SOP- Structure (format wise), Name Dropping, and Personal History Advice

[feministswagger]

I have literally spent WAY TOO MUCH TIME on my SOP. I am probably making myself crazy but that is okay. I do have one professor that is looking over my SOP for me throughout this process. But I had a few questions I've had varied answers on so I figured I would post it here. I am applying to Master's in English Literature programs.

1. What is the best format for the SOP? Cover letter style? With your name, addres, etc. in the top left corner followed by the graduate school's address, etc. below it? Does anyone have any examples of what is the proper way? OR would it be okay to leave that out entirely to save valuable paper space? And just start with a, "Dear graduate admissions committee" generic heading? I'm having such a hard time condensing my SOP to one page that I need every amount of space I can get.

2. Speaking of the space issue- has anyone played around with margins or even reducing the line spacing to .75 just to squeeeeeze a tad bit more in their SOP? Or would that be a big bad idea if the admissions people noticed it?

3. Name dropping. I've had two totally different opinions on this from English Literature professors. One said that it is vital to include the name of a professor at the graduate school and reference their specific research. Another advised me to stay away from name dropping entirely and just focus on the program's specific coursework. Which is the better route?! I address my interest in the program quite specifically aside from a name drop so if I take it out- my paragraph is still quite substantial. Or perhaps just mentioning a professor but not her specific research (looking it up on the MLA bibliography) would be a good balance?

3. Personal History. I am a 27 year old, single mother and my son is my main reason for why I attended college in the first place. I was advised by both professors to defnitely include that in my SOP. But an academic advisor told me to leave it out (which I found a bit offensive)- anyone out there have any idea if there would be discrimination against me if I mention that I'm a single mom? I don't want to risk my chances but my son is essential to my story as a college student- he's always been my main driving force- to provide a good life for him by assuring my finacial success.

Any other opinions you would want to throw my way would be welcome too!

[geographyrocks]

1. I only listed my name and "Personal Statement" or "Statement of Purpose" or whatever that particular school was calling it.

2. I wouldn't mess with the margins.  There's always that one person who will notice that it looks off.

3. I talked about every professor I thought was interesting and tied in how my research interests fit in with theirs. This could be different in your field though.

4. The son issue is iffy.  While there are those who will see it as a virtue, there are also those who will see him as a hinderance.  Will you be able to put in as many hours?  Will your research suffer? So on and so forth.  On the flip side, you probably don't want to work with anyone who would see your son as a hinderance so including it in your statement would weed out those advisers. 

[TakeruK]

Here's what I did:

 

1. I put my name, application number (if applicable) and page number (e.g. page 1 of 2) in the "header" part. My title was "Statement of Purpose". 

 

2. I also would not mess with the margins. When you are staring at hundreds of SOPs one after another, you will notice when a margin is different.

 

3. Many schools in my field ask specifically for you to mention professors you would want to work with. I don't think this counts as "name dropping" because you are using their name to describe your research plan, not just mentioning the name in hopes of their favourable reputation will transfer to you. I also mention the name of my previous research advisor in the course of discussing what work I have done in the past. In my field, I would strongly disagree with the "focus on program coursework" comment. I don't think I mention the courses at all in most of my SOPs because the programs I applied to are all research intensive PhDs. In my field, I think it would be a red flag if a prospective grad student said they wanted to attend a particular school because of the courses, since 1) schools want research oriented students and 2) pretty much all schools have the same coursework.

 

4. I am in the camp that the people who think this is a hinderance are terrible people and I would not want to work for them / I don't care what they think. I don't have children but I specifically mention other family/personal reasons for why I chose X school in my SOP. But, one downside of doing this is that the people on the admission committee might be terrible people that will want to reject you, while you might still actually be happy there if the department is large and you'll just end up working with the people that would support you. If I had to write my SOP again, I definitely would still include all my family/personal reasons though.

[StudyStar]

Hello,

All good questions! Based on my experience, I'd recommend the following:

 

1. You don't really need a heading or title; a simple "Statement of Purpose" at the top or in the upper margin is adequate. Make sure to include your name (ideally in the upper left or right corner) in case your SOP becomes separated from the other application materials.

 

2. SOP length limits are usually specified in word count rather than number of pages, for this exact reason - it's a bit confusing what "one page" means with so many options for spacing, font, margins, etc. In truth, probably you could alter the margins or font slightly without penalty, as long as they don't specify "one-inch margins." But the real issue is really finding a way to express all your ideas without having to tweak the margin dimensions. Without exaggeration, about 98% of the SOPs I've read can be improved by cutting some content and expressing things in a less wordy fashion.

3. It's generally encouraged to reference specific professors (especially ones you've met or worked with before). Just be clear and specific in articulating your interest in working with or under the instruction of a particular professor.

 

4. I would put it in. I don't think it will hurt your chances and in some cases can be an advantage, since many programs seek to include "non-traditional" students or those with life situations that differ from the norm (and indeed, including such students enriches the academic experience for everyone.) However, I would advise you not to mention finances as a reason for applying (even if it's a perfectly good one) - schools (especially humanities programs) want to hear about academic, intellectual, and professional motivations rather than finances per se. Just choose your words carefully: focus on "career" rather than "money" or "finances", and perhaps you could add something about how the enrichment of your own academic self will, by extension, also benefit your son intellectually.

David
 

Edited December 24, 2014 by fuzzylogician
edited to remove advertisement

[lzs]

I've heard grad students with children say they actually were more productive than grad students without children, because when you have kids you have to have some degree of time management and organizational skills and you simply can't afford to procrastinate. But there is still often a stigma against parenting in academia. It's your call, but the thing that actually concerns me here is that you say you're motivated by the desire to provide financially for your son. This is a perfectly good desire in life in general, but a very dubious motivation for a graduate degree in English Literature. Academia kind of fetishes scholarly poverty voluntarily taken on for the sake of "the life of the mind." What lucrative jobs do you imagine you would get with an M.A. in English Lit that you would not get with a B.A.?

[TakeruK]

Academia kind of fetishes scholarly poverty voluntarily taken on for the sake of "the life of the mind."

 

I don't think this is as common in the current generation of profs as much as it was in previous generations. But even so, if the OP is willing to take the small risk, I think this sentiment is precisely why students need to say that more financially rewarding careers are a motivation for graduate education because it is a perfectly valid reason to go to grad school. 

[feministswagger]

" What lucrative jobs do you imagine you would get with an M.A. in English Lit that you would not get with a B.A.?

I intend on continuing on to a PhD program after I complete my Master's. No matter what degree I have, I will (I would hope haha) make more money than when I was working at Taco Bell when my son was born. Perhaps I wasn't clear enough.. I know the humanities isn't the best place to specialize in if you want a high paying job but it's better than working fast food forever. Every advisor (teacher or otherwise) has told me to 'tell my story' briefly in the beginning and that is my story- having my son motivated me to go to college in the first place- if it weren't for him, I'm not sure it would have happened. I tried crafting a story leaving him out of it and it just looks weak- like I went to college on a whim after being in the workforce for 6 years. Which I think makes me sound flakey. But maybe I'm over thinking it!

I've spent two weeks already writing this SOP- so much pressure!

[feministswagger]

This is the beginning of my SOP- I'm not going into any further personal (as far as being a single parent) details other than this. I go on to talk about my experience, research, tutoring experience, each individual program, my career and graduate goals, etc. So this is a very small chunk and it's the part I'm struggling with the most1

"As a first generation college student, mother, and nontraditional student I have overcome all odds. My driving incentive to pursue graduate school stems from the fact that I have a family to support. The birth of my son gave me the realization that I needed to have a stable career to guarantee my family has an enriching future. I enrolled in college when he was six months old and since that day I have equated my goals of being a successful student with being a successful parent. I decided within my first year of college that I wanted to be an English professor and began preparing myself for graduate school."

I hate writing 'about me' things. That second sentence is iffy to me, should I cut it or change it to stay away from the 'financial words'?

[TakeruK]

I am a first generation college student as well as graduate student and although academic careers don't pay the amounts that people think of when they think of other professions with post-college education (e.g. lawyers, doctors, etc.), having a graduate degree sure makes me a lot more employable than minimum wage jobs that my parents had when they moved to Canada. This is why I think it's necessary for academics to realise that people want to enter their field as a means to make money, not just for the "life of the mind". I strongly believe that those who think academics should not worry about finances are excluding potential scholars who need a decent income too. The idea of the "life of the mind" means academia is restricted to certain socio-economic classes.

 

Here's what I think about the above paragraph:

 

1. I would avoid absolute words like "overcome all odds".

 

2. I like the second sentence--it goes well with the third+fourth sentence and shows that you have the drive and determination to finish the PhD. But if you cut it I guess the 3rd and 4th sentences have the same effect.

 

3. I would be a little bit worried about the last sentence though. It might make you sound naive about the reality of the professor job market and it implies that you believe all English graduate students go on to become English professors. For one, there are lots of other post-PhD jobs that are not professorships but are also full time, stable, pays well etc.

 

Here is one example article showing that in pretty much every field, the majority of PhD graduates do not end up on any kind of full time academic job (much less a professorship position): http://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2013/02/how-many-phds-actually-get-to-become-college-professors/273434/. Just remember that this graphic doesn't account for full-time non-academic jobs (and some fields have more of those available than others!). 

 

But in either case, I think that you should remove this last sentence from the beginning of your SOP. Instead, I would put the same idea at the end of the SOP where you talk about your plans post-PhD. In most of my SOP prompts, this was an explicit question and I devoted 2-4 sentences to answer it. There's nothing wrong with aiming big with the English Professor goal, but I would want to also write about my goals for an academic career in general (while also taking care to not present these other careers as "failed professors").

[lzs]

I totally think it's legitimate to discuss how your parenthood and background have made you more mature, responsible, etc. I just think that saying "I want a graduate degree in English literature because I have a family to support" may make you sound naive about the realities of the contemporary academic job market, in which the majority of jobs are not "stable" at all and often do not pay enough to support one person, let alone two. Again, I completely support your goal of wanting to make more money so as to better support your son, but if that is your primary motivation, why choose a degree with such unstable career prospects?

[feministswagger]

Yikes, I didn't realize posting asking for SOP advice would turn into a witch hunt on my chosen field of study. I guess this is why you should never turn to people on the internet for aid or assistance. I wasn't asking for criticism on my field of choice- just for general SOP writing advice. But I guess I know not to post questions on here because of the level of judgment that might be received if you're purusing a career in the humanities.

[fuzzylogician]

Yikes, I didn't realize posting asking for SOP advice would turn into a witch hunt on my chosen field of study. I guess this is why you should never turn to people on the internet for aid or assistance. I wasn't asking for criticism on my field of choice- just for general SOP writing advice. But I guess I know not to post questions on here because of the level of judgment that might be received if you're purusing a career in the humanities.

 

feministswagger, I think you got some very helpful and thoughtful advice from several people, which is not trivial on a site that is entirely based on the participants' good will. As is the nature of internet discussion forums, people may have opinions that you disagree with, even strongly. They may try and steer the discussion in a direction other than you intended, or bring up a new topic. These are all fine and welcome developments in a thread--this community thrives and regular posters keep coming back because we do more than just answer visitors' questions (though we also do that!): we also have broader discussions on (sometimes) controversial issues, and we ask difficult questions. 

 

I don't see any "witch hunt" or even anything rising to the level of an attack in lzs's posts, though perhaps better word choices could have been made. I don't read it as specifically addressing your choices but instead bringing up a more general question. It is entirely (and sadly) true that the academic job market is not particularly great, and that saying that you decided to become a professor with less than one year experience as an undergraduate student might sound naive to some. On the other hand, the prose you quoted above sounds mature and level-headed, so I personally wouldn't be concerned about your motives or ability to succeed, if I were on an adcom. (But I'm not, and who knows what anybody else thinks.) In any event, I suggest you simply ignore this comment, as there is otherwise a quite interesting discussion here. I think the fact that you are getting conflicting advice from your mentors, who presumably have a lot more experience doing this than us, shows that there is no hard and fast truth here, only people's opinions. 

 

ETA: re: But I guess I know not to post questions on here because of the level of judgment that might be received if you're purusing a career in the humanities.-- I have to tell you, even after graduating with my PhD from a top school and obtaining a really great postdoc, I occasionally get these questions of 'what are you going to do with this degree?' (funnily, often from people who have had a lot less education and little understanding of the realities of academia.) I choose to ignore these people and move on. I don't need to justify my choices to anyone.

Edited September 24, 2014 by fuzzylogician

[bsharpe269]

I dont think anyone is judging you at all! They are saying that the sentence doesnt mix well and could come off like you havent done your research. I think that everyone on here is incredibly supportive of you chasing after your passion for the field. I find that a very honorable endeavor.

 

My opinion on the personal statement is a bit different. If I were you then I would not start my personal statement out that way. I think that information can definitely be included but I feel like the first paragraph should come with a bang research wise instead of involving personal life. For example, my first paragraph introduces something that was a known paradox in my research area for a while. My next sentance basically says that my research interests lie in the solution to the paradox and then the rest of my intro talks about the details of it that I find amazing and I emphasize the particular details that have been discovered by the particular faculty members at each university. I have tons of difficult personal history that I could include instead but I dont necesarily think that is what I want someone to know about me after reading my intro. I want them to know that I know my subfield and love the research, not that I have struggled personally. I think your research interests should maybe be moved up in your SOP and then the personal stuff could maybe be included in the conclusion.

 

That is just my opinion! SOPs vary so incredibly much and everyone seems to have very different opinions on whats best. Good luck!

[lzs]

My undergrad work, which I loved to death and am still involved in, focused on dead languages, so I am definitely not anti-humanities. My concern stems from the fact that all of the grad school advice I have read and heard says that adcoms want to see, perhaps more than anything else, evidence of strong intrinsic motivation. They want people who study a subject for the sake of the subject. Of course you have completely reasonable and admirable practical goals as well. But if they read an SoP that says you want to go to grad school in order to achieve financial security, they are probably going to wonder why you don't do something cheaper and more employable than a terminal master's in English lit, and where you got the idea that that degree would best enable you to support a dependent.

In short: it's fine to say you aspire toward financial security, but when you present that as your primary motivation for getting a graduate degree in English lit, the reader may find it puzzling.

[Crucial BBQ]

1.  There are no steadfast rules for formatting, but you might want to avoid the "inspirational quote" approach that many take.  Not saying that is what you intend to do, just an FYI.  It is way to cliche and chances are that the adcoms will not find the same inspiration from the quote as you do.

 

For my SOP, against the left margin I listed: My Name; "Depatment/School" Applicant; Specific Program/Lab and degree level sought (MS/Ph.D.); and year of application cycle (Fall 2014 Admissions, for example).  Against the right margin I used two lines for my address; Phone Number; and Email address.  I essentially wanted to give the appearance of it being a formal letter.  However instead of using "Dear....," I had Statement of Purpose, which of course was centered and with a larger font.  In the header of each page I had centered My Name 2014 Page X.   

 

2.  Yup, of sorts.  I use LeTex for nearly all of my writings, which is a typesetting "program", not word processing.  Line spacing and letter spacings are automatic based on best fit.  With that, my left and right margins are set at 1.5 cm, which is roughly 0.6 inches. I went with 1.5 cm because in my opinion those margins produced the best looking document (printed).  

 

Out of all the disagreements, concerns, and general "that didn't work" feedback I got from my rejected applications last year, not one person/program mentioned my margins, nor my formatting, as an issue.  In fact, I got some major kudos on my SOP instead.

 

3.  For science, name dropping is essential.  Many programs even explicitly state to name one or more "potential advisors" in your SOP or elsewhere in the application.  However, for some reason English programs seem to the exception to the rules.  For every "this is how you apply to grad school" advice articles out there is one that, specifically addressing graduate-level English programs, seem to state the opposites.  Honestly, I do not know.  

 

The best advice is to email the programs you are interested in and ask.  

 

4.  A good number of graduate school applicants are coming straight-from undergrad and are more-or-less "traditional" students.  Then/When they get to graduate school they realize they are on the younger end of the graduate school population.  Marriages, mortgages, and children are common enough amongst graduate students, being a single mother will not cause discrimination. 

 

The issue is not that you have a child, but that your child is the reason you are in school.  Graduate programs want students who want to go into academia and/or become researchers because in terms of career that is their life's passion.  They do not want students who want to use their programs as a means to financial gains only.  My guess is that you were advised to leave your son out of your SOP not to look away from your motherhood but to help focus your application/SOP on you and on your specific areas of interests and future career/academic goals.  

Edited September 25, 2014 by Crucial BBQ

[feministswagger]

Thanks for the tips for those who commented. I'm done with the writing sample and the GRE process now so I'm coming back to the SOP to give it one more go. I changed it entirally, cutting out as much personal stuff as I could but leaving enough to follow the advice of my professors to have some type of 'story' of myself in it.

 

Does this look much improved to what I had before?

 

As a first generation non-traditional college student, and mother I am familiar with maintaining my goals and aspirations in any circumstance. Due to being the head of my household I take my college career seriously and part of my motivation stems from a desire to give my family an educated and enriching life. I quickly realized when I first started college that I had a great aptitude for literary analysis and writing. This developed into a strong passion for the field that became another essential part of my motivation. My skills as a writer granted me the opportunity for numerous independent literary research projects that employed the use of feminist criticism and digital humanities that I presented at conferences across Wisconsin. The positive experience of conducting and sharing my research with others in my field was the catalyst for my choice of a career as an English professor. To ensure that my writing remains a flexible asset in case I do not secure employment right away, I have recently challenged myself in the field of writing by breaking out of my comfort zone by writing articles on my community's local food movement for my local newspaper. The past three years I have also been employed as an English composition tutor where I have worked with a variety of students from different backgrounds. Tutoring a subject I feel so strongly about has been a great life experience to give me a preview of the job satisfaction that comes along with academic life and to ensure that my passion for teaching is a valid one.

 

This is just the beginning, after this I go on to talk about my goals in graduate school and so forth.