PhD Statement of Purpose

[Wellstone]

A friend suggested to me that I should write a "core" statement of purpose that I can adapt to each program to which I apply. This sounds reasonable to me, as I'd prefer not to write one from scratch for each school.

That said, I'm kind of at a loss for where to start. Does anybody have any tips or resources they'd like to share for a fella just getting started in the process?

Thanks!

[samsarictraveler]

A piece of advice given to me by a professor in the div school at the University of Chicago; "the only thing you want to write is who you are, what you want to study, and why you are prepared to study it."

Personally, I'd start in the middle, just try to articulate exactly what you want to study, whether that's Barthe's theology, or the social context of ancient egyptian christianity, or early medieval Indian religious narrative literature. Once you've written that, I discovered, at least for myself, that everything else sort of falls into place.