Writing Sample and SOPS advice and edit exchange forum

[Radcafe]

Hi fellow grad cafe goers,

It's fall now! And I want to actually get some perspective on how my SOPs and writing sample are looking. Let me know if you wouldn't mind doing a PM exchange of these materials and we can give advice/support!

I'm happy to look over your materials too. 

 

[emily.rose]

I'd be happy to participate in this! I'm only applying to MA programs though, is that alright?

[Radcafe]

MA is totally fine! I PMd you

[hypervodka]

I'm available as well. 

[sillyrabbit]

As am I!

[eachevery]

Pls include me as well :-)

[Radcafe]

I've sent you PMs Great to get 2nd opinions on writing! 

[queennight]

I'm available as well!

[hypervodka]

 

I found this post from another thread very useful. Main points: write a different SOP for each school and do A LOT of research. Personally, not a fan of the first part.

[jhefflol]

I'd be willing to exchange as well. I'm having a hard time balancing all of the advice I'm getting on how to write a SOP (even from the Asher book) so I'd love to get some feedback on mine and would love to read others'. 

[Radcafe]

PM me! I love exchanging SOPs and would love more advice. 

[Dr. Old Bill]

My SOP has winged its way off to 14 places already, so an "exchange" might be akin to closing the barn door after the horse is glue, on my end.

 

I would be happy to read and comment on the occasional SOP, however, so long as it's not needed back immediately (i.e., I'm busy, but I enjoy squeezing stuff like this in when I can).

[TeaOverCoffee]

I'd certainly love to join this party. I have a SOP in the making, but I'm sure it needs quite a bit of revision. My writing sample won't be complete until late November, though, since it's my senior thesis. 

[xolo]

I just want you all to know how jealous I am, I think the Languages forum has gone belly up.  Hopefully it will pick up.  There is no way my SOP is going to be unique to each school.  That is too much creative writing, it took me a year to write the sucker, maybe you creative types can handle writing multiple SOPs.  What I did was write my SOP and then tried to find schools that matched it.  I feel I have a unique story and I feel it is strong.  Of course, how I feel doesn't really matter at admission time.

[Dr. Old Bill]

I just want you all to know how jealous I am, I think the Languages forum has gone belly up.  Hopefully it will pick up.  There is no way my SOP is going to be unique to each school.  That is too much creative writing, it took me a year to write the sucker, maybe you creative types can handle writing multiple SOPs.  What I did was write my SOP and then tried to find schools that matched it.  I feel I have a unique story and I feel it is strong.  Of course, how I feel doesn't really matter at admission time.

 

Well, despite being an English Major / Creative Writing kinda guy (so take this with a grain of salt), I'm not sure customizing your SOP is a creative pursuit. Think of it this way: you're on an adcomm panel, and you come across a SOP that is interesting, yet says absolutely nothing about the specifics of your program, nor does it mention anything about professors the applicant would like to work with. What do you do? You put it aside for safe keeping, and move on to the next application, which has a few sentences making the link between the applicant's strengths, and the strength of your program, perhaps mentioning some professors with similar interests as well. As an adcomm member, your job has just become easier: you can safely say "Oh, this applicant would be a good match for Professor X, who happens to have no graduate students right now." Suddenly the application isn't in the "aside" pile, but in a "potential candidate for so-and-so" pile.

 

This is a fiction, of course -- we don't know exactly how adcomms work. Chances are, they work differently at each program. But by making a few connections for them, you save them from having to figure out where (or if) you fit in the context of all 200+ applicants. Chances are that program / professor specialization puts you in a smaller proverbial "pile" than would a general, one-size-fits-all SOP. And hey...it's mid-October. You've still got six weeks to work on adding a few sentences to each SOP! Yes, I'm a writer, but even for a non-writer it shouldn't be too hard to make a blurb that says "The program at X is a good match for me because it offers __________. Additionally, Professors X and Y have done extensive research in __________, which is in line with what I would like to do during my course of study." Trust me, this brief bit of personalization has the potential to go a long way. No one wants a form letter.

 

Just my two cents, so take them for whatever they're worth!

Edited October 15, 2014 by Wyatt's Torch

[xolo]

Oh, I definitely did this, that's just common sense. At first, all schools sort of looked the same. As time went by, they all started to look different. I just didn't write each SOP from the ground up.

[Dr. Old Bill]

Oh, I definitely did this, that's just common sense. At first, all schools sort of looked the same. As time went by, they all started to look different. I just didn't write each SOP from the ground up.

 

Oh. Unless I'm completely mistaken, this is what folks generally mean by writing a unique SOP. The first two paragraphs of most of my SOPs are the same, though the third (and sometimes) fourth paragraphs are usually program specific.

 

The other thing to bear in mind is that some programs want a 500 word SOP, some want a 1000 word SOP, some have spacing preferences etc., which forces you to have to adapt. But so long as you're doing some customization, you should be fine. My apologies for the misunderstanding.

[xolo]

My bad. I over-reacted to the very thought of writing multiple SOPs from the ground up! Now that you mention it, I do have a question. My "native" SOP is 900 words and it can be reduced to about 700 without too much negative affect. I do have a couple of schools that state 500 words. Do you think a 700 word SOP for a 500 word limit will be a problem?

[Dr. Old Bill]

I suspect that 700 for a 500 requirement would be problematic. 550 might fly, but considering how many SOPs they see, it will be easy for them to spot an outlier.

[hypervodka]

If you feel like you need to gauge your draft against something: on the website Statement of Purpose Examples, this one got an applicant into University of Virginia, and this one got someone into either Rutgers or Brown (total conjecture, but it makes sense).

[zanmato4794]

hypervodka, I cannot overstate how valuable those are.

[unræd]

Have you guys also checked with your undergraduate English advising office? I know the "applying to grad school" advisor at my school keeps a packet of sample SOPs from students in the department who were accepted at high-ranked places (Cornell, Duke, etc). It's another good source for a bunch of successful SOPs, and one where you can get better information about the totality of the student's application package/their process in drafting the SOP. You can get the same person's sample to different programs, at different word counts, etc, to see how that editing process works. I know I used one of them (a Duke one) to help me when I started preparing mine.

Edited November 17, 2014 by unræd

[lyonessrampant]

^Oh, advantages of what I assume to be big schools, Ivies, and big/elite SLACs.  One of my missions has been to help people like me (first gen college student who went to a tiny (super TINY) slac) who knew nothing (perhaps even less than Jon Snow) figure out this whole system.  Do take advantage of all those, and if anyone is willing to post those types of things, that's great help to other, less advantaged folks.

Edited November 17, 2014 by lyonessrampant

[jhefflol]

The feedback that I have gotten from fellow members here has been invaluable. Exchanging is amazing!

[1Q84]

The UCR statement of purpose is only 3000 characters. I think my brain is about to explode.