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SOP Advice

by Shamsi Tamara Iqbal


PhD Student, UIUC
CSE Batch 94
When we are preparing our application package, the SOP seldom gets the
attention it requires. But as Ragib said, it is one of the MOST important factors
in determining your admission. Writing abilities are very important in grad
school, especially if you are going for a PhD. There are some professors who
wouldn't even look at your credentials if you didn't have a good SOP.

Unfortunately we don't have good guidelines on how to write a SOP (or any
sort of statement for that matter). From my experience, when a person is
reading your statement, s/he is trying to get a picture of your abilities through
what you wrote. So highlight your acheivements (but don't be too brazen) as
much as possible. Also there are ways to turn simple sentences into positive
ones - ".. am one of the top ranked students in the most reputed engineering
school in Bangladesh" - in one sentence you state that you are one of the best
of the best in your country. Postive and confident statements have more
impact on reviewers.

In general, it is good if your statement has some structure in it. The SOP
doesn't have to be too long. But it must have all the required information. A
suggestion is to have something like this:
A couple of introductory lines
What you want to do (get an M.S, PhD etc)
Why you want to do it (motivation)
How are you qualified to do it (achievements)
Research interests (one major area + one minor maybe, but not too
many)
What you have to offer to the university (qualities, extra cirricular)
Conclusion (one or two sentences, you might combine this with the
previous point).
There should be a nice flow from one point to another. Relate the ending of
each paragraph to the beginning of the next one. Also don't use complicated
words or long sentences - I have found that Americans in general don't like
reading long sentences.

Also it is important to read and reread your statement. Get other people to
read it. Don't get frustrated if others criticise (as long as it is constructive) what
you have written. If the SOP is not clear to them, it will not be clear to your
admission committee. A SOP is not something you produce in a day. It
requires substantial effort to come up with a good SOP.

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