Statement of Purpose *HELP!!*

[merpppy]

Hi everyone, 

 

Does anyone have a format they use for their SoP? I'm having trouble formatting it. Thanks in advance!

[thats_not_freire]

Bumping this post. I've finalized the content of my statements but all my programs are incredibly vague about formatting. This is what I currently have:

Top left of the first page: 

• FirstName MiddleInitial. LastName
• Personal Statement/Statement of Purpose
• University and College/Dept of program
• Program name

Then on the remaining pages I have the header "LastName, Page#"

Only one program told me to do it double spaced, so the rest I'm leaving as single spaced. 

 

Any critiques? Or am I just having deadline jitters?

[springxsummer]

On 11/27/2019 at 12:23 PM, thats_not_freire said:

Bumping this post. I've finalized the content of my statements but all my programs are incredibly vague about formatting. This is what I currently have:

Top left of the first page: 

• FirstName MiddleInitial. LastName
• Personal Statement/Statement of Purpose
• University and College/Dept of program
• Program name

Then on the remaining pages I have the header "LastName, Page#"

Only one program told me to do it double spaced, so the rest I'm leaving as single spaced. 

 

Any critiques? Or am I just having deadline jitters?

I think this is perfectly fine. To conserve space, I simply put a titile (Statement of Purpose) and then my name in the top right header.

I obviously cannot speak for the admissions committees, but I would imagine that the content of the letters matters much more than the formatting.

[lewin]

On 11/29/2019 at 1:52 PM, springxsummer said:

I would imagine that the content of the letters matters much more than the formatting.

This. Nobody will care about the formatting unless there were instructions specific to that school which were disregarded or the formatting is used to be weaselly, e.g., mess with font/margins to squeeze in more words.

And length is not formatting. Length matters.

 

 

 

[IvySWCu]

Double Space, 12 pt. Times Roman,  (Unless Stated Otherwise), and keep within the word limit. I did this for all my SOP's and didn't have an issue. I also used a title page for all of them and added the program and school name and my name. i've been accepted into 4 schools so far, no issues.

[2ndTimeHopeful]

25 minutes ago, The Finance Girl said:

Double Space, 12 pt. Times Roman,  (Unless Stated Otherwise), and keep within the word limit. I did this for all my SOP's and didn't have an issue. I also used a title page for all of them and added the program and school name and my name. i've been accepted into 4 schools so far, no issues.

You have 4 acceptance this cycle already? Where & who’s your POI

[IvySWCu]

1 hour ago, 2ndTimeHopeful said:

You have 4 acceptance this cycle already? Where & who’s your POI

Whoops sorry! I didn't realize this thread was for Pyschology..

 

For Fall 2020, MSW programs. Clinical Counsiling. (2 year track).

 George Mason University, University of Maryland, University of Illinois at Chicago, and Rutger's University.

Edited December 6, 2019 by The Finance Girl

[2ndTimeHopeful]

3 hours ago, The Finance Girl said:

Whoops sorry! I didn't realize this thread was for Pyschology..

 

For Fall 2020, MSW programs. Clinical Counsiling. (2 year track).

 George Mason University, University of Maryland, University of Illinois at Chicago, and Rutger's University.

Well congrats. That’s great. You had me nervous.  

[IvySWCu]

2 hours ago, 2ndTimeHopeful said:

Well congrats. That’s great. You had me nervous.  

Thank you, and so sorry about that. Good luck for all your apps! Hope you get into all the programs you apply for!

[JettaNash]

For pretty much all of my SOPs (unless stated otherwise), I used Times New Roman, 12pt; Single-spaced 2 pgs max; Bolded title (Statement of Purpose; or whatever the program is calling it); my name centered and italicized underneath.

I’m a part of an NIH research fellowship aimed at sending students into PhD programs and this or pretty much their general recommendation for a clean SOP. Specifically, 2 single-spaced pages since double-spaced appears too long.

Good Luck