<p>So colleges often take a lot of people whose apps aren't otherwise all that great because they wrote good essays (whereas most people write fairly cliche essays). </p>
<p>But are grad schools the same? In almost all cases, you're supposed to describe your skills and what you did for your research. You're supposed to convince them that you won't drop out and that you have a better chance (than others) at doing what they want their students to do (and fit to what the dept is looking for also matters). There just doesn't seem to be as much room for a creative essay simply because there are many "paths" to "success" in college, but not that many in grad school.</p>
<p>You’re right, they’re not looking for a creative essay about one’s life. Hence the name, “Statement of Purpose,” as opposed to a “personal statement.”</p>
<p>They’re looking for evidence that (a) you have a reason for going to grad school beyond “I couldn’t think of anything else” and (b) you have the background and ability to succeed in that field.</p>
<p>Also, depending on the program and field, they might be looking for you to have at least the beginnings of a research idea you want to investigate.</p>
<p>That doesn’t mean there’s no room for creativity. Find a way to creatively explain your reasons for pursuing graduate study or the problem you hope to research.</p>
<p>Good points. One of the main points in essay-writing is that you want to show but don’t tell. So you have to do the showing through explaining what you already did. Saying what you want to do is somewhat more “telling” than saying what you already did though. Maybe there are ways to make it more “showing” than “telling”? But yes, I do have some ideas about how to creatively explain my reasons for doing the problem I hope to research.</p>
<p>You’re right, it can be kind of hard. In my SOP, I gave a couple specific examples of techniques I proposed to investigate. It’s still more telling than showing, but less so than just writing “I want to research how the use of <hot buzzword=”“> could improve <specific field=”“>.”</specific></hot></p>