Statment of Purpose

[shai]

Does anyone know of a website (ithout charge) that one can see real candidates past SoP ? Maybe people here can start posting the SoP that got them into their prefered schools ?

[ridgey]

Not exactly what you're after, but the members of the applyingtograd community at livejournal often post their SoPs and other people make suggestions as to how they can improve. So you can see lots of examples. And you'll quickly get an idea of what is considered a good and a bad SoP for different fields - make sure you read the comments too!

I think there is an example essay on the website of Berkeley's grad school. It is super intimidating to read though- don't feel liek yours has to be that good - it's clearly up there because it's excceptional.

[fuzzylogician]

Also: Donald Asher's Graduate Admissions Essays includes 100 SOPs of successful applicants in various fields, as wells as comments and suggestions on how to write your own essay. I found the book, coupled with the great advice I got on livejournal, very helpful.