy. Someone can show me some examples of WS and PS (SoP) related to this area? Thanks for the replies, Stefano

Hey all, Anyone willing to review the first draft of my SoP? I will send you a message of my SOP text. This for Masters in Human Computer Interaction and Design. Cheers,

Hi everyone, I am applying to PhD programs in the US for the Fall 2018 semester but I am not confident that my SOP is good enough. As an international student, I have little knowledge on this since writing SOP for graduate schools is not common my country. Can someone review my SOP and tell me what could be changed to improve it? Any advice is welcome I tried to keep it 1 page long because I heard that faculty members in the US do not like to see statements any longer than that. However, I had to omit that I have one manuscript in preparation, one poster presentation, voluntary activities etc. What do you think? Should I replace any information on my SOP by those? Thanks To the admissions committee, I am writing on behalf of my application for the Doctoral program in Chemistry at the University of X. I have earned a Bachelor's degree in Chemistry from the Federal University of Viçosa (Brazil) in 2015 and a Master's degree in Inorganic Chemistry from the Federal University of Minas Gerais in 2017. The strong research on catalysis and new synthetic methodologies conducted in your institution made me very interested in pursuing graduate studies at your department. Since sophomore year in college, I have been involved in research projects in the interface between organic and inorganic chemistry, studying new ways to transform abundant and cheap substances into valuable compounds using less toxic reagents and generating less waste. In my Master's thesis I managed to transform compounds extracted from pine trees into biologically-active amines in a one-pot procedure using ethanol instead of toluene as a solvent, a greener approach to the synthesis of amines that led to higher yields and selectivities than the traditional systems already used. In addition, I had the opportunity to take graduate-level courses about group theory, advanced mass spectrometry, nanotechnology and experimental nuclear magnetic resonance which contributed to my understanding of core concepts of my research area. I have also spent the 2012-2013 academic year in the U.S performing research at the University of California Davis as a recipient of the Science Without Borders scholarship. Studying abroad has introduced me to state-of-the-art science and allowed me to operate new instruments and learn new techniques not available in my home institution, besides the rich cultural exchange. In 2016, the American Chemical Society awarded me with a scholarship to travel to Panama, where I received intensive training on scientific outreach and communication. This opportunity has impacted the way I think chemistry can serve our society and made me realize I can do more for my country than I ever expected through science. Brazil has numerous economic and social inequality problems,and I think one of the most powerful ways to overcome them is through international scientific cooperation and knowledge exchange. Research experience combined with extensive theoretical and practical training received during the baccalaureate and graduate-level courses encouraged me to take a step further in my career as a scientist. My professional goal is to become highly qualified in the field of catalysis and teach at an institution committed to social, economic, environmental and scientific development in my country. The PhD program in Chemistry at the University of Utah is a very good fit for me since it has a structure with all the resources I need to advance in my research, with Dr. X and Dr. Y and Dr. Z groups being very active and relevant to my field. The NMR facility have the capability of multinuclear detection, which is indispensable for my work in the frontier of organometallic chemistry and synthesis, as well as modern mass and optical spectrometers. I am confident that the aforementioned characteristics make me a viable candidate for this graduate program. I would appreciate the opportunity to discuss my candidacy with the department faculty and provide further information. Thank you for your time and consideration.

Hey everyone! I was wondering if anyone was interested in trading SOPs? This is my first time applying and I want to make sure I am hitting everything I need to for this document. Please PM me if you are interested! Thanks!