Statement of Purpose

October 23, 2016

Explain the professional goals and reasons for desiring to enroll in the M.S.
Program
Describe any research experience
Indicate personal research interest
Identify two or three ASU CSE faculty with matching research interest.

SOP should include your goals and background as it relates to the field of
computer science.
Include past work history, your interests and reasons for pursuing degree in
computer science.
Points on which the SOP will be evaluated:

Conciseness
Reasons for pursuing a graduate degree,
Leadership skills
Eloquence
Scientific research interest
One to two pages

A research statement.
This should comprise the majority of your essay. The reader is likely concerned
with your ability or potential to conduct research, so hopefully you have a
successful track record of research and coursework. Discuss what research
you've done and things that you might be interested in working on as a
graduate student.
Explain what motivates you to pursue graduate study.
Are you looking for a career in academia or research? Did your previous research
experience convince you to pursue a career in research? This is the place to say
so.
Convince the admissions committee that you're qualified.
You should have already done this while covering the above points, and your
recommendation letters and CV serve this purpose as well. Even so, address any
remaining red flags that might be on your application. For example, if you are
switching fields, you might want to explain why, and if your background doesn't

have an obvious alignment with your new interest, discuss what makes you
qualified to enter the program (eg. a non-technical person entering computer
science would likely require remedial courses to make up for the lack of
technical undergrad training).
Explain why you're applying to this particular school.
What does this school offer you that others do not? If there are individual
professors whom you're interested with working with, you might want to
mention them and which projects of theirs interest you this is a good way to
nudge your application to their inbox even if they're not on the admissions
committee. Are there research papers from this school that have interested you?
(If you put school-specific things in your essays, be careful to submit the right
copy with each application!)