Thoughts on Images in Statement Of Purpose

[zenna]

For those schools that allow the submission of SOPs as pdfs, what are peoples thoughts on adding images to the SOP. By images, I generally mean diagrams helping to outline a point, perhaps describing previous research that has been done. This is probably unconventional, but I don't see why a well judged image would not be beneficial to an application; humans generally like visual things, and it certainly makes one memorable.

As an example, I included an image in the research objectives document (in some ways similar to the SOP), for a well known scholarship and was successful in that application. I was trying to explain my research in small world and scale free networks, and an image makes it much easier to understand the difference between the two. Granted, the commission was likely less scientifically literate than the people who will read my SOP.

Anyhow, any thoughts?

[LJK]

For those schools that allow the submission of SOPs as pdfs, what are peoples thoughts on adding images to the SOP. By images, I generally mean diagrams helping to outline a point, perhaps describing previous research that has been done. This is probably unconventional, but I don't see why a well judged image would not be beneficial to an application; humans generally like visual things, and it certainly makes one memorable.

As an example, I included an image in the research objectives document (in some ways similar to the SOP), for a well known scholarship and was successful in that application. I was trying to explain my research in small world and scale free networks, and an image makes it much easier to understand the difference between the two. Granted, the commission was likely less scientifically literate than the people who will read my SOP.

Anyhow, any thoughts?

If the image is well motivated, I don't see why not. Make sure to take time to make the image as carefully crafted and clear as the rest of your essay. It sounds like you know what you are doing with it since you have successfully used an image to explain your research in the past. I feel like it would be more risky for someone who isn't experienced as skillfully augmenting their writing with an image. Also, check how large your statement upload is allowed to be and compress the image accordingly.