Reapplying to the same universities this year! Do I need to completely redraft my sop?

[JessePinkman]

Hi, I had applied for Masters for Fall 2014. However, I was disappointed by my admits/rejects. So, I decided to take a break and try again this year. Now my question is this, Should I completely redraft my SOP? Or can I keep it as it is and just add a few lines about what I've improved? I had applied before my final year for Fall 2014. I have significantly improved my grades this year (3.94 GPA in final year) and I have landed a job in the relevant field. I will have about 2 months job experience by the time I apply and about 9 months by the time I leave for my Masters. So should mentioning my improved GPA and about my job without changing anything else be enough? Or do I have to write a brand new SOP? Thanks in advance for your help!

[peachypie]

The biggest help I had when writing my SOP in general was to have someone in the field read it, since they know the things that someone who has been involved in the field for years are looking for and what is missing.  I had a friend read mine over and she simply asked me something about what i had written and I answered her and she was like, you didn't get that across in what you wrote here."  It was very helpful to go through it and expect to revise it for this second time.  I really think my SOP did some great revising throughout the process.  So first have someone who at a minimum has the masters you want and maybe even some experience on top of that read it over and critique it.  Then sit down and make sure you are addressing the points you need.  I definitely think you should re-write it at a minimum to now include you work experience and your final year of courses.  From a year ago you should definitely have some new things to add from graduating to getting a job.  You should have more focus and understanding of what you are interested in and what things within the field are of more interest to you.  Maybe focus on things that you learned in school that you find yourself applying now in your job, then explain how your coursework in your masters will help you to apply it for your interest in XYZ.  I don't think you HAVE to re-write from scratch but I'd expect some major revisions if I were you.  Best of luck.

[bsharpe269]

I would redraft your SOP. You may end up copying some sentances over but you currently dont know which parts of your applicaiton were strong and which were weak (unless you asked the programs and they specifically mentioned that your SOP was great). I would work on strengthening your SOP like you did the rest of your application.

[lyrehc]

I would definitely redo it.