Do I need multiple SOP's?

[jarrodthomas]

Hey, guys!

 

This may sound stupid but I was wondering if I need multiple SOP's if I am applying to all schools that have pretty much the same guidelines and word counts. I don't want them to submit it to something and then have it be known that I sent the same thing to multiple schools. Am I being paranoid or is this a completely valid thing?

[fuzzylogician]

What most people end up doing is they have a template that they tweak for each school. Your past is your past and your interests are your interests, but you probably have different reasons for thinking that each school you're applying to is an appropriate choice, and that's part of what you want to convey in your SOP. So you tweak the so-called "fit"-paragraph(s). You might also have reasons to highlight different aspects of your profile for different schools (focus on methodology, highlight research interest X or interest Y because the relevant school has an X/Y expert, etc). Most of the statement probably doesn't need to change much, once you have a good draft going.