statement of purpose for phd samples

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Statement of Purpose for PhD in Computer Science (MIT Accepted)

We analyse three SOP samples, two accepted at MIT and one at the University of Washington.

Statement of Purpose for PhD in Biomedical Engineering (MIT Accepted)

In this article, we analyse a Biomedical Engineering SOP that was accepted at MIT, Stanford, and Georgia Tech

Letters of Recommendation: A Guide and Sample for your Recommenders

Statement of Purpose Sample for Nursing (Undergraduate) (Highly rated)

Description: We describe in detail how to write a statement of purpose for nursing. In the SOP, the applicant underscores the areas of nursing she’d focus on and how she was suited for the school.

Statement of Purpose Sample for Ph. D Nursing (Compelling)

Description: In this Statement of Purpose Sample for Nursing Ph. D, the applicant identifies the field of interest and specialization that he’s interested in early, details professional and research work, then points out the skills he would like to gain from this program and how the university will help in this endeavor.

Statement of Purpose for MBA (Ivy school)

Description: We start by providing a step by step guide that should help with generating ideas for your MBA SOP and then crafting one while adhering to certain tips. We then provide 3 ivy school samples.

Statement of Purpose Sample for Computer Science  (Highly rated)

Description: In this Statement of Purpose Sample for Computer Science, the applicant describes how a local mobile money sending application in rural parts of Africa inspired his love for computing.  The applicant explains a clear career path after graduating. You can get a similar SOP by ORDERING HERE

Statement of purpose sample for computer science 2 (Recommended)

Description: In this SOP, we provide the blueprint of writing a SOP for computer science. We follow it with two highly rated samples.

Statement of Purpose Sample for Cognitive Science (Good)

Description: In this SOP, the applicant describes how personal struggles with Dyslexia, and the inspiring story of  Akeelah in the Akeelah and the Bee film, motivated a desire to understand how the human brain works and how it can be trained to optimize the good while negating the bad.

MBA Statement of Purpose Example  (Excellent)

Description: In this Statement of Purpose Sample for MBA, the applicant evokes the loss of family business and a business degree that didn’t equip him with practical skills as the motivation for applying for an MBA. The applicant brings out the steps that he has taken to remedy this lack of practical experience and the skills that he looked forward to getting from the MBA program.

Statement of Purpose Sample for MBA with Engineering Background (Compelling)

Description: The applicant underscores professional experience managing people, financial, and operational processes. He emphasizes possession of transferable research experience, the result of which is a successful Statement of Purpose for MBA that got him acceptance to a top business school. You can get the same HERE

Statement of Purpose Sample for Masters in Public Health Science (Good)

Description:  In this SOP, the applicant underscores her teaching and research experience and show how they would be transferred to a role of a public health educator. If you’re applying for university admission in a field other than you did your bachelor’s, we can help with standardizing your SOP. Speak to us today HERE

Statement of Purpose Sample for  Psychology Graduate School (Great)

Description: In this SOP, the applicant explains how growing up in a crime-ridden neighborhood with a police father informed her early views on crime prevention and the place of psychology. She places this early observations in their proper context by profiling the background of teenage offenders thereby underling the place of early trauma on future behavior.

Statement of Purpose Sample for Mathematics (Highly rated)

Description: This sample explains the applicant’s love for numbers and top achievement as well as suitability for the university.

Statement of Purpose Sample for Business Management (Highly rated)

Description: The SOP demonstrates how professional experience not deemed relevant to business management may be captured as an example of work ethics

Statement of Purpose Sample for Nursing

Statement of Purpose Sample for Nursing PhD

Statement of Purpose sample for MBA

Statement of purpose sample for computer science 2

Statement of Purpose Sample in Cognitive Science

Statement of Purpose sample for mathematics

Statement of Purpose sample for MBA with Engineering Background

Statement of Purpose sample for Masters in Pyschology

Statement of Purpose Sample for Computer Science

Statement of Purpose sample for Business Management

Statement of Purpose sample for Masters in Public Health

Statement of Purpose for MBA Sample (Ivy school)

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Gre prep online guides and tips, 7 successful statement of purpose examples.

Not sure what graduate schools are looking for in a statement of purpose? Looking at successful graduate school statement of purpose samples can help! In this guide, we’ll orient you to what makes a great statement of purpose or letter of intent for graduate school. Then we’ll provide you with four successful statement of purpose examples from our graduate school experts. We’ll also provide analysis of what makes them successful. Finally, we’ll direct you to even more helpful examples that you can find online!

The Graduate School Statement of Purpose: An Overview

A statement of purpose (also called a letter of intent or a research statement) introduces your interests and experience to the admissions committee. For research-focused programs, like most PhDs and many master’s degrees, your statement of purpose will focus primarily on your past research experience and plans. For more professionally-focused graduate programs, your statement of purpose will primarily discuss how your pursuit of this professional program relates to your past experiences, and how you will use the skills from the program in your future career.

A statement of purpose for grad school is also where you sell the admissions committee on why you belong in their program specifically. Why do you fit there, and how does what they offer fit your interests?

What’s in a Great Grad School Statement of Purpose?

Here are the essential elements of a strong graduate school statement of purpose:

Clear Articulation of Goals and Interests

A strong statement of purpose will clearly and specifically lay out your goals in undertaking the program and what you hope to accomplish with the degree. Again, for a research-focused program, this will focus primarily on the research project(s) you want to undertake while you are there. For a more professional program, discuss what interests you within the professional field and what skills/knowledge you hope to gain through the program.

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You should be as specific as possible in discussing what interests you. Use examples of particular phenomena, tools, or situations that you find exciting. If you are vague or say that everything in the field interests you, you run the risk of seeming unfocused or not actually that passionate.

Don’t worry that being too specific will box you into a particular research area or subfield during your entire tenure in graduate school. Your program understands that interests change—they won’t be pulling out your research statement to cross-reference with your dissertation proposal!

Evidence of Past Experience and Success

A great graduate school statement of purpose will also show programs that you have already been successful. They want applicants that will be able to follow through on their research/professional plans!

To this end, you’ll need to provide evidence of how your background qualifies you to pursue this program and your specific interests in the field. You’ll probably discuss your undergraduate studies and any professional experience you have. But be sure to draw on specific, vivid examples.  You might draw on your thesis, major projects you’ve worked on, papers you have written/published, presentations you’ve given, mentors you’ve worked with, and so on. This gives admissions committees concrete evidence that you are qualified to undertake graduate study!

Interest and Fit With the Program

The third essential ingredient to a great statement of purpose is to clearly lay out why you and the program are a good fit. You should be able to identify both specific reasons why your work fits with the program and why the program suits your work/interests! Are there particular professors you’d like to work with? Does the department have a strong tradition in a certain methodology or theory you’re interested in? Is there a particular facet to the curriculum that you’d like to experience?

Showing that you and the program are a match shows that you chose the program thoughtfully and have genuine interest in it. Programs want to admit students who aren’t just passionate about the field. They want students who are genuinely enthused about their specific program and positioned to get the most out of what they have to offer.

Strong Writing

The final essential piece of a strong statement of purpose or letter of intent is strong writing. Writing skills are important for all graduate programs. You’ll need to demonstrate that you can clearly and effectively communicate your ideas in a way that flows logically. Additionally, you should show that you know how to write in a way that is descriptive but concise. A statement of purpose shouldn’t ever be longer than two pages, even without a hard word limit.

Admissions committees for humanities programs may be a little more focused on writing style than admissions officers for STEM programs. But even in quantitative and science-focused fields, written communication skills are an essential part of graduate school. So a strong statement of purpose will always be effectively written. You’ll see this in our statement of purpose for graduate school samples.

Real, Successful Statement of Purpose Samples

In this section, we’ll present four successful graduate school statement of purpose examples from our graduate school experts, along with a brief commentary on each statement. These statements come from a diverse selection of program types to show you how the core essentials of a statement of purpose can be implemented differently for different fields.

Note: identifying information for these statements have been changed—except for example four, which is my statement.

• Statement of Purpose Sample One: Japanese Studies MA

This statement of purpose is notable for its great use of space and its vivid descriptions. The author is able to cram a lot into about a page. She discusses how she came to her two primary research interests (and how they are connected). She integrates this discussion of her interests with information on her past experiences and qualifications for pursuing the course of study. Finally, she includes details on her goals in pursuing the program and components of the program that interest her. Her examples are specific and fleshed-out. There’s a lot very cleverly included in a small amount of page space!

Additionally, the language is very vivid. Phrases like “evocative and visceral” and “steadily unraveling,” are eye-catching and intriguing. They demonstrate that she has the writing skills necessary to pursue both graduate study and her interest in translation.

• Statement of Purpose Sample Two: Music MM

This sample is fairly long, although at 12 point Times New Roman it’s under two pages single-spaced. The length of this statement is partially due to the somewhat expansive nature of the prompt, which asks what role music has played in the applicant’s life “to date.” This invites applicants to speak more about experiences further in the past (in the childhood and teen years) than is typical for a statement of purpose. Given that this is for a master’s degree in music, this is logical; musical study is typically something that is undertaken at a fairly young age.

This statement does an excellent job describing the student’s past experiences with music in great detail. The descriptions of the student’s past compositions and experiences performing new music are particularly vivid and intriguing.

This statement also lays out and elaborates on specific goals the student hopes to pursue through the program, as well as features particular to the program that interest the student (like particular professors).

• Statement of Purpose Sample Three: Economics PhD

One of the first things you’ll likely notice about this statement is that it’s a little on the longer side. However, at 12 point Times New Roman font and single-spaced, it still comes in under 2 pages (excluding references). It makes sense for a PhD statement of purpose sample to be longer than a master’s degree statement of purpose—there’s more to lay out in terms of research interests!

The writing style is fairly straightforward—there’s definitely a stronger focus on delivering content than flashy writing style. As Economics is a more quantitative-focused field, this is fine. But the writing is still well-organized, clear, and error-free.

The writer also gives numerous examples of their past work and experience, and shows off their knowledge of the field through references, which is a nice touch.

• Statement of Purpose Sample Four: History of the Book MA

This is actually my statement of purpose. It was for a program that I got accepted to but did not end up attending, for a Master’s in the History of the Book. You’ll notice that the two essay prompts essentially asked us to split our statement of purpose into two parts: the first prompt asked about our research interests and goals, and the second prompt asked about our relevant experience and qualifications.

I’ll keep my comments on this graduate school statement of purpose sample brief because I’ll do a deep dive on it in the next section. But looking back at my statement of purpose, I do a good job outlining what within the field interests me and clearly laying out how my past experiences have qualified me for the program.

Obviously this statement did its job, since I was accepted to the program. However, if I were to improve this statement, I’d change the cliche beginning  (“since I was a child”) and provide more specificity in what about the program interested me.

Deep Dive Analysis of a Sample Statement of Purpose for Graduate School

Next, we’ll do a paragraph by paragraph analysis of my statement, statement of purpose sample four. I’ll analyze its strengths and suggest ways I could shore up any weaknesses to make it even stronger.

Essay 1: Academic Interests

To refresh, here’s the first prompt: Please give a short statement that describes your academic interests, purpose, objectives and motivation in undertaking this postgraduate study. (max 3500 chars – approx. 500 words)

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Paragraph 1

Since I was a child, my favorite thing has always been a book. Not just for the stories and information they contain, although that is a large part of it. Mostly, I have been fascinated by the concept of book as object—a tangible item whose purpose is to relate intangible ideas and images. Bookbindings and jackets, different editions, the marginalia in a used book—all of these things become part of the individual book and its significance, and are worth study and consideration. Books and their equivalent forms—perfect bound, scrolled, stone tablets, papyrus—have long been an essential part of material culture and are also one of our most significant sources of information about the human historical past. Through both the literal object of the book, the words contained thereon, and its relationship to other books—forms of context, text and intertext—we are able to learn and hopefully manage layers of information with which we would otherwise have no familiarity.

First, the good: this paragraph does a good job introducing my academic interest in the book-as-object, and shows off pre-existing knowledge both of the study of material culture and literary theory. Additionally, the language is engaging: the juxtaposition of “tangible” and “intangible” in the beginning and phrases like “perfect bound, scrolled, stone tablets, papyrus” lend life to the writing and keep the reader engaged.

If I were to go back and improve this paragraph, first, I would absolutely change the first sentence to something less cliche than talking about my childhood. I might try something like “My love of books is a multifaceted thing. I don’t only love them for the stories and….” Second, I would chill out on the em dashes a little bit. Three sets in one paragraph is a little excessive. Finally, I might actually cut this paragraph down slightly to make more room word-wise later in the statement to discuss what specific things about the program interest me.

Paragraph 2

Furthermore, blogs, webcomics, digital archives, e-readers, and even social media sites like tumblr and Facebook have revolutionized the concept of the book by changing how we share and transmit ideas and information, just as the Gutenberg printing press revolutionized the book all those years ago in the fifteenth century. Once again there has been an explosion both in who can send out information and who can receive it.

This paragraph briefly and effectively introduces my other main academic interest: how new technology has changed the concept of the book-as-object. The tie-back to the printing press is a nice touch; it’s a vivid example that shows that I’m aware of important historical moments in book history.

Paragraph 3

I am deeply interested in the preservation of the physical book, as I think it is an important part of human history (not to mention a satisfying sensory experience for the reader). However I am also very concerned with the digitization and organization of information for the modern world such that the book, in all of its forms, stays relevant and easy to access and use. Collections of books, archives, and information as stored in the world’s servers, libraries and museums are essential resources that need to be properly organized and administered to be fully taken advantage of by their audiences. My purpose in applying to the University of Edinburgh’s Material Culture and History of the Book is to gain the skills necessary to keep all forms of the book relevant and functional in an age when information can move more radically than ever before.

This paragraph actually has a focus problem. Since it covers two topics, I should split it into two paragraphs: one on the integration of my two interests, and one on my goals and interests in the program. I could also stand to expand on what features the program has that interest me: professors I’d like to work with, particular aspects of the curriculum, etc.

In spite of these things, however, this paragraph does a good job clearly integrating the two academic interests related to the book I introduced in the first two paragraphs. And the language is still strong —“satisfying sensory experience” is a great phrase. However, I’ve been using the word “information,” a lot; I might try to replace with appropriate synonyms (like “knowledge”) in a couple of places.

Paragraph 4

Additionally, I intend on pursuing a PhD in Library and Information Sciences upon completion of my master’s and I feel that this program while make me uniquely suited to approach library science from a highly academic and interdisciplinary perspective.

This final paragraph offers just quick touch on my future goals beyond the program. It’s typically fine for this to be relatively brief, as it is here, just so long as you can clearly identify some future goals.

Essay 2: Relevant Experience

The second prompt just asked me to describe my relevant knowledge, training, and skills.

As a folklore and mythology student, I have gained a robust understanding of material culture and how it relates to culture as a whole. I have also learned about the transmission of ideas, information, stories and pieces of lore among and between populations, which is an important component of book history. Folklore is also deeply concerned with questions of the literary vs. oral lore and the tendency for text to “canonize” folklore, and yet text can also question or invert canonized versions; along with this my studies in my focus field of religion and storytelling have been deeply concerned with intertextuality. One of my courses was specifically concerned with the Heian-period Japanese novel The Tale of Genji and questions of translation and representation in post-Heian picture scrolls and also modern translations and manga. In addition to broader cultural questions concerned with gender and spirituality both in historical Japan and now, we considered the relationships between different Genji texts and images.

This is a strong, focused paragraph. I relate my academic background in Folklore and Mythology to my interests in studying the book, as well as showing off some of my knowledge in the area. I also chose and elaborated on a strong example (my class on the Tale of Genji ) of my relevant coursework.

I also have work experience that lends itself to the study of the book. After my freshman year of college I interned at the Chicago History Museum. Though I was in the visitor services department I was exposed to the preservation and archival departments of the museum and worked closely with the education department, which sparked my interest in archival collections and how museums present collection information to the public. After my sophomore year of college and into my junior year, I worked at Harvard’s rare books library, Houghton. At Houghton I prepared curated collections for archival storage. These collections were mostly comprised of the personal papers of noteworthy individuals, categorized into alphabetical folders. This experience made me very process-oriented and helped me to understand how collections come together on a holistic basis.

This paragraph also has a clear focus: my past, relevant work experience. Discussing archival collections and presenting information to the public links the interests discussed in my first statement with my qualifications in my second statement. However, if I were to revise this paragraph, I would add some specific examples of the amazing things I worked on and handled at Houghton Library. In that job, I got to touch Oliver Cromwell’s death mask! An interesting example would make this paragraph really pop even more.

Finally, in my current capacity as an education mentor in Allston, a suburb of Boston, I have learned the value of book history and material culture from an educational perspective. As a mentor who designs curriculum for individual students and small groups, I have learned to highly value clearly organized and useful educational resources such as websites, iPad apps, and books as tools for learning. By managing and organizing collections in a way that makes sense we are making information accessible to those who need it.

This final paragraph discusses my current (at the time) work experience in education and how that ties into my interest in the history of the book. It’s an intriguing connection and also harkens back to my discussion of information availability in the paragraph three of the first statement. Again, if I were to amp up this statement even more, I might include a specific example of a book-based (or book technology-based) project I did with one of my students. I worked on things like bookbinding and making “illuminated manuscripts” with some of my students; those would be interesting examples here.

This statement is split into two parts by virtue of the two-prompt format. However, if I were to integrate all of this information into one unified statement of purpose, I would probably briefly introduce my research interests, go in-depth on my background, then circle back around to speak more about my personal interests and goals and what intrigues me about the program. There’s not really one correct way to structure a statement of purpose just so long as it flows well and paragraphs are structured in a logical way: one topic per paragraph, with a clear topic and concluding sentence.

More Statement of Purpose Examples

We’ve provided you with four great graduate school statement of purpose examples from our graduate school experts. However, if you’re looking for more, there are other sample letters of intent and statements of purpose for graduate school online. We’ve rounded up the best ones here, along with some strengths and weaknesses about each example.

Majortests Statement of Purpose Sample

This is a fairly straightforward, clearly written statement of purpose sample for a biology program. It includes useful commentary after each paragraph about what this statement of purpose is accomplishing.

• This statement of purpose sample is well-organized, with clear topic sentences and points made in each paragraph.
• The student clearly identifies what interests her about the program.
• The student proactively addresses questions about why she hasn’t gone directly to graduate school, and frames her professional research experience as a positive thing.
• She gives a tiny bit of color about her personality in a relevant way by discussing her involvement with the Natural History Society.
• In general, discussing high school interests is too far back in time unless the anecdote is very interesting or unusual. The detail about The Theory of Evolution is intriguing; the information about the high school teacher seems irrelevant. The student should have condensed this paragraph into a sentence or two.
• While this statement is cogently written and makes the candidate sound competent and well-qualified, it’s not exactly the most scintillating piece of writing out there. Some of the constructions are a little awkward or cliche. For example, the “many people have asked me” sentence followed by “the answer is” is a little bit clunky. This is probably fine for a STEM program. But just be aware that this statement is not a paragon of writing style.

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UC Berkeley History Statement of Purpose Sample

This is a graduate school statement of purpose example from the UC Berkeley History department’s PhD program, with annotations from a professor as to why it’s a successful statement.

• The author is able to very clearly and articulately lay out her research interests and link them to past work she has successfully completed, namely, her thesis.
• She is able to identify several things about the program and Berkeley that indicate why it is a good fit for her research interests.
• She addresses the time she spent away from school and frames it as a positive, emphasizing that her use of time was well-considered and productive.
• Her writing is very vivid, with excellent word choice and great imagery.

While very well-written and engaging, this sample statement of purpose for graduate school is a little bit on the long side! It’s a little over two single-spaced pages, which is definitely pushing the limits of acceptable length. Try to keep yours at 2 pages or less. Some of the information on the thesis (which comprises over half of the statement of purpose) could be condensed to bring it down to two pages.

Pharmacy Residency Letter of Intent Sample

This is not technically a sample letter of intent for graduate school because it’s actually for a pharmacy residency program. However, this example still provides illumination as to what makes a decent graduate school letter of intent sample.

• This is a serviceable letter of intent: the writer clearly lays out their own goals within the field of pharmacy, what qualifications they have and how they’ve arrived at their interests, and how the program fits their needs.
• The writing is clearly structured and well-organized.
• The main weakness is that some of the writer’s statements come across as fairly generic. For example, “The PGY-1 Residency Program at UO Hospitals will provide me with the opportunity to further develop my clinical knowledge, critical thinking, teaching, research, and leadership skills” is a generic statement that could apply to any residency program. A punchier, more program-specific conclusion would have amped up this letter.
• While the writer does a decent job providing examples of their activities, like working as a tutor and attending the APhA conference, more specificity and detail in these examples would make the statement more memorable.
• There’s a typo in the last paragraph —a “to” that doesn’t belong! This is an unprofessional blip in an otherwise solid letter. Read you own letter of intent aloud to avoid this!

NIU Bad Statement of Purpose Example

This is an ineffective graduate school statement of purpose example, with annotations on why it doesn’t work.

As you might imagine, the main strength in this document is as an example of what not to do. Otherwise, there is little to recommend it.

• The annotations quite clearly detail the weaknesses of this statement. So I won’t address them exhaustively except to point out that this statement of purpose fails at both content and style. The author includes irrelevant anecdotes and lists without offering a decisive picture of interests or any particular insight into the field. Additionally, the statement is riddled with grammatical mistakes, awkward sentence structures, and strange acronyms.
• You’ll note that the commentary advises you to “never start with a quote.” I agree that you should never start with a freestanding quote as in this example. However, I do think starting with a quote is acceptable in cases like the Berkeley history example above, where the quote is brief and then directly linked to the research interest.

Graduate School Statement of Purpose Examples: 4 Key Points

Graduate programs ask for statement of purpose to hear about your interests and goals and why you think you and the program would be a good fit.

There are four key elements to a successful statement of purpose:

• A clear articulation of your goals and interests
• Evidence of past experiences and success
• Interest and fit with the program
• Strong writing

We’ve provided you with four successful statement of purpose samples from our graduate school experts!

We also provided additional statement of purpose samples (and a sample letter of intent) for graduate school from other sources on the internet. Now you have all kinds of guidance!

What’s Next?

If you’re looking for more information on graduate school , see our guide to what makes a good GPA for grad school .

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Ellen is a public health graduate student and education expert. She has extensive experience mentoring students of all ages to reach their goals and in-depth knowledge on a variety of health topics. View all posts by Ellen McCammon

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How to Write a Statement of Purpose for PhD Admission

The dreaded doctoral statement of purpose — every PhD program asks for it, but why is it so difficult to write? Writing a strong statement of purpose is essential to getting into your top PhD programs. A PhD statement of purpose gives admissions committees an introduction to your research interests and why their specific program is of interest to you.

Like a cover letter for a job application, a great statement of purpose allows you to highlight your strengths, interests and experience. If you need statement of purpose advice, keep reading for guidance on how to write a successful statement of purpose that will make your PhD application stand out.

Statement of purpose vs. personal statement

Though the two may sound similar, they’re not necessarily interchangeable. A personal statement gives insight into who you are, while a statement of purpose is meant to showcase what you want to do. Rarely will you be asked to write a personal statement for a PhD program.

As you go through the PhD application process, you will likely see schools requesting either a statement of purpose or a research statement. In most cases, they're both looking for the same thing. Admissions committees want to know about your academic background, your research goals and what you hope to accomplish as a candidate in a PhD program.

Your research goals should align with faculty research

Being admitted to a PhD program is a great feeling, but if you enroll in a program that doesn’t match your research interests or help support your career goals, you may be setting yourself up for disappointment later down the road.

Applying for admission to a program is all about fit. Faculty reviewers are looking for students who best represent the department’s mission and will help them obtain their research objectives.

By the time you apply, you should have a solid understanding of what the department’s primary research and content areas are, as well as which faculty members you’d like to work with more closely. This might mean finding information about what their labs do and reading published articles related to their work.

Be sure to include how your interests and past experiences align with the work that they do and how you would be an active contributor to those endeavors. This approach shows that you took the time to look into their program, so the committee will be more willing to invest theirs in reviewing your application.

Don’t be afraid to address your weaknesses

Many people assume they should avoid listing their shortcomings in their essays. The whole point of applying to a program is to impress the reviewers, right? But constructively addressing your weaknesses can be a great way to demonstrate how this program can help you achieve your academic goals.

Look at the catalog and read through the courses that are part of the program. If there is a particular class that fascinates you, talk about how it could help you obtain a new skill or a better understanding of a concept that you’ve struggled with before.

This demonstrates that you are actively seeking programs to help you better your education. It also exhibits that you’re mindful of what areas of your knowledge need some improvement, which shows maturity and the ability to self-assess.

Keep it succinct

If your program of interest does not specify a page word or word limit, it’s best to assume that your statement should not exceed two pages total. It should be enough to give them a glimpse of who you are and what you have to offer but not share your life story.

The aim is to communicate how and why this particular program will help you meet your academic and career goals. Limited space means you must prioritize what you include in your statement.

Create an outline before you start writing to ensure you are including points that are relevant to your application and the program to which you are applying. Your statement is also an example of how well you can write. By framing your essay before you write it, you can avoid stream-of-consciousness writing that can often come across as undefined and incoherent.

Proofread! And read it over and over

When you think you have a finished product, read your essay out loud. This makes it easier to catch typos, poor grammar, and oddly worded sentences. If you have a friend who is also applying to grad school, help each other out by editing each other’s essays.

Having someone else read your statement and ask questions can help you clarify your points and make it more compelling. Your statement is your one chance to present yourself professionally in your own words. The occasional mistake is excusable, but messy writing will make them think you lack attention to detail.

Before you hit submit on that application, be sure that you have attached the correct document for the right institution. It can be very embarrassing if your statement mentions the wrong faculty member’s name or refers to another school’s library! It could also cause the reviewers to think you are not as serious about their program.

You’ve spent a good amount of time perfecting your application, so take your time to review everything before you submit it so you can rest easy knowing you’ve presented your best.

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• Applying to graduate school

How to Write a Statement of Purpose | Example

Published on February 13, 2019 by Shona McCombes . Revised on June 1, 2023.

When you apply for graduate programs or scholarships, the admissions committee is looking for more than just a list of grades. The statement of purpose (also known as a statement of intent or motivation letter) is your chance to stand out from the crowd and showcase your motivation, skills and potential. It should:

• Outline your academic or professional interests and goals
• Discuss relevant skills, experience and achievements
• Demonstrate why you’d be a good fit for the program

Table of contents

Successful statement of purpose example, requirements and prompts, personal introduction, experience and achievements, goals and motivations, fit with the program, tips for an effective statement of purpose, other interesting articles.

The torment of the Founding Fathers is responsible for my interest in Classics. My desire to learn Latin stemmed from reading American Revolutionary-era history during junior high and high school, and particularly from the countless Latin quotations I found in John Adams’ writings. Always eager for a challenge, I was intrigued by the American founders’ accounts of the torture of learning such a difficult language. In my first semester at university, I started learning Latin and thoroughly loved it. As I learned more and more about classical civilization through the language, I realized that I was passionately interested in many aspects of the field of Classics. I have since taken courses on mythology, art and archaeology, and religion, on ancient history, and on the classical tradition. I have also learned Greek, of course, starting with an intensive two-semester course at the university’s summer school. My experience studying abroad in Florence and traveling through Italy and Greece intensified my zeal for the field and, in particular, fueled my ambition to specialize in classical archaeology.

My personal philosophy of life is that everything is connected, and this conviction drives my desire to study Classics. The most rewarding moments for me are discovering and investigating connections – both broad ones, between fields and disciplines, and more specific ones, like the relationship between a piece of literature and an object of material culture. My liberal arts education has equipped me with a broad base of knowledge in the sciences, social sciences, humanities, and arts, and in the honors program I pursued independent projects exploring academic and personal connections, including a paper on ancient Mayan astronomy, a self-observation study on the effects of nutrition and hydration on exercise performance, and a paper on the influence of political context on the changing artistic representations of John Adams. By seeking out connections between seemingly unrelated areas of academia, I have acquired a well-rounded outlook which helps me approach new ideas with both a range of prior experiences and a mind always open to different interpretations.

In accordance with my personal philosophy, I have also continued to explore connections within Classics and between Classics and other fields. In 2007, I published an article in my university’s undergraduate humanities journal; inspired by my studies in Florence, I compared representations of the birth of Venus in ancient and Renaissance literature and art. My major academic achievement to date, however, has been my senior honor thesis on John Adams’ connection to the Classics. Funded by a Hilldale Research Fellowship, I conducted research in the Adams Papers at the Massachusetts Historical Society and in John Adams’ personal library at the Boston Public Library on the influence of the classical tradition on Adams’ worldview and how he consciously modeled himself on classical ideals. It was particularly fulfilling to connect historical and classical research in writing about the figure most responsible for instigating my study of the Classics.

As well as my research skills, I have demonstrated proficiency in the classical languages, winning prizes for both Latin and Greek translation from the Classics Department, as well as receiving an enthusiastic nomination from the department for the Pearson Fellowship from the American Philological Association. I am also the president of the undergraduate Classics Society, which allows me to share my enthusiasm for Classics with other students and the larger community.

One of the most appealing aspects of studying Classics is the vast range of topics encompassed by the field. Because my interests are broad and I value an interdisciplinary approach, I would like to pursue graduate study ultimately leading to a PhD in Classical Archaeology. Archaeology in itself is, of course, a multi-faceted field, requiring knowledge of history, language, anthropology, and various scientific and technological methods. I have already started building my skills in this area: I participated in a microartifact analysis from the excavation of a Maya site in Belize as part of an honors project, and this summer I will take part in two archaeological projects in Turkey after working as a research assistant on related material in the spring semester. This PhD program includes many other opportunities I am eager to explore, such as palaeography and papyrology courses, and especially the variety of fieldwork and museum experiences available. I believe that my strong background in the classical languages and wide range of courses on classical civilization and archaeological methods have prepared me well for this program, and I am convinced that, guided by my philosophy of interconnectedness, I will flourish in this program.

The first step is to read the application instructions. These should include the length of the document (usually 1-2 pages), any formatting requirements, and often a question or prompt that indicates what you should focus on.

In some cases, you might also be asked to submit a personal statement . Similar advice applies to both of these documents—both should give a sense of who you are, what you’ve done and what you want to do. But a statement of purpose is often more formal, tightly focused on your academic background and your suitability for the program.

If you are working on multiple applications, don’t try to write a one-size-fits-all text—tailor your statement of purpose to each program. Make sure to respond to the prompt and include all the information you’re asked for. A typical statement of purpose prompt looks like this:

Your focus will be slightly different depending on whether you’re applying for research-based academic programs (such as a PhD ) or professional qualifications (such as an MBA). But all statements of purpose should contain the following elements.

This is your chance to introduce yourself to the admissions committee and let them hear your voice. The statement of purpose shouldn’t tell your life story, but it should give a glimpse into who you are.

Academic and personal background

Give an overview of your academic background, and show what drives your interest in this field or profession. You might want to include some personal background too—your family history, social circumstances, personal relationships and life experiences have all shaped your trajectory and perspective. What unique insights will you bring with you?

Characteristics and personality

Think about aspects of your character that make you well-suited for graduate school. Don’t just list generic adjectives—give examples that demonstrate your strengths and show why they’re relevant.

• Are you organized enough to handle a high-pressure workload?
• Do you have the creativity needed to develop original ideas, or a systematic mindset perfect for problem-solving?
• Do you have strong leadership skills, or are you great at working collaboratively?

Avoid including irrelevant autobiographical detail in the statement of purpose. Everything you include should be aimed at showing why you’d be a strong candidate for the program.

Your experience shows that you have the necessary skills to succeed in graduate school. Don’t just summarize everything you’ve done—pick out some highlights to build a clear picture of your strengths and priorities, illustrating how you’ve learned and developed along the way.

Academic experience

If you’re applying for a research-focused program, such as a PhD, show your knowledge of the field and outline your research experience. This might include:

• A brief summary of your thesis or final project
• Courses that you found particularly valuable
• Projects you contributed to
• Publications
• Presentations
• Extracurriculars that gave you relevant skills or experience

Professional experience

If you’re applying for a professional program, such as an MBA, outline your experience so far and show how it relates to your career plans. This might include:

• Past or current job roles
• Projects you led or participated in
• Internships
• Voluntary work
• Training courses

In all cases, give specific examples with details of what you worked on, what you achieved, and what you got out of the experience.

As well as showing that you’re prepared for the program, explain what you expect to get out of it. What are your motivations for applying? How do you plan to make the most of its opportunities, and how will it help you achieve your goals?

Academic motivations

For academic programs, indicate your research interests, showing how they follow from and build upon what you have studied so far. This might include:

• A subfield that you want to strengthen your expertise in
• A specific problem or question that you’d like to address
• An initial idea for a research project
• A theoretical or methodological approach that you want to develop

This isn’t the place for an in-depth research plan, but it’s a chance to show your enthusiasm and knowledge of your field.

Professional motivations

For professional programs, outline your career aspirations and show how your experience informs your goals. This might include:

• The next step you want to take in your career. What position are you aiming for and how will the program help you achieve it?
• Your motivations for a career change. Can you make a link between your previous experience and your new direction?
• Your long-term goals. Where do you want to be in five or ten years, and how do you see yourself getting there?

The admissions committee wants to know that you’re genuinely motivated to complete the program, and the clearer your plans, the more convincing your commitment.

It’s important to show not only why you want to study this subject, but also why you want to do it in this particular institution and department.

• Do your research, and mention particular classes, specialisms or faculty that attracted you.
• Show why you’re a good fit. Do your priorities align with the values and culture of the institution? What will you contribute to the department?
• Discuss the specific skills, knowledge and experience you expect to get from the program.

The statement of purpose isn’t only about selling yourself—it’s about illustrating an ideal match between you and the program.

Once you’ve made sure to cover all the key elements, you can work on strengthening and polishing the text. Follow these tips to make your application the best it can be.

Stay focused

It can be tempting to try to cram in everything you’ve done, but a good statement of purpose requires careful selection to craft a focused narrative. One way to do this is by building your text around a central theme—for example, a character trait, an intellectual interest, or a career goal.

This strategy helps structure your text and puts your priorities centre stage. Link each paragraph back to the central idea, making it clear how everything fits together.

Think about your structure

The structure of a statement of purpose is somewhat flexible, as long as you include all the relevant information in an order that makes sense.

For example, you might start with a chronological story of where your interests began, or you might open with your goals and then select a series of examples that show your capacity to achieve them. If you’re desperate to study in this specific program, you could lead with a summary of why it’s your ideal choice, and then elaborate on each aspect to show why you’re a perfect fit.

The important thing is that the text showcases your strengths and motivations in a compelling, coherent way. As in any other piece of academic writing, make sure each paragraph communicates one main idea, and that each sentence flows smoothly and logically from the last. Use transition words and topic sentences to move between paragraphs.

Add meaning to your resume

The bare facts of your achievements—grades, prizes, work experience—are already included in your graduate school resume and transcripts. Use the statement of purpose not to repeat yourself, but to add personal meaning and texture to these facts.

If you got top marks for your thesis, describe the research process and demonstrate your enthusiasm for the topic. If you completed an internship or participated in a project, explain what new skills you learned and which aspects you found most valuable. If you already have lots of experience in the field, show how each step developed your skills and shaped your current plans.

Revise, edit, proofread

Your statement of purpose isn’t only about the content—it’s also a chance to show that you can express yourself fluently, confidently and coherently in writing. Spend plenty of time revising, editing and proofreading your text before you submit.

Make sure you stay within the recommended length, and check if there are any specific formatting requirements. If not, use a standard 12pt font, 1-inch margins and 1.5 line spacing.

When you have a final draft, our professional statement of purpose proofreading service can offer an extra pair of eyes to make sure every sentence is perfect.

Proofread my statement of purpose

Checklist: Statement of purpose

My statement of purpose clearly responds to the prompt.

I have introduced my academic, professional and/or personal background.

I have described any relevant experience and shown my development over time.

I have highlighted key achievements that demonstrate my talents.

There is a clear connection between my previous experience and my future plans.

I have explained how the program will help me achieve my goals.

I have mentioned specific aspects of the program, department and institution that appeal to me.

Every paragraph focuses on one central idea.

The paragraphs are organized in a logical order and tell a clear, coherent story.

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15 Graduate School Statement of Purpose Examples That Worked!

Writing a graduate school statement of purpose is tough, but we’re here to help! Review these statement of purpose examples and our expert tips to help you create your own effective essay and learn how to get into grad school . The samples come from our own past students who got into multiple top graduate schools. Note that the students worked with our admissions experts as part of our application review programs to create these statements. We hope they will serve as a starting roadmap for you.

>> Want us to help you get accepted? Schedule a free strategy call here . <<

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Article Contents 70 min read

Graduate school statement of purpose example that got 5 acceptances (998 words).

“Architecture is the will of an epoch translated into space.” I was 16 when I first read this quote by Mies van der Rohe, and, back then, I thought I really understood what it meant. Thinking of this quote one summer evening, as I walked around my beloved New York City, I was inspired to commit to a future in architecture. At that early stage, I cherished romantic ideals of designing grandiose buildings that would change a city; of adding my name to the list of architectural geniuses who had immortalized their vision of the world in concrete, steel, glass, and stone. It was in college that I became passionately interested in the theoretical design and engineering concepts that form the basis of architecture, while also exploring in greater detail the sociological and economic impact of architecture.

The true breakthrough for me took place in my sophomore year of college, when I was volunteering at The Bowery Mission, a women’s shelter situated in Queens, New York. The shelter was in a poorly ventilated building, with an essentially non-functioning air conditioning system. The little bit of relief for the people who stayed there was a small park nearby, a patch of green between suffocating buildings. One day when I was working the afternoon shift there in the peak of summer, I looked out to see bulldozers in the park. It was being torn up to make room for yet another building. I saw that completed building a year later – a grey block of steel that did not utilize any of the original park space. Witnessing this injustice, while learning every day about how climatology, materials technology, and engineering mechanics intersect with urban planning and architectural design, ignited a passion for sustainable design in me. [BeMo2] How can we, as architects, minimize our harm to communities and eco-systems? How can we design buildings with a view to sustain long-term energy and resource efficiency without sacrificing immediate economic viability? What are the eco-conscious solutions that architects can put forward to address the environmental changes of the 21st century? These were the questions that plagued me then and I have pursued the answers to these questions throughout my academic career so far.

I found the answers to some of these questions in the robust curriculum I pursued at ABC College of Architecture, New York. I took up advanced coursework in Engineering Mechanics, Surveying, Soil Mechanics, Steel Structures, Model Making etc. which helped me hone my technical skills. As my interest in sustainable architecture developed, I became curious about the social and anthropological impact of architecture. I studied Art History, African American Literature, Anthropology, and Cultures of Ancient Greece, which helped me develop a deeper understanding of the socio-ecological impact of architecture and ethical responsibilities of architects. With this strong background of academic exploration, my architectural philosophy continued to evolve. I became interested in cutting-edge design techniques and their application to sustainable design. In my junior year at college, I participated in the New Dimensions of Architecture conference held in New York City, presenting my own paper on “Analyzing the Implications of the Weiszman Design Theory for the Sustainable Architecture of the Future”. In fact, it was at this conference that I met Professor Richard Wright, the esteemed architect and professor emeritus at the Architecture department of XYZ University. Talking with him was one of the most enlightening moments of my life. We discussed our shared passion for ecologically efficient and socially cohesive architectural solutions, and he introduced me to the works of Leonard Nieman, Mary Andrews, and other cutting-edge green architecture firms that are making a real contribution to ecologically sustainable urban planning.

In fact, the possibility of learning from and working directly with Professor Wright is one of my main reasons to seek admission into your M.Arch program. His innovative design theories have a tremendous potential for sustainable architecture solutions. I would love to learn from him and collaborate with him to continue to explore my interest in these topics. I am also deeply interested in the scope of studies afforded by your wide-ranging curriculum that focuses on the latest architectural innovations as well as socio-economic evolutions in architecture. Moreover, for a budding green architect, nothing is more attractive than your quarterly line-up of seminars and conferences that frequently feature the names of the architects at the forefront of design innovation. With my strong academic background in both the technical and socio-economic aspects of architecture, and my focused passion on sustainable architectural solutions for the future, I think I am a perfect candidate for your master’s program. This education is exactly what I need to launch me into the next phase of my career, where I hope to gain experience at one of New York’s top green architecture firms, working on problems of low-budget housing, eco-friendly factory designs, and organic city planning. Eventually, I hope to specialize in sustainable, low-budget urban planning for socio-economically disadvantaged neighborhoods.

It’s funny to think how far I’ve come from my early romanticized ideals of what it meant to be an architect. Those sunset walks around New York city from my teenage years, surrounded by the works of Mies van der Rohe and Rem Koolhas, inspired in me an awe for the cultural power an architect can wield. It was an early lesson that a building can both represent and transform spaces. Today when I walk around my beloved city, what I see are the innumerable missed architectural opportunities to organically inhabit and improve any given space with sustainable design. And now, when I consider Mies van der Rohe’s famous quote, I no longer think of my own petty will or the limited scope of individual genius; I think of the will of an entire generation committed to saving our planet with teamwork, collaboration, and true passion, and how grateful I am to be a part of this generation of architects.

A statement of purpose is an essential part of your application for a graduate program. While your academic transcripts and letters of reference reveal your academic credentials, and your extracurriculars and graduate school resume show your professional capabilities, your statement of purpose gives you the chance to present yourself as a candidate in a more well-rounded and compelling way. This is your opportunity to make yourself stand out as an applicant! Your preparation for writing and completing the statement of purpose is not unlike your preparations with graduate school interview questions — you need to leave yourself an ample amount of time to ace it.

Of course, each school is different, and you need to make sure you have checked the specific requirements of your chosen institutions before you begin writing your statement. But no matter which school you’re applying to one thing is certain: a strong statement of purpose is crucial to your success! 

What’s included in a graduate school statement of purpose?

The statement of purpose provides the admissions committee with a way of understanding more about you as an applicant on a deeper level. The statement of purpose gives them the opportunity to assess your suitability for their particular program and institution. Finding the right fit between an applicant and a graduate program is crucial for both parties, and your statement of purpose is your opportunity to explain to the admissions committee why you believe this graduate program is right for you. 

With this in mind, it is important to use the statement of purpose as a way of showcasing what led you to the program in the first place, and what you hope to achieve if accepted. Here’s a quick list of what should be included in your grad school statement of purpose:

• Why you are pursuing a master’s or PhD
• Why you are interested in a field or a specific program
• How you have prepared yourself academically or professionally for a career in this field
• What you will contribute to the program
• Your future career goals and how the program will help you achieve them

Here's a quick guide to writing a grad school statement of purpose if you'd rather watch a video:

How to Start Writing a Graduate School Statement of Purpose

The key to great writing is great preparation. That is why you need to lay some groundwork before you even start drafting your statement of purpose. Here are the steps you need to take to prepare yourself.

#1 Set aside the time

Preparing and writing a statement of purpose is not a quick undertaking. Proper preparation is a commitment, and you need to make sure you are setting aside enough time to complete the steps below. Since the statement itself will also require several drafts before reaching its final form, always keep in mind that this is not something to leave to the last minute! Ideally, you should give yourself 6-8 weeks to write your statement. Do yourself a favor by getting started on your preparations as early as you can, leaving yourself plenty of time to write and re-write your statement afterwards.

#2 Research your school and program thoroughly

Whether you’re wondering how to find a postdoc program or searching for the best special master’s program for you, research is essential. Visit the school’s website and pay close attention to any mission statements or explicit values that are stated. Visit the pages dedicated to your department and program of choice to glean clues regarding their academic culture. Take some time to familiarize yourself with the research specialties of the faculty members. Make note of any faculty members whose research interests align with yours, as they could potentially serve as a supervisor or mentor. Be sure to learn how to write a research interest statement , too!

#3 Brainstorm how and why you would fit into the school and program

It’s not enough to want to attend a particular school just because of their good reputation or nice location. While learning about the school, its faculty, and your program of choice, you should be constantly reflecting upon how and why you would fit in as a member of that community. Think about what you can contribute to the school, why you want to do a PhD or master’s program, and how the program will help you achieve your career goals. These reflections will prove crucially important when you write your statement.

If you need outside help with writing your essay, you can turn to a graduate school essay tutor for feedback and expert advice.

#4 Contact any potential mentors

If you have discovered a faculty member whose work sounds intriguing to you, reach out to them to introduce yourself and your own research interests. Forming a direct connection with a faculty member could significantly boost your candidacy, especially if the faculty member is willing to consider playing a supervisory role in your work or write you a graduate school recommendation letter . A faculty member will also be able to answer any questions you may have about your common research interests, and how you could explore those further within the program.

Building these relationships now is also a good way to start networking and finding future job opportunities if you’re not sure how to find a job after grad school !

As noted above, every school is different, and each program is unique. Make sure you understand the specifics of what they are looking for in a statement of purpose, e.g. length, emphasis, any required formatting guidelines. The more closely you follow their guidelines, the less prone you will be to making errors in terms of structure or formatting. Many graduate schools will provide prompts to make your writing process easier. Make sure to read the prompt carefully. While these tend to be very open-ended, they can provide clues as to what the admissions committee expects to see in your statement.

The essay prompts may ask you to share something the admissions committee should know or provide you with an opportunity to explain any gaps in your application. If you want to know how to get into graduate school with a low GPA , this is where you can discuss the circumstances of your below average grade and what you’ve done to improve yourself.

If you are in doubt about what the school expects from your statement of purpose, ask for clarification from an appropriate authority at the school. Remember that each institution’s website and admissions office is there to help clear up any uncertainty you may have about deadlines and requirements. Seek clarification if you are not sure about something.  

#6 Get your materials in order before you write

Before you begin writing, you need to make sure you have everything you need for your reference close at hand. Make sure you have copies of your academic transcripts and your CV for graduate school within easy reach, to help jog your memory about specific courses or achievements you wish to include in your statement of purpose. You might also wish to keep nearby any useful information you have about the program and its faculty, for quick reference when you need it.

#7 Make some outline notes

Sitting and staring at a blank page can be a little intimidating. That’s why having some useful notes can make writing the actual statement much easier! Go over your reference materials and make a short list of which experiences and achievements you would especially like to highlight in your statement. Ideally, include 1 to 3 experiences that are relevant, impactful and important to you. Note down specific examples for achievements you want to highlight. Make sure you have a clear, specific answer for WHY you are pursuing a graduate degree. The better your prep notes are, the more straightforward writing your statement will be.  

After researching the program, you have an idea of their mission and culture. Think of your accomplishments and strengths in relation to what you know about the school. Do they value research? Share some of your research experiences or accomplishments from your research resume . Does the program tout the importance of community? Discuss any community service you have participated in and what you’ve learned from those experiences.

A strong statement of purpose should include the following elements in the main body of the text:

You can expect to be asked about your strengths and weaknesses in your grad school interview, too, so having a way to answer those questions effectively will help you. ","label":"Weaknesses or setbacks","title":"Weaknesses or setbacks"}]" code="tab1" template="BlogArticle">

Statement of Purpose Content Examples

We will now take a look at each of these four elements in greater depth below, with some useful examples. 

Focused Interest in the Field

Your statement of purpose also allows you to share your focused interest in the field of your choosing. In thinking about your intellectual and research interests, consider including some of the following elements:

• Problems of interest in the field that you find exciting or compelling . Introducing the contemporary problems of interest in your field of choice and why you find them intriguing is a great way of showing the admissions committee that you are familiar with the discussions in your field, and that you are fully ready to contribute to helping address those problems and issues in your own work and studies.
• Potential area of interest/research question you would like to pursue. A strong applicant knows what their purpose is, and that purpose is most clearly expressed in sharing the area of interest or research question that you wish to pursue in your studies. Let the admissions committee know what you would like to learn more about, and as ever, why. Share the paths you might wish to explore further shows the committee that are you in tune with your own intellectual curiosity and eager for opportunities to dig a little deeper. Your statement will be especially memorable if you can name a faculty member whose research interests reflect your own.
• Your perspectives and intellectual influences. If you have ever encountered a teacher or scholar that has shaped your perspectives and influenced your intellectual pursuits, feel free to mention them. If there is a particular faculty member whose work you admire at the school you are applying to, then that’s a bonus!

My interest in the Health Economics specialization option is a testament to my conviction that health is one of the most interesting and complex determinants of social welfare. In my experiences as a traveler, researcher, and student, I understand health policy to be one of the most defining characteristics of a national identity as well as the locus of key clashes between equity and efficiency. Health economic policy is the most interesting because it juxtaposes health care, in which universality and equality are perceived as dominant principles, against the rationality and efficiency considerations of an increasingly liberal global economic reality. Graduate studies in health economic policy is the ideal corollary to my academic, personal and social background. I am most keen to explore the relationship between economic and psychological models of human behavior to hopefully advance a more holistic social sciences perspective on why people act against their own self-interest when it comes to their health. ","label":"Excerpt Example","title":"Excerpt Example"}]" code="tab2" template="BlogArticle">

Preparing for a grad school interview? Watch this video!

Academic & Professional Preparation

Your academic and professional preparation can take many forms, and that is why it is important to think carefully about the ways in which your path has given you the tools needed to succeed in the program of your choice. But note that the statement of purpose is not meant to be a recitation of your CV. Instead, the statement of purpose should be a narrative about why you took the steps you did and how it brought you to graduate school. Some examples that might apply include:

• Previous jobs, internships, or volunteering. If you gained any valuable and relevant volunteer or work experience, mention it! For example, an applicant for a public health program might mention how volunteering at a soup kitchen inspired her interest in the relationship between food insecurity and poor health outcomes in marginalized communities. You can let the admissions committee know about any relevant technical skills you’ve gained through these experiences, too.
• Research. If you already have some exposure to undertaking research projects of your own or if you have helped as an assistant on someone else’s project, sharing what you have learned from such experiences could make an excellent addition to your statement. Research experiences assure an admissions committee that you are ready to perform the necessary intellectual labor a graduate program demands. Also be sure to mention the important skills you have developed through completing research tasks! Such skills may include multi-tasking, finding and synthesizing relevant information, strengthening your communication skills through writing reports, or developing greater attention to detail.    
• Teaching Assistantships. Just like the research assistantships mentioned above, a teaching assistantship that helped you gain valuable exposure to your field of choice and/or helped you to develop your mentorship skills may be worth mentioning in your statement. A teaching assistantship is valuable work experience and shows that you know how to be a team player in an academic community. Skills you could highlight from such experiences include: effective communication with others, working collaboratively with others (such as faculty and other TAs), mentorship abilities, and the ability to adapt to different learning styles.
• Relevant degrees, courses, and conferences. Single out specific courses or degrees you have taken and any conferences you may have attended or presented at that relate to your current research interests. As ever, take some time to reflect on why certain courses or conferences have proved formative for you. For example, you could discuss the importance of the specialized knowledge you gained in a course, or the public speaking skills you developed through presenting at a conference. 

After spending four years as an Arts & Science undergraduate and earning a Minor specialization in Economics, I have developed strong analytical research skills, a capacity for truly critical thought and an appreciation for the universal relevance of economic investigation. My interest in the social determinants of health, and how these interplay with policy and economics, was the impetus for my senior undergraduate research project entitled, \u201cHealth and behavior: Advancing a microeconomic framework for changing decision-making in people with obesity.\u201d I was fortunate to work with economists Drs. Levi and Traut, with whom I interrogated the classical and contemporary theories around human behavior and health. In my role as a research assistant, I conducted three literature reviews, one of which was used to support the work of a senior graduate student and will be published in an upcoming issue of Health Economics and the abstract was accepted for a poster presentation at the Annual Health Economics Conference in Denver CO. ","label":"Excerpt Example","title":"Excerpt Example"}]" code="tab3" template="BlogArticle">

Career Goals and Plans

A statement of purpose can showcase not only your past achievements and current plans, but also your goals for the future. You don’t necessarily have to know exactly what you want to do after graduating, but including these goals can show the committee that you are capable of long-term planning, and that you are eager to put what you learn in the program to good use afterwards. You can use the part about career plans to address some of the following:

• Roles you might like to pursue. If you have a very specific job in mind as your dream job, you can discuss that and explain what makes it an ideal position for you. For example, is it the institution, the location, or the mission of the job/position that attracts you? Alternatively, you can discuss what kind of role you are hoping to have even if you don’t know exactly where you will end up yet. For example, you can explain how this Master's or PhD will help your med school chances .
• Transferable Skills. Discuss what skills you hope to gain through taking the program, and how those skills could help you in whatever academic or professional career path you pursue after graduation. For example, you could discuss how your research projects strengthened your writing and communication skills, or how balancing your coursework and lab work taught you to manage time effectively. Don’t overlook the importance of “soft” skills: conferences can develop your public speaking skills, while group projects can make you a team player.

It is the responsibility of economics researchers to offer sustainable and feasible alternatives and recommendations to experts in all other fields regarding their most pressing challenges such as climate change and regulation of illegal trade. Further, the intermediary between economics research and the implementation of its corresponding results is the policy process. Because analytical research and writing are my most well-developed academic strengths, as evidenced by my GPA, undergraduate thesis, reference letters, and writing samples, the MA Economic Policy (Health Specialization) program is an ideal launch point for a research career in academia with branch points into policy work in the social determinants of health. Eventually, I want to complete a PhD. I want to build a focused academic practice at McMaster where I can help civil society, government and social enterprises understand and address \u2018wicked problems\u2019 at the intersection of economics and public health. The skills I aim to acquire through this graduate training are crucial to the evolution of my practice. ","label":"Excerpt Example","title":"Excerpt Example"}]" code="tab4" template="BlogArticle">

Here are some tips on getting into graduate school!

Addressing setbacks or gaps

Every applicant has strengths and weaknesses, and a statement of purpose is your chance to show the committee that you are self-aware enough to know what your own weaknesses and setbacks are. In discussing these, keep in mind the following:

• Be self-aware and clear. Try to sound honest and objective instead of boastful or defensive when discussing your strengths and weaknesses. Your statement will be even stronger if you include ideas or plans for improvement for any weaknesses you may have. Proving to the committee that you have the capacity for self-growth will strengthen your candidacy, and will also assure them of your intellectual and personal maturity.
• Explain how you have improved your weaknesses or tackled setbacks. Include specific examples, when discussing a weakness, focusing on how you have improved: “I noticed that I struggled with time management during one of my undergraduate courses, and so I developed the habit of planning out work schedules for all of my tasks in advance in order to meet all of my deadlines.”  
• Mention any special circumstances that may have led to compromises or delays in your academic performance. If your academic performance has been affected by something that has occurred in your life, you can explain the impact that these challenges have had upon you. Emphasize your ability to adapt and grow by explaining how you overcame these setbacks and what you have learned from them. Your resilience and adaptability will boost your candidacy by showing that you are able to overcome challenges.  

When you are ready to write, take a moment to review the length requirements. A statement of purpose is typically between 500 to 1,000 words long, which means that you must make a special effort to convey as much meaningful information about yourself as you can within this relatively small word limit.

The statement of purpose should usually have four main sections, but you can avoid explicitly separating the four sections and opt for the more natural flow of a letter instead. If, however, your program explicitly asks for a certain format, be sure to give them what they ask for! 

Structuring your statement

A strong statement of purpose is one that has a clear structure. You need to ensure that the information is laid out in a way that makes it easy for the reader to follow. A well-organized statement keeps the reader engaged!

The structure of a statement of purpose should follow the general structure of an academic essay:

Leave the reader convinced that you are committed to learning and growing, and that you are absolutely prepared for this next step in your academic career. ","label":"Conclusion","title":"Conclusion"}]" code="tab5" template="BlogArticle">

Do’s and Don’ts of Graduate School Statement of Purpose

In order to avoid some of the most common pitfalls when writing your statement of purpose, review the following list of Do’s and Don’ts to make sure your statement is the best it can be: 

Even a statement with the most wonderful content in the world will be a lot less wonderful if it\u2019s littered with typos, grammatical errors, or disorganized sentences. Read and reread your work many times to make sure it is cleanly and professionally written.  "}]">

Your writing needs to be clear and concise. Do not try to show off to the committee by using words that are unnecessarily obscure or too specialty-specific. Not everyone on your committee might be familiar with your research field. Always aim for clarity above all else. If you must use a specialty-specific term, be sure to define it to ensure that both you and your reader understand what you mean when you use that term. "}]" code="timeline2">

When you think your statement is as good as it can possibly be, run it by a second set of eyes. This can be a trusted friend or teacher, or you can get professional feedback from a grad school advisor . Take a moment to check over the following checklist before submitting:

• Have you made sure your statement meets the requirements specified by the school/program? Is it the right length, in the proper format, and does it include any specific information they may have asked for? Does it answer the prompt?
• Has your statement gone through several drafts? If the answer is “no”, stop what you’re doing and commit yourself to rewriting your statement. Remember that a strong statement is one that has gone through several drafts, getting stronger and more effective each time! If the answer is “yes”, ask yourself, “Is this the best my statement can possibly be?” If in doubt, ask for more feedback.
• Do you provide examples for every claim you make? Check over your statement for instances where you claim to have an ability or experience. Have you provided clear and specific examples to back up your claims?
• Does your statement tell a compelling story? Carefully read over your statement to get a sense of the narrative you have crafted for your reader. Is it a compelling narrative, or have you lapsed into just listing random items from your CV? Make sure your statement is telling a story that gives context for who you are, not just a list of things you’ve done.
• Have you proofread your statement? Even when you’re absolutely sure your statement is in top form, you need to proofread your statement several times to make sure that all typos and grammatical errors have been eliminated. Take breaks after each time you proofread. This way, you will be looking at your statement with fresh eyes every time you read it. You should also take some time to make sure the statement is well-organized and has a proper “flow” in terms of both structure and style. If you’re looking at graduate school application help , you can get a graduate school admissions consultant to look over your essay!

Here's how we helped one of our students get into graduate school!

14 More Graduate School Statement of Purpose Examples

Graduate school statement of purpose example #2 (984 words).

When I was 12 years old, my sister suffered a traumatic car accident that left her with PTSD, depression, and severe anxiety. Our parents did not really understand the impact of what she was going through and as a family, we never talked about it much, though we all could witness her pain. So, through my teen years, I watched as a beloved family member struggled with her mental health. Though I did my best to support her through the worst times and assist her in getting professional help, there were still many moments when I felt powerless and clueless in the face of her suffering. This challenging experience set me on the path to pursuing clinical psychology as a career. I wanted to question, dissect, analyze, and hopefully, understand, this mysterious phenomenon that had dominated my life for so long. Through my academic study of psychology and personal experience of my sister’s PTSD, I found that I was particularly interested in clinical psychology with relation to adolescent populations.

From the age of 16 to 21, I worked as a volunteer at an after-school care program for children and teens from disadvantaged backgrounds. While there, I met numerous young people, who had faced starvation, neglect, abuse, and violence, from a very young age, and who needed help to cope with the long-term effects of those early experiences. Working with these kids, helping them through events that might be unimaginable for most adults, further sharpened my interest in how trauma influences the development of generalized anxiety disorders and panic disorders, and in particular, the pre-existing conditions and underlying risk factors for suicide in adolescents with PTSD, anxiety, and depression. This is the topic I hope to continue to explore as a Master’s student in the Clinical Psychology program of your university. Thanks to my personal and first-hand experiences with the effects of trauma, I think I can bring a unique perspective to the study of long-term PTSD in adolescents.

Though my core interest in clinical psychology and the effects of trauma started as deeply personal, my scholarly curiosity and intellectual proficiency led me to academic explorations of this subject from a young age. While in high school, I took up Intro to Psychology classes from my local community college and completed a Peer Youth Counselling certificate course from the Ryerson Center for Mental Health. This academic exploration confirmed my desire to study psychology in college, and my coursework through my undergrad years focused on building a broad portfolio of the key areas of psychology, including Clinical Psychology, Cognitive Psychology and Behavioral Science, Industrial Psychology, Abnormal Psychology, and more. I also took up courses in Biology, Physiology, and Neuroscience to better understand the physical pathologies of adolescent trauma. I believe this thorough grounding in the biological aspects of developmental psychopathology will help me to address the sorely needed requirement for cross-disciplinary research into effective treatment programs for trauma survivors.

Throughout my undergraduate education, I gained research experience that helped me develop the skills and knowledge I need for my clinical psychology graduate studies. For my last two years of undergrad, I worked with Drs. Rebecca Brown, Tyler Baker, and Gary Wolf at the Guntherson Memorial Lab at ABC University, on their studies into the development of substance abuse in adolescents suffering from PTSD. As a research assistant my responsibilities included conducting literature searches, data collection, data entry, supervision of study participants, preparation of research documents, and drafting of participant assessment packets. Thanks to this experience, I was able to develop my valuable observational and data analysis skills and learn more about critical aspects of clinical research such as programming computer tests, investigating study measures, forming hypotheses, supervising participants, and more. I also enrolled in Dr. Brown’s senior level research class and through my final two years of undergrad, I published four research papers on a variety of clinical psychology topics, including a paper on “Depression, Anxiety, and Traumatic Amnesia in Adolescent Survivors of CSA” that was published in the New England Psychology Journal’s June 20XX year issue.

What attracted me to the clinical psychology master’s program at XYZ University was the strong emphasis on diversity in the classroom and cultural context in the curriculum which aligns with my ambition to gain a holistic, socially conscious understanding of trauma manifestations in vulnerable populations. Moreover, your program offers the chance for students to complete two research projects in the world-class research facilities associated with the XYZ University, allowing me to develop and perfect my research skills in the most appropriate environment. I hope to complete these projects under the supervision of your faculty members, Dr. Sally Hendrix and Dr. Mirian Forster, widely considered two of the most brilliant, forward-thinking minds in trauma research today. Their work on the endocrinological risks of anxiety development in adolescents and development of abnormal psychology in CSA survivors is particularly pertinent to my own research interests. With my background in clinical research, my first-hand experience of the effects of trauma, and my deep devotion to and understanding of the pathological effects of adolescent PTSD, I think I can bring a lot to your next master’s cohort.

Through all the clinical experiences and academic knowledge I gained in the last few years, my interest in the questions of trauma, anxiety, and depression continue to be deeply personal. Though my sister survived her teenage years, she continues to live with anxiety and symptoms of PTSD that she doesn’t fully understand. There is still so much about human psychology that we simply don’t know, and I hope to address that gap a little by using the training and education I gain at your university to pursue a PhD in Clinical Psychology in the future. By seeking the answers to the questions of how trauma can warp an adolescent brain and what we can do to try and manage it, I hope to shed light on an under-represented area of psychology that sorely needs our attention.

During the first year of my undergraduate degree, I took a small course entitled “Third World Development” taught by three rather radical and lively professors from Trinidad, Chile, and Lebanon, respectively. This course, despite its passé title, existed to deconstruct our notions of ‘otherness’ by illustrating the deep connectedness of issues, people, and nations. This theme of ‘connectedness’ is threaded through my research and work history under various labels and theories. My undergraduate research was dedicated to understanding the ways and means of political participation for women in remote Northeast India. I became curious about the role of women as informal politicians within their small collectives where survival literally hinges on connectivity. My time in observation of these women opened me to the idea that health and wellness can emerge from places facing serious food insecurity, poor shelter, corruption, and long distances from the center of national power. The extent to which women could draw upon their collective power and roles as givers of care in order to lobby local governments and participate legitimately in the polity was the very definition of their empowerment. 

During my graduate work at [x] University, public health approaches to vulnerable populations were of particular interest to me. It became clear, during my fieldwork with care providers for women who sell sex and do high-risk drugs in downtown East side, that vulnerable populations around the world often have more in common with each other than with the ‘dominant’ or non-excluded populations. My research led to my questions about the role of social capital, defined in this case as a public good comprised of relationships and networks, in leading to better health outcomes amongst highly marginalized urban women. The mechanisms through which both groups of women, in Northeast India and downtown Vancouver, became able to rely on or reject peers, givers of aid or care, and the social and political systems in which they were enmeshed, are very similar. I have witnessed how health outcomes can be a partial function of connectedness for women on the periphery.

Public health has proven the best venue through which I can search for explicit, concrete evidence that individual and population welfare can be socially determined, by access to and power to make choices regarding housing, education, employment, income, political participation, nutrition, and transportation. I see the centrality of connectedness, to institutions and peers, to the processes that enable an individual to access, choose, and influence. My current work as a policy analyst with the Public Health Agency within the Strategic Initiatives and Innovations Directorate is focused largely on reducing health inequalities by mobilizing action on particular social determinants of health. While this work is important and generally on point, I suspect that the United States and Canada may benefit from exploring the micro-level ‘enablers’ of change with respect to the social determinants of health. These enablers, including social networks as a form of social capital, are sometimes lumped, and incorrectly so, with the more tangible determinants, such as housing and nutrition. I see these enablers as characteristics of favorable environments in which health can be positively affected: in families, neighborhoods, schools, communities, etc.

My proposed dissertation research would fall into the broader goals of studying the social mechanisms by which parental social connections impact the eating behavior of their children as well as the way in which these mechanisms may vary across local neighborhoods. My particular interest is the potentially causal nexus between maternal social networks, neighborhood environments, and the transmission of eating behaviors to children. In effect, my role would be to help operationalize maternal adversity and identify potential moderators on the effects of maternal adversity on obesity and eating behaviors of children.

I am drawn to [X] University School of Kinesiology and Health Studies specifically due to Dr. Spencer Moore’s background in medical anthropology and current work with social network analytic techniques. The application of network theory analytical techniques will be a new endeavor for me, but I am attracted to the study of populations that are not necessarily bound by their geography but by common circumstances, such as maternal adversity, and, potentially, common health effects related to obesity and food behaviors. I want to understand the links between the nature and degree of ties between low-income women and how these ties affect norms related to obesity and food.

The School of Kinesiology and Health Studies is an excellent institution that is well-equipped to support new graduate students interested in innovative ways to explore social challenges. It is here that Dr. Moore is developing an important critical mass surrounding this way of examining social networks as enablers of obesity and food behavior outcomes among marginalized women and their young children.

My prior individual research experiences were qualitative in nature, relying on grounded theory and warranted assertion analysis techniques common to sociological research. I have experience as a research assistant on a larger project studying large, linked quantitative databases of provincial health and corrections data in my home state. Also, I have a sufficient course work history in statistics and epidemiology to be able to make the leap to more advanced quantitative techniques, given access to graduate courses on the subject. Social network analysis is a fascinating way of quantifying social capital and social networks and I am very enthusiastic about the opportunity to study these methods and methodologies under Dr. Moore.

Graduate School Statement of Purpose Example #4 (993 words)

As a child of Bangladeshi refugees who fled from war, famine, death, and other horrors I myself have never had to face, I was always attracted to the hidden facts behind the grand narratives of history; the little stories of small people who didn’t leave an impact on major world events but lived, breathed, and worshipped just the same. My parents left everything behind in Bangladesh – their papers, property, lands, family, and friends. It was an erasure of not only their personal history but the history of generations who came before them. As I grew up, I became passionately interested in the history of my ancestors, perhaps as a way of making sense of my own experiences as a second-generation immigrant. I remember how once in grade school, we had to prepare a “family tree” project with the names and photos of our parents, grandparents, and so on. My mother started crying when I asked her for these details and photos; it was a traumatic reminder of all she had lost. I consider this genealogical tree my first history project, as I combed through the internet using the meagre information my mother gave me to supplement my bare project board with a few details. The internet wasn’t very helpful and, needless to say, I proved unsuccessful in finding any information. But it fueled a passion in me for finding out all about where I had come from, and from there, I developed my interest in the social, cultural, military, and economic history of south-east Asia.

I pursued this interest all the way to college, majoring in history with a minor in anthropology, and it was in my undergrad years that my general interest in the history of south-east Asia crystallized into an interest in the politics of historical interpretation, especially in regard to women in pre-modern south-east Asia. The history of women’s spaces, especially under patriarchal regimes, fascinates me; how oral traditions develop to combat lack of literacy, how their social roles shift and change in response to military and economic developments, and finally, how these historical changes constitute the present. Specifically, I am deeply interested in how women’s spaces evolved as a result of colonial influences in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. I credit a wide range of authors, thinkers, and historians with molding my interests and refining my analysis. The latest papers by BW Anandya, Wazir Jahan Karim, and N Choi about the pathways to religious and political power for women in southeast Asia, profoundly opened up my mind to the possibilities for what we can learn from primary resources about these “lost” populations of history. On the other hand, the philosophical and sociological theories of Edward Said, Gayatri Chakrovorti Spivak, and Homi Bhabha provide the philosophical framework for how I approach my writing.

I have always followed my intellectual curiosity to take on challenging coursework and build a solid academic foundation for my intended pursuit of historical research. Apart from completing the most intensive coursework pertaining to Asian history studies in my department, I also took courses in British History, Postcolonialism, Anthropology, Philosophy, and Women’s Studies, so as to round out my understanding of the key topics related to my area of interest. My professor also allowed me to complete independent studies and research projects in selected areas of my interest such as African American history in Canada and History of Hebrew Scriptures. The study of such diverse historical topics helped to provide greater context to my primary area of interest; I found many interesting parallels between the experiences of oppressed populations in different parts of the world. Three of my papers were published in our university’s academic magazine, and I presented my paper on “Development of Oral Traditions in Women’s Spaces” at the Annual National History Symposium in X year.

In my junior year, I got the chance to write an independent research paper about the historical figure of Savitri Bai Phule, analyzing her community ties from 1920 to 1935, within the framework of Spivak’s concept of “strategic essentialism” and cross-cultural solidarity. This was a major milestone for me as I got the chance to work on my main area of interest while using primary resources on loan from University of Mumbai, including Savitri Bai Phule’s journals, historical Times of India newspapers, and more.

I would love to continue my research into these and other unexplored histories of women in south-east Asia as part of the master’s program at your university. With my personal background, academic proficiency, and focused historical interests, I think I represent an ideal candidate for ABC University. I look forward to working in an environment that encourages diversity, forward-thinking research, and cutting-edge investigative techniques. Your rigorous curriculum will help me refine my understanding of historical investigation methods and expand my consciousness of the cross-cultural socio-economic influences in pre-modern women’s spaces. As an aspiring PhD candidate, I would love to get the chance to tap into ABC University’s extensive network of primary resources, subject matter experts, and trailbreakers. I am very excited to work with Dr. Nina Gupta from the History of Southeast Asia department. I am in communication with her about her findings on historical distortion and its intersection with political agendas in colonial Southeast Asia, as it directly impacts the research I’d like to do. In fact, her encouragement and support motivated me to apply to your master’s program!

My next big goal is to pursue a PhD, also from your university, under Nina Gupta’s supervision. Through my master’s education, I plan to work towards developing my expertise in Southeast Asian women’s studies and making myself an asset for your PhD program. One day, I hope I can become a professor at a top university such as yours, so that I can continue my research into the rich and untapped veins of history just waiting to be investigated and pass on my love for the subject to interested young minds.

One of the greatest gifts my parents gave to me, very early on, was a keen sense of just how unique my childhood was. Though by no means a position of high stature, my mother’s clerking post at the American consulate in Cairo provided us with an immense array of benefits, and those that impacted me most were, unsurprisingly, the plethora of cultural institutions a short walk away from our home. Whether the Coptic, Luxor, or the Grand Egyptian, the first thing I wanted to do each afternoon after getting out of school was to zoom into the cool air of a museum. Even at a young age, I was aware of the complexity of being a light-skinned American kid wandering through these halls, gazing at artifacts of a civilization that far preceded the origins of what I understood to be “western” civilizations. How did I end up here? What was the nature of my relationship to this rich and vast culture that both fascinated me and exacerbated my feelings of being somewhat alien in its midst?

This intersection of cultural and political analysis expanded as I got older and began to unpack the complicated colonial forces that played a part in both early and contemporary Egyptology. As I matured as a student, I became able to articulate questions that had hitherto lived as abstract uneasiness in my head. Curators and guides of many Egyptian museums were reluctant at first to really open up about the pervasive presence of English and North American archaeologists in the 19th century's antiquarian boom, but I was fortunate to have longstanding relationships with many such officials, both through my own wanderings and my parents' work.

As I began to ask more pointed questions and gained the ability to explore museum records on my own, I became overwhelmed by how drastically the Egyptian archaeological "industry" had been shaped by British colonialism, and how this resulted in a still-developing tension between international exhibition and the local or indigenous preservation of civilizational artifacts. My undergraduate work in anthropology has sought to develop a number of theses in this regard, most importantly the need for efforts of artifact repatriation and return from the British Museum as a step toward more complete reconciliation after centuries of extraction.

Throughout my undergraduate research with Professor X at [undergraduate university], I sought to utilize careful historiographical analysis to better support repatriation efforts popularized by former Egyptian antiquities minister Dr. Y. These efforts helped mobilize the X museum in Boston to return a priceless bust of Prince Ankhhaf under Dr. Y’s insistence, which was not only one of the most satisfying moments in my academic career so far but of my life overall.

In addition to the historiographic focus of my work, I’m keen to shift into the present politics around artifact repatriation and reclamation of physical heritage, specifically relating to how contemporary North African political struggles utilize cultural and anthropological discourses. Professor Z’s work in this realm has been hugely influential and inspiring to me, and were I to be admitted to your PhD program it would be an incredible honor to assist her ongoing research in contemporary cultural discourse in Egyptian and Islamic political movements.

I was fortunate to be selected for the American University in Cairo’s Presidential Internship program in 2019, just after graduating. Returning to Cairo for the first time since I was 13 years old was incredible but bittersweet in some ways. The lens through which I observed many of the institutions I’d mythologized as a child was far more critical, and I realized that my graduate work would necessarily be inflected by this added layer of complexity and disillusionment. If admitted to this PhD program in anthropology, I would seek to capitalize on this personal experience. I think it’s incumbent upon people who have lived in anthropological intersections like this—in my case specifically as an unwitting addition to longstanding “Western” colonial presence in North Africa—to produce academic work that illuminates the political and cultural tensions that they’ve hitherto experienced as largely subjective phenomena.

To this end, I propose utilizing modeling techniques common to digital-archaeological projects in Egyptological studies to support a more culturally-focused analysis of the flow of expropriation during the heyday of colonial extraction in the early 20th century. I believe that object-oriented models of provenance can be utilized to support analysis of ongoing repatriation discourse. This would build on Professor X’s work mentioned above, providing more graphic and tangible insights into emancipatory nationalist and post-nationalist movements in contemporary Egypt and North Africa in general.

If admitted to ______'s graduate program, I would not only seek to contribute to the program's ongoing scholarship as a student, but would hope to continue working collaboratively with the department once I move into independent scholarship and teaching following graduation. I feel especially passionate about forming long-term relationships with faculty given the scarcity of nuanced scholarship that addresses the intersections of anthropology, political science, and archaeology in Egyptological studies. Teaching and research have guided every step of my journey so far, and I know without a doubt that this is my path forward as well. As such, I would seek to serve as a paragon not only of ________’s interdisciplinarity and intellectual inventiveness to my future students, but to continue to be a productive and prominent member of _____’s research cohort no matter where I end up teaching. 

Graduate School Statement of Purpose Example #6 (859 words)

My road to mechanical engineering began with my dad unceremoniously kicking me out of the kitchen. By the time I was in kindergarten, I couldn’t resist rummaging through my family’s cupboards, trying to find something to take apart and rebuild it. This became a running joke in my family that, rather than knives or other sharp objects, I had to be kept away from screwdrivers, lest I end up taking the whole house apart. This all changed when I discovered desktop computers, and specifically GPUs, which I found endlessly fascinating in their ability to be easily disassembled and modified.

Although my free time during high school was indeed spend huddled over computer hardware much the way my childhood was, I became interested in the capabilities of redirecting the work capacity of hardware, and in particular the ability to reorganize the way hardware acceleration can be optimized to assist in Computer-Aided Engineering (CAE) tasks in manufacturing. During my undergraduate work at X University, I developed an interest in machine learning while working on Dr. Cheboygan’s ongoing research in augmenting GPU software to better optimize their performance in general-purpose computations. In both my senior thesis and independent study blocks, Dr. and I studied a number of potential workarounds for latency bottlenecks relating to DDR5 infrastructure.

This phase of my research cemented my desire to continue on with both machine learning and CAE, and it’s precisely around these points that I’d like to develop my MSc thesis. Specifically, I want to build on the considerable research on GPU acceleration I undertook during my BS in order to further expand upon shifts in both manufacturing and product design. As abstract as this work has been in many ways, its end result would be to streamline workflows for product engineers that will greatly speed up the process of dealing with intractable problems relating to bottlenecking by physics computations.

I’m motivated to address sophisticated problems like this for a fairly non-academic reason. Throughout the last two years, I’ve participated in organization drives with X organization, my region’s largest manufacturing union. Admittedly, I came to this work with quite personal motivations, having seen my mother’s engineering positions often under attack by naïve or even ignorant efforts to automate various aspects of product design. My work with this union sought to argue, from a scientific perspective, the need to improve both software and hardware using human-supervised machine learning and not wholesale robotic automation. Rather than downsizing and eliminating human positions in the manufacturing process, I offered data to union leadership that showed how a minimal investment in technological upgrades at the level of product implementation could preserve job security for product engineers and implementation supervisors while vastly speeding up the manufacturing process to deliver an increased output of nearly 80% in some cases.

This was immeasurably satisfying, and although not every negotiation was a success, I was able to contribute something unique to a class of workers who I felt had suffered under an outmoded and overly aggressive model of automation for nearly 20 years. In short, I would like to pursue graduate work in mechanical engineering at Z University because I think my work can have an overwhelmingly positive impact in aspects of labor tensions relating to instrumentation and automation. I think that through careful work in machine learning and deep learning, we can target specific aspects of the manufacturing process that have proven to be flashpoints of conflict between engineers and administrators.

The department's emphasis on teaching throughout the graduate program is also a huge draw for me. I tutored privately throughout my undergraduate years, and volunteered at my school's learning center to help students not only with introductory engineering courses but also calculus and linear algebra. Reconnecting to this passion for high-level mathematics, I would seek to work with Dr. Muskegon and Dr. Flint to both participate in and utilize their research in computational methods to clarify the mathematical dimension of my proposed thesis. Dr. Muskegon’s recent publications in the International Journal of Computer Theory and Engineering are especially relevant to this work, as I believe my course of study would benefit greatly by implementing her utilization of novel approaches to principal component analysis.

Lastly, on a simpler note, I’ve always been drawn to the West Coast, and would love to explore the wilder, mountainous areas North of Vancouver during my free time. Growing up in the flatlands of the Midwest seeded a very strong desire for the “big landscape” areas of Western Canada, and I can think of no better compliment to the abstract and small-scale work I’d be undertaking in the mechanical engineering program than to spend my free weekends hiking and camping in places like Coquitlam mountain Which is to say, simply, that I believe UBC is an ideal location for my next phase of scholarship not only because of its academic innovation and integrity, but because its surrounding environment is both beautiful and inspirational. I would arrive and continue to be an enthusiastic and incredibly engaged student in UBC’s MSc program, and I would be honored to assist in the incredible work being undertaken by both faculty and fellow graduate students alike.

Not many students seek to spend their gap year surrounded by the choking aroma of sulfur, but I will readily admit to being just such a student. After 4 years spent in a blur of library lighting and research, I found myself in desperate need of immersion into both Soto zen Buddhism and Japanese culture more generally. So, after some careful planning, I spent 4 months last year working in an onsen in Fukui, spending my 1 day off each week wandering around the shrines interspersed between Echizen and Kyoto and generally trying to soak up every bit of soto history I could.

My real wish was granted near the end of my time in Fukui, when I was accepted for a 1-week sesshin at Eiheiji castle. This was the fulfillment of a desire I’d stoked throughout my BA work in Asian studies at X University. Throughout my research, I’d devoted considerable time to analyzing concepts of time in extended religious ritual, and at Eiheiji, I was able to not only observe this in action but to experience it directly as well. My personal relationship to zen was not especially developed prior to this point, but after just the first step through Eihiji’s main gate, I felt something shift in me, and knew that I wanted to dedicate my academic career to exploring not just zen but soto ontology specifically.

To this end, my dissertation with the religious studies department would seek to utilize ongoing scholarship by professor Farmington in discussions of temporal dilation and dissolution in religious ritual. At Eihiji, and in sesshin settings specifically, there are numerous conceptualizations of time that are at odds with typical monastic linearity, and I believe incorporating a more careful analysis of temporal augmentation is key to unpacking the metaphysics of both sesshin and “intensive” events in other traditions as well. I may feel a personal connection to much of what I’ve studied and written about so far, but I feel an even stronger dedication to exegesis of religious ritual experience for the sake of furthering philosophical and theological discussion across traditions.

My abiding love for Soto zen is a key motivator in this project, but I come to this study earnestly and with academic rigor. Interfaith dialogue has been a constant part of my life outside of academia. Throughout high school I volunteered a great deal of time with both Saint Sophia Orthodox church and Bharatiya Hindu temple in [hometown]. This provided not only opportunities to engage in beneficial community projects, but also myriad opportunities to discuss theological and doctrinal matters with people outside my own religious practice. These activities, much like my enthralling experiences in Fukui, clarified and concentrated my desire to pursue high-level scholarship in religious studies.

Your program will allow me to pursue interdisciplinary studies that will touch upon more than just community interfaith dialogue. My early undergraduate years heavily focused on Western philosophy, and specifically German idealism. Dr. Huron’s work in examining influxes of hermeticism and esotericism in general in this tradition is incredibly fascinating to me, and while my thesis doesn’t directly touch on it, I am quite curious about potential intersections of Western esoteric ritual and Soto Zen ritual, specifically their descriptions of atemporal experience. Indiana university’s overarching emphasis on collaborative work, and especially the religious studies department’s similar commitment to intersectional and comparative analysis, is a massive draw for me. Although Northwestern’s Asian studies department boasted a number of interdisciplinary and cross-specialty working groups, the offerings at IU are significantly more numerous and broader in scope, and I would be honored to participate in the East Asian epistemology working group especially. The paper I presented at last year’s International Conference on Buddhist Philosophical Studies centered on epistemological contradiction in Yunmen’s koans, and I think there’s a great deal of room in my proposed project to explore theories of knowledge in relation to the discussions of ritual temporality and chronology.

While I certainly found aspects of my time working in an onsen exhausting, the difficulty of the work and communication therein was a challenge I greatly enjoyed. I would bring this newly enhanced sense of dedication and discipline to graduate studies at[BeMo3] Indiana university, and, gratefully, be able to formalize an ongoing academic project that’s deeply connected to the religious and cultural experiences I had during this time as well. I feel profoundly ready, in other words—ready for both advanced scholarship and the semi-monastic lifestyle that best supports this work. My week at Eiheiji was transformative in a few ways, but perhaps the most unexpected of which was the way it showed me what I already knew about myself from a clarified or even purified perspective, and I know without a doubt that the zeal I felt bloom within me is inextricable from continuing along the path toward doctoral research and eventually teaching.

Note how the following personal statement is truly personal and after reading this statement you feel like you know this applicant already. They also leave you feeling a lot of emotions. Both warm and sad. And that's good. You want to create some sort of emotion in the admissions committee members that read your personal statement:

As an applicant to _________, I am one among many candidates who acknowledges the highly diverse and appealing culture of the campus. As an immigrant candidate, I am among those individuals who acknowledge their gratitude for a country that has enabled them to explore endless opportunities and to write this very statement. I have been given an opportunity, one which lets me offer a glimpse of my individuality, the story behind my journey, my capabilities and future possibilities for _________. In recognizing my ethnicity, my academic progression, continuous community involvement, work experiences, and strong regard for _________, I have been equipped with the passion, knowledge and determination to pursue __________.

My journey was challenging, but has characterized the woman I've become, and solidified the mark I want to leave in this world. In addressing my ethnicity as an Assyrian, I was born in Iraq. At the tender age of 4, my family and I fled to Turkey as refugees in hopes of safety, and were eventually granted acceptance to_________. My parents' relentless will to leave all they had known to offer my siblings and I a safer environment, one which would enable us to flourish with opportunities, was inspiring and admirable. Assimilating into another culture was seemingly difficult. However, leaving Iraq was necessary to ensure I had a future, one that would allow me to learn, experience, and eventually become a_______.

“Why have you decided to pursue____?”. A question that seems direct, however, can be daunting to simplify in two pages. Coming from an oppressed war nation of extremists, justice is buried among the remnants of homes. My early exposure to a war-stricken environment led to a realization and eventually a passion; my relentless pursuit for social justice. My culture has also enabled me to express patience and understanding to individuals of all backgrounds. Openness is the very ingredient, which echoes within _____and, is expected of ______students attending _________. I offer a distinct diversity in representing a small and underrepresented group of individuals; I speak Assyrian, an ancient language of Aramaic, spoken during the early times of Mesopotamia. With a passion for linguistics, I have also become advanced in speaking Arabic and French. Diversifying my communication is a trait I can bring forward to _________ as the backbone of the school thrives in multiculturalism and offers multiple global/international opportunities. Moving forward I want to continue utilizing my personal experience and platform to advocate for families displaced, as I strive to be at the forefront of international affairs.

My university career, employment, and volunteer experiences have further fueled my passion for _______. Additionally, they have enhanced my academic thought, cultural awareness and critical approach in _________. The education I gained at________, with a major in Criminology and minor in Political Science provided me with an advanced knowledge of political relations. As a student, I gained the research skills to analyze individual behavior and public policies. I analyzed criminal patterns, from a theoretical and statistical standpoint. The analytical framework and organizational skills I gained are notable qualities that I can apply to my studies. During my entire university career, I remained employed and at times held two occupations. Additionally, I held an internship, played soccer, and remained active within the community in partaking in numerous charity events, and associations, such as Transition 2 Betterness, Heart & Stroke, and Social Science Society. My internship at the Border Services Agency strengthened my regard for national security, while sports taught me discipline, effective communication, and team collaboration. Furthermore, my passion in music, has led me to explore creativity with artists of all backgrounds. Having written multiple songs, and recorded with a variety of artists, I have challenged my writing abilities and allowed myself to be vulnerable and ready to grow. My ability to balance employment, volunteer, academics and music has characterized my motivation to improve myself as a student, and as a________.

Alternatively, my career experiences have tested my creativity in utilizing various resources to achieve my end goal. In the 3 years I spent within the recruitment/consulting industry, I gained a professional outlook and got an insight into the competitive market. As a Scientific Recruiter, I worked alongside scientists/chemists and medical doctors, to ensure they found a suitable opportunity. Through technical screenings and developmental feedback, I was able to strategize and prepare the candidates for client interviews. As an Account Manager, I led the first Scientific Division for my company. I worked 60 hour weeks for two years to build a pipeline and plant the seeds for new business relationships. I partnered up with clients across the __________ area within various industries; pharmaceuticals, consumers and hospitals. Through extensive business development, I assisted clients by finding candidates that were technically and culturally a fit. My experience within sales was challenging, and at times exhausting, but taught me patience. I was able to gain a multitude of survival skills that can certainly be applied to _________. I learned to self-start, self-motivate, and lastly, I learned that at times you will fail, but that does not mean you have failed. As an Academic Consultant at ________, I assist graduate students with their application and interview process to Medical and Dentistry School. We examine problematic scenarios, address pressing issues, and explore multiple strategies. Evidently, I am apt to apply a similar critical perspective to further my research by exploring multiple measures to gain a diversified analysis.

Through my non-profit partnerships; my role as a War Child Catalyst for War Child and Journalist for Observatory Media, I have gained cultural awareness in international relations and advanced my researching and writing abilities. As a War Child Catalyst, I created my own committee, One Army, which raises funds for families and precisely children affected by war. As a journalist, I have furthered my knowledge of current Canadian policies and generated awareness for displaced individuals.

Upon my acceptance to _______in the _______ program, I hope to advance my critical thought and awareness in international affairs and national security, through a calculated evaluation. I will also advance my focus through a _______ Diploma that is offered. With a variety of courses, such as ____________, __________, and __________, I will adopt a dynamic perspective to direct my thesis. In addition, I hope to collaborate with ________ and ____________, notable professors with substantive work regarding national security. With respect to campus involvement, I will see that my experiences will be utilized as I plan to join the _________, ensuring I will be at the forefront of political and social justice issues.

As examined, my work experience, passionate community involvement, and academics will enable me to not only apply but also excel at ___________. How will we ensure national security when our nationalism is questionably crippled by our democratic stance towards multiculturalism? An ironic question which I intend to explore, and one which I have prepared for my entire life.

Graduate School Statement of Purpose Example #9 (1705 words)

A statement of purpose is a chance to tell the story of your life. Your statement is not only a celebration of your triumphs, but also a true reflection on the challenges and struggles you have faced. Remember, you cannot victimize yourself in the essay. Rather than simply talking about your difficulties, make sure to emphasize how you overcame them. Create a captivating narrative of how events in your life led to this moment - your decision to apply to grad school:

My desire to join the world of social work proved innate and organic since the pillars of the field parallel the way I lead my personal and professional life. Throughout my career, I have been dedicated to promoting and helping employees grow and thrive personally and in the workplace. This dedication to implementing a living salary, continued education, financial literacy and equal opportunity sparked my interest to further my educational path since these practices within the working environment were not commonplace. Through my work experience I saw a need for financial literacy as I watched employees work multiple jobs and struggle to make ends meet. I saw the insurmountable stress that people faced on a daily basis and how much it negatively affected stability within their lives. I knew that I needed to do something that proved longer lasting and further reaching. I decided to set out to not only change the dynamic of financial capability for all, but also to help people to cope with the stress of our fast-changing environment.

My trajectory towards my goals in the world of social work started with one of the largest challenges of my life. While attending X College, I received the devastating news that I had early signs of cancer, requiring invasive and immediate treatment. Shortly thereafter, I also lost my home. These hardships caused a shift in my focus, priorities, and ultimate trajectory of my educational path. These humbling experiences afforded me the privilege of learning to maintain strength, perseverance, empathy and humility, despite the adversities.

My perseverance and dedication to finding my footing in the world again allowed me to begin the journey of running restaurants at the age of twenty-five. After experiencing poverty, debilitating anxiety and a decline in my own health I knew that creating a safe environment for people to thrive in was of the utmost importance to me. I took the lessons I learned through my experiences into my career and created policy within the businesses that I ran that reflected my dedication to implementing a living wage for all employees. Specifically, I standardized paid time off, extended sick leave, improved access to healthcare, and facilitated equal opportunity for all people that desired growth. My new position allowed me to offer personal mentorship, helping employees advance within the company and in the growing hospitality industry as a whole. This was incredibly rewarding for me, especially when I was able to see those who I mentored move on in their career to build enriched and financially stable lives.

When I moved on from this company, I carried my ethos with me into my next three

businesses. I became a general manager at a restaurant, opened a distillery for the bar, and started my own hospitality consulting business. Now, not only did I dedicate myself to treating employees ethically, I also was persistent in investigating the companies I used to supply the businesses that I oversaw. While working for the restaurant, I made multiple trips a year to Mexico to ensure that the products I purchased for the business were from companies that did not exploit or undercut their employees. In conjunction with my stand on supporting ethical business practices, I was given the opportunity to also open a mezcal distillery with [X name] in Tijuana. By opening the distillery, we were able to provide access to electricity, running water, transportation and basic human needs to the village where the mezcal was made. The experience I gained at this point in my life changed my trajectory of what I truly wanted to pursue, planting a seed for me to fight for change within my field of work.

When I made the decision to leave the hospitality industry it was innately due to the fact that I couldn’t continue to be part of an industry that primarily cared about their bottom line and not the people that worked to ensure their success. I left knowing that I wanted to redirect my life and embark on making changes that were designed to help lift people out of difficult situations to ultimately generate stability, prosperity and fulfillment. I wanted to ensure that progressive changes I spearheaded would prove wider reaching and longer lasting. I knew I wanted to be a mentor, a coach and a financial planner since I was privileged and honored to be in the positions I was granted in life, I wanted to share what I had learned with others.

In an effort to gain experience I have been honored to have the opportunity to volunteer as a crisis Counselor for Crisis Line. During my time working as a counselor I have seen a common trend amongst people in crisis which resonated with me; lack of access to healthcare and financial disparity. This work, that I continue to do weekly, has shown me the fundamental need for people to not only have financial security but also to have access to healthcare which includes mental health services. This experience furthered my understanding on how financial instability can cause a milieu of problems and can be at the root of anxiety, stress and affect mental health in an adverse way. Without access to channels that teach financial literacy and techniques to cope with stress on a continuous basis, I knew that any relief I did bring might be short lived. There is still a need for dependable, ongoing care that I would not be able to give unless I decided to continue my education and further my mission to help people live a stable and prosperous life.

When I started looking into social work, X University was my first choice. I’m inspired to learn from the brilliant minds of coveted professors at X School, whose work includes devoting tireless time and effort to social change, innovation and diversity. I feel that there are many like-minded professors that share my passions and goals within the school.

I am inspired by the idea of being placed in the field, to allow me the privilege of gaining some real-life experience, paralleling my studies, and ultimately allowing me to explore the multiple facets that make up the large body of social work. I am confident that I will be able to fully devote myself to the program and will not have the added responsibility of working while I am in school. Should I be accepted, the X School is one I am confident will prepare me to meet my goals, give me the relevant field experience that I am seeking, and will prepare me to be a future leader in the field of social work.

When I made the decision that I would like to pursue graduate work at X University, I knew that there would be costs that I would have to consider and navigate if I were granted acceptance. I have over half of the funds in savings for school from when I was working in the hospitably industry and plan on applying to The X Scholarship Fund, The XY Scholarship, and hope to be awarded the X Merit Scholarship. After savings and possible scholarships, I would like to apply for a stipend with the X Project.

What I am hoping to focus on while attending X University are the core challenges of building financial capability for all and reducing extreme economic inequality. Since financial literacy is an optional topic for California teachers to incorporate in their lesson plans, it has become extremely illusive in our educational programs statewide. The implications of this lack of education can create and has created broad economic impacts that will affect our local and state economies and could result in further layoffs, another crash in the housing market and people facing even more insurmountable debt. The people that will be most affected by this illiteracy, those that are marginalized and face a lower socioeconomic status, will harbor the brunt of these negative impacts. Through higher education I am hoping to learn how to tackle this problem and implement financial proficiency not only for children and teenagers but also make it widely available and free for all adults who wish to benefit from this education. We have many programs in the state of California that aid low income families so that they can meet their everyday needs. If we do not make financial education programs widely available how are these families expected to eventually exit these programs and become self-sufficient? Without educated consumerism, families can find themselves trapped in the cycle of poverty.

While providing individuals and families with the resources needed for financial literacy it will be increasingly important to also implement cognitive behavioral therapy that will aid them during this transitional period. Changing the way people view and navigate economic difficulties can be stressful and create a level of anxiety that is associated with dramatic change. Even when change is for the better it can still manifest into feelings of stress and uncertainty. I am hoping to learn how to help people through the anxiety of uncertainty so that they are able to approach and navigate their daily lives with collected confidence. I’m interested in learning about classic ways to approach anxiety and also new techniques and therapies such as the recent research on psychedelic therapies, mindfulness and nature-based therapies.

While my background and areas of interest might seem unorthodox, I am hoping that the experience and knowledge I’ve gained within the workforce has prepared me to seek higher education. Through being in the positions I have been granted in life I have been able to gain skills that are necessary when implementing change and facing a career of helping others; such as maintaining boundaries, possessing the ability to be empathetic in stressful situations and being able to plan and manage time and money far into the future. My experiences have inspired me to drive to fight for implementing resonating, impactful change, to ultimately help in the fight towards propelling the progress and growth of our global society and community forward. Should I be accepted I am certain that I will gain exemplary knowledge and skill to become a future leader in the field of social work through the forward thinking, brilliant minds of the professors at X University. 

Graduate School Statement of Purpose Example #10 (738 words)

Oil is in more than my family’s blood. It’s in our history, too. When I was a child, my grandfather told me a story about his own father and the discovery of oil. My great-grandfather worked for Imperial Oil, and back in the 1940s, his team had been tasked with finding new oil reserves to drill into. After several failed attempts, the team had dug up nothing but dirt, and their expectations were low. My great-grandfather was considering taking work elsewhere to pay the bills. By chance, the team decided to drill in a location nearly 100 km away from their latest attempt. No on else had drilled in the area yet, and it wasn’t on anyone’s radar. My grandfather, a teenager at the time, happened to be out that day with his father, learning the ropes and watching the drill sink deeper and deeper into the earth. Tensions were high as they waited, drilling past the point where oil was normally found. My grandfather described it as a strike of lightning coming out of the earth—black gold shot out of the hole and rained down on the derrick and soaking the crew. They’d struck oil at last. Their discovery led to an economic boom, and my family has stayed in the oil and petroleum business ever since.

My grandfather and my father both worked in the oil industry their entire lives. My grandfather worked with the same derrick that saved his father’s livelihood, using it to locate new wells until it was decommissioned. Growing up, I absorbed a great deal about the industry from my father, who explained to me how petroleum products could be found in almost all of our everyday products, from the plastic toothbrushes in our bathrooms to the heating systems of our homes. He was always encouraging me to find out how things worked, to be curious about the world around me. As a kid I was always building and rebuilding personal projects, from my first Lego sets to my initial attempts at concocting an all-natural surface cleaner that wouldn’t give my mom an allergic reaction.

My vision for myself as a rig worker alongside my dad morphed into getting my undergraduate degree in chemical engineering. It allowed me to pursue my passion for reinvention while keeping my busy mind happy with new problems to solve. I dived into exploring the energy industry, attending lectures, speaking with industry experts, reading and researching, and even driving six hours away to attend a conference on the future of renewable energy. During my summers off from school, I helped my grandfather install solar panels at his home. Oil had been my grandfather’s life and livelihood, but he always encouraged me to think of the future of energy, and if I needed new solutions, to “dig another hole”. I was fortunate to have stellar examples of perseverance and hard work in my life, and to have an instilled passion for and connection to such a dynamic and challenging career.

After graduation, I took a job with ExxonMobil, where I have worked for several years as a petroleum engineer. My most significant projects have centered on developing computer modeling software, to improve the safety of workers and efficiency of drilling and extracting operations. I have also been involved in developing software which tests for and anticipates any geological shifts that can impact drilling or mining operations. I knew the moment I received my undergraduate degree that I wanted to take the next step, so I have taken opportunities to advance myself with professional development courses and volunteered to act as the company’s regional representative at key industry events. I also delivered a speech at the Oil and Gas Symposium on the benefits of cleaner oil extraction and production, and how my company has invested in new technologies to achieve these results.

I want to pursue my master’s in petroleum engineering because it will allow me to move into newer, more niche circles of this industry. It will allow me to use my innovation, my passion and my experience to find better, cleaner ways of using our energy resources and our petroleum reserves. Further education will help me continue to grow as a professional in the oil industry and become a part of the next wave of invention. It will allow me to be on the next team that strikes metaphorical oil and unearths the future of energy.

Graduate School Statement of Purpose Example #11 (755 words)

Public health issues have always been a beast with many heads for me. The preservation and education of public health is a multifaceted, multidisciplinary effort, and the ongoing problems that contribute to public health concerns are the same. They cross disciplines and socioeconomic classes. The dynamic nature of public health as always been of interest to me, from the time I first experienced some of the problems affecting my hometown community’s health and well-being. Homelessness was a longstanding and noticeable problem in our community, exacerbated by issues like drug addiction, poor mental health resources and prejudice. While not all of these are considered direct public health matters, they are all connected threads of a deeper, darker beast.

I was aware of these problems in my community on a surface level, but as I grew up I began to take notice and pay more attention. My father served as a city councillor for many years, and we often attended community events together as a family. One of his favorite things to say was that “everyone can contribute something”, whether we were gathering food bank donations, fundraising for the local town arena or volunteering at the soup kitchen. Everyone pitched in. Everyone contributed something of their time, or money or care. The community worked together to address points of concern. When I sat in on council meetings my father attended, I saw the issues of homelessness and drug addiction were often debated and discussed. Everyone was trying to collaborate on a solution. Meanwhile, very little was actually being done to address the problems, and they continued to worsen. One of the town homeless shelters was shut down after the provincial government pulled funding, and the community saw an uptick in health-related issues, especially among marginalized groups.

I volunteered at homeless shelters in my area for many years, and I heard firsthand the struggles about getting access to healthcare resources such as counseling, safe prescriptions and even first aid. Without the homeless shelter and the more comprehensive resources it provided, such as safe sites and mental health counseling, people were struggling. The shelter coordinators had previously worked long hours to be able to provide the resources they could, but they’d never received enough funding to implement anything more than band-aid solutions. Even after the homeless shelter was shut down, several staff members did what they could to help regular clients at the shelter. After the shelter closed, we lost many of our regular visitors since they could no longer access medical care. Many individuals were arrested on drug charges, exacerbating the tension between the marginalized members of the community and the police, and taxing an overtaxed system.

Experiencing these things at an impressionable age sparked the desire in me to be of service to the community. One more set of helping hands was always welcome, and as my dad told me: “everyone can contribute something.” I wanted to contribute. I decided to study for my Bachelor of Science in social work, intending to continue my work with the homeless and do what I could to improve public health in my community. I’ve worked as a social worker for the past 5 years, as a counselor, advocate and friend of the homeless members of our community. I’ve worked to educate and raise awareness, supervise the installation of temporary homeless shelters, collect and distribute donations, and host free skill-building classes. I’ve been privileged to grow from an eager volunteer to a professional public health and social worker who demonstrates empathy, compassion, creativity and resilience.

However, in fighting this multi-headed beast I realize the problems easily multiply. I can defeat one issue for a while, and two new ones pop up. I wanted to be a part of ending the problems once and for all.

By getting my Master’s in Public Health, I’ll be able to gain a deeper and more nuanced education of the issues surrounding public health. I’ll be able to use that education and my growing professional skills to make sustainable changes in communities like mine. I’ll be able to test and implement solutions that fit the community instead of imposing cookie-cutter solutions to diverse and complex situations. I’ll be able to contribute in a meaningful way.

To your program I will bring my drive and my passion for public health, as well as the skills I’ve built as a social worker, volunteer and community member. I know I have more to give back, and I look forward to the opportunity to be a part of the solution.

Graduate School Statement of Purpose Example #12 (896 words)

I remember exactly where I was when the shelter-in-place order was issued. I was at my teacher’s aide desk in Ms. Colburn’s sixth grade homeroom class, poring over the lesson plan for the day and making notes in the margins. When my email notification dinged on my open laptop in front of me, my future in education was changed forever. The email was notifying us that our lives and jobs as we knew them were about to change. We were told to return home and await further instructions. From that point on, I didn’t step foot in a classroom again for over a year.

Being a teacher had been my dream since I myself was in sixth grade. When I graduated with my Bachelor’s in Education, I found a position as a teacher’s aide at Woodward Elementary School. The opportunity to work in the classroom, interact with students and watch them grow and question and discover and collaborate and learn, was a dream come true. I hadn’t yet worked at Woodward a year before the pandemic irreversibly changed the way we educate. As a new educational professional, the pandemic threw an undeniable wrench in my future plans, and it tested my developing skills with challenges I could never have expected. However, it also presented me with opportunities I never would have had otherwise.

The first week of staying at home, I was trying to get organized, install new software on my work laptop, gather my notes and adapt to a working situation that was sometimes changing on a daily basis. My sister called to check up on me, and while we talked she asked if I could do her a favor. My niece was struggling with the new normal, learning how to switch to e-learning when learning in a traditional classroom had already been difficult for her. My niece was recently diagnosed with ADHD, and she’d explained before how she had trouble focusing, keeping herself organized and on task, and sometimes struggled to understand her homework assignments. As a student, I often helped tutor her in my free time and help her develop tools for educational success. We worked together to create a weekly schedule, practice tricks to keep her focused and alert, and established mental health “check-ins”. Since starting her schoolwork from home, her old tools weren’t enough. The changes to her school life and the anxiety caused by uncertainty were overwhelming her. Of course, I agreed to resume our tutoring sessions in my free time. This was a new situation for everyone, and there wasn’t as many resources or accommodations for my niece as there were in her old classroom. So, we improvised. I taught her how to use the new technologies and adapt them to her needs. I helped her find and test out virtual scheduling apps and websites to suit her. We also put her in touch with a virtual counselor who could help her with her mental health. I encouraged her to take “screen breaks” and start new activities at home to help her when she started to lose focus. We began a game of virtual checkers and other mobile games to provide her a fun break when she needed it. The change in my niece was undeniable. Her mental health was better, her social skills improved, and she was adapting to her schoolwork and actually enjoying her virtual lessons. Despite missing her friends, she made her grade that year on the honor roll, and I couldn’t have been prouder.

The students weren’t the only ones who I worked with to improve mental health and morale. My fellow teachers and I kept in touch to coordinate our lessons, of course, but we also started to notice the dip in our mental health. I began a weekly “zoom coffee” chat for social time and a disconnect from work. I also joined online teachers’ groups where I could share my experiences and ask for advice. Having a community, even a virtual one, helped me immensely. It reminded me that although the way in which we were educating was very different, we could still recreate and adapt to our circumstances. Even if I spent my entire career as a teacher using e-learning and digital teaching tools, I knew I could thrive.

I want to pursue my Master’s Degree in Education and Digital Resources to further develop my professional skillset in e-learning knowledge and resources. With a master’s degree, I can adjust to the change in circumstances and better equip myself to be a teacher and educator post-pandemic. I will also have the tools to address the new challenges and realities of digital education. I’ll be able to continue my passion for teaching, despite any hardships encountered, and in fact help students flourish. By working utilizing the skills I’ll gain, I’ll be able to work better with students who are unfamiliar with e-learning technology, have learning disabilities or other struggles with digital education.

The pandemic complete changed the trajectory of my teaching career, but as the field has so dramatically altered in recent years, it made sense for me to go back to school and continue developing myself professionally. I know I will be able to contribute meaningfully, too, with my experiences earned during the pandemic. Moving forward, I know I will be able to be a better teacher than ever in a post-pandemic world.

Graduate School Statement of Purpose Example #13 (593 words)

That morning, a frail Mrs. Jones, surrounded by machines and a labyrinth of tubes, shared her wish: to end her life with dignity. That poignant moment during my early years as a medical intern brought the latent interest, which had been subtly brewing in the backdrop of my academic and professional pursuits, sharply into focus. It ignited an ardent quest to delve deeper into the moral and ethical dimensions of healthcare - the world of bioethics.

Reflecting back, even during my undergraduate years, the intersection of biology and morality seemed unavoidable. I pursued a dual major in Biology and Philosophy, a combination that perfectly mirrored my growing interest in the interplay between life sciences and ethical considerations. During a seminar, I led a spirited debate on the ethical nuances of genetic manipulation, emphasizing both its groundbreaking potential and moral pitfalls. This experience solidified my appreciation for informed discourse and strengthened my skills in analyzing multifaceted ethical dilemmas.

As I transitioned into the professional sphere, this inclination towards bioethics only intensified. At the hospital, beyond the typical responsibilities of an intern, I initiated the formation of a junior ethics committee, primarily comprising young healthcare professionals. Leading this committee, I oversaw discussions on a myriad of subjects, from the rights of the terminally ill to the implications of genetic testing. The committee was instrumental in crafting a set of guidelines for the ethical distribution of resources during health crises, with my detailed proposal on ventilator allocation during an influenza outbreak being unanimously adopted.

Yet, the world outside the hospital held more lessons. I championed health equality as a core member of a grassroots organization “BioEthicalGrounds”. In one notable project, I designed a community engagement campaign titled “Grassroots Perspectives on Life Sciences” targeting underserved populations, educating them on the bioethical implications of genomic data storage and its potential misuse. This endeavor further underscored the significance of comprehensive knowledge and sound judgment when confronting bioethical challenges head-on.

Understanding the need for a structured foundation, I sought formal education in bioethics. I enrolled in a year-long certification course where I delved into the theoretical underpinnings of bioethical dilemmas and contributed to a published paper on the "Ethical Dimensions of Genetic Privacy."

Now, standing at this crossroad, Columbia University's distinguished Bioethics program seems to be the right path for me. Its unique blend of rigorous academic training and real-world applications represents the ideal avenue for my aspirations. Situated in the heart of New York, a nexus of global health organizations, Columbia offers unparalleled opportunities. The program's interdisciplinary curriculum and emphasis on active engagement align seamlessly with my experiential background.

Moving ahead, my primary focus at Columbia University will be to research the ethical implications of advanced genomic techniques in prenatal testing. The rapid advancements in this area are pushing the boundaries of our ethical frameworks, especially when considering the potential for designer babies and socioeconomic implications of access to such technologies. I am particularly intrigued by how religious, cultural, and socio-economic contexts influence the moral decisions of families when confronted with the choices these technologies present.

My journey, starting from that dawn with Mrs. Jones, has been one of continuous exploration, leadership, and an unyielding drive to understand and act on bioethical concerns. I'm eager to embrace the challenges and opportunities Columbia's Bioethics program offers, hoping to bring my diverse experiences into the fold and drive forth the discourse on bioethics in innovative ways. With a comprehensive education, hands-on leadership roles, and an unwavering commitment to ethical considerations in healthcare, Columbia is the next logical step in my journey.

Graduate School Statement of Purpose Example #14 (809 words)

My earliest memory is punctuated by a cacophony of notes emanating from the family grand piano. That formative moment, watching my mother gracefully dance her fingers across the ivory keys, illuminating our modest living room with Chopin’s harmonies, sowed in me an unyielding passion for music. It was more than just auditory appreciation; it was the realization that music, in its purest form, was an encapsulation of history, culture, emotion, and the spiritual essence of humanity.

My musical odyssey took root with formal piano lessons at the age of six, forging a disciplined regime of mastering scales and refining finger techniques. This dedication soon bore fruit when, at twelve, I secured a place in the esteemed "Young Pianists' Showcase" competition. Preparing for this event, I meticulously studied Beethoven's "Moonlight Sonata," not only mastering its rhythm and melodies but also delving into its history and the maestro's inspirations. Competing against a myriad of talented peers and being adjudicated by accomplished musicians wasn't merely an avenue to demonstrate my skill. It was a profound immersion into classical music's vast universe, each composition narrating tales of bygone eras, legendary composers, and the societies they graced. While the accolades from such competitions were heartening, they also ignited an unwavering curiosity about the stories and cultural fabric behind every note and composition.

In high school, I was given the opportunity to lead our school orchestra, a position that added another layer to my musical foundation. Leading an ensemble of diverse instruments and temperaments required much more than a proficiency in music. It demanded leadership, an acute understanding of each instrument's intricacies, and the ability to weave a tapestry of sound that resonated with audiences. One of my most significant achievements was reconstructing a lesser-known Baroque-era composition and adapting it for our ensemble, a task that combined my skills in performance, leadership, and historical research.

Parallel to these engagements, my insatiable thirst for understanding music's evolution led me to self-study. I devoured books on classical music's progression, from its liturgical roots in the Middle Ages to its multifaceted manifestations in modern times. This autodidactic journey further convinced me of music's unparalleled role in mirroring and shaping societal changes.

My undergraduate years were spent at the Blair School of Music at Vanderbilt University, where I majored in Musicology. The formal academic setting introduced me to systematic research methodologies, interdisciplinary approaches to music studies, and access to vast archives of primary sources. I excelled in my coursework, especially enjoying collaborative projects that allowed me to work with peers from diverse musical backgrounds. One such venture was curating a series of performances that juxtaposed classical compositions with their modern reinterpretations, fostering dialogues about music's evolving role across centuries.

Additionally, I was fortunate to participate in a workshop where I collaborated with a team to draft an opera. This endeavor refined my skills in composition, understanding narrative structures, and delving deep into historical contexts to create resonant and relevant musical pieces. The opera, based on a 17th-century French fable, went on to be performed at a college gala, receiving commendations for its fidelity to historical contexts while innovating in presentation.

Catholic University's Musicology department stands out as my top choice, and I sincerely hope to be granted the privilege of studying here. The department’s commitment to a comprehensive study, blending practical musicianship with rigorous academic inquiry, aligns seamlessly with my aspirations. The esteemed faculty, known for their extensive research and contributions to the field, would provide the mentorship I seek to delve deeper into nuanced studies, particularly those at the intersection of music, culture, and theology.

Furthermore, the University's grounding in Catholic tradition resonates deeply with my belief in music as a spiritual endeavor. The rich tapestry of liturgical music, its evolution over centuries, and its interplay with secular compositions present vast arenas of exploration, ones I am eager to embark upon. In particular, I am drawn to research the transformation of Gregorian chants from the Medieval era to the Renaissance, focusing on their influence on the polyphonic styles of the latter period. Dr. Maria Jenkins, a renowned expert in medieval and renaissance music at the Catholic University's Musicology department, has extensively studied this transition. Collaborating with Dr. Jenkins, I aim to unearth deeper insights into how these chants were adapted, evolved, and influenced the larger musical landscape of Western Europe, potentially culminating in a comprehensive research project or publication.

The tapestries of history, culture, and spirituality are interwoven through the threads of music. Through systematic study, fervent practice, and deep introspection, I've honed skills and imbibed knowledge that make me a fitting candidate for the Musicology program at Catholic University. My quest is not just to study music but to understand its soul, its eternal resonance, and its ability to elevate humanity. At Catholic University, I see a haven where this quest would be nurtured, challenged, and fulfilled.

Graduate School Statement of Purpose Example #15 (677 words)

It's often said that the most powerful things come in small packages. In the world of nuclear engineering, a single uranium fuel pellet, roughly the size of a pencil eraser, holds the energy equivalent of 150 gallons of oil. As I sat in my high school physics class, I remember the awe I felt when our teacher revealed this fact. It wasn't just the sheer power of nuclear energy that captivated me, but the vast potential it held for sustainable energy. From that defining moment, my path was clear – I wanted to delve into the world of nuclear engineering, unlocking the mysteries and potentials that lay within the nucleus of an atom.

Upon entering the University of Florida for my undergraduate studies, I committed to a dual major in Nuclear Engineering and Physics. This was not merely to obtain a degree but to cultivate a comprehensive understanding of the core principles and real-world applications of nuclear energy. While my courses laid a robust theoretical foundation, I actively sought avenues for hands-on experiences to bring my learning to life.

One such opportunity arose during my junior year when I secured a coveted internship at the Turkey Point Nuclear Generating Station. This wasn't a typical observational internship. I was thrust into the heart of reactor operations, working side-by-side with seasoned nuclear engineers. From calibrating reactor control mechanisms to troubleshooting minor hiccups in the cooling systems, my responsibilities were vast. This experience drove home the paramount importance of safety and precision in nuclear operations. For instance, while assisting in a reactor shut-down procedure, I realized the intricate choreography required to ensure each step was flawlessly executed. Any oversight, however minor, could escalate into a significant issue.

Beyond the confines of the power plant, I recognized the value of sharing knowledge and engaging with the broader nuclear community. This realization prompted me to participate in the American Nuclear Society (ANS) Student Conference. Alongside a dedicated team from my university, we researched and presented a detailed paper on "Advanced Safety Mechanisms in Modern Reactors." The countless nights we spent analyzing reactor models, scrutinizing historical data, and simulating potential scenarios were arduous but profoundly enlightening. Our paper was not only well-received but sparked stimulating debates on the future of reactor safety. This experience underscored the significance of continual learning and innovation in our rapidly evolving field.

Eager to further contribute to the nuclear engineering community, I took the initiative to organize the Nuclear Engineering Students' Symposium at the University of Florida. Steering this event, I found myself in a whirlwind of activity – from curating a diverse lineup of guest lecturers, including industry stalwarts, to devising hands-on workshops that simulated real-world reactor challenges. The success of the symposium was a testament to my organizational prowess, but more importantly, it emphasized the importance of fostering a vibrant community where budding engineers could engage, learn, and innovate.

North Carolina State University stands as a beacon for nuclear research, especially in my area of interest: Advanced Passive Safety Systems in Nuclear Reactors. Passive safety systems, capitalizing on natural phenomena like gravity and convection, are the future of nuclear reactor safety. I'm eager to delve into this area, particularly focusing on enhancing the efficiency and reliability of such systems. Dr. Walt Williams, with his groundbreaking work on passive cooling mechanisms, is someone I've admired and followed throughout my academic journey. The opportunity to work under his guidance at NC State is an enticing prospect, one that promises profound growth and meaningful contributions to the field.

My journey from that enlightening high school physics class to the cusp of advanced nuclear research has been both demanding and deeply rewarding. I believe North Carolina State University, with its unparalleled legacy in nuclear engineering, is the perfect place to further this journey. My educational background, coupled with my hands-on experiences and unwavering dedication, positions me well to contribute to and benefit from the esteemed Nuclear Engineering Department at NC State. I am eager to embark on this next phase, driving innovations and pushing the boundaries of what's possible in nuclear engineering.

A graduate school statement of purpose tells the admissions committee more about you as an applicant. A strong statement of purpose offers a compelling narrative about your interests, abilities, and experiences, to show the committee that you are a strong applicant and the right fit for their institution and graduate program.

A graduate school statement of purpose usually ranges between 500 and 1,000 words in length. Be sure to check the specific requirements stated by the program as you prepare to apply.

Set aside plenty of time for preparation so that you are not doing anything at the last minute. Research your institution and program of choice carefully to get a better sense of its values and academic culture. Brainstorm how and why you would make a good fit for the school and program of your choice. Contact any potential mentors amongst the academic faculty to discuss your research interests with them. Make a list of any requirements your program specifies for your statement of purpose. If you have any questions, be sure to ask the appropriate authority at the school for clarification. Before you start writing, make sure you have all of the materials you may need for reference close at hand, such as your academic transcripts. Make some notes outlining what you would like to include in your statement to help guide you as you write.   

A graduate school statement of purpose should contain an introduction, a main body based on 2 or 3 experiences, and a conclusion. Your statement should be clearly written and well-organized to help the reader follow the flow of your narrative.

A statement of purpose should include four main elements: your research interests in your chosen field, your academic and professional preparation, your strengths and weaknesses, and your career plans. You need to give specific examples for each of these main elements, and to explain what you have learned from every experience you mention.

In writing your statement of purpose, you need to commit to writing several drafts to make sure your statement is as strong as it can be. You should ask for feedback from trusted academic mentors or professional consultants to ensure that your statement is effective and compelling. You also need to carefully proofread your work multiple times before submission.

You must never plagiarize your statement of purpose. Avoid using clichés and tired phrasing to keep your writing original and fresh. It is also important to favor clarity over artfulness, so be sure to avoid using overly-fancy language so that the focus is always on the substance of what you’re saying. Also avoid technical or overly specialized language unless absolutely necessary, and be sure to define any technical or specialized terms that you must use. 

Before you submit your statement of purpose, take some time to review your statement in its final form to make sure it is the best version it can possibly be. Make sure you have followed all of the requirements in terms of length and formatting as specified by the school. Ask yourself if you have rewritten the statement several times, and if you truly believe it does not require another draft.

Check to make sure you are providing compelling examples for every claim you make regarding your experiences or abilities. Read your statement over again and make sure it is a narrative that gives the reader interesting details and context, not just a list of your achievements to date. Finally, make sure you have proofread your statement and eliminated any typos or grammatical errors that would distract your reader.

Your own research and ability to write concisely and clearly will be important in making your statement strong. Firstly, give yourself enough time for multiple drafts. Trust us when we say that your statement will need to be written and rewritten multiple times - it's inevitable. Secondly, be selective with the experiences you choose to include in your statement. It is more important to show rather than tell how you would be a great addition to the program. Being selective about your experiences will allow you room to go into detail and demonstrate to the admissions committee how your experiences make you the perfect fit.

Remember, if you are feeling overwhelmed, you can always research legitimate companies or consultants that can help you polish your statement and avoid wasting another year on applications. If you are considering whether BeMo is worth your time and money , make sure to read up on the successful experiences of our past students.

A good statement of purpose for graduate school will include why you want to study at the graduate level, why you are interested in a particular field and what you have done to prepare yourself for graduate study and your future career. It may also share your future career goals and how a program will help you achieve those goals. An effective statement will be clear, well-written and have a narrative flow that captures the reader’s attention and leaves them wanting to learn more about you.

An effective graduate school statement of purpose needs to hook the reader in the first sentence. Try to think of a specific experience or anecdote you can introduce to the reader in a creative and compelling way to open your essay. Continue building your narrative based on 1-3 experiences which shaped your desire to go to grad school or enter a specific career field.

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Have a question ask our admissions experts below and we'll answer your questions, 19 comments.

BeMo Academic Consulting

Hi Ablie! Thank you for your comment! We are glad you found this helpful!

Ayman Alfadil

Thanks a lot for your information. If my intended field of Ph.D. research is quite different from my previous research experiences, what am I suppose to do to link my previous interest with the new one? and Is it possible to have feedback on my writing?

Hello Ayman! Thank you for this wonderful question! It is not a problem that your previous research experience is not related to your new PhD interest. Even if they are not related in theme, it is important to showcase how your previous research experience honed your skills as a researcher. Demonstrate that the expertise that you acquired throughout your research history can be easily translated into this new field. Do not forget to give the admissions committee some sense of how you got interested in this new field, but it is not a problem that you decided to switch disciplines/interests. And of course we can help you with feedback on your writing. Please contact us for a free initial consultation (https://bemoacademicconsulting.com/Contact-Us.php) and we can discuss how we can help you make your statement the best it can be.

Ayman Alfadil, you are the winner of our weekly draw. Please email us by the end of the day tomorrow (June 19) at content[at]bemoacademicconsulting.com from the same email address you used to leave your comment to claim your prize!

Joana Smith

This is indeed the best Statement of purpose ever ,I love everything written here! It has really help me thank you!!!

Hello Joana! Thanks for your comment! We are glad you enjoyed this article!

Asra Tabassum

Hi...I want the sample for statement of purpose (for masters) where the student changes his filed/background/majors from science to IT... Atleast one sample which helps me to write my own. Thank you.

Hi Asra! Thanks for your comment and suggestion! We will try adding this kind of example as soon as possible!

Segun Abiri

I am so much in love with the way you make a big and difficult task simple. As a practitioner in adult education in Nigeria with over 6 years of experience, I intend to further my experience by having a Masters program in Canada. Problem is, my first degree is not in education, but Arts - Philosophy. I hope to scale through. Thank you for this great write ups.

Hi Segun! Thanks so much for your comment! We are glad you enjoyed the article. When you apply to a Master's program in Education, you do not need to have an undergrad degree in education. Your first degree in liberal arts will be a perfect fit for an Education graduate degree. Good luck and let us know if we can help you any further!

Chika happiness nwachukwu

Hi,indeed is the best statement of purpose ever,please I want the sample for statement of intents for masters,where the student changes his field,background/ majors from accounting education to educational foundations that will help me write my own. Thank you.

Hello Chika! Thanks for your comment! We will keep your request in mind when we update this blog! Thanks!

Hi, I wonder if you can only help me with SOP edits? Thanks.

Hello Bob! We can absolutely help you! Please contact us here https://bemoacademicconsulting.com/Contact-Us.php to schedule your free initial consultation.

Nwabueze Kewulezi

Hi, this is the best article on SOP I have read. Please, I need your advice. I am very passionate about teaching. I studied English, but my M.A. thesis is related to pragmatic. How do I relate both to my deep flare for education?

Hello Nwabueze! Thanks for your comment. Try to reflect on what connects your educational and professional background to teaching? Just because your MA thesis is not related to education, it does not mean that it cannot inform your love for teaching. Try making connections between your experience in the MA and what you want to do next. Hope this helps!

Samuel Frimpong

Can i get samples of these write-ups in Music?

Hello Smuela! Thanks for your comment. When we update the blog, we will make sure to keep your request in mind.

Chisa Amadi

Good morning, please I want to start up personal statement but don't seem to know how to go about it am applying for Agricultural science soil and water option. Please I will need a guide. Thank you

Hi Chisa! Thanks for your comment. Please feel free to reach out to us to discuss how we can help you with your personal statement! Look forward to hearing from you!

hey, thanks for the clear explanation, can you please help me write purpose statement for a journalism degree course

Hello Lucy! Please feel free to reach out to us to discuss how we can help you with your statement of purpose. Hope to hear from you!

This piece is extremely helpful

Hi Frimpong! Thanks! Glad you found this helpful!

Thank you for sharing this useful tips on SOPs.

Hello Anne! Thank you so much for your comment. Glad you found this helpful!

Elif Ülkü Türkoğlu

Thank you so much, this will be super helpful for my MA applications.

Hi Elif! Thanks for your comment! We are glad this is helpful!

Raphael Barrack Wangusu

Currently struggling with SOP preparations..i pursued Law for my bachelor degree and i wish to apply for masters scholarships in CANADA, UK, SWEEDN and USA. Thank you.

Hello Raphael! Thank you for your question. Please reach out to us for a free strategy call to discuss how we can help. 

Amazing content! I've never seen it explained the way you guys did it here!! Thank you!!!

Hello Joy! We are very glad you found this helpful!

It made me understand clearly what i have to do. thank you

Thanks Tumie! Glad you found this helpful!

i cant find any sop become related to food science. I really need a sample to help me. Could you help me please

Hello Shabnam, thanks for your message. We will keep your request in mind for when we update this blog.

I have enjoyed reading every bit of this document. I am so enlightened by it. Thank you.

Hello Michael! Glad you found this helpful! Thanks for your comment. 

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How to Write a Statement of Purpose for Graduate School

Congrats! You’ve chosen a graduate program , read up on tips for applying to grad school , and even wrote a focused grad school resumé . But if you’re like many students, you’ve left the most daunting part of the application process for last—writing a statement of purpose. The good news is, the task doesn’t have to feel so overwhelming, as long as you break the process down into simple, actionable steps. Below, learn how to write a strong, unique statement of purpose that will impress admissions committees and increase your chances of getting into your dream school.

What is a statement of purpose?

A statement of purpose (SOP), sometimes referred to as a personal statement, is a critical piece of a graduate school application that tells admissions committees who you are, what your academic and professional interests are, and how you’ll add value to the graduate program you’re applying to.

Jared Pierce, associate director of enrollment services at Northeastern University, says a strong statement of purpose can be the deciding factor in a graduate student’s admission.  

“Your statement of purpose is where you tell your story about who you are and why you deserve to be a part of the [university’s] community. It gives the admissions committee the chance to get to know you and understand how you’ll add value to the classroom,” he says.

How long should a statement of purpose be?

“A statement of purpose should be between 500 and 1,000 words,” Pierce says, noting that it should typically not exceed a single page. He advises that students use a traditional font at a readable size (11- or 12-pt) and leave enough whitespace in the margins to make the statement easy-to-read. Make sure to double-space the statement if the university has requested it, he adds. 

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How to Write a Statement of Purpose: A Step-by-Step Guide

Now that you understand how to format a statement of purpose, you can begin drafting your own. Getting started can feel daunting, but Pierce suggests making the process more manageable by breaking down the writing process into four easy steps.

1. Brainstorm your ideas.

First, he says, try to reframe the task at hand and get excited for the opportunity to write your statement of purpose. He explains:

“Throughout the application process, you’re afforded few opportunities to address the committee directly. Here is your chance to truly speak directly to them. Each student arrives at this process with a unique story, including prior jobs, volunteer experience, or undergraduate studies. Think about what makes you you and start outlining.”

When writing your statement of purpose, he suggests asking yourself these key questions:

• Why do I want this degree?
• What are my expectations for this degree?
• What courses or program features excite me the most?
• Where do I want this degree to take me, professionally and personally?
• How will my unique professional and personal experiences add value to the program?

Jot these responses down to get your initial thoughts on paper. This will act as your starting point that you’ll use to create an outline and your first draft.

2. Develop an outline.

Next, you’ll want to take the ideas that you’ve identified during the brainstorming process and plug them into an outline that will guide your writing. 

An effective outline for your statement of purpose might look something like this:

• An attention-grabbing hook
• A brief introduction of yourself and your background as it relates to your motivation behind applying to graduate school 
• Your professional goals as they relate to the program you’re applying to
• Why you’re interested in the specific school and what you can bring to the table
• A brief summary of the information presented in the body that emphasizes your qualifications and compatibility with the school

An outline like the one above will give you a roadmap to follow so that your statement of purpose is well-organized and concise. 

3. Write the first draft.

Your statement of purpose should communicate who you are and why you are interested in a particular program, but it also needs to be positioned in a way that differentiates you from other applicants. 

Admissions professionals already have your transcripts, resumé, and test scores; the statement of purpose is your chance to tell your story in your own words.

When you begin drafting content, make sure to:

• Provide insight into what drives you , whether that’s professional advancement, personal growth, or both.
• Demonstrate your interest in the school by addressing the unique features of the program that interest you most. For Northeastern, he says, maybe it’s experiential learning; you’re excited to tackle real-world projects in your desired industry. Or perhaps it’s learning from faculty who are experts in your field of study.
• Be yourself. It helps to keep your audience in mind while writing, but don’t forget to let your personality shine through. It’s important to be authentic when writing your statement to show the admissions committee who you are and why your unique perspective will add value to the program.

4. Edit and refine your work.

Before you submit your statement of purpose:

• Make sure you’ve followed all directions thoroughly , including requirements about margins, spacing, and font size.
• Proofread carefully for grammar, spelling, and punctuation.
• Remember that a statement of purpose should be between 500 and 1,000 words. If you’ve written far more than this, read through your statement again and edit for clarity and conciseness. Less is often more; articulate your main points strongly and get rid of any “clutter.”
• Walk away and come back later with a fresh set of eyes. Sometimes your best ideas come when you’re not sitting and staring at your computer.
• Ask someone you trust to read your statement before you submit it.

Making a Lasting Impression

Your statement of purpose can leave a lasting impression if done well, Pierce says. It provides you with the opportunity to highlight your unique background and skills so that admissions professionals understand why you’re the ideal candidate for the program that you’re applying to. If nothing else, stay focused on what you uniquely bring to the classroom, the program, and the campus community. If you do that, you’ll excel.

To learn more tricks and tips for submitting an impressive graduate school application, explore our related Grad School Success articles .

Editor’s note: This article was originally published in March 2017. It has since been updated for thoroughness and accuracy.

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Writing the Statement of Purpose

The statement of purpose should convince the admissions committee that your achievements show promise for your success in graduate study. Think of the statement of purpose as a composition with four different parts.

Make sure to check on the appropriate departmental website to find out if your statement should include additional or specific information.

Part 1: Introduce yourself, your interests and motivations

Tell them what you’re interested in, and perhaps, what sparked your desire for graduate study. This should be short and to the point; don’t spend a great deal of time on autobiography.

Part 2: Summarize your undergraduate and previous graduate career

a) Research you conducted. Indicate with whom, the title of the project, what your responsibilities were, and the outcome. Write technically, or in the style of your discipline. Faculty are the people who read these statements.

b) Important paper or thesis project you completed, as well as anything scholarly beyond your curricular requirements.

c) Work experience, especially if you had any kind of responsibility for testing, designing, researching or interning in an area similar to what you wish to study in graduate school.

Part 3: Discuss the relevance of your recent and current activities

If you graduated and worked prior to returning to graduate school, indicate what you’ve been doing: company or non-profit, your work/design team, responsibilities, what you learned. You can also indicate here how this helped you focus your graduate studies.

Part 4: Elaborate on your academic interests

Here you indicate what you would like to study in graduate school in enough detail to convince the faculty that you understand the scope of research in their discipline, and are engaged with current research themes.

a) Indicate the area of your interests. Ideally, pose a question, define a problem, or indicate a theme that you would like to address, and questions that arise from contemporary research. This should be an ample paragraph!

b) Look on the web for information about departments you’re interested in, including professors and their research. Are there professors whose research interests parallel yours? If so, indicate this. Check the specific program; many may require you to name a professor or professors with whom you might work.

c) End your statement in a positive manner, indicating your excitement and readiness for the challenges ahead of you.

Essential Tips

1. What the admissions committee will read between the lines: self-motivation, competence, potential as a graduate student.

2. Emphasize everything from a positive perspective and write in an active, not a passive voice.

3. Demonstrate everything by example; don’t say directly that you’re a persistent person, show it.

4. If there is something important that happened to you that affected your grades, such as poverty, illness, or excessive work, state it. Write it affirmatively, showing your perseverance despite obstacles. You can elaborate more in your personal statement.

5. Make sure everything is linked with continuity and focus.

6. Unless the specific program says otherwise, be concise; an ideal essay should say everything it needs to with brevity. Approximately 500 to 1000 well-selected words (1-2 single space pages in 12 point font) is better than more words with less clarity and poor organization.

• Application guidance

Statement of purpose (SOP) for PhD: How to Write and Samples

Securing admission to PhD programs in the university of your dreams might seem difficult—however, it is not impossible. If you can convince the selection committee of your dedication and genuine interest in your research topic, you stand a fair chance of getting that seat. The key to your admission lies in a well-crafted and compelling statement of purpose that will sway the decision-makers in your favour. 

A statement of purpose is your chance to prove to the admissions committee that you have the potential and skills as a researcher. If you are hoping to pursue a PhD, you must put in the time and effort to craft an impressive SOP. This blog will help you understand how to write an interesting yet concise SOP with examples. 

Table of Contents

• How to Write a Statement of Purpose (SOP) for a PhD

General Examples of Statement of Purpose for PhD

• 10 Steps to writing an SOP for a PhD course

How to Write a Statement of Purpose (SOP) for a PhD Course?

Your statement of purpose for PhD must express your sincere interest in the subject matter. The following 10 tips will help you to draft an impactful SOP:

10 Steps to writing an SOP for a PhD course 

• Introduce yourself:

The whole purpose of the essay is to show the university who you are and your goals. It is better to get straight to the point and explain what inspired you to take up research in your particular field of study. Even if you do not have full clarity on your research topic, you can talk about what you are interested in exploring. Make sure you explain your field learning and what made you take up the specific topic. 

• Answer the question, "Why":

Next, it's time to answer some questions. Why do you want to obtain this degree? Why did you choose this particular field of study? Why have you chosen this university to pursue your higher education? 

• Explain how you will be a good fit: 

It would help if you answered why you think you will be a good fit for the program and why they should consider you a potential candidate. For this, you should have a relatively strong knowledge of the program to express how your interests align with it. 

• Express your intellectual curiosity:

You can discuss what excites you about the program and your chosen field of study. Explain why you enjoy doing research and ensure to substantiate your claims with relevant examples.

• Demonstrate your skillset and experience 

In this section, you can highlight any previous experience you have in doing research and explain briefly about it. You can also describe the skills that you think might be relevant. For instance, you can mention your skills in programming languages like C++ and Python if you are doing research in the field of Computer Science. Make sure to mention the recognitions you have received for the skills. 

• Mention work experience, if any 

If you have any relevant work experience, be sure to mention it in your Statement of Purpose for PhD. However, only emphasise this experience if it is directly related to your proposed research.

• Be open about any past setbacks: 

If you have any "black marks" on your record, such as poor grades, leaving a college program or any other issues, it is strongly advised that you do not try to hide these from the admissions committee. Instead, address them head-on in your letter. Showing how you successfully rebounded from setbacks will bode well for you.

• Short and long-term goals:

It's always good to give a brief of your short-term and long-term goals and how this degree will assist you in achieving them. It is also essential to consider any future research areas you may want to explore and how they could potentially impact the community. Your vision for your career 10-15 years from now is a crucial indicator of your thought process and how you plan to integrate your degree into your life.

• Edit and proofread several times: 

To avoid your essays having any typos, poor grammar or other mistakes that could have easily been fixed, ensure that you always edit and proofread your work. A well-written essay is a sign of a competent researcher.

• Circulate your statement:

Asking your recommendation writers to review your college application essays is a great way to get feedback. It will also help ensure that what they write is consistent with your thoughts and experiences. If you have drafts of your essay completed early enough, don't hesitate to ask for their input. Most faculty members are more than willing to help their former students, given adequate notice.

Read more:  How to write an effective statement of purpose?

If you are looking for PhD SOP samples, it is essential to remember that there is a specific way to provide all of your relevant information to the institutions. It is crucial to keep your statement concise but informative. Here are two samples to help you give an idea.

PhD SOP Sample 1

I've always been interested in how physics can explain the things we see and experience in our everyday lives and phenomena beyond our usual perception. My childhood fascination with Physics led me to choose my college major and, ultimately, my career path. 

My interest in complex phenomena only grew during my studies. I am passionate about understanding the impacts of radioactive waste on our world. I pursued an interdisciplinary degree in Physics and Environmental Science to develop the skills needed to become a researcher in this field. My goal is to find effective methods for reducing the harmful effects of radioactive waste on our environment.

After completing my degree, I gained valuable work experience at an Environmental Protection Agency, where my responsibilities included examining sites for radioactive leakage and measuring the damage. This experience motivated me to pursue a PhD in Physics so I could find ways to control such situations. I want to be equipped with the necessary knowledge that will allow me to conduct meaningful research and find effective ways of managing radioactive waste.

The University of Essex is my top choice for several reasons. First and foremost, it has an excellent reputation. Secondly, the opportunities and mentorship available for the particular subject are incomparable. And finally, I know that I would be able to make a meaningful contribution to the community here. I am confident that my practical experience and strong motivation will be significant assets as I pursue my studies and career.

PhD SOP Sample 2

My parents are farmers, and I grew up helping them with crop production and food preparation. I was always curious about the scientific basis for farming, canning, and cooking methods, which led me to major in nutrition and food science. I want to understand the science behind what my family has been doing for generations and use that knowledge to improve our food habits. 

I completed my undergraduate studies in biotechnology and then went on to do a master's in food technology. For my dissertation, I chose the topic of "XXX", which was of great interest to me. My training at XYZ gave me insight into industrial-level operations concerning nutrition, microbiology and contaminants in the food industry.

Whilst doing my master's, I became particularly interested in food safety and quality assurance, as well as post-harvest technology of fruits and vegetables, food processing and bioprocess engineering. I did a little project on "ABC" and wrote my dissertation on "XYZ". Through working in various laboratories across the country during my studies, I gained experience with multiple techniques used in food preservation.

I am passionate about researching food commodities, fruits and vegetables, and their wastage to synthesise nutritional and bioactive components and convert them into functional foods. I believe that food safety is of the utmost importance, and I hope to learn more about this topic through this doctoral program.

There are numerous reasons for choosing Southern Cross University, and one of the main reasons is your highly competent faculty. The research work done by Prof. ABC on Fruits and Vegetables sparked my interest. I am interested in researching independently and working collaboratively with a team on projects that directly impact smaller communities and society as a whole. I am sure that Southern Cross University will help me achieve my goals and better serve society. I promise you won't find me lagging in my quest or effort, and I pledge to do my best in all the assigned tasks.

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Statements of Purpose: Drafting Your Statement

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The statement of purpose is perhaps the most important, and most challenging, element of your application packet. This letter needs to reflect who you are and why you would be an asset to the program you are applying to. It needs to make you stand out from the hundreds of other applicants and yet stay within the genre-based expectations for a statement of purpose. This resource provides information on writing statements of purpose specifically for graduate school applications.

Write one essay for each program. Although they may sound similar, each program’s statement prompts asks for slightly different pieces of information about who you are. You may be fortunate to have two or three similar prompts for a few programs, but even then, remember that you must meld your own interests with the opportunities available at each particular program--so, no two statements should read exactly alike. In essence, be prepared to draft (and continuously revise) dedicated statements for each program application. Don’t send out a boilerplate essay.

Attempt to create one unifying theme in your narrative. Some applications ask you to include the answers to broad prompts in your statement. For instance, the only instructions you get may be: describe your goals and preparation to pursue graduate study in no more than 1500 words. Conversely, others may ask you to answer a series of very specific questions such as your reasons for applying to their program in particular, how your background fits into your professional goals, how your past achievements would aid you during your time in graduate school, and what you have learned from your prior professional experience. Regardless of the particular kind of writing situation, attempt to fit your narrative into one unifying theme. For example, if your essay focuses on how family has played an important role in your decision to go to graduate school, do not throw in an experience from your trip to a foreign country as another factor in your decision making process unless it is strongly tied with the overall theme of family. Also, be sure to stick to the word limits.

Strong statements of purpose answer four important questions that inform admissions committees of who you are professionally and personally.

Professionally, statements of purpose answer two questions for the committee.

First: what kind of work are you interested in doing in graduate school?

Be specific, don’t make the mistake of thinking that being vague in your focus will reach a wider audience. For instance, if you mainly want to study business ethics with two prominent faculty members who focus on that topic, write that in your statement. Do not worry that you are pigeonholing yourself by being specific and instead list several other areas that you could be interested in. There will not be enough time to go into all of these areas and it will make your statement sound aimless and disconnected.

Second: why is the program you are applying to a good fit for you?

This is where your online research on each program comes into play. Be specific about what makes the program that you are applying to your ideal choice. Avoid general statements such as “your program is one of the best in the country.” Focus more on the specific things that you think make it great—for you and your research in particular. If it has a good instructor to student ratio, how will that benefit you? If what separates the program from the rest is that it provides excellent field training before you graduate, how will you take advantage of this? Be specific. You may also talk about your goals after grad school. Where do you see yourself? Does the program have a good history in helping other students get there? You don’t have to be one hundred percent certain about your future plans; no one will pull your application essay before you graduate and express shock and disappointment if your interests happen to change. But generally, going to graduate school is a huge commitment. Admission committees want to know that you understand this and that you envision some type of gain for your dedication.

A word of caution: Avoid changing your statement just to get into a program if it is a bad fit for you. You’ll save yourself time and money down the line.

Be aware that while it is generally a good idea to be as honest about your intentions as possible, avoid being too candid about your reasons for applying to a certain school if they are less than scholarly. For instance, admission committees do not want to hear that you are applying to their program primarily because of the school’s proximity to significant others, family, friends; because it is located in a place with a great college town feeling; or, because it offers a variety of funding opportunities (however, you could probably mention this last one in passing if their funding is outstanding among other programs, signaling a dedication to its students’ goals).

Personally, statements of purpose also answer two questions for the committee.

First: What matters to you—and why?

The committee will receive a lot of data about you. The statement of purpose allows you to give that data meaning. It is important that you not just rephrase whatever is on your CV or resume because this won’t get at the meaning behind your experiences. A job or a class may have lasted only a few months, but it may have been the impetus for you to go to graduate school because of a unique experience that occurred there. The statement of purpose should give the committee a sense of who you are and how you have personally interpreted events in your life.

Second: How are you unique from the other candidates?

Above all, avoid playing it safe with bland language. It can be tempting to resist making yourself stand out in your statement because you don’t want to ruin your chances by “sounding weird.” Ironically, this type of information may be what makes you the most compelling candidate. Graduate program committees receive dozens—sometimes hundreds—of applications each year. Make your voice stand out among the rest by showing that you are not only professional but that there’s a person behind the important decisions you have made. What was the human element that motivated you to get you to where you are?

Many people wonder whether they should mention their minority status. Generally, you should mention your minority status only if it pertains to your studies. For instance, did working with a minority group (that you belong to) motivate you to go to graduate school? How so? Are you interested in undertaking minority issues once you have earned your degree—and, if so, in what capacity? For example, once you earn your Masters in Social Work, are you hoping to help Hispanic individuals who suffer from serious and persistent mental illness? Tie this with your background to give this goal some context.

Remember to switch over between other graduate application tasks such as asking for letters of recommendation, ordering your transcripts, filling out the questionnaire for each school, and so forth. This will break up the writing task and help to re-energize you.

Works Consulted

Getting In: A Step-By-Step Plan for Gaining Admission to Graduate School in Psychology . Washington, DC: American Psychological Association. 1997. Print.

Kaplan, Inc. Get into Graduate School: A Strategic Approach . New York: Simon & Schuster. 2003. Print.

Stelzer, Richard J. How to Write a Winning Personal Statement for Graduate and Professional School . 3rd. ed. Lawrenceville, NJ: Peterson’s Publishing, 2002. Print.

Stewart, Mark Allen. Peterson's How to Write the Perfect Personal Statement . Lawrenceville, NJ: Peterson’s Publishing, 2009. Print.

Statement of Purpose for Graduate School

Criteria for success.

•   qualified for their program, and
• a good fit for their program’s focus and goals.
• You show a select group of skills and experiences that concisely convey your scientific accomplishments and interests.
• Your experiences are concrete and quantitative .
• Your personal statement is no more than 2 pages (less if you can, or if it is required by the school).

Structure Diagram

The graduate school Personal Statement (≈ Statement of Purpose ≈ Statement of Intent) is a document that complements your resume and application form, describing your profile in a narrative way and convincing the admission committee that you would be a good match for a particular department or program. Take into account that matching goes both ways: they should be interested in you, and you should be interested in them. Your personal statement should make this match clear.

Analyze Your Audience

Your personal statement will be read by a graduate committee – a handful of faculty from the program. They’re trying to determine if you will be a successful graduate student in their department and a successful scientist after you graduate. They are interested in your qualifications as a researcher, your career goals, and how your personality matches their labs and department.

The graduate committee probably reads hundreds of applications every year. To make it easy for them to figure out that you are a good fit, keep in mind the following suggestions:

• Make direct, concrete statements about your accomplishments and qualifications.
• Create a narrative that serves as a personal brand and helps them remember you.
• Give them some unique examples that describe you and make you stand out, and which will make them remember you as “that candidate that was so passionate about…” or “who has a lot of experience in…”, although they might not remember your name.
• Align your academic goals and motivations with specific research projects or research directions of the target department. 

Assessing your match to the target program

A key point on writing your Personal Statement is to demonstrate that you have done previous research about the program to which you’re applying, that you understand its characteristics and objectives, and that you are really interested in joining it and willing to do your best to be successful in it. To do this:

• Read the program’s website. Learn about its faculty members and the projects they are working on. Check what topics and high level goals the department is committed to. Identify the main research areas. 
• Get in contact with faculty and students in your target program. Browse recent publications and presentations but remember lab websites can be outdated and a publication may lag a few years behind the active research in a lab so pay attention to the motivation, direction, and methods of the faculty member over specific results. If you have had a positive discussion with someone at the department, you can include in your essay how those interactions confirmed that you would be a good match for the program.

Reflect before you start

To convince a graduate committee that you are ready for and excited about graduate school, first you need to be able to articulate this to yourself. Earnestly reflect on the following types of questions. A lack of authenticity is easy to detect. 

• Why do I want to go to graduate school? 
• How am I sure?
• Why will I be successful in graduate school?
• What can I do with the help of this degree that I couldn’t do before?
• Where do I want to be in a few years?
• How am I going to get there?

Create a personal narrative

Graduate programs invest in the professional and scientific growth of their students. Get the committee excited about investing in you by opening your essay with a brief portrait of what drives you as a scientist. What research directions are you passionate about, and why? What do you picture yourself doing in 10 years?

• E.g. “Graduate study is the first step towards my goal: I want to improve my ability as a researcher and gain more technical depth and breadth to maximize my impact. In the long term, I hope graduate school will better position me to be a leader in shaping the conversation about what problems can be addressed by mechanical engineers.”

Close your essay with a 2-3 sentence discussion of your long-term career interests. No one will hold you to this; this just helps your committee visualize your potential trajectory.

• E.g. “Above all else, a MIT PhD would help me achieve my long term career goal of becoming a professor, the position in which I can best see myself accomplishing my mission to show others the hidden beauty in everyday life through science.”

Connect your personal narrative to whichever degree you are applying to (be it research-based or course-work-based, or a Master of Science, Master of Engineering, or PhD). Especially in mechanical engineering, each of these degrees will enable different career trajectories and provide different educational opportunities. Articulate clearly why the degree you are applying for helps you achieve your goals. In the same vein, consider mutual benefit: what will you contribute to the academic community over your time at your target school? Remember, it all comes back to “qualified match” , no matter what level of degree you are applying for. 

Describe your experiences

Experiences are the “what” of your essay. They are the most efficient and easiest way to prove your capabilities to the admissions committee.

• What experiences led you to develop your skill set and passions ?
• Where have you demonstrated accomplishment, leadership, and collaboration?
• Show your depth with a range of experiences: research, teaching, relevant extracurriculars and leadership positions.
• State concrete achievements and outcomes like awards, discoveries, or publications, or projects completed.

Achievements need not be limited to research projects or publications. Think about all the experiences that demonstrate your ability to conduct research and succeed within the structure of your target program. (Where have you demonstrated creativity? Self sufficiency? Perseverance? What open ended problems have you tackled? What enabled you to succeed at them?)

Quantify your experiences to show concrete impact. How many people were on your team? How many protocols did you develop? How many people were in competition for an award? As a TA, how often did you meet with your students?

For each experience you include, focus on how the experience affected you. Describe your actions, and always direct the message to highlighting your performance and growth (not how important the company was or how well-known the professor you TAed for is). Remember, it is not an essay about science, it is a personal essay—about you and how you have positioned yourself to succeed in graduate school.

Explain the meaning of your experiences

Your goal in sharing your experiences is to demonstrate that you have the qualifications, qualities, and drive needed to succeed in graduate school. Therefore, you will need to not only choose experiences wisely but also state specifically what they mean within the context of your application.

• Why was this experience important to your growth as a scientist?
• What did you gain from or demonstrate during that experience?
• How will this make you a better grad student?

Even if it feels obvious to you, you need to explicitly answer these questions to your audience. Here are some examples experiences that have been expanded to contain meaning:

Contemplate how disparate activities can be unified into a common narrative about your motivations and achievements. Articulate this clearly to make your statement cohesive.

Demonstrate your match to the target program

Using the research you did to assess your chosen programs, clearly articulate why you are a match . Consider both directions of the match: not only why you want to go to the school, but also why you would fit in well and contribute to the program.

State which professors in the program you would be interested in working with. Demonstrate that you have done your homework regarding the program. Show how their research areas align with your background and your goals. If you have had conversations with students or professors in the program, be sure to include that as well. 

Common Pitfalls

Write about you , not your role models. One of the most common pitfalls we see in the Comm Lab is students writing touching Personal Statements about family members or role models who have inspired them. There is nothing wrong with including personal stories about people who have helped you understand yourself better, or positioned you to succeed in graduate school, but it is important to tread very carefully. Don’t leave the reader wondering why they are reading about someone else in a document that is meant to be about you. If you take time to talk about someone who positively affected you, make sure to be very clear about how that experience with that person molded you into a strong graduate school candidate.

Be judicious with childhood stories. A brief mention of some childhood experience that shaped your interests in STEM is probably okay, but if you talk about it at length (more than ~2 sentences), you are taking up space that should probably be used to talk about who you are today, not who you were over a decade ago.

Don’t simply restate your resume. Your Personal Statement should be a technical document (having evidence, numbers, and supporting facts) with personal outcomes (talking about your motivations, ambitions, and ability to succeed as a graduate student). Of course, you will reiterate parts of your resume in your Personal Statement , but what uniquely makes it a “Personal Statement” is the discussion of how those professional experiences affected you , as a researcher and person well-suited to the graduate program at X University.  

Insufficient quantification of your experiences. We are all scientists and engineers; our line of work is inherently quantitative. Quantification is a quick and easy way to add context, lend credence to your experiences, and impress the reader. Even little quantifications can help: “I spent two semesters working on a project about…” is much better than “I spent some time working on a project about…”. See more examples in the section on Experiences, above.

Being a great student and having an impressive resume is only half the battle when it comes to graduate school applications. You need to be able to communicate and convince the committee that your personality and particular set of skills and experiences are well-suited to the graduate program you are applying for. This extends beyond graduate school applications: as scientists and engineers, we write papers and technical reports to communicate with our peers and convince them that our work is meaningful.

By reading this article, you have recognized the value of communication and are well on your way to crafting an effective and powerful Personal Statement. This is your opportunity to make yourself shine among all the other candidates, so make it count! You can do it!

Acknowledgements : This content was adapted from the NSE and CEE Communication Labs’ CommKits for graduate applications.

Resources and Annotated Examples

Annotated example 1, annotated example 2.

Chris Blattman

Phd applicants: writing your statement of purpose.

• January 11, 2022

I’ve read a lot of personal statements for PhD applications. I sat on admissions at UChicago, Columbia, and Yale, mostly in economics, political science, and public policy. Here’s the advice I’ve given my own students and research assistants to craft their statements. I give it because, sadly, I don’t find most statements helpful. This means they are not helping you, the applicant.

As with all my advice posts, it’s important that students outside elite colleges get this information, so here are some personal thoughts.

[Note: You can now subscribe by email to receive posts to your inbox.]

First, let’s clarify your number one job as an applicant: Send the best, clearest signal of your abilities as a future researcher, and minimize the noise around that signal. I explain why in a longer post on whether and how you should apply to PhD programs (including the other elements of an application packet):

the fundamental problems in graduate admissions are “information overload” and “noise”. For every slot in a PhD program, there are probably 30 to 50 applicants. A department that plans to have a class of 20 students may receive 1000 applications. Meanwhile, most departments delegate admissions to a small committee of two to six faculty. They don’t have time to read 1000 applications in detail. And the committee may change every year. Thus, their experience may be limited. And you never know who will be on the committee or what they care about. This adds further randomness. These faculty want to admit the most talented and creative young researchers who will push the field ahead. And they also want you to pass all the most technical classes, because they hate kicking students out. So the admissions committee are looking for strong signals of intelligence, creativity, determination, and other proclivities for research. But this is hard . There are too many applications. Applicants don’t have many good ways to signal quality. All applicants are trying to send the same signals. And there is a ton of uncertainty around each signal. Hence: Information overload and noise.

Yet most schools as for a written statement of some kind. Sometimes they ask for both a biographical statement and a research statement. What do they want and what should you write?

• Don’t tell your life story. This statement is not an undergrad entry essay where you describe your life’s trials and tribulations, or your journey to wanting to do a PhD. It’s not that we don’t care. It’s just that it’s probably not relevant to judging your ability as a researcher. If it is, then weave that into the narrative around your research interests and plans. We have hundreds of these things to read and so you only want to focus on the most important information.
• Don’t be cliché. Do not start your with your epiphany—the day the scales fell from your eyes and you realized you wanted to be a professor, or were inspired tackle big questions and social issues. Especially if it involves a child in a poor country. This approach is overused and unoriginal, and the information does not help us judge whether you will be a great researcher (see point 1).
• Platitudes about wanting to be a professor or researcher
• Generic or flattering statements about being excited to join a program, your admiration for the faculty, etc.
• Unspecific interests in a research subject or field
• Routine information such as “I am graduating in May…”
• Filler sentences like “Please find enclosed…”
• Start with your broad fields of interest (e.g. “I am principally interested in labor and development economics” or “I want to work at the intersection of comparative politics and international relations”)
• Then give 2-3 examples of broad topics and questions that interest you. (“I’m interested in studying inefficiencies in labor markets, especially market power and monopsony. I’m also interested in…”)
• Are tenure or tenure-track faculty
• Have their primary appointment in the department you are applying to
• Are actually there and take students (i.e. they didn’t retire last year, etc.)
• You could discuss two ideas in moderate depth, or one idea in greater depth. Either way, I recommend this research discussion be 40-60% of your entire statement.
• Ideally this is a question or topic of current interest in the field. One thing I often see is that students are focussed on the research frontier 10 years ago (because those are the papers they read in their classes) and are not clued in to some of the current puzzled and priorities. This is hard to avoid, but some reading and your advisors should be able to help you avoid this.
• The best discussions will (if empirical) identify interesting data and discuss plausible empirical strategies. This is difficult, which is why it is a good signal if you do it well.
• It’s important to locate your question in the literature without overdoing that discussion. Try to motivate the question with reference to recent and recognizable research papers and agendas. If you are mainly citing articles with few citations, in lower-ranked journals, this is a sign that you need to link your idea to bigger debates in the field, or perhaps rethink the question you are proposing.
• This is (in my experience) the most crucial section for most social science departments. Except possibly economics. It’s not clear how seriously many departments take your statement in economics, and some of my colleagues profess to never look at the statement. That may be true, but some will look, and you have to have a statement, so I suggest following this advice to make it a research proposal.
• Why you studied physics but now are doing political science
• What happened in that single bad semester on your transcript
• How to interpret your foreign GPA, and where you ranked in your class
• Clarify your classes if they have off names (e.g. “My class called XX was a Real Analysis class using textbook X, and so I have all the mathematical requirements for entry.”
• Get help. Your letter writers, professors you work for, or PhD student you know can read and give feedback on your statements. Ask them for their advice. Do this early–a couple months before the application, ideally. they can help you frame your question in a more interesting way, decide what papers to mention, or what is or is not frontier.
• Don’t be repetitive. This is not the place to restate your CV (“First I worked for Professor… and then I worked for…”). They have your CV. Use this document to do something no other in your application can do. Only mention work or other experience if you can add essential, high-density information the reader cannot get elsewhere in the application packet. Maybe you picked up specific technical skills working on a project that relate to the research proposal you just described? If not, you don’t have to say anything at all about your past. Just let the research proposal speak for itself.
• I recommend using the Hemingway Editor as a tool to write more clearly. Some long and complex sentences are ok, but sparingly. And they can often be improved. Aim for a grade 10 reading level.
• Use active voice
• Omit needless material and words (see points 3 and 9)
• Limit jargon
• Each paragraph should be a distinct idea
• Paragraphs should have a hierarchical structure, with the big idea or general point as the first topic sentence, and the rest of the paragraph elaborates. Someone should be able to get an “executive summary” but simply reading the first line in every paragraph. they should make sense as a story/summary.
• Use subheadings if possible, to delineate sections such as your broad fields of interest (point 4), your research proposal (point 5), and other key information (point 6)

This is just my view. Other professors will have different preferences and advice here. So ask them. Get more opinions. Or put your advice in the comments below.

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Statement of Purpose Examples: Two Graduate Applications

Applying to graduate school excites and challenges applicants. It demands a Statement of Purpose (SOP) that weaves your academic journey, professional goals, and unique contributions into a compelling narrative. Far from a mere formality, the SOP serves as your distinct voice among countless applicants, telling your unique story. This article presents expert feedback on two real student statement of purpose examples, guiding you to craft your standout document.

Successful Statement of Purpose Examples

We’ve curated a special feature to guide you through crafting a statement of purpose that stands out. We present two SOPs from graduate students each embarking on distinct academic adventures. Their stories are annotated with expert feedback from our seasoned admissions consultants.

Statement of Purpose #1: First, this SOP for SUNY Buffalo explores finance, showcasing a passion for financial markets and their global impact. It recounts overcoming challenges and making innovative contributions to financial econometrics, highlighting resilience and curiosity. Our experts spotlight its strengths, including a strong narrative and detailed examples, and suggest areas for refinement to enhance clarity and impact.

Statement of Purpose #2: Secondly, this statement of purpose for Tufts explores international affairs, showing a dedication to ethical global development and security. It traces the applicant’s journey from a pivotal experience in Nicaragua to a dedicated career in development and security. Our experts emphasize the engaging storytelling and focused narrative, recommending adjustments for consistency and depth to boost its persuasive impact.

Elevating Your SOP: Expertise and Support at Your Fingertips

At Magoosh, we understand the critical role a statement of purpose plays in your graduate school application. As such, we have personal experience writing successful SOPs for our own graduate applications. Whether you’re navigating the complexities of financial markets or aspiring to make a global impact in international affairs, our guidance is designed to highlight your unique story and academic ambitions.

We invite you to dive into the detailed annotations and feedback provided for each statement of purpose example. These insights are a window into the meticulous crafting of an SOP that not only meets but exceeds expectations. Our blog is a treasure trove of resources , tips, and strategies for prospective graduate students, embodying our commitment to supporting your academic and professional journey.

In conclusion, writing a statement of purpose can be overwhelming. However, with the right guidance and resources, your SOP can make your potential and aspirations shine. Explore our blog, engage with our experts, and let us help you articulate your purpose with conviction and clarity. Your dream graduate program is within reach, and your story deserves to be heard.

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Sample Harvard Ph.D. Statement of Purpose

by Talha Omer, MBA, M.Eng., Harvard & Cornell Grad

In statement of purpose.

A graduate school usually requires a statement of purpose (SOP).

In an SOP, you should cover the following: 

• Your academic and professional history: This should include any relevant courses, research work, publications, or other job experiences that have prepared you for your program of choice.
• Your research initiatives: You should explain what specifically pique your interests and why you are interested in pursuing a particular line of research.
• Your career aspirations: Explain what you hope to achieve after completing your graduate program and how this program will help you achieve those dreams.
• Your fit with the program: You should explain why you are interested in this particular program and how it aligns with your academic and professional goals.

In addition to these crucial points, you must include the following:

• Any awards or honors you have received.
• Any publications you have written.
• Any other star-studded accomplishments.

Your statement of purpose aims to market yourself to the admissions committee and leave an impression that portrays you as the right fit for the program.

The follwing statement of purpose was written by an applicant who was accepted into several top Ph.D. programs in Organizational Behavior. It effectively covers all of the important points that are typically included in a strong SOP. In fact, variations of this statement of purpose were accepted at Harvard and Cornell. Use this example as a guide to understand the key elements of a successful Ph.D. statement of purpose.

Example Statement of Purpose for Ph.D.

Doctoral education is vital in developing thinkers who develop and propagate knowledge that transforms societies. Harvard’s doctoral program is known for educating doctoral students to grapple with grand intellectual challenges. Admission to this program brings the challenge of becoming part of a small but vibrant intellectual community. In this SOP, I shall try to advocate my potential for success in Harvard’s doctoral program by showcasing my research achievements, interests, and motivation for applying.

Publishing empirical studies, supervising undergraduate research projects, and reviewing papers for peer-reviewed journals even before receiving a doctorate indicate my potential for a successful research career in micro-OB. I began publishing research when my first paper appeared in the Journal of Career Development. This work investigated multiple additive moderations of two cultural values in protégé’s personality-mentoring relationships. I published a second manuscript in Personnel Review that explored organizational cynicism’s indirect and conditional effects on counterproductive work behaviors. My third study was published in the European Journal of Training and Development. It examined why variation exists in trainees’ reports of satisfaction with the trainer’s communication. Interesting results emerged when the study found positive and negative indirect pathways from task communication to communication satisfaction contradicting predictions of uncertainty reduction theory. A fourth study was published in Applied Psychology: An International Review. This work examined how five personality traits influence employee work outcomes in COVID-19.

My experience in publishing research has given me the skills and knowledge to effectively assist my advisors in their research work. I have been able to assist with tasks such as analyzing data sets, reviewing literature, and writing different sections of manuscripts. In addition to my publication experience, I have also supervised the final-year research projects of six business undergraduates on topics such as corporate cronyism, presenteeism, and cynicism. This experience has allowed me to view old problems from fresh and unusual perspectives. For example, during one discussion, I learned that intense passion for work, a functional emotion, can have unintended consequences such as work-to-family conflict.

In addition to my experience in publishing research and supervising undergraduate students, I have also had the opportunity to review manuscripts for various journals, including the Journal of Occupational and Organizational Psychology, the European Journal of Training and Development, and the Canadian Journal of Administrative Sciences. This experience has allowed me to become familiar with the unique problems pursued by other researchers, the formal process of scholarly debate in the double-blind peer review process, and both functional and dysfunctional communication patterns. I believe that my background in publication, supervision, and reviewing can be seen as indicators of my potential success in Harvard’s doctoral program. I can use my experience in supervision to help reduce the burden on my professors when they need to oversee the research work of other students. For example, I can review drafts submitted by students for corrections, provide hands-on training on analytical software, or answer research-related questions. With my experience in the peer-review process, I can also confidently assist my advisors and faculty members in their roles as editors and reviewers.

I am actively working to expand my scholarly competencies through various initiatives that complement my research initiatives. Specifically, I have developed advanced expertise in developing and testing multilevel structural equation models (MSEM) and multilevel path models using MPlus software. I also have experience testing cross-level moderation, mediation, and moderating mediation models. In addition, I have delivered a two-day workshop on testing multilevel models. My ability to analyze multilevel data could be valuable to Harvard’s faculty members and doctoral students as they work on their publications and dissertations.

Moreover, I score high on instruments of epistemic curiosity, conscientiousness, learning efficacy, and psychological resilience. At the same time, I score low on instruments of knowledge hiding, knowledge hoarding, and uncertainty avoidance. These traits show that I can easily adjust to the vibrant intellectual community at Harvard. I also tend to delve into details of theories frequently used in OB research. Some of these theories are conservation of resources, affective events, trait activation, and uncertainty reduction theory. While reading these theories, I think critically about their assumptions, propositions, and applications and seek opportunities to challenge them.

My inclination to challenge an established proposition of a theory met success when I successfully theorized and published a conceptual model that suggested revisions in uncertainty reduction theory. Moreover, my ability to find inadequacies in theories can complement the efforts of my advisors to address grand theoretical challenges in micro-OB. For instance, we can work on expanding the boundaries of one theory by connecting with another theory and then dropping some constructs of either theory to develop a more economic theory.

Combining quantitative and qualitative research provides a complete picture of any phenomenon under study. Therefore, I want to learn and carry out mixed methods research. For example, I can conduct a survey instrument development study as this study involves a qualitative study followed by a quantitative one. Carrying out qualitative research necessitates learning qualitative data analysis tools such as Nvivo. I believe I can develop this capability at Harvard as many professors are conducting qualitative studies.

Lastly, my research has been predominantly survey-based, cross-sectional, time-lagged, and longitudinal. However, there are research questions in which the directionality of relationships has to be determined. Experimental research is ideal for answering such questions, but I have not done this research. Harvard has many professors who routinely carry out empirical research, and I could benefit from their experience besides learning this research method. My ability to handle multilevel analysis, intellectual personality, theory-building skills, and desire to learn qualitative and experimental methods demonstrate that I shall prove to be an asset to Harvard’s business faculty.

After my doctoral studies, I aspire to join a top-ranking research university and become a leading micro-OB thinker, researcher, and educator. By doing so, I want to develop and propagate influential ideas that could transform management practice worldwide. Specifically, I want to contribute to the growing literature on behavioral business ethics, a sub-domain of micro-organizational behavior.

I have developed an interest in behavioral business ethics as a result of my observations of pro-supervisor unethical behaviors of employees. I can narrate at least one incident in which several lecturers at my university lied about the justice behaviors of their supervisor in front of the representatives of a business accreditation agency to win her favor. I believe that unethical behaviors, no matter how much they seem desirable, are eventually harmful to individuals and organizations. Actual incidents of ethical lapses have motivated me to understand what factors cause these phenomena and how they become well-entrenched in organizational life.

Despite my achievements, I have yet to carry out scholarly work that merits publication in top-tier journals like the Academy of Management Journal and the Journal of Applied Psychology. Nevertheless, I believe Harvard’s doctoral program can provide me with the opportunities to carry out high-impact research due to its unique intellectual resources. For example, the university has legendary professors like Max H. Bazerman and rising stars like Ting Zhang and Jillian J. Jordan, who can set the direction of my work toward resolving grand paradoxes of behavioral business ethics. The university also offers rigorous courses in moral philosophy and organizational behavior, besides providing access to a wide range of research databases. Moreover, the university offers a generous financial support program to help me focus on my doctoral study without worrying about earning while learning. These are my main reasons for applying for Ph.D. Organizational Behavior at Harvard University.

In summary, I have demonstrated my potential for success in the Ph.D. in Organizational Behavior program at Harvard through my achievements, skills, goals, interests, and reasons for applying. I believe that I would be a strong fit for this program and would be both a beneficiary and a benefactor to Harvard if given the opportunity to join the doctoral program.

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Free PDF: The 4 questions every SOP must answer to earn top admissions → Master’s or PhD

Statement of Purpose for PhD Admission (A Universal Formula)

• By Jordan Dotson
• Updated: March 1, 2023

Formulas are beautiful, aren’t they? Whether the elegance of a binary logarithm or the universe contained within the laws of thermodynamics, it’s wondrous to see how much we can explain through gracefully arranged information. Prose writing is no different. Even with the statement of purpose for PhD admissions, when we filter our thoughts through an elegant formula, the reactive power can be amazing.

Of course, the opposite is true as well.

If our writing doesn’t conform to the timeless formulas of narrative structure, our words fall flat. We don’t overcome the activation energy requirement. Our code doesn’t compile. We submit an essay hoping it convinces some erudite professor that we’re a worthy student, but it only makes them scratch their chin and flip to the next essay in the pile.

This isn’t good, friend. Especially considering that for PhDs, writing well is part of the job.

Luckily, we don’t need to be literary scholars to utilize the eternally elegant formulas of writing. (I’ve already done that hard work for you.)

Instead, we only need the formula itself, and specific instructions about which information to plug in. Then we can fully ignite the minds and hearts of PhD advisors.

Sound good to you? If so, keep reading.

It’s time to cause a life-changing reaction.

The Statement of Purpose for PhD Formula

You may have already read “ Structure is Magic ,” my article which illustrates how successful SOPs adhere to the classic “hero’s journey.” You may also have read my SOP Starter Kit , which describes the 4 questions that every successful statement of purpose must answer to be effective. Both present the same structural formula for your SOP:

Section 1 – Introductory Frame Narrative & Academic Goal (1-2 paragraphs)

Section 2 – Why This Program (1-2 paragraphs)

Section 3 – Why You’re (Overly) Qualified (1-3 paragraphs)

Section 4 – Closing Frame Narrative (1 brief paragraph)

You should read those resources if you haven’t (especially the SOP Starter Kit which basically writes your essay for you). Yet, for our purposes today, let’s think of the formula like this:

1. Introductory Frame Narrative & Academic/Research Goal

In this introduction, you use a tiny bit of storytelling to make yourself memorable. You won’t use too much, and everything you write will build toward expressing your hyper-focused academic goal – your research proposal. It’s not a story of your childhood. In fact, it won’t mention anything prior to the last few years when you truly became a researcher. Because that is the story we’re telling – how you realized that you want to become a professional researcher .

Now, what problems do you want to solve in grad school? How did you discover these problems? Were you working 20 hours per week in the Xavier Lab at Marvel University? During an independent study, did you grow fascinated with the way Latin American literary critics have overlooked certain economic aspects of the 19th-century Belgian slave trade? In the last year or two, you took a mental leap. You transformed from a talented undergraduate to a burgeoning researcher. In this section, you tell that story, then end it by stating exactly what you hope to achieve in your PhD research.

When I ended my career with the California Ballet in 2016, I looked forward to an academic experience studying the metabolic and neurological systems which had silently governed my physical reality as a performer for so long. Surprisingly, the opportunity proved more rewarding than I could have imagined. The perseverance I cultivated as a ballerina proved essential as I immediately dove into the Psychology, Biology, and Philosophy curricula at Stark University, and I soon developed an interest in the neural regulation of metabolic development. After joining Dr. Jean Grey’s research lab in my sophomore year (a position I have maintained ever since), I had the great fortune of studying the effects of obesogenic diets on conserved signaling pathways governing metabolic regulation in Drosophila melanogaster. Through this work, I have become singularly fascinated with the myriad factors that contribute to the growing obesity epidemic, and its developmental origins in particular.

The questions that underpin our work in the Grey Lab are compelling. How do critical or sensitive periods of neuroendocrine development contribute to long-term functioning in animals and humans at the behavioral and cellular levels? Interestingly, current research at Gotham University seeks answers to these very questions, and that is precisely why I apply as a PhD candidate to the interdisciplinary Graduate Program in Neuroscience.

2. Why This Program

This section is all about “fit.” This is your proof that “University X” is the perfect place for you to achieve the goal you expressed in the previous section. As you write, you’ll notice an elegant logical flow from the previous section. You’ve just told the reader: “this is my goal.”

Now, you’re telling them: “…and University X is the ideal place for me to pursue this goal, because…”

(Notice how the formula works? The seamless logical and narrative transitions are the magic behind it all.)

So, what do you say in this section? You describe the professors with whom you hope to work. You’ve already emailed them. You’ve already read their recent research. Now, in 2-4 sentences, you describe how your Academic Goal from Section 1 is uniquely related to their current work. You’ll engage with that work intellectually. You’ll link it to your own proposal. Then, you’ll repeat this 1-2 more times for each professor who you believe will be a great mentor. All the while, you’ll emphasize exactly what you want to research for the next 5 years.

At GU, I hope to continue elucidating hypothalamic metabolic circuits, and exploring how obesogenic diets affect long-term developmental outcomes in relation to the normal functioning of the satiety hormone leptin. I am quite interested in the work of Dr. Jonathan Crane, whose research on the development of hypothalamic circuits, and how they regulate feeding behavior, has been critical to my understanding of sensitive periods for the trophic actions of leptin in the brain. I believe my experience with quantitative immunohistochemistry and RT-qPCR make me well qualified to contribute to such research. In fact, Dr. Crane’s continuing work on the molecular signals connecting postnatal overnutrition to abnormal development of hypothalamic circuits represents questions similar to those that drew me to studying the neurobiological aspects of feeding and development. It also defines the kind of work I hope to accomplish as a doctoral candidate. While Dr. Crane’s investigation into the necessity of LepRb for typical hypothalamic development is fascinating, I am interested in studying the role LepRb and its developmental actions might play in leptin resistance and obesity in adulthood.

Additionally, Dr. Otto Octavius’s research on the effects of high developmental sugar consumption on memory circuits is fascinating to me; it dovetails nicely with my experience using high-fructose corn syrup diets to mimic obesogenic conditions, while using both behavioral and molecular assays such as weight, food intake, and RNA sequencing to investigate physiological and neural changes. For these reasons, I believe I would be a great fit in either the Crane Lab or the Octavius Lab, given my experience researching metabolic development at both the behavioral and cellular level.

3. Why You’re (Overly) Qualified

This section is your “Greatest Hits” list. In it, you provide relevant proof that you’re ready to succeed as a professional researcher. What is relevant proof? Your excellent undergraduate grades – that’s a good start. Specific research skills you’ve acquired ( here’s a list for STEM students, if you’re unsure). Any unique accomplishments you’ve achieved, such as presenting at conferences, co-authored papers, time you’ve spent in journal reviews, or awards from national academic organizations.

You will not mention anything unrelated to your potential as a researcher, like your job as a campus tour guide or volunteer work at homeless shelters. Admittedly, non-academic achievements can be important in showing that your values align with the department. But since the SOP has a strict word limit, such stories cause a bad reaction in our formula. They distract the reader from your TRUE academic talents, and thus, they’re best left as a side note in your CV or topic of discussion in your interviews.

The only way you would mention something “non-academic” is if it relates uniquely to your research. For example, if you’re pursuing an Art History PhD specializing in Buddhist architecture, and you’re dual-citizen in India and Hong Kong who doesn’t need to apply for visas to conduct field work, then you have a competitive advantage over others.

Having averaged 25 research hours per week during the last few academic years, and up to 50 during the summers, I believe I have acquired all the necessary tools to succeed as a graduate student at GU. I lead the developmental subdivision at the Grey Lab, a project investigating how the timing of a high-fructose diet during development affects cellular and behavioral outcomes in adult Drosophila as it relates to unpaired 1 – the Drosophila analog of leptin – and its downstream JAK/STAT signaling pathway. In investigating this evolutionarily conserved circuit, I created a new experimental protocol for carrying out developmental feeding experiments with Drosophila larvae, as well as performing behavioral assays related to feeding such as weight, two-choice feeding preference, and capillary feeding assays. Additionally, I have performed dissections and imaging with destabilized transgenic fly lines to quantify neuropeptide-f and STAT92E expression at both the cellular and terminal levels, hoping to elucidate the potential role of SOCS36E in receptor functioning. This work has lead to me identifying a unique obese phenotype related to early dysregulation of unpaired 1, of which I was slated to perform RNA sequencing prior to COVID-19 related disruptions.

Pursuing these research projects as an undergraduate has been a monumental task, I admit, so I am proud to have maintained a 4.0 GPA, all while achieving numerous successes in my second major, Philosophy. Having coauthored a paper in the American Journal of Bioethics, as well as winning the California Philosophical Association’s undergraduate award and presenting at their annual conference, I am all the more confident in my readiness to succeed at GU.

4. Closing Frame Narrative

This is the end of your journey, friend. This is where you compile the code. This is where you make the calculations work.

In this section, you’ll briefly refer back to the story you told in the introduction. This is important. It involves a literary technique called “circularity,” which gives the reader an emotional sense of completion. They’ll feel like they’ve read something elegant, something composed by a truly talented writer. If you don’t do this, the essay will feel dry – like a movie with an anticlimactic ending.

You’ll also reaffirm your academic goal and remind the reader that University X is the perfect place to achieve it. You may also end by stating your career aspirations. Want to pursue a tenure-track teaching job? Work in R&D at SpaceX? Tell them here.

When my career in ballet drew to a close, I looked forward to fully devoting my time to the study of the human brain’s infinitely curious adaptive processes. Now, I find myself in a similar situation, once again eager to devote myself to the study of the developing brain and how it governs metabolic regulation. The rigorous standards of The Grey Lab, along with Dr. Grey’s strict belief in personal responsibility, have shown me that (like dance) true intellectual contributions are only possible through perseverance, determination, and a ruthless eye for weakness in both experimental design and execution. Balancing laboratory workloads with a full schedule of undergraduate classes has been a taxing endeavor, but this too has been essential to my growth as a researcher. Today, I look forward to the new intellectual challenges that Gotham University will provide, and I am sure that I will discover new passions, curiosities, and questions as I prepare for my hopeful career in academia, as a professor.

Lab Warning: Avoid Regurgitating Research Experience

For PhD applicants, few things can bungle an application like long, meandering, and un-focused accounts of past research projects.

If you’ve mixed up all the proper SOP ingredients, pipetted them carefully into your literary test tube, and…blah…nothing happens, this is usually the reason.

In the example above, you’ll notice that the applicant NEVER ONCE mentioned any specific, singular project on which she worked. She described the problems they tackled. She described her role in the lab, new protocols she developed, and the most relevant skills she acquired. But never once did she make the mistake that hundreds, maybe thousands of applicants make every year: writing 200-word paragraphs that describe nothing more than the facts of a research project.

“ At University X, I spent eight weeks working on a project titled ‘Algorithmic stability for adaptive analysis of fart expansion.” First we did A (etc etc). Then, we did B (blah blah blah). Then, we did C (yawn). Then, we did D (tear out hair). Through this project, I acquired relevant skills in teamwork and the Washburn-Bunting Method. ”

Don’t confuse the “Statement of Purpose” with the “Research Statement” that many programs require. This latter statement DOES require you to list the facts of your research, even though it should still focus on the problems and their implications.

For example, the PhD program in Biomedicine at the University of Pennsylvania provides the following prompt:

Please provide a description of your research experience(s), including the goals of each project, approaches used, results obtained, and implications of the findings for the project and the field at large . You may choose to describe a single research experience or several experiences, but please limit your statement to around 1000 words in length .

The SOP is not a Research Statement. Much like the tricky Diversity Statement, Research Statements are all about the past. The Statement of Purpose, however, is all about the future.

So, don’t fall into the trap of drowning your essay in meaningless laboratory details. It’s not an info dump. I repeat: the statement of purpose for PhD admission is not an info dump . It’s an argument. It’s elegant writing. It’s a carefully measured formula.

You can avoid this problem by adhering to the rough word-total percentages illustrated in the graphic above:

• Frame Narrative & Academic Goal – 20-25% of word total
• Why This Program – 30% of word total
• Why I’m Qualified – 30% of word total
• Closing Frame Narrative – 15-20% of word total

Writing is no different than any other intellectual field. A great many brilliant people worked across the centuries, testing all sorts of ideas and techniques, finding some that worked and some that exploded in their face.

Even Einstein made mistakes . But no one remembers mistakes. No one saves shoddy peer-reviewed papers that don’t stand the test of time, just like no one saves SOPs from students who didn’t get admitted. Yet, Einstein’s name is synonymous with “genius” because he found a way to describe the universe with a formula that even schoolchildren know: E = mc 2 .

Now, you understand the (seemingly) simple formula that makes great essays work. You might not recognize the elegance in it, the circularity, the balance, the woven thread of narrative, but it’s stood the test of time. And if you experiment with it yourself, pouring in your own unique ingredients to see how they react, at the very least you’ll save yourself a great deal of time and trouble.

At the very most? Well, you might ignite that magical reaction where a professor finishes reading, runs her hands through her hair, and says to herself: “Whoa, this one is special.”

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Two sample statements of purpose.

Sample 1:  Statement of Purpose Keywords: Transnationalism, Memory and Africa | Afro-Diaspora On a balmy October night in 2014, I spontaneously hopped into one of Accra's trademark yellow and blue taxis with three friends for a night of music and merriment at Alliance Française. I was on exchange in Ghana at Ashesi University and had invited my friends to spend mid-semester break with me at my grandmother's house in Accra. As the pulsating and infectious beats of the legendary Ga music ensemble, Wulomei filled the walled compound, my eyes wandered around. It was a visual smorgasbord, with an array of beautiful brown women and men, immaculately and eclectically dressed, some with piercings and tattoos, which is quite unusual in the Ghanaian context. Their aesthetic sensibilities were diverse, but oddly complementary of one another, as though they were predestined to inhabit this space together on this night and create a beautiful, cosmopolitan collage. Their demeanor and self-presentation exuded a defiant self-assuredness that piqued our interest. “They must be returnees,” one of my friends explained.

Returnees, I would come to learn, are a growing group of Africans and Afro-Diasporans who are choosing to move "back" to the African continent. I became curious about what had spurred this boom and the impact of returnees on the socio-cultural and economic landscapes of the countries they were returning to. As I spoke to returnees, I learned that gender identities and romance are other complex layers of the experience. I began work towards an honors thesis on return migration to Accra, Ghana, and continued my fieldwork during the summer of 2015. In 2016, I received the Nancy "Penny Schwartz" Undergraduate Essay Award from the Association of Africanist Anthropology for three chapters excerpted and reworked from my thesis, Taking It Back To The Motherland: The Untold Tales of Accra’s Returnees. In my dissertation, I plan to build on my undergraduate fieldwork and continue to study Accra as a site of return. Accra is a “city in transition” (Dupont 2014) with deep histories cosmopolitanism and return migration. I will explore the different waves of return, from the post-independence wave of the 1960s to the post-2007 surge after new oil reserves were discovered in Ghana. Many migrants develop an almost mythical imaginary of their homeland. For Accra's returnees, the essentialized image is held up against the reality of life in Accra upon return. Ghanaian society and her "locals" place on them the onus of proving, in a variety of situations, that they can not only survive but thrive in an African city. In my dissertation, I will continue to unpack what Nadia J. Kim (2009) refers to as the “authenticity dilemma,” and examine whether returnees are able to (re)integrate into Ghanaian society upon return. Our world today grapples with the challenge of responding effectively and ethically to an ongoing migrant crisis. Though there are nuances of temporal and geographic specificity, this contemporary discussion on human mobility is not novel, but rather a continuation of a discourse. We have long been curious about why people leave their homes, where they go, how they are received in host countries, and whether or not they chose to return to their countries of origin. However, this discourse has generally perceived migration as a singular, mono-directional life event, when it is not. Migrants often move back to places where they lived before or to which they have ethnic or kinship connections (Niedomysl and Amcoff 2011). I will draw from a rich bank of global interdisciplinary literature on return migration. The study will be grounded in American anthropologist, George Gmelch’s (1980) seminal definition of return migration: "the movement of emigrants back to their homelands to resettle." Dutch sociologist Frank Bovenverk’s (1974) typology provides a starting point for categorizing returnees. Benedict Anderson's Imagined Communities (1983), Homi Bhabha's The Location of Culture (1994) and Arjun Appadurai's Modernity At Large (1996) will guide the process of mapping identity formation and cultural liminality in a rapidly changing, ever technological and culturally diffuse world. Drawing from Laura Nader's emphasis on the importance of studying the "middle and upper ends" of society (1972: 1), the participants in this study will mainly be middle and upper middle class. By "studying up," I hope to contribute to the ethnographic discourse on power within cultures. I will also draw on the autoethnographic methodology as employed by Zora Neale-Hurston in Mules and Men (1935), and her masterful navigation of writing from within a culture, as an insider-outsider. I see Duke as the ideal location to work towards my proposed dissertation. The project will find a home within the cross-disciplinary and globally minded approach of the program. There are several members of the faculty whose mentorship will be invaluable. Laurie N. McIntosh, whose research on identity-formation among Norwegians of African descent will provide important methodological and theoretical frameworks for this project. Lee D. Baker, with his expertise on the impact of identity on the everyday lives of Afrodiasporic people, would also provide great guidance to this work. I hope to also work with faculty in the Department of African & African American Studies and in particular Michaeline A. Crichlow. I am excited to learn about opportunities to attend lectures and participate in vibrant discussions at the John Hope Franklin Center and look forward to engaging with these opportunities as well. Since graduating from Macalester College in 2016, I have engaged with a variety of professional and volunteer experiences. As a Program Assistant at the Minnesota Historical Society's Department of Inclusion, I worked to bring more people of color into the museum field through college and high school fellowships. For the last two years, I have worked with two college mates to create an empathy-building children's book in response to increased bullying after the 2016 election. Ethnographic interviewing skills came in handy as we journeyed to elementary schools to speak with students and collect scenarios for the book. Most recently, I am the Curatorial Project Assistant for the 2018 Nobel Peace Prize exhibition on laureates, Denis Mukwege, and Nadia Murad. Through these experiences, I have been challenged intellectually and strengthened my passion for ethnography. Throughout my undergraduate studies, my main motivation was to continue on to graduate school and train to become a professional anthropologist and researcher. In my studies toward a doctoral degree, I hope to continue to examine the impact of migration and transnationalism in the Black diaspora through the experiences of migrants engaging in these mobilities. It would be a dream come true to do this at Duke.  

Sample 2:  Statement of Purpose Keywords: Politics of Place, Urban Ethnography, North America, Politics of Representation, Aesthetic Hierarchies, Critical Race Studies, Class Studies, Political Economies How do the intersections of race and class affect African Americans' presence in the arts? What is the impact of racializing behavior for musicians of color? I came to these questions as a freshman in college, when I stepped onto the stage of the Amherst College Symphony Orchestra and realized that I was the only Black musician out of the 92-person ensemble. Though many Black classical musicians are accustomed to this racial isolation, I was particularly shocked, as my previous experiences with orchestra in my home community were quite diverse. Growing up in Columbia, MD, I was accustomed to diversity in every aspect of my life, from swim team to math club to orchestra. My bubble of positive racial representation burst when I arrived at Amherst and discovered that my childhood experiences were quite uncommon. This revelation led me to question why that might be the case, and more specifically, why so few African Americans participate in classical orchestral music. Since the 1990s, Blacks have comprised about I of major American symphonic orchestras, a number that has remained unchanged for nearly three decades. Asian Americans and Latinx participation in symphonic orchestras has improved markedly, while African Americans have yet to increase their participation in these ensembles. Two decades ago, the Sphinx Organization, a Detroit-based non-profit organization, created the first entirely Black and Hispanic professional orchestra in the world. A few other orchestras comprised of minorities have emerged, but major American Symphonic orchestras have yet to see improvement in Blacks' participation in their ensembles. My dissertation will expand upon my undergraduate senior honors thesis, a preliminary exploration of discrimination, exclusion, and confusion about cultural belonging in American symphonic orchestras. I hope to develop my research with contemporary anthropological discussions of community, belonging, aesthetic hierarchies, and politics of representation, as writing my senior thesis worked to generate further, more thoughtful research questions about this topic, all of which can best be addressed through an anthropological dissertation. With established access to a community of Black musicians, I hope to ground my ethnographic research with the Sphinx Organization. As a sort of “Black Mecca” within the orchestral world, Sphinx acts as a space in which Black musicians can be themselves, rather than perform an identity. The Sphinx Organization conceptualizes the absence of Black participation in orchestras primarily as a "pipeline issue," in that Black and Latinx students do not have access to the resources needed to support and produce an accomplished musician. However, this issue involves myriad considerations beyond a lack of resources. Why is there the impetus to create entirely separate orchestras for minorities, and is this a solution? What is the significance of the orchestral stage as a space of social inclusion and how does it serve as a cultural marker for inclusion and exclusion? In my dissertation, I hope to address these questions by putting research involving the intersections of class and race (Fennell 2015; Cox 2015; Mahon 2004) and aesthetic hierarchies (Sharman 2006; Davila 2001; Pham 2017) in conversation. In doing so, I will highlight some of the more insidious concerns related to this lack of participation and representation. As my research has shown thus far, there seems to be an implicit understanding of orchestral music as being an exclusively white tradition. Orchestral music is classified as a "high arts," a subcategory of the arts that has a history of racism and exclusion in terms of what practices may or may not be given value. In my research, I will unpack the essentialist concept of the “high arts” and the Eurocentric construction of orchestral music as a white tradition. Do Black people truly not belong in the high arts, or were they made not to belong? Who decides whether Blacks belong, and what processes perpetuate this notion of inclusion? What are the boundaries surrounding the "high arts" community, and how do class and race intersect in this context? It is my aim to interrogate ideas of exclusivity surrounding these established, taken-for-granted aesthetic hierarchies, and to explore how race and class-based social positioning both establish and maintain these inequalities. Additionally, my research involved discussions of representation, and what it means to be recognized. With DuBois’ The Souls of Black Folk (1903) as a framework for my exploration of critical race theories, I want to add to this discourse by integrating Stuart Hall’s ideas of visual language as constructing meaning in Representation: Cultural Representations and Signifying Practices (1997) with John Berger’s Ways of Seeing. What does it mean to see and be seen within the context of the orchestral stage? Is there a performative Blackness or Whiteness that is expected of certain kinds of musicians, and what are the stakes of this performativity, both for those on the stage and off the stage? While this case of racial discrimination affects a relatively small community, I aim to highlight the macro-sociological effects of raceand class-based prejudice and discrimination. During my time at Amherst, I discovered a passion for filmmaking, documentary films, and ethnographic methodology. My first documentary project during my freshman year at Amherst explored how an east-Indian dance form called orissi created meaning for people of both Indian and non-Indian descent, and how it influenced dance in the Pioneer Valley in Massachusetts as a whole. In doing this project I learned how people create meaning in these cross-cultural interactions, which was significant considering my upbringing and being accustomed to sharing cultural art forms. I moved on to complete other film projects, working with the Smithsonian to create short documentary pieces about folklife from different cultures, and creating a visually and auditorily compelling documentary for my senior thesis. My time at NYU has been instrumental in providing further opportunity to conceptualize and develop short films and to hone my production skills in the Culture and Media program. Working with Faye Ginsburg and Arlene Davila, amongst others, has enabled me to consider my work through the lens of an anthropologist. I have discussed my research goals with Professor Lee Baker and feel that his unique historical study of intersections between the development of American Anthropology pedagogy and the foundations of race relations and racial imaginaries in From Savage to Negro (1998) would act as an exemplar of how I should explore hegemonic systems in my own research. Professor J. Lorand Matory’s Black Atlantic Religion (2005), which challenges to the narrative of transnationalism as a recent phenomenon and his studies of transnational and translocal flows of information and cultural practices, would provide an excellent framework on my research involving cross-cultural interactions in the musical world. Another guiding force for my research would be Professor Charles Piot’s work involving agency as engagement (as opposed to rejection) with European cultural modes, along with his consideration of a long history of global cultural crossings. I am excited for the opportunity to apply to Duke University, as I feel that this school, with its encouragement of interdisciplinary work, passionate professors, and desire to create a positive learning environment will allow me to develop into a strong scholar.

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