Do SOP's Need a Title?

[butterfingers2010]

This might be a silly question, but...do SOP's need a title? What is the "standard" format (font, font size,etc.)?

[newms]

Some programs might ask for a title (i.e. 'Statement of Purpose" or something like that) and your name/ID number at the top, but that usually goes in the header section (at least that's been my experience. Otherwise you don't need a title, like you would need a title for an essay. i'm not in your field, so requirements might be different for your field, but I don't think you need a title beyond something like 'Statement of Purpose' to identify the document. Keep in mind that many online application systems have strict word limits, so a title might not only be superfluous, but might also reduce the space you have to write about what really matters.

[UnlikelyGrad]

All I did was put: "Statement of Purpose--UnlikelyGrad" at the top. I did this after seeing some example SoPs somewhere (sorry, can't remember where--it's been 3 years) so I wasn't just shooting in the dark. It seemed to work OK for me.