Describing research in personal statement

[happyforever]

Hi,

I have a question on the content of personal statement.

Is it more important to describe what I actually worked on for my previous research projects? or is it more important to describe what I learned from these projects in terms of skills - how to write papers, how to do presentations, how to perform literature review?

I am trying to trim down on the content of my PS and I would like some advise from other about this.

Thanks a lot!

[timuralp]

I'm gonna go with neither, if by what you worked on you mean the actual implementation details, because no one cares about how much code you wrote, etc, etc. Here's my SOP from last year. I'm not saying it absolutely great, but I think it's about what CS programs look for.

Essentially, you want to convince the committee that 1. you know what research is and 2. you know what your interests are, albeit somewhat broadly right now. You can do that by describing what problems your research work was addressing. The key learning from all the research is not the ability to write a paper or make a presentation, but to have a better understanding of what your interests are and what you're pursuing.

[happyforever]

Thanks!

[rising_star]

Hi,

I have a question on the content of personal statement.

Is it more important to describe what I actually worked on for my previous research projects? or is it more important to describe what I learned from these projects in terms of skills - how to write papers, how to do presentations, how to perform literature review?

I am trying to trim down on the content of my PS and I would like some advise from other about this.

Thanks a lot!

I would do both and do it very briefly. Except that no one wants to know that you can write papers, do presentations, or perform a lit review. Cover the important things and then move on to future research interests and goals.