organizing the SOP - specific to general? hooks? tradition? psychoanalysis of the adcom?

[imisscoffee]

I am writing my SOP and have the strong urge to organize my SOP this way:

1. my specific research interest (food of the Middle East)

2. how it fits with the discipline (situated food in context blah blah geography)

3. why I am qualified to study it (world systems theory seminar, food studies, place in my life, academic interest, hebrew language skills)

4. why I chose this school in particular (strong Middle East dept., profs with background in cultural geography theory, food, gender studies)

Both official and unofficial suggestions of outlines are usually:

1. intro hook/interest in discipline (place is important/geography but saving research topic for #3?)

2. academic background/qualifications (history major, hard worker, this is still going to sound odd without them knowing my specific interests yet)

3. specific area of interest (food of the Middle East)

4. why this school in particular (see above)

Is there a problem with reorganizing my outline how it seems to flow best? Is there some reason adcoms prefer to see it the "usual" way? Do I have to have a charming hook? Shouldn't my research interests be enough, with my personality coming out slowly in my writing? Won't my personal statement be the place for me to write about growing up in a rural setting, immigrant grandparents, my personal interest in the topic, anecdotes, etc.?

Thanks!

-I Miss Coffee (and wish I was drinking it but I can't, at least not until the anxiety of this application process is over)

[LLajax]

Organize however you feel is best. I really don't think they expect to see things in a certain order, especially since everything is interrelated anyways.

[fuzzylogician]

The hook vs. no hook is an unsettled question. Personally I believe in opening with your research interests, not with fluff, so your outline looks good to me. In general I think it's a good idea to structure your SOP however you feel is best and not necessarily follow "common wisdom". I would question devoting one quarter of the SOP to situating your research interests within your discipline, unless that is a contested issue. You should explain to the adcom why you are interested in the questions you are proposing to study, perhaps as they relate to particular professors' work at the program(s) you are applying to, not spend a paragraph lecturing about the place of food within the context of Geography studies in general.

[imisscoffee]

Thanks for the advice, both of you. FuzzLo, I will be thinking in particular now about how to work in "why geography of middle eastern food at U of __" for me personally, rather than "why geography" for my research topic.

[runonsentence]

I also opened with my interests and future goals, and I think it's a good approach because it can help make those sections the focal point of the document, with your background and origin story etc. serving as support.

[coffeeplease]

The hook vs. no hook is an unsettled question. Personally I believe in opening with your research interests, not with fluff, so your outline looks good to me. In general I think it's a good idea to structure your SOP however you feel is best and not necessarily follow "common wisdom". I would question devoting one quarter of the SOP to situating your research interests within your discipline, unless that is a contested issue. You should explain to the adcom why you are interested in the questions you are proposing to study, perhaps as they relate to particular professors' work at the program(s) you are applying to, not spend a paragraph lecturing about the place of food within the context of Geography studies in general.

I'm in a similar position to imisscoffee, so I am going to piggyback on this thread (sorry?). I have Donald Asher's book and all of the sample essays have really long, personal introductions. Not only am I a supremely boring person, but that style ultimately isn't me. I know he says not to open with "I am applying to [school] in order to study [blah, blah, blah]," but is this really so horrible and detested by adcomms?

[runonsentence]

Take Donald Asher with a grain of salt. I think he greatly overemphasizes the importance of narratives and "sticking out with a unique story" in his book.

[fuzzylogician]

I also used Donald Asher's book when I applied and I thought that it contained great advice, but the part about structuring the SOP was not as relevant for my field. I had versions of my SOP that opened with a story (and I actually have an unusual story of how I got into my field) but eventually I felt that the version that just opened with some research questions I wanted to study was much stronger. I do agree that "I am applying to [school] in order to study [blah]" is not very exciting, but there are ways to make research interests sound less boring, e.g. "Why are chocolate chip and mint cookies sold at twice the rate of carrot-and-blueberry muffins? What influences cookie-monster's preference for dark over white chocolate? Which is better - peanut butter or caramel? I hope to answer these questions during my studies at the SWEET graduate program at [school]."

[LLajax]

I'm in a similar position to imisscoffee, so I am going to piggyback on this thread (sorry?). I have Donald Asher's book and all of the sample essays have really long, personal introductions. Not only am I a supremely boring person, but that style ultimately isn't me. I know he says not to open with "I am applying to [school] in order to study [blah, blah, blah]," but is this really so horrible and detested by adcomms?

I'm with you on this- I really like the structure given to the essay given by a simple, straightforward opening like that. Yes, I know they know I'm applying to their school, and they know I know they know, etc. It isn't the world's most creative thing, but it is nice and succinct. Weirdly, a nice structured (if not terribly creative) beginning fits me and my style. (I too am supremely boring).

[fuzzylogician]

Thinking about the psychology of adcoms, imagine that professors will be reading dozens of these essays in a row. I can imagine that "eureka moment" stories can get repetitive and boring pretty fast. All they really want to know at a first pass is - who is this applicant? what subfield are they applying to? (who can I pass this essay off to?) Now compare an essay that opens with "I want to study XXX" with one where that statement is buried somewhere in the third paragraph. I think that this is when the no-fluff approach is most appreciated.

[imisscoffee]

Ok, after all this, I'm going to go for the subject of study right off the bat. Plus, if everyone else opens with a narrative, I'll be different by NOT doing that. You don't have to be boring just cause you aren't going narrative, as Fuzz explained. Thanks again, everyone.

Oh yeah, just because your life is boring doesn't mean that you can't come up with creative ways of starting an essay, LaJax and CoffeePlease. My suggestions are reading some weird creative writing on McSweeney's or playing some exquisite corpse games to get your mind to open up.