Customize SOPs for each school

[OldGrad2012]

Hi,

I am applying to different graduate program in biological sciences. Is it a good idea to tweak the SOP a bit for each school that I will apply to? Would it be a disaster to keep the same template to apply to each school? Any inputs is appreciated. Thanks

[fenderpete]

If you can, you should try and pepper school specific info throughout your SOP. Obviously you'll probably have one or two block paragraphs that are just about that school, but if you can tie other bits of your SOP to the school in question it'll definitely help show fit.

[runonsentence]

It's not a disaster to submit a stock template with just the names changed (many people do this), but it will be a much stronger SoP if you can tailor a paragraph or two to speak specifically to your fit with that institution, as the previous poster mentioned.

The strongest SoPs not only detail your research interests and illustrate your scholarly identity, but also demonstrate why this school. Why must you do your degree at X university, and not at another one?

I'm not going to sugarcoat it, it's a pain in the ass to customize each SoP (especially when you have 10 of them, like I did last season). But it gives you the best chance of admission.

[Eigen]

Honestly, I wrote a completely new SoP for each school- it took longer, but it meant that I was presenting myself in the best possible way for that school, not just trying to present a generalized picture of myself. You don't have the room in most SoPs to talk about all of your background and experiences, so you want to carefully choose those that best show why you're a fit for a particular school/program.

Edited August 30, 2011 by Eigen

[fuzzylogician]

I think having just one or two customized paragraphs on top of a general template for the past/current research interests is fine. That's what I did, and I had excellent results. It is important, however, to have those school-specific tweaks. This obviously refers to the 'fit' paragraph(s), which need to change from school to school, but you may also want to emphasize different parts of your interests based on different schools' strengths. You may want to refer to specific resources a school may have and to other aspects of the program that you find appealing. It's difficult to customize the SOP but it'll give you the best chance to get acquainted with all the programs you're applying to. You may find that your opinion of some of the programs changes as you read about them more; but there is no better way to determine fit and to demonstrate that you truly understand why you chose to apply to each program.

[rising_star]

I had 2-3 basic SOP templates that I used. As everyone has said, I customized each SOP to the particular program, referring to faculty and how they could help with my project and to resources on campus that would help me. So why multiple templates? Because, the exact emphasis of my SOP varied depending on where I was applying. You should definitely customize your SOP. I don't think my department admits anybody that doesn't clearly explain why they want to be in our program rather than some other program.

[InquilineKea]

It's not a disaster to submit a stock template with just the names changed (many people do this), but it will be a much stronger SoP if you can tailor a paragraph or two to speak specifically to your fit with that institution, as the previous poster mentioned.

The strongest SoPs not only detail your research interests and illustrate your scholarly identity, but also demonstrate why this school. Why must you do your degree at X university, and not at another one?

I'm not going to sugarcoat it, it's a pain in the ass to customize each SoP (especially when you have 10 of them, like I did last season). But it gives you the best chance of admission.

How much did you customize your SoP? Like, what percent is custom-tailored to each and every school?

I'm actually strongly considering writing completely unique SoPs for each of the schools I'm applying to (December is totally free for that).

[wasistdas]

whether I like it or not, I will be submitting different SOP's for each school. One asks for 1200 words, one asks for 500, one asks for 800, not a single school is the same. Writing the longer sop's is much easier in my opinion.

[runonsentence]

IK: one paragraph was changed in and out, where I discussed the school's strengths and how I fit in with them. But I made less quantifiable changes throughout as well (emphasizing different interests and experiences and the like, re-structuring).

Edited September 29, 2011 by runonsentence