february

Silly question but is there some general guidance on the scope of a statement of purpose? What do I write about?? Past research experience, career goals, why we want to go to X, (?)

I'm filling out my first app (Brown) and the online instructions are just to upload our statement of purpose. (no further explanation of what they want...)

polarscribe

All of the above, plus you should propose at least a general idea of what you want to research. Doesn't mean you have to follow through exactly, but professors want to see where you're thinking about going. Also, this is important because professors are often looking for students with similar research interests. If there's faculty members who your interests specifically align with, don't be afraid to mention them. Ultimately, you are being judged and admitted by a small group of faculty members, and if you make that connection with one of them, they can pluck you out of the pile and admit you.

air2147

I am finding the personal statements so difficult as a few of them only allow one page or just 500 words! I feel like I can barely say anything "PERSONAL"!

Elocin

I was a bit more general in saying "Developmental Biology" and integrated my personal experience into that. Realistically, as long as I'm doing Developmental Bio research, I'm happy. Only schools where they wanted or encouraged me to name labs did I mention any prospective thesis advisors.

As long as you're able to summarize your past experiences and transition into the present, writing a page or 500 words shouldn't be too difficult. I had to cut out a lot of "wordy" parts as I am a rather flowery writer and make it more dry.

But in general, try to write about your past experience, how those experiences shape who you are today, what you have learned, why you want to go to X University, what your research interests are, and what you hope to learn and how going to X University can help you do that.

texaspg

you can reseearch the professors and determine which area you like and tailor your response unless you are certain of what you like.

In a lot of cases, the graduate school funding for a student comes from a prof's research funding. So it is important to figure out which areas research at a school interest you and try to do some tailoring of the statement for each school.