PENN STATE'S PH.D. IN ENGLISH APPLICATION PORTAL ASKING FOR PERSONAL STATEMENT INSTEAD OF SOP?

[The Maritime Scholar]

If anyone here has applied to Penn State for their Ph.D. in English program and you know about this, please clarify for me. I would really appreciate it. Thanks!

So on the English department's website, it says that a SOP (1-3 double-spaced pages) is required.

However, when I went to start the application, the portal says that part of the documentation required is a personal statement with the following prompt: "Why do you want to pursue a higher degree in English studies at a time when the Liberal Arts are often less valued than science and technology?"

This doesn't sound like a SOP prompt either way, so I'm just confused. Do they want this in addition to the SOP?

Also, it says that a CV is required when the website does not ask for one. 

I have already written my SOP, so it would really suck if I had to rewrite it based on this prompt or add a personal statement when it didn't even ask for one in the first place.

[The Maritime Scholar]

Update: So I emailed the office assistant, and they said that the prompt was changed a bit and that I should include it in addition to what I already have. I also emailed the program director just in case. I think I'm just going to adapt what I wrote for my personal statement on diversity to this.

[HipsterDoofus]

Thanks so much for posting this! I haven't yet started the formal process of applying here (just getting SoP, etc. in order) so this is really helpful.