Few questions about SOP

[Adip]

Hello folks,

I have some questions about SOP. Please help me

1. People recommend to write a CV in reverse chronological order (most recent thing first). Same applies to SOP?
   
2. In the intro. of SOP, I wish to write how I became interested in a field. Can I write a short dialogue in quotes?
   
3. I wish to pursue master's in mechanical engineering. Can I write multiple areas of interest ? Or does it conceived as lack of focus?
   

Thanks.

[TakeruK]

1. It might be a matter of style, but I think many people write SOP in chronological order. I treated mine as a story of how I got into the field and why I want to pursue grad school.

2. I haven't heard of that before. For SOP writing, I feel that most people would advise to play it safe and stick to convention. But maybe this could be a good way to capture the reader's interest. However, I wouldn't do that myself since I think the SOP is a formal piece of writing.

3. You can write about your previous experience in multiple areas of research for sure. However, you should try to be more specific about your future plans. You don't have to say exactly what research topic you want to study, so you can talk about several interesting problems all in the same field. But you shouldn't make it sound like you don't have a specific goal in mind and just want to go to school. The idea of the SOP is to demonstrate that you are a good fit for the department, and part of this is describing how/what part of the department will you fit into.

[tip3r]

i don't think you necessarily have to write it in a chronological/reverse chronological order. For instance, I will probably begin the SOP with a paragraph which would quickly summarize where I am right now, what I can do, and what my career goals are. After that I will begin in a chronological order. I tend to think that people pay the most attention when reading the first paragraph and I think it is the best place to showcase yourself.