<p>I am in the process of completing my statement of purpose, but I am stumped by the general agreed requirement that you discuss why you are applying to that program in particular. First, how many lines/sentences should i devote to this (my present draft discusses this in 2-3 sentences). Secondly, what should I talk about. The truth is the main reason why I am applying to all the programs I am applying to is that they are top-ranked EE programs that have professors with my research interests. A school like MIT is special for me because it has been my obsession since my teenage years, but I do not see how this bit of information helps me with the admissions committee. So what can I say about each school that will not be cliche?</p>
<p>Also, is it sufficient to discuss my research interests in general terms for one, 10 lines-ish paragraph?</p>
<p>Be more specific with the professors and department. Does the university have the resources and labs you want to be involved in? That kind of stuff. They want to know whether or not you can see yourself being very productive for productivity’s sake, not just prestige.</p>
<p>This is the paragraph in which I discuss this:</p>
<p>I am applying to the Mechanical Engineering department at MIT to earn this PhD because of its track record in graduating world-class engineers that go on to excellent careers in academia and industry. I also know that this department, renowned for its rigorous academic and research demands, will give me the best opportunity to grow intellectually and foster those research skills, like independent thought and development of creative solutions, I have learned and practiced in my research projects. In particular, earning a PhD from this department will give me an opportunity to work with researchers like Dr. Shedrach, Dr. Meshach, and Dr. Abednego, whose works excite me and reflect my research goals. Ultimately, earning a PhD from this department will allow me relive all those research experiences that assured me that I enjoy the analytic stimulation, demands and fulfillments of doing research.</p>
<p>What is wrong with it? What is right with it?</p>
<p>You should be more specific. What you said about MIT (world-class engineers, grow intellectually, independent though, etc) can apply to every school. Some things MIT does well that you can talk about if you find them attractive:</p>
<p>Multidisciplinary research groups
Organization into research labs (like RLE or ISN) rather than traditional departments
Commercialization of technology
Open culture
Decentralized structure…each research group is pretty autonomous</p>
<p>You should talk about what research topic excites you; the simplest way is just saying Dr. Meshach’s research on xxx. Or else it just looks like you’re namedropping. I would also suggest replacing “researcher” with “professor,” or just leave it out.</p>
<p>I think you spend at least a paragraph talking about why you want to apply to a particular program. That’s a big focus of the entire statement. If you are writing a two-page statement of purpose, I think it should be two paragraphs.</p>
<p>I also know that this department, renowned for its rigorous academic and research demands, will give me the best opportunity to grow intellectually and foster those research skills, like independent thought and development of creative solutions, I have learned and practiced in my research projects.</p>
<p>This is very vague. How do you know this? What resources are there? What facilities do they have that will encourage and foster your research skills?</p>
<p>The sentence about the professors is quite good, but you should be more specific. What about their work excites you? What specific projects are they working on that you would just die to work on?</p>
Don’t waste lines saying things like this. Strong programs already know they’re strong and don’t need to be praised about it. They want to hear where the fit between you and the program exists. These are essentially the only school-specific statements I made in my SOPs, simplified:</p>
<p>“I am interested in exploring the work done by [professor], [professor], and [professor] because [reason].”</p>
<p>“I believe [graduation requirement, an aspect of the curriculum, or some other program-specific offering] will help me to achieve [some personal goal].”</p>
<p>Really you just want to demonstrate that you’ve done your research about the program and aren’t applying just because it’s the best program in your field, your lifelong dream, etc.</p>
<p>Cut the crap. Get to the meat. They want to know what is it about THEM that stand out from OTHERS who are just amazing as they are. They want specifics. Have you looked into the rest of the university in terms of resources that you can use? A specific lab? A particular machine?</p>
<p>I’d caution others against this. The above can be considered crap too. Any fool can use Google to look up something specific and lie about it. Just be honest and mean what you write. Otherwise it’ll come back to bite you in the ass.</p>
<p>I can’t believe people are actually helping the OP with this, as if we can tell them why they want to go to a particular program… :rolleyes:</p>
<p>^Look, I didn’t mean to sound rude but what I meant was I think you’ve gotta use some common sense when asking for help. Asking us for an opinion or a review of some aspect of your SoP is fine (I do that a lot), but asking out of thin air “what should I talk about?” is the type of question that begs another one – are you really ready for grad school? It’s not really fair to everyone else who’s done their homework. I’d like people to just think for themselves. It’s what separates the boys from the men.</p>
<p>^^^^ @denizen
Please keep away if you cannot be useful. You just go around every thread dropping really hollow and stupid 2 cents.</p>
<p>Thanks to every other person on your criticisms. I will work on your suggestions, and I hope you will be open to reviewing a rewritten paragraph. I suspected that this was shoddy; that is why I asked for help. As I said earlier, I chose my grad schools based on the generally accepted quality of the program and the presence of my research interests.</p>
<p>to beejaei and anyone else: DO NOT publish personal info including parts of your essay or application online. it can be googled and would you want someone on the committee to read this? If you want comments, send them to volunteers via PM.</p>
<p>That said, never lecture a school on what it already knows about itself. That’s a waste of the alphabet. It s a typical undergrad error that would be overlooked if you were an undergrad.</p>
<p>I agree, you don’t want admins googling your stuff. I wonder if they check your facebook?
I also learned that you should always submit your recommendations with the right to view them waived as this makes them seem more honest and reliable to the committee.</p>
<p>brownparent, do you have a list of common “undergrad” errors or any useful resources for writing a SOP?</p>
<p>maverickjay- you mean “waive your right to view the letters” not to see them THEN waive your right.</p>
<p>Don’t…ever…ever… tell the story of your childhood or be explicit in how you got interested in the subject as in "Ever since i was a kid… " or “I became fascinated with computers from watching Star Trek” that kind of thing. They will be in the reject pile- guaranteed. Also, don’t repeat anything in your SOP that’s already in your application and on your CV or on your transcript. Treat the statement like a future colleague applying to work in that department. Yes, you’ll be a student but you will be treated like a colleague with a brain of his/her own.</p>
<p>And you know this how? LOL. Oh man I can’t wait to prove you wrong HAHAHA.</p>
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<p>This is virtually impossible most of the time. I can understand if you’re only explaining why you want to join the program, but if you elaborate about your research experience, which you should, most likely it’s somewhere else on your application or CV. :rolleyes:</p>
<p>Ok I owe people a better explanation, let’s go through this:</p>
<p>Cons for opening SoP with childhood/anecdote/quote:
May show lack of academic maturity
A particular experience is actually usually irrelevant to depth of love in a subject
Doesn’t cut to the point
It’s not the “science way”
Some people really hate it</p>
<p>Pros for opening SoP with childhood/anecdote/quote:
May show adcom who you are as a person
May add personality/uniqueness/personalization to the essay
The old argument - if an adcom member prejudges applicants based on this they should not be on the adcom
The old excuse (when instructions are not specific) - “Hey, Admissions asked for it, they deserve it.”
Some people really like it</p>
<p>…and many more arguments on each side I’ve not mentioned.</p>
<p>It seems there is no right or wrong or one way to do it. I don’t think it’s as black and white as people suggest here. </p>
<p>My grounds for choosing to include a story from my childhood is that I can follow the instructions/covered research exp, program interest and unify my statement with a nice intro/conclusion. It’s why my professor said I did a great job and that he wouldn’t change anything. I guess it’s also why my friend got into grad school doing the same thing. Hmmm. </p>
<p>BTW I never got less than an A- on a college paper. So it depends on who you are. If you don’t think you or other people can pull it off, then fine. If you and others think it adds to your statement, then go for it.</p>
<p>If you are saying it rarely *helps *then I completely agree with that. But “Doesn’t help” does not equal “automatic rejection,” at least in real life. Sure it’s a good sound byte on College Confidential, but it can’t actually be true. If you’re saying that 99% of people who have a statement like that get rejected, then I disagree and yes, I have a problem with you telling people that.</p>
<p>I’d like to know where you are getting your information from and what kind of experience you have other than that you’re in/finished grad school, have read essays in your time, and have 2500+ posts on CC.</p>
<p>I just called an application/admissions advisor at one of my prospective schools and asked about this. He said their committee “strongly encourages” applicants to introduce yourself with your childhood as it helps identify diversity and is the only way (other than coming for an interview) to tell what a person is like. He said a lot of people have stopped doing this but they always like it more than jumping straight into your schooling, or GPA or GRE scores. He said if you took the time to write (something) the committee will take the time to read it. This is a top 20 program. </p>
<p>FWIW, this was not the answer I was expecting to hear from him. I was expecting him to suggest I change my statement of purpose. I’ve asked him questions before and he’s always very honest and helpful, so I was a bit nervous about what he was going to say. But this pretty much confirms it.</p>