500 Word SOP with Specifics

[lolopixie]

Just wanted some advice on one of my SOPs. I have one program that requires 500 words and they are very specific on what is wanted in this SOP. Since my other SOPs are about 1000 words I clearly need to cut fat, but I'm having a hard time making it seemless. It has a very choppy feel right now. Point1, Point2, Point3....any advice on how to become personable and not sound cold in a 500 word limit?

[TripWillis]

Maybe you could just make a venn diagram of your interests and their fields of expertise/faculty. C'mon, what ad-comm wouldn't rather just see something like that? SoPs are so boring!

In all serious though, when you figure out how to trim the fat, let me know. Concision and I are not friends.

[Tybalt]

Just wanted some advice on one of my SOPs. I have one program that requires 500 words and they are very specific on what is wanted in this SOP. Since my other SOPs are about 1000 words I clearly need to cut fat, but I'm having a hard time making it seemless. It has a very choppy feel right now. Point1, Point2, Point3....any advice on how to become personable and not sound cold in a 500 word limit?

Sound cold. It's the only way to discuss your project coherently in 500 words. If you have the length, then you can be personable and convey your personality AND your project, but when length forces you to choose, you have to focus on just the project (one of my MA profs, in a joking yet serious email, told me repeatedly that my SoP was too narrative. He said over and over again that "you are your project. That's all you are"). A friend of mine had what I thought was a very "cold" SoP, and she was admitted to all three programs she applied to. I'd recommend writing up a short, "cold" SoP from scratch (don't try and cut the long one--just write a new one). That way you'll have two distinct SoPs that could be used for different schools (that's what I did, and I found the act of writing the shorter, colder SoP helped me to refine my project and improve my longer SoP as well). Good luck!

[lolopixie]

The real problem is what the school is asking for in these 500 words. If I just had to wing it because they said give me a 500 word SOP, then I feel like I would be able to focus more. I had no problem writing the other 4 - and they are all different, but this one is killing me. I know I'll figure it out...in the meantime I will just spazz and work on my ws.

[Kiseki]

I have a school that asks for 500 words as well. I emailed the department and asked them to give me more details about what they specifically wanted. This school only wanted me to talk about my area of interest and why I want to attend their school. Knowing this, I had an easy time cutting my 1000 word SOP into 500 words. Maybe you could email the department and ask what their expectations are for the SOP. Good luck!

[lolopixie]

They blatantly state on the website what they want. I'm talking about Kansas, if anyone was wondering. In 500 words "describe your interests, training, expereince (including teaching), academic abilities, and goals." I'm just having trouble making it sound good with 500 words. I think once I get some strong transitions in, it will sound much better. Right now it is just jump, jump, jump, jump, jump. LOL.

[Timshel]

I haven't started my Kansas SOP yet because it is due much later than my other apps, but I suspect I will have a similar problem when I get to it.

[lolopixie]

I made some progress on it last night, but it is still far from done. It doesn't sound as jarring anymore. Now I just need to solidify and make some sense out of it!