Eddie Kant Posted March 3, 2012 Share Posted March 3, 2012 When I began the last application season, I had a really hard time wrapping my mind around what exactly the "purpose" of the statement of purpose was and what it should include. After countless hours of scowering these boards for answers, I compiled various bits of advice and guidance that I found helpful. I put it all in a word doc that you can download here, http://www.mediafire...wzi178xsmc1m1hj This forum has been an indispensible tool for me throughout this process. Hopefully this helps others. pogopuschel, wine in coffee cups and surefire 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
isawstars Posted March 10, 2012 Share Posted March 10, 2012 Thank you for this!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pogopuschel Posted March 11, 2012 Share Posted March 11, 2012 Thank you very much. I haven't started writing my SOP yet but this will be an amazing help! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
annieca Posted March 24, 2012 Share Posted March 24, 2012 Thank you so much for this! I've been looking for something like this and here it is. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ccarmona Posted April 1, 2012 Share Posted April 1, 2012 Great, thank you! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
objectivityofcontradiction Posted April 18, 2012 Share Posted April 18, 2012 Regarding the part from the Berkeley Career Center... leaving words/phrases like "interested" "appealing to me" "excited about" out of an SOP seems strange. I've had two former professors and two friends who are already in PhD programs go over my statement and they've said nothing about eliminating these phrases. If you are interested in working with a certain member of faculty, why beat around the bush trying to find another way of saying that? If the departments strengths is one of the reasons you were attracted to the department in the first place, why not say that that is why the department appeals to you. I'd be very curious to know why in a statement about you, you should leave these things out. Seems way off base. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
acr Posted May 20, 2012 Share Posted May 20, 2012 Regarding the part from the Berkeley Career Center... leaving words/phrases like "interested" "appealing to me" "excited about" out of an SOP seems strange. I've had two former professors and two friends who are already in PhD programs go over my statement and they've said nothing about eliminating these phrases. If you are interested in working with a certain member of faculty, why beat around the bush trying to find another way of saying that? If the departments strengths is one of the reasons you were attracted to the department in the first place, why not say that that is why the department appeals to you. I'd be very curious to know why in a statement about you, you should leave these things out. Seems way off base. True, these words add life to the SOP. However the folks at the Berkeley Career Center did mention to avoid them only without explanation. "I'm excited about X because I did Y and blah blah" gives a much more deeper meaning than just "I'm interested in X". @Eddie: Thanks a lot for the file, it was very helpful! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dawn Posted May 24, 2012 Share Posted May 24, 2012 I've already written one SPO for the last cycle but I'm about to start revising/rewriting and have book marked this. Thank you tons! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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