PhD SOP advice

[trey3]

Hello!

First off I did read the top thread about SOPs and so I know that they aren't too important.

That said... I'm struggling writing one. I do have motivations for why I want to go to graduate school (want to do research, develop methodologies etc. and also apply it to help people analyze social issues) that is convincingly motivated by my background and life. And I have a math background so I am confident that I could handle the sophistication of a graduate school program. But I don't have enough experience doing statistics to be able to (in my opinion) convincingly talk about research interests. Like sure I could say that I read about e.g. machine learning or Bayesian inference in a book and I think it's really interesting, but I have never actually done serious work in them so does it really mean anything to say that? I just think it'd sound really fake and sounds like I'm really just using buzzwords (which honestly isn't so far from the truth).

And without any real research interest, is there a way that I can convince graduate schools that I'm serious, or that they should take a chance on me? And is there any way that I can convince a school that I am seriously interested in their program when I don't even have a real research interest?

I hope what I am asking is making sense. Thank you in advance for all of the help.

[BL250604]

This is a great question! In my experience, admissions committees can sniff out if you're being fake, especially about research interests. It's okay to not have a specific research area you want to focus on, that's why there is time in the program to "advisor shop" after the  qualifier. 

It sounds to me like you should stick to generics. Why you like statistics, how you think there is an interesting intersection between statistics and social issues. How your lived experiences have set you up to actually have a desire to solve those issues, etc. 

Hope this helps!

[cyberwulf]

Only a tiny proportion of applicants can speak credibly about "real" research interests (i.e., potential dissertation topics) that would resonate with faculty. Most with previous "research experience" have only applied existing methods; very few have developed anything novel. Heck, most PhD students can't really articulate a dissertation-worthy research program until they're into their second (often third) year of the program.

Short answer: Write what you know, and don't try to overreach.