5 Components of a Classic University Statement of Purpose.
Most students don’t understand one simple hack-Be yourself.
If you are applying to top universities across the globe, a Statement of purpose is your gate pass. It speaks volumes of your strengths, resilience, challenges, academics, interests, characteristics. The statement of purpose, aka SOP, should convince the admission committee of your success and further lift the university’s goodwill. University of Washington’s Dr Steven Olswang gives general advice on writing a concise SOP, saying that test scores, past work, academic performances, and letters of recommendation are crucial indicators of a student’s prospects. Hence draft an SOP that stands out in myriads of applications.
Usually, a statement of purpose is the bedrock for admission along with other procedures, but some universities twist the format and ask for a personal statement or prompts based on the discipline and interests. Speaking of prompts, these are quite interesting questions that let the admission committee dig deeper to know how creative, diverse, compassionate and street-smart you are. For various disciplines, it can be tailored according to the prerequisites, but the core components remain the same.
While an SOP requires an overall scan of your academics, personal and extracurriculars. You can think of an SOP with five indomitable components:
1. Motivation-
The first paragraph of a standard SOP should start with introducing your passion. Motivation. Ikigai. Reason for seeking admission. I emphasize introducing your reason as your paranoia. Highlight how passionate you have been about the program and let them know that the degree means the world to you. If a mad serial killer always has a motive to kill people, why not have a robust set of motives to improve your life and world?
You can do no greater thing with your life and work than follow your passions- in a way that serves the world and you- Richard Branson.
Trust me; they are looking for candidates with vigour and creativity to change the world. This also requires showing them that you have tackled the challenges of your life quite judiciously. Show them a short film of your journey involving steep mountaineering, artfully dodging problems, and emerging triumphant. It is your brag sheet, but not a liars-bucket list.
Sitting on the admission committee chair takes years of experience, in-depth intuitions, and x-ray eyes that can easily detect equivocations and fibs. So, be prudent while recounting your wins. Still, put your best foot forward and allow a sneak peek at your glorious wins and the dusty pathways to those wins. Also, recount the solid past experiences that bring you to the university’s threshold for that program. Finally, write an overarching narrative and conclude the first paragraph by giving them a clear idea that you greatly deserve a chance. Again, I highly recommend showing your fire than telling them. It informs them that you are the right fit for the university, program, campus, peers and faculty.
A word of caution- Do Not Over Do It! It may have a counter-productive effect on the committee.
2. Academic experiences-
Introduce your grad school or higher school grades, participation, internship experiences, fests, and anything that gives a sneak peek into your intelligence of the subject knowledge. Of course, you are not required to write a saga on your academics but give them crucial information on the turning points of your education journey because they already have spreadsheets of your marks and acknowledgements. But giving them the overview claims a space which otherwise might fail.
A word of caution- Do Not Exaggerate Your Academic Recognition! As it might show you as redundant.
3. Work experience-
Especially when you are applying for a master’s program, it becomes imperative to a certain level. There are visible benefits of work experience before your higher academic move. Putting your theories into practice allows you an upper hand in solving real-world problems and facilitates an immersive learning experience. Besides, your confidence in your domain shoots high, further shooting your career prospects.
For some, I also believe it comes as an epiphany to shift the programs. There are real-world cases where students finish their undergrads in certain specific programs such as business administration, work with some conglomerate and realize that they have an innate inclination for data analytics and hence switch to the program.
On the other hand, some people are dead set on finishing academics and then venturing into businesses. It is a subjective decision requiring your interests and keenness to pursue the career trajectory. However, for most of the master’s program, the assessing committees seek empirical evidence of leadership traits, including an array of skill sets, resilience, emotional intelligence, diverse experience and performance scale.
Word of caution- Coveted Academicians recommend having work experience before pursuing master’s degrees.
4. Immediate and long-term goals-
As Zig Ziglar summarizes the imperative of having goals in one line, “If you aim at nothing, you hit it every time”.
Uncover the power of your purpose before the admission committee serves a big time. A well-thought and smartly drafted vision and mission statement clearly shows your aspirations and your grit to go the extra mile. Moreover, the statement of vision can also be a common denominator with the university’s values. Hence a shared vision further creates a sense of trust and intimacy between you and the university.
Moreover, by setting a concise and well-written immediate and long-term goal, you show three crucial elements for sure shot selection.
· Accountability.
· Integrity.
· Engagement.
Hence, a powerful vision statement, aka personal statement, aka SOP, is your chance to revit the committee with a story, not just stating facts from your CV. It communicates your future trajectory and guiding principle to check the boxes of your selection procedure.
A word of caution- Align your vision and mission to your strengths, grit, compassion and worldview.
5. 3 Whys.
Why the Program? Why the University? and Why the Country?
However fiercely you have introduced your reason to get into the program in the first paragraph, you need to tell the assessment committee in the last paragraph why you need the specific program, university and country, by answering the question why? It hits two birds with one stone. Number one, it helps you conclude your statement; number two, you tie your aspiration to the program and university, telling the committee about your trust in them.
Concluding an essay with these three answers will help you build a rapport before entering the campus. Show them you have diverse experience and that the campus, program and the country will add to your innate skills to be a global citizen and a change maker. Recount incidences of challenges on how together you resolved a seemingly insurmountable situation and how equipped you are with the same. Additionally, list your happy anticipations, such as fests, guest lectures, iconic faculty, and campus facility and tell the committee that you will positively exploit each chance and bring the best out of you and your peers.
A word of caution- Do Not List Generic and Redundant things about the campus, country, and program.
The assessment committees sit on the authoritative chair with years of experience and, in a cursory glance, have the idea of the statement’s authenticity. So, please do not copy-paste it, especially in the wake of chat GPT. They are well-versed in their jobs and have insights on each word you scribe on the sheet.
However, the happy part is the admission committee is looking for authenticity, so give yourself the best shot and write after ruminating over the primary components of an SOP. Moreover, they know your linguistic proficiency with your IELTS or other relative documents. So, even if you need help, draft a rough copy yourself. Later you can ask for edits, fine-tuning and tweaking from friends, family or anyone you trust with the job.
In between, if the word count permits, add brief information about your family and meaningful gap years.
Parting words-
Writing skills are the most sought-after skills of the 21st century and a lifelong requirement. If you are good at drafting your academics and life, it will ramp up your career. If not, start drafting one, even if you have three to four months at hand.
As Robert Stacy Mc Cain says, “Writing is a skill, not a talent. And this difference is important because the skill can be improved by practice”.
Peace!
