Oxford International Human Rights Law SOP

[MRJ]

I am applying to the masters in international human rights law at Oxford (2 years part time and mostly by distance learning). Has anyone else done an SOP for this programme?

There is some great advice above, but the guidelines for the SOP for this programme are a bit different: they recommend focusing on academic, professional and voluntary experience in human rights and to explain motivation for applying for the course. Another part of the website suggests referring to dissertation proposal. I believe I have done these things, but I have ended up with a long recitation of my previous experience and a few lines on a dissertation proposal, which leaves little room for future focus or why I want to pursue this particular course, apart from the stock and trade "being admitted to this course would enable me to pursue a comprehensive and high quality programme of study in combination with my current employment". There is, of course, a word limit which in this case is 500 words.

One obvious solution is to cut down on the previous experience, particularly the less obviously human rights related jobs (employment lawyer at the UN) but I felt all the more need to explain why I had taken these positions and how they did actually involve aspects of human rights law.

What I would like to know is (i) has anyone else applied for this particular masters and taken a different approach to the suggested one on the website and if so, what approach? (ii) how bad is it to give a recitation of previous experience and in return being brief on motivation for this particular course and future aspirations?

Thanks

Edited August 2, 2012 by MRJ

[MacZeeZee]

I also have an application that has a very small word limit and asks for specifics on work, volunteerism, and research history. I made my focus of the essay (the thesis, so the speak) future aspirations and how this particular program was the perfect fit. Then I used my personal history to support this.

I had 3 main things I wanted to touch on: my work history which was closely related to my intended field of study; my time studying and volunteering abroad; one specific long-standing research lab assistantship. I wrote 1-2 sentence(s) on what I did, then 2 sentences on what I learned / how it fit into the "grand scheme" of my path. I'll give you an example:

"Working as a childcare provider began my fascination with parenting. I have worked as an in-home nanny, daycare provider, and preschool instructor during the last decade; and though I often worked in thankless and underpaid positions, I have loved every minute of it. These jobs have given me plenty of practice in applying abstract psychological concepts to real-life situations, and have afforded me the opportunity to carefully observe family functioning from within. Moreover, they have allowed me to find my true calling: providing emotional support, hands-on help, and valuable information to new parents. "

So, each of these 3 points that supported my thesis was only 3-4 sentences long, which allowed me plenty of space to explain what I loved about this program I was applying to. I suggest that you pick how many "things" to talk about based on how many total words you get. 500 = 2-3 topics; 1000 = 3-4; etc.

Hope that helped! Don't know anything about your specific program, and I don't know if I'm going to get it. But that's just what I did.