how many hours of writing/editing does the SOP require?

[child of 2]

now before you say "as many as it needs" I would just like a good ball park. Unfortunately, I haven't started yet writing my SOP. But I'm going to get cracking this weekend, get my first draft done soon, and have someone else review it. I feel like I'm a little behind on grad school stuff right now. So that's why I'm asking for some feedback.

[emmm]

I think it's too early in the application season to be really behind. Applications should just be becoming available online. Still, it's NEVER too early to start working on the SOP. Mine took forever, due to personal issues I was working out from my past (that I couldn't keep ignoring, since it was part of my history in my grad school application). If you have had a smooth undergrad-->work/applications, you may not take as long. However, if writing is not something that is comfortable for you for whatever reason, be prepared to spend a lot of time on this part of the application. When I talked with grad program reps before applying, a couple of them commented on the poor quality of many of the SOPs they receive. Don't underestimate how beneficial a well-written SOP can be.

[amlobo]

I think it does depend on your circumstances, but I did a few drafts before I was happy enough to send it to someone to review. I probably spent about 6 hours on it before settling on a "version" I wasn't embarrassed to show someone. I got feedback from one of my LOR writers, and I spent an hour or 2 reworking it. Now, I'm ready to send it to multiple LOR writers to get final feedback, and then I will be "done"... and then will probably spend a few more hours tailoring to all my different schools. So, for me, I'm anticipating about 15 hours or so TOTAL, including revisions and such. I'm planning to apply to 15 schools, so it will take a lot of tailoring. I am also switching disciplines/careers, so my SOP was a bit trickier. If you have a good background that won't take a lot of "finessing", I'd imagine you could draft it in a few hours, then only spend a couple more editing.

[TMP]

Writing those application is a part time job itself.

Don't about clocking it. You thinking about it while running errands, working out, etc counts towards it because you're thinking of it anyway. Give yourself time to reflect and write freely. Once you think you've got a lot of ideas down, you can be narrowing that list and write that thing.

[psychdork]

I think I have spent anywhere from 10 - 20 hours writing mine, including revisions. However, I absolutely hate writing SOPs so I might take longer to get a final version than others.