Writing the statement of purpose

[Beark]

Hi,

I am currently applying to programs in linguistics and I am wondering if any successful applicants have any suggestions on writing my statement of purpose or if anyone might let me see theirs.

I have a draft and I basically talk about my experiences in linguistics and how those have shaped my interests as well as a general overview of my interests and a specific paragraph on why I am interested in a particular university. I feel like it's really long and maybe too anecdotal but I am not sure what is expected in the field.

Any suggestions?

[hoviariel]

Usually sites tell you what they want from an SOP. 

The major things that you have to mention are: the linguistic specficaliazations/areas or subfields/careers you want to do at your MA or after it

1) your background in linguistics and perhaps fields related to the subfield (aka, education, anthropology, computer science, etc.)

2) how the university and the department can meet your needs and how you can meet theirs, ie you have to know what the faculty is researching at the university and mention those researches in some way. As in, you can either just flat out say that "I want to be guided by faculty members such as X in their work on Y=Hispanic syntax" or "I want to benefit from the varied faculty at the university especially when it comes to syntax and indo-european/romance linguistics".

3) You can have some anecdotes about your life but only when it can show how good of a candidate you are, such as some information about what makes you want the field on its own (eg, you were raised around Hispanic minorities), mention academic awesome things you've had such as scholarships etc., and try to explain how some things in your application aren't that stellar (GPA or GRE) and why.

I'm just an applicant now but this is what I've gathered from since Spring 2013 about all this personal statement stuff. You'll get more replies from other people but it won't be that different from what I say. You can always just ask your advisor or university writing center for drafts/copies of past personal statements. In my case I used drafts to make up my SOP for the Fulbright (which I didn't get) and then modified it slightly to make it suitable for linguistics grad schools.

Good luck, you're gonna need it (like everyone else here)

[wardword]

Is a 3.6 GPA worth "explaining?" I don't think it's terribly low, but really it seems like a 3.6 is pretty low for successful applicants.

Would you recommend explaining a 3.6 GPA in your SOP? I finished my senior year with two 4.0s, but had some "straight-B" semesters freshman year.

[hj2012]

IMO, some Bs in your first year of college are not worth explaining.