how to personalize SOP for each program

[candycrava]

I've begun writing my personal statements. Basically, I wrote a template and then used that template for each SOP and wrote a different "why I want to go here" for each school. I think the questions they ask are relatively the same. Am I personalizing my SOPs enough?

Here are the questions:

School 1: 1. What qualities and experiences do you have that should help make you an excellent graduate student and school psychologist? 2. What are your career objectives and how will obtaining your degree in school psychology from this program contribute to them? 3. Are there any special circumstances related to your academic record that you feel we should know about?

School 2: statement of aims and objectives

School 3: A letter of intent indicating why the applicant is interested in pursuing graduate study in school psychology

School 4: An autobiographical sketch indicating the student’s academic and professional goals and indicating how the student's desire for advanced training in psychology/counseling developed

[kka34]

That sounds very similar to what I did, and I got into most of the programs that I applied. So I think you should be ok.

[Pius Aeneas]

I did the same for each of my applications. Gave reasons why I wanted to pursue graduate study, and then explained why "Program X" was the best place for me to do it. I think that having a compelling section on why the department is the best fit for you and vice versa is the most important aspect of a SOP. Mention professors by name whose interests align with your own and with whom you might like to study. Aaand, if you already have a specific subject within your field that you would potentially be interested in researching and it aligns with the overarching interests of the department mention that as well.

[SchoolPsych-N]

Hi, do you have any statement of purpose that is related to or specific to school psychology?