SOP for computer science PhD, Europe

[molls]

I am currently applying to PhDs, mostly in computer science/data science (it is depending on the school). I had a few questions:

1) My current boss (who is an MD PhD, and has reviewed hundreds of SOPs for medical and grad school, but not computer science/engineering programs) told me that my SOP was not personal enough. Are personal SOPs important for CS programs? I can understand why for medical school they would be, but I am unsure about computer science.

2)All the advice I have read for SOPs seem to come from the US for US schools, however I am not applying for any place in the US- are the same guidelines generally appropriate for European programs? I am applying for mostly structured programs, not traditional format programs. This is sort of along the same lines with the first question-is there more of an emphasis on certain things and less on others?

3)What is some advice for someone who is not necessarily from a computer science background applying for programs? My masters in a quantitative discipline from a top school and I focused heavily on statistics and some programming courses. I am currently a data analyst with 7 publications. However my undergrad was in community health and I worked more of social work positions before my masters. I want to combine computer science and public health, so its not like I've completely changed course, but the actual work I want to be involved in has changed from my undergerad. This is sort of inline with the first question-my boss told me to tell a story of how I got interested in the subject, but honestly all I can think about was how growing up I thought I would be bad at computer science until I took "Intro to formal logic" in undergrad and thought it was the easiest course ever, and someone I knew getting a CS degree was like, "Oh that's what we do in computer science". I had no idea... and then I took more programming and stats courses in my masters and found out I am good at it and really enjoy it to the point of obsession, hence seeking the PhD (way better than social work, what was I thinking!). I am a woman and think this is not uncommon- I know other women trying to enter in after previously doing something else- but I definitely don't want to mention all this on the SOP because its sort of cliche and sounds like I'm coming up with excuses. Anyways how should I navigate this....?

 

 

Edited November 9, 2020 by molls