<p>I am going to start writing my SOP tonight and I was wondering if those of you who have experience in writing one could share some tips. Apart from the grad school info about what to include in your SOP I dont really have much else to go on. So I just wanted answers to some points-</p>
<li>Is there a particular structure to follow?</li>
<li>How long should an SOP ideally be?</li>
<li>In how much detail should you talk about your research experience?</li>
<li>When they say previous education, how far back are you supposed to write about?</li>
<li>If you have a very specific career goal in mind (lets say you pretty much know what you’d like to work on) would you generalise it a bit or state it as such? Would it narrow your chances?</li>
<li>Should you mention about professors who’s work you’re interested in even though you haven’t contacted them?</li>
<li>How long does it take to finish up an SOP?? :)</li>
</ol>
<p>Schools generally give a guideline for length in terms of words. Mine were generally somewhere around two pages (12pt font, single-spaced), though for certain schools they were longer or shorter depending on guidelines.</p>
<p>You should talk about your research experience in enough detail to explain what you did without getting into irrelevant technical details. You want to say, "I participated in this project, in this role, and this is what we found," not "I transfected cells with 1ug DNA".</p>
<p>I would write about college education only. If you did significant research in high school, you should include it in your research experience, but I can't imagine a situation in which you should talk about high school academics.</p>
<p>You should mention specific professors you'd like to work with, regardless of whether you've contacted them.</p>
<p>My cynical view is that you should write in your SOP that you want to go into academic research, but I don't know if others agree with that. The PIs reading your application are those who stuck it out in the academic fire to get a faculty position at an R01 university, and in my opinion, very few of them are sympathetic to non-academic career paths.</p>
<p>My SOP was structured as such:
Paragraph 1. Introduction, why I want to go to grad school.
Paragraph 2. Academic background and how it has prepared me for a PhD program.
Paragraph 3. First research experience.
Paragraph 4. Second research experience: project I worked on with a group.
Paragraph 5. Second research experience: independent project.
Paragraph 6. Research interests and professors.
Paragraph 7. Future career goals, summary.</p>
<p>I would only talk about college experiences in your SOP, I included a HS research experience in my research section, but not in the SOP. You don't need to go through each research experience, I only focused on the ones where I actually got something done, rather than where I was for just a summer (except when I was applying to the school where I did my summer research, and I mentioned it more explicitly). I think that if you know what you want to do you should say it, unless the program that you want doesn;t quite have what you want to do. I am interested in systems biology/computational biology and definitely toned it down for a couple of schools. I think that you should say that you are interested in research, ideally in an academic setting, however if you don;t say it I don't think its that big of a deal. I wouldnt say taht your ultimate career goal is industry. I would mention professors even if you haven't contacted them if you;d like to-- I didn't mention or contact any professors and I got into every graduate school that I applied to. It took me about a day to finish my SOP-- i needed to for the NSF grant application</p>
<p>How would it sound to write about a high school project (more like an assigment not research) on a topic that has held your interest till date and you wish to pursue research in that? Does that sound silly or does it show your interest? I am quite specifically interested in stem cell research, embryonic, but dont know if I should mention the embryonic part cuz of the funding issues. Whats your take on that?</p>
<p>There's nothing silly about talking about your research interests. The high school bit would only be a hook or lead into the discussion. Think about how the adcoms will read this, and what will stick in their heads.</p>
<p>What you write: "When I was a junior in high school, my beloved AP Biology teacher introduced me to the fantabulous possibilities of stem cells in the study and treatment of diseases. An interest in the subject, particularly embryonic stem cell research, has stuck with me to this day, fueled by the knowledge and impressive laboratory experience I accumulated during my undergraduate education. I am enthused to continue studies in this exciting field during my years at AnyU."</p>
<p>What they remember: "[blah blah blah] interest in [blah blah] embryonic stem cell research." End.</p>
<p>Don't construct your SOP based on worries of funding and whatnot. If you're applying to truly good fits, your professors will be doing similar research and will provide the funding for you.</p>
<p>I second what people are saying about structure and length. Two pages or so covering 1)why do you want to go to grad school 2)long term career goals 3)what do you want to do in grad school 4)why this grad school 5)what prepared you for grad school.</p>
<p>On a separate note, I never even considered including how high school science experiences shaped my love of science and informed my decision to go into it as a career. I did in fact have a super AP biology teacher, who I still keep in touch with 8 years later. We did a cadaver dissection, cloned the lux operon (bioluminescence) into plant seeds, made luminol/peroxide (results in glowing liquid) squirt guns/kites/frisbees and went on a camping trip to study prairie ecology. I suppose this stuff would have been quite relevant in a personal statement.</p>
<p>Thanks everyone! working on my sop now.. got the basic structure sorted out and figured out most of what I want to write. lets see how it comes out..</p>
<p>Some people say when speaking about their profile: "I have strong SOP". What does is it mean? What criteria allow you to judge the strongness of your essay?</p>
<p>I think that people who indicate strength in their SOP are doing so on a subjective scale. Everybody believes that the encapsulation of their academic/professional careers makes them stand out. I would guess that a better measure is people who believe that they have a weak SOP. They are probably more correct.</p>