Statement of Interest - what do I want?

14_of_spades
Wed, 25 Oct 2006 00:37:16 +0000

some general thoughts:

i wouldn’t rehash your CV. discuss your experiences that are most relevant to grad school. if something is only minimally relevant, i’d leave it out (leave it to ur CV to tell them).

in discussing ur experiences, try to show your interest/passion in the topic. your SOP is your way of showing the adcom that u are really into doing grad school. show enthusiasm, explain the difficulty/lessons u had working through a research project, or the efforts made at writing/publishing a paper.

ultimately, your SOP should try to do two things.


show your interest in doing grad work
show your ability to do grad work


the goal of your SOP is for someone to be able to read it and conclude two things:


wow, this person is definitely interested in doing grad work.
wow, this person is definitely ready to do grad work.


there was a post in another thread where someone felt a poor SOP would leave u out, whereas an exceptional SOP wouldn’t really make a big difference (compared to an average SOP). i certainly disagree with that assessment. an exceptional SOP with otherwise ordinary marks, i am almost sure, would be accepted ahead of a so-so SOP with outstanding marks).

write an outstanding SOP. write several drafts. give urself at least a month with it.