Writer's block with SOP

[kickpuncher]

Hi, everyone. This is my first post here.

I went to UCLA to study Electrical Engineering. I'm now applying to grad schools at UC Santa Cruz, UC Irvine, UC Riverside, UC Santa Barbara, and UC Davis.

Here's the thing, though. The only reason I'm applying is because I'm having trouble finding a job. I wasn't very passionate about EE as an undergrad, and I actually have a low GPA (between 2.9 and 3). When I was at UCLA, the area of EE that most interested me was DSP and speech/image processing. I took a few classes in the subject and did okay (B's and A's).

So now, I want to apply to these grad schools and mention, in my statement of purpose, that I want to study signal processing. But I don't really know what to say. Yes, I found it more interesting than all the other things I studied in EE, but I certainly was never planning on specializing in it in grad school. I did okay in the classes, and found them interesting, but not interesting enough that I planned on going to grad school to study the subject.

So what should I say?

[GK Chesterton]

Hi, everyone. This is my first post here.

I went to UCLA to study Electrical Engineering. I'm now applying to grad schools at UC Santa Cruz, UC Irvine, UC Riverside, UC Santa Barbara, and UC Davis.

Here's the thing, though. The only reason I'm applying is because I'm having trouble finding a job. I wasn't very passionate about EE as an undergrad, and I actually have a low GPA (between 2.9 and 3). When I was at UCLA, the area of EE that most interested me was DSP and speech/image processing. I took a few classes in the subject and did okay (B's and A's).

So now, I want to apply to these grad schools and mention, in my statement of purpose, that I want to study signal processing. But I don't really know what to say. Yes, I found it more interesting than all the other things I studied in EE, but I certainly was never planning on specializing in it in grad school. I did okay in the classes, and found them interesting, but not interesting enough that I planned on going to grad school to study the subject.

So what should I say?

Well, I would suggest lying. I would definitely not recommend that you say you're doing it because no one will hire you.

However, I suspect you might find that grad school for something you don't like isn't very much fun either.

[Alyanumbers]

I can't honestly advise you to go on with applying. A lot of people can barely deal with the stress of grad school, and depression is quite common even among the very passionate--let alone if research is not really your thing.

Anyway, for the SoP, you might want to narrow your interests a bit. Read journal articles, look through books, find out what exactly you want to study in signal processing, then focus your SoP on that. Show them you have a good idea of what you want to research and that you are focused.

A word of warning: adcomms have seen a lot of people applying because they didn't know what else to do, especially given the current economy. They can probably tell if you're genuinely interested.

[kickpuncher]

I can't honestly advise you to go on with applying. A lot of people can barely deal with the stress of grad school, and depression is quite common even among the very passionate--let alone if research is not really your thing.

Anyway, for the SoP, you might want to narrow your interests a bit. Read journal articles, look through books, find out what exactly you want to study in signal processing, then focus your SoP on that. Show them you have a good idea of what you want to research and that you are focused.

A word of warning: adcomms have seen a lot of people applying because they didn't know what else to do, especially given the current economy. They can probably tell if you're genuinely interested.

I guess "don't want" is a bit strong. But going to grad school is definitely my second choice after getting a full-time job. It's something I'm doing out of necessity.