<p>I'm mostly referring to graduate admissions in engineering programs. Everyone seems to stress over recs and GPAs, but I don't see the personal statement discussed so much. Does the personal statement carry any weight in admissions? Or is it just an application pleasantry?</p>
<p>God yes! It's what tells the admissions committee that you've done your homework on their school, and you are sure that they are doing what you are interested in, a chance for you to synthesize your varied experiences into one glossy whole being that they can understand with ease, as well as giving you a chance to explain any irregularities in your application such as switching fields or a semester of crappy grades. In very small programs where there are more qualified applicants than spots available, "fit" matters, the composition of the class as a social group matters, and your statement of purpose is what gives them insight into your personality.</p>
<p>For three ece/cs programs that I am most familar, just don't do stupid things (e.g. typo, wrong school/professor name etc) in SOP to disqualify yourself. </p>
<p>It is worth noting that the whole purpose of your application is to get into the interview round. Nothing more. The "fit" will become very clear to both parties when you are through with your 8-12 interviews (in a day). After that, they will re-rank the candidates based on their own impression.</p>
<p>I've heard that for philosophy programs the statements aren't even read very often. However, we have to turn in a writing sample as well, which is very important. I'd assume that where writing samples are required statements of purpose are much less important.</p>
<p>Personal statements really matter in small to mid sized schools, where a good faculty match is important to your attendance. To use my own experience, I was admitted at Cornell for PhD while many people accepted to Berkeley, MIT, and Stanford(who all rejected me - bastards) did not. I talked to many of these people and a common trend I saw was that they either did not have a close research match with any of the faculty, or the area they were applying for was oversaturated. The branch I specified in my personal statement was being studied by 2 new assistant professors, both of whom told me that it was harder to find students than funding. It's anecdotal, I know, but i'm almost certain that the depth of interest that I expressed for that area in my personal statement played a big role in my being admitted.</p>
<p>Good faculty match is important everywhere. Way too many well-qualified candidates are turned down because of mismatch. </p>
<p>My general recommendation has always been don't be too specific in your application. Sell your set of skills and experience rather than appear as someone who is set in stone (unless that's who you really are!) When you get your interviewer list, you will have a chance to research them (who are usually the ones have one or more funded slots to fill), determine those whose interest match you best and tailor yourself for them. Just my 2c.</p>
<p>Most professors whom I know don't "hire" the brightest PhD candidates (there are exceptions). They want the most experienced ones who are committed to work in their lab or group.</p>
<p>In the humanities, personal statements are critical to most admissions committees. That's where we learn about your academic interests and goals, and it is also where applicants bring to our attention things that are not visible on the transcript. </p>
<p>We read them closely. (And honestly, my colleagues in philosophy have told me the same.)</p>
<p>Prof</p>
<p>how does an adcom (or profs) look at statements that come in perfectly polished from students who obviously didn't produce their manuscript (e.g. non-native speakers, students who give u other reasons to believe they couldn't produce such a work).</p>
<p>for non-natives - if they write something that is obviously genuine but flawed (grammatical errors) vs. something flawless, which is viewed upon more favourably?</p>
<p>It is going to vary from field to field, dept to dept.</p>
<p>ditto to what everyone else said above me</p>
<p>14ofspades,</p>
<p>A written work (SOP, writing sample, anything) that did not appear to be produced solely by the student him/herself would look to us like academic dishonesty, and would be ground for outright rejection of the application.</p>
<p>A written work that reflects the current abilities of the student is always preferable. And of course we take into account that some applicants will have English as a second language. </p>
<p>We require TOEFL scores with the application and a university-based competency exam (the SPEAK test) upon arrival at the university before we will allow these students to serve as teaching assistants, however.</p>
<p>Just to respond to the professor, I have heard exactly the opposite from at least a few philosophy professor. The claim is that most philosophy PhD committee members don't even read the personal statements. </p>
<p>This is a small sample, so take it as that.</p>
<p>I would assume that the statements are more important when the group is narrowed down.</p>
<p>With the way Philosophy PhD admissions work, I wouldn't be surprised if admissions commitees put applicant names in a hat, picked out five or six names, had a stiff drink and went home to take a nap.</p>
<p>Of course the weight of your Statement of Purpose is going to vary both by field and by department. Some departments will consider it a vital part of one's application, and other departments may only briefly skim over the SOPs they receive. That said, I think the best <i>blanket statement</i> of advice to give you is that since you don't know how important your SOP will be to the AdComs, you should certainly put in a nontrivial amount of effort into it (making sure it is well-written, it gives a clear idea of your intentions, and it is of course truthful!), and then forget about it. Use it to let the department know exactly why you're a good fit for the school, as well as why the school is a good fit for you. If you're a relatively good candidate, then the best outcome you can get from your SOP is to help the AdComs to realize how good of a match you and the department are.</p>
<p>I had an UG prof who was on admissions committee (diff dept from the grad dept I applied to). Prof said the PS tells them what the applicant's interests are and how the fit will be. If none of the dept's profs have the same interests, they will turn the applicant down, <em>even with great GRE/gpa/refs</em> AND take an applicant with lower GRE/gpa if the PS shows a better fit!</p>
<p>I disagreed and thought the school (profs) should reach for the great applicants just as applicants should reach for the great schools. Won't that improve the school? Doesn't that make sense? No luck. Prof cited research that it would not turn out well. </p>
<p>So, when I wrote my PS, I checked the dept's faculty websites and tailored my statement to emphasize similar interests. I didn't manufacture any interests, just tailored, like I would a cv/resume and letter for a job.</p>
<p>And I let the prof know I was applying for grad school, and got a great ref out of it (an informal one-- they all know each other, and I wonder if that may have more weight than the letters I got submitted).</p>
<p>I must've done something right, I got in, and the dept chair wrote a really nice email. Part of it was specific to my interests, so I know that one sentence was not a form letter!</p>
<p>So absolutely the PS matters. Good luck!</p>
<p>Glueless' experience conforms to the admission procedures in most grad programs with which I am familiar.</p>
<p>Congrats, glueless.</p>
<p>glueless, congrats too! What field are you in, just to gauge how PS is utilized in different fields?</p>
<p>from BA-COM
to MPA</p>
<p>Pub Admin- University of Hawai`i at Mānoa, </p>
<p>UH is not the toughest to get into, I realize,
but PUBA takes 30 of 90 apps/yr
like many apps, I don't have the luxury of leaving my job & mortgage behind!</p>
<p>how cool is this:
+no GRE necessary
+not much of a GPA req
+they want people who have been in the workforce, so a lot of apps seem to be 30+ or 40+ with careers and family
+they don't expect much in the way of statements from profs, as apps are usually 10-20 yrs past their UG work; I noted a lot of state politicians, administrators and county officials like fire chiefs have been thru the program</p>
<p>aloha,
glueless
("I'm not stuck on my stupidity")</p>
<p>what if i say i don't really care what the topics will be, but i will explore?
that's what the rotations are for.
what do u expect when an undergrad say he/she is very interested in something? ppl change. it's so much different from when a postdoc applies for a tenure track job in a field...
i've worked in 3 different research labs and the ones that i like the most is the one with the nicest professor and i hate the one with the meanest professor... which means i'd get a PhD if i work with the nicest one. what i know is even when i work in the same group, as i learn more stuff my ideas and interest change almost every semester. oh well i'm bad at lying. it's always easy to pick someone out of the list and impress the person on the paper.</p>
<p>I think I get what you mean. I am interested in a lot of things, so it's hard to decide. I tailored my ps, and listed short-term and long-term goals. Thought it would give the adcom some metrics to compare. </p>
<p>Like many in the pubadmin program, my original UG work was not stellar though my recent work is 4.0, my old profs are retired... or dead, and I'm used to having my resources open to me when I work, so I wouldn't perform as well on a GRE as I used to. I figured I might be up against people who were absolutely sure and committed to a career direction (those people exist, right?).</p>
<p>Your field sounds like it may be a good strategy to leave some options open, I think you're right that rotations can help you decide. Just need to be able to connect the dots later so it makes sense.</p>
<p>Good luck!</p>