Different SOPs for University and Department?

[goomba25]

I'm perplexed by the SOP requirements for Cal State schools. It seems that I have to write a 500-word SOP for the school (on CSUMentor, their online app), and then a separate SOP for the department, of varying length.

Has anyone else encountered a situation like this, even if outside the Cal State system? How did you deal with it? And how did you sketch out your life goals in 500 words? Any advice would be appreciated.

Application Season: right now, though seriously thinking about pushing it back

Schools: Cal State

Program: MPH

[modernity]

I'm perplexed by the SOP requirements for Cal State schools. It seems that I have to write a 500-word SOP for the school (on CSUMentor, their online app), and then a separate SOP for the department, of varying length.

Has anyone else encountered a situation like this, even if outside the Cal State system? How did you deal with it? And how did you sketch out your life goals in 500 words? Any advice would be appreciated.

Application Season: right now, though seriously thinking about pushing it back

Schools: Cal State

Program: MPH

100 words about what you've done thats relevant

200 words about why you and the program fit

200 words about what you want and how the program is going to get you where you're going in life

adjust as needed.

It's a hoop you have to jump through, and there will be a lot of these in grad school as well. As to the Cal State system I don't know - but when I wrote my SOPS, I started with a base few sentences I wanted in all of them, and then explored out from there depending on specific questions they asked, or things that seemed important to the department. It seems hard to get everything in 500 words, but it can be a lot easier than you imagined - it's just about picking the right words.

[Strangefox]

I'm perplexed by the SOP requirements for Cal State schools. It seems that I have to write a 500-word SOP for the school (on CSUMentor, their online app), and then a separate SOP for the department, of varying length.

Has anyone else encountered a situation like this, even if outside the Cal State system? How did you deal with it? And how did you sketch out your life goals in 500 words? Any advice would be appreciated.

Application Season: right now, though seriously thinking about pushing it back

Schools: Cal State

Program: MPH

I've never seen a school that would ask for two SOPs. Are you sure that you understood that correctly? Instructions on their websites can be extremely confusing...

[goomba25]

Thanks for the advice! I am pretty sure that there are 2 essays required - one for the school-system (CSU Mentor) and one for the common app service (SOPHAS - the equivalent of LSAC, AMCAS, etc). Even if there isn't, I can still use the short one for other things, like job apps.

[stphneeawzum]

I am also applying to Cal State schools and I interpreted that as "put your statement here or send it to the department." Now I'm worried....

[waddle]

I would call one or two of your intended programs (and thereafter email, so that you get it in writing) and ask about this.

I don't have direct knowledge of graduate admissions at the CSU, but I'm pretty sure a large chunk of the selection process is based on following instructions. You won't believe how many students haven't learned to do that; I don't know whether this is a bane unique to large public systems, or what, but it sometimes gets to the point where faculty just throw up their hands in despair. Of course, conflicting instructions don't help either. Often, the mismatch is a result of miscommunication (or outright uncooperativeness) between the administration (based in some large administration building that oversees ~20 campuses) and a smaller department a few levels removed from the Chancellor's jurisdiction. So yeah, you should probably call and ask.* It'll save you from pulling your hair out.

*If you're calling a central office (e.g. CSUMentor help line), I recommend using multiple phones at the same time ... sorta like parallel processing. That way, they might not forget you're on hold ... at least, one of your phones!