Knowing as a reflection of your personality, a statement of purpose is a long essay that you need to submit to an admission committee when you are going to enroll yourself in universities abroad. You can consider it as your chance to impress all committee members by portraying your educational or other qualities. It can be similar to an essay that will include all your details. But how you will draw your statement of purpose? Well, here you can simply go through this piece of the context where you will understand detailed pieces of information about SOP and templates you can use to create one.
Here you go!
What is a Statement of Purpose?
An SOP or statement of purpose is now mandatory for abroad universities as well as a few Indian universities when it comes to the application procedure. It is sometimes known as a research statement or a letter of intent.
A statement of purpose is written to the admission committee or admission panel and the whole body of an SOP contains your details- who you are, what is your goal, what career path you have chosen, how ready you are to pursue a new course, etc.
In short, you need to cover your career paths, interest, educational backgrounds, professional engagement, goals, and the purpose you want to study more. Usually, a statement of purpose is submitted in an essay format but some universities want this in a question-answer-based format. You need to remember that a statement of purpose is an integral and essential part of your admission that may decide your entry into your desired institution.
Why is a statement of purpose important?
A proper, organized, and well-written SOP or statement of purpose is very much essential for your admission to your preferred educational institution. Truth be told, every institution will go for applicants who are clear enough with their goals in education or career path. So, it is obvious that institutions will look for a clear statement of purpose that actually paints your overall image with crisp details.
With the help of an SOP, you can simply pitch your purpose to the admission council or admission committee. When you have a clear mindset and a proper way of presentation, it will be easier to get noticed by admission committee members. Also, it is true that your ability to express thoughts with writing skills can be gauged through an SOP.
How can your Statement of Purpose stand out from the public?
Now, that you have understood why an SOP is important for your admission, you should keep in mind that your SOP should be the one the admission committee is looking for. Every year, thousands of applications are coming to those institutions. So, to make your chance of getting admission to that institution more positive, you need to be unique in every possible way. Though there are some basics that you need to follow while writing an SOP, you need to keep an eye on format, writing style, general word limits, etc.
But still, after checking your format of writing SOP, you need to check it with the purpose of your SOP. Suppose you are going to take admission to an MBA course, and your friend is taking admission to an M.Sc course, then the whole structure will be different from each other. It is possible that a specific university has specific demands for SOP. In order to be unique with your SOP, you must take care of all those aspects while writing.
What should be included in the Statement of Purpose?
When you are looking for the best and most unique statement of purpose, you have to include a few elements that will take your SOP to another level. Unless any specific demand is mentioned for drafting an SOP, you must include your goals and the career path you have taken up. Do not forget to mention your academic progress along with this. Also, there are other elements that should be added to your statement of purpose.
11 tips to help you write a winning SOP
- Personal background
- Economic or financial background
- Academic progress
- Professional experience (detailed information on full-time or part-time jobs)
- Short-time and long-time goals in the career
- The reason why you are choosing the specific institution over others
- Why you are choosing the field of study, basically, the reasons behind the trait you are choosing for study
- Details of extra-curriculum activities
- Any kind of published work (if any)
- Papers submitted by you (if any are there, do not forget to mention them)
- Interests or hobbies in your life
Tips and techniques you have to know while crafting your SOP
Well, now it is time, you must know how you can write a perfect and well-organized SOP that will make your chance higher of getting admission to your preferred educational institution. Here we are penning down the detailed process of designing your statement of purpose.
1. Write Stories. Not Statements
A well-organized SOP indicates every detail that really defines you. You should be clear about every element you are mentioning in the SOP. Also, try to be formal but in a conversational tone. It will make your SOP interesting while reading.
2. Quantify your stories
When you are writing the statement of purpose, always try to discuss your long-term goal and remember to connect it with your idea of following the course you are applying to. And, it should contain measurable quantities, not theory. When you quantify your stories, it will add authenticity to your SOP.
3. Be quite specific
Do not flatter while explaining your details in the SOP. Be very crisp so that the admission committee can easily understand your matter of fact. In simple words, be very specific with your application. Also, the admission committee will want you to think for yourself. So, always try to answer a lot of “Why” in your SOP.
4. Customize your detailed essay
Drafting a customized essay is an essential part of your SOP. You should not write your goal the same as in other courses. Suppose you want to join M.Sc. And once you dreamt of MBA. So, the purpose of studying MBA and M.Sc will not be the same Right? So you need to change your essay as per the course you want to pursue.
5. Dont forget the formal yet conversational tone
You should remember that the admission council is an official body that is going to judge you by your SOP. So, try to be formal yet conversational enough so that they can understand your goals and career path. It is very much essential. Do not skip it at any cost. Your conversational tone should not include laughter to your admission council, rather, try to bring a smile to the reader’s face while writing a perfect SOP.
6. It is all about learning how to portray
How you are presenting yourself can be an important factor in being chosen by the university or the admission committee. You should keep in mind, that the drafting style of your SOP will play an important role to help you in taking admission to the university. It will show the admission panel whether you can portray your detailed profile in an organized manner or not.
7. Be the real one
Never ever try to write down any false information about you. Dishonesty will lead to rejection. Not only that, sometimes you may be rejected from all over the admission process even in the future. So never lie in your statement of purpose.
8. Address problems
The statement of purpose can work well if you can mention a few of your problems. It is natural that you might have a gap in your academic year or you needed to drop out from a class once, just mention it in a formal and mature manner. Try to be as honest as possible. Within a few lines, you just need to clear your problems. It should be in a manner through which readers can empathize with you. If you can do this, your chance of having an image of the matured image will be enhanced.
9. Do a research work
It is obvious you are choosing an institution for its advanced study techniques and culture. It is not necessary to remind the admission panel about the goodness of college. Rather, you should mention why you want to take admitted to the university. To make this thing clear, you need to do a lot of homework about the university’s good deeds or other study cultures.
10. Proofread again and again
Well, don’t skip this part. Proofreading your SOP means you want to be very sure that there is not a single mistake on it. You never want to display a wrong sentence or mistake in your SOP. So, better be careful enough and read it again and again before finalizing. Remember, your SOP is your mirror image. So, it should be as unique as you.
11. Take advice from an experienced one
It is normal to ask for a piece of advice. An experienced person or a professor can help you to undergo the wishlist of other professors of your preferred universities. So, simply ask a professor what you should include or not. If the professor is really close to you, you can also ask for a letter of recommendation.
How long should a statement of purpose be?
A proper statement of purpose should be 1-2 pages long with all the details. Also, 800 to 1000 words are enough to portray yourself. Though it may vary from university to university, you should check the preferred SOP format of your preferred university.
Do’s for two general SOP
Here for your convenience, we are including two general do’s that may help you.
- For undergraduates:
- Your purpose for admission to the program and preferring the university
- Your academic journey
- Extracurricular activities
- Career aspirations
- Assignments or projects you had undertaken previously.
- Any internships
- For postgraduate:
- Long-term and short-term goals for career
- Documentation of professional achievements
- Proof of teamwork, leadership, and other corporate qualities
- Career interest from the institution
- Volunteer works
- Previous jobs, if any
Wrap up
We hope, that now you understand the real need for a statement of purpose. It is your golden opportunity of impressing the admission council by displaying your profile as an individual with the help of an essay-like structure. Make it as honest as you are. We wish you all the luck in your next career path.
