Help writing SOP for EE MS application

[dman12]

I'm gonna be applying to MS programs in EE this fall, but I am really not sure how to write my SOP. The general idea I have for the SOP right now is to write about 3 things

1) research experience

2) what area of you want to study in grad school and why

3) why school X is a good fit for you

Is this correct?

Anyways, im having trouble figuring out how exactly to write about my research.

How much should I ramble about the technical specifics of the project I worked on? What am I supposed to say about my research exactly?

Also, my research is kind of unrelated to what I want to study in grad school (did research in a CS lab about compression algorithm, and a EE photonics lab involving raman spectroscopy with femtosecond lasers, but interested in something like computer architecture or embedded systems) How do I tie my experiences back in to make it relevant?

So far, I am thinking about writing a little about my project, then writing about my responsibility, and then lastly something about what I learned from my research experience (something about problem solving skills, etc.)

tl;dr: What am I supposed to say about my research experience exactly? Also, my research is quite unrelated (CS lab involving algorithms, EE lab involving photonics), but wanna do computer engineering type stuff

Thanks!

[newms]

I think you have the right idea about what the SoP is about. With regards to your past research experience, it may not be in the same area that you are interested in currently, but you can still use it to highlight any problems you solved or to highlight skills that you have. Or you could use it to say how it helped encourage you to pursue research, even if not in that area. You could even mention techniques you used that may be relevant to your current interests. It sounds like you have a good plan for describing your past research experience, but spend the majority of your SoP on your future plans and your current research interests - it would be great if your past research experience led directly to your current interests, but it doesn't necessarily have to.

Edited October 20, 2010 by newms