Statement of Purpose Writing Tips(A 300 word essay about the reasons why the program of choice fits your academic, career, and personal goals and what you hope to gain from participating in the program) Be honest, clear and concise. Don't repeat the same info. Don't send an SOP with grammar and spelling mistakes. Provide an effective model for writing your essay and a human interest story with the following structure: lead, thesis, body, conclusion. Begin with a lead, which is usually a brief anecdote, a question, a startling statistic or quote, or a gripping description of a scene. Proceed with the thesis - a one-sentence summary or road map of your personal statement, following the lead. The body (the longest section) provides evidence to support your thesis: give concrete examples from your life. Don't just state information. Analyze it. Don't use words that you don't know the meaning or usage of. Don't whine or moan in your SOP. Institutes want optimistic students, not students who sound like 'fathers of doom'. All good things must end; so too must your essay end with a conclusion. Check and recheck your SOP to make sure that you discussed all the salient points in your application. Don't plagiarize information from the Internet or books. If you submit work that is not your own, you can be sure that you will be denied admissions. |