SOP Suggestions and Advice

[speechfan222]

I'm going to apply to a graduate program that requires a 4-5 page double-spaced personal statement. I haven't found any other programs that require this long of an SOP. I was a little surprised.

The requirements for the SOP are:

• State your professional goals, interests, and reasons for desiring to enroll in this program.
• Describe your strengths that will help you succeed in the program and in reaching your professional goals.
• Describe the significant responsibilities you have held.
• Include any additional information that you feel will help the committee evaluate your application.

I can describe all of these in detail, but not sure I can extend to at least 4 pages.

Can anyone give me suggestions or recommendations on things to include or not include in my SOP.

Thank you!

 

[AshAnatomy]

Hi! Is there an information about required font size? Because I think with Arial12-th font size it is possible to write grad school personal statement this long but you still have to clarify it at university you're applying to. Because 4-5 pages of SOP sounds a little bit too much. Good luck!

Edited September 26, 2016 by AshAnatomy

[speechfan222]

Hi!

I just saw your comment on this post right now. Sometimes I receive notifications about new comments posted under my comments and sometimes I don't. Do you have any idea why that is?

There is no information about word count or font size. It just says it has to be between 4 and 5 pages long. I haven't clarified it with somebody yet, but I found it under the requirements for graduate applications. I was surprised at the length too. There are a few points that we must address and I'm including those. Now just having a hard time expanding on them and including more information to meet the page length. Any suggestions for me?

Edited September 26, 2016 by speechfan222

[fuzzylogician]

13 minutes ago, speechfan222 said:

There is no information about word count or font size. It just says it has to be between 4 and 5 pages long. I haven't clarified it with somebody yet, but I found it under the requirements for graduate applications.

Given this statement, I would actually verify with the department that they want you to take this seriously (assuming that "found it under .. graduate applications" means something about the graduate school requirements at large). If it's an institution-wide requirement and doesn't come from the department, there is a decent chance that they have their own guidelines or that they don't really have this particular requirement. If and when you verify that this is what they want, I would suggest two things. First, you might want to write an early draft just to see how long it is without doing anything special. It might be longer than you think. Take this as a very early attempt, one where none of the text may end up in the final version. Then, if necessary, brainstorm topics to add. This is very personal so it's hard to give advice without knowing you, but if you've participated in multiple higher-level courses that have informed your research, you could choose to write about the readings, the assignments, the practical experience, etc. that were important to you. If you participated in multiple internships, or even just one, pick a few meaningful cases where you encountered a problem, helped someone, learned something, etc., and talk about how that helped you grow. Maybe you want to expand on your future career goals. Maybe there are extracurriculars that are relevant in some way. The prompt gives you a lot of leeway. But I think a good first step is to write what you have brainstormed already and see how it feels. It'll help you figure out where you might expand more than having this amorphous task that you haven't even started on yet. 

[speechfan222]

2 minutes ago, fuzzylogician said:

Given this statement, I would actually verify with the department that they want you to take this seriously. If it's an institution-wide requirement and doesn't come from the department, there is a decent chance that they have their own guidelines or that they don't really have this particular requirement. If and when you verify that this is what they want, I would suggest two things. First, you might want to write an early draft just to see how long it is without doing anything special. It might be longer than you think. Take this as a very early attempt, one where none of the text may end up in the final version. Then, if necessary, brainstorm topics to add. This is very personal so it's hard to give advice without knowing you, but if you've participated in multiple higher-level courses that have informed your research, you could choose to write about the readings, the assignments, the practical experience, etc. that were important to you. If you participated in multiple internships, or even just one, pick a few meaningful cases where you encountered a problem, helped someone, learned something, etc., and talk about how that helped you grow. Maybe you want to expand on your future career goals. Maybe there are extracurriculars that are relevant in some way. The prompt gives you a lot of leeway. But I think a good first step is to write what you have brainstormed already and see how it feels. It'll help you figure out where you might expand more than having this amorphous task that you haven't even started on yet.

 

 

Thanks a bunch for this. It really helps! I will definitely continue writing the rough draft of the personal statement and see how long it ends up. Then, I'll add more information to it as I can. Thanks!!!