WRITING the

Use the following five topics to assist you in writing an effective statement of purpose:
How did you become interested in this field? It is important to establish that you have had a long term interest in the field and that you have taken positive steps in pursuing this interest. You may choose to open your essay with an example of how a teacher/professor first sparked your interest, or you may draw from other educational, occupational, or personal experiences. What kind of activities or experiences have you had that have contributed toward your preparation for or under-standing of this field? This section will probably be the longest portion of your essay. You could order your experiences chronologically or you could group experiences into categories. For instance, you can demonstrate your interest in a field by providing examples of internships, work experience, research experience, community service, publications, or life experiences. However, dont just list what you did resumestyle. Instead, outline what you did as well as what you have learned about the field or yourself that stimulated your interest in graduate study. What type of graduate study are you interested in? What is your career objective? State whether you are interested in a masters or a Ph.D. degree. Dont leave the committee guessing as to what your degree objective is! If you are applying to a broad discipline, then specify what subdiscipline you are interested in. For example, if you are applying in the field of psychology, the committee needs to know whether you are pursuing clinical, counseling, cognitive, or developmental psychology. Let the reader know whether you are planning a career in teaching, research, consulting, public service or private practice (or whatever your goal happens to be). What are your research interests? Within your field, you should be aware of several topics that are of interest to you. You do not need to state a particular thesis or dissertation topic. You might address one or two questions or problems in your chosen field, or indicate an interest in a particular time period or author. Remember that you will be working under or along with professors in research; therefore, your research interests should parallel, or be able to benefit from, those of the faculty. What attracts you most about the institution you are applying to and why are you a match for their program? You should have solid reasons for why you are applying to an institution. Align your research interests to those of one or more professors. The better the match with the institution, the better the chance that you will be admitted.

Statement of Purpose for Graduate School

The statement of purpose is one of several factors considered by admission committees when you are applying to graduate school. Other factors considered are grade point average (GPA), the Graduate Record Exam (GRE), letters of recommendation and any relevant experience. The statement of purpose not only gives the admissions committee a solid idea of what you are interested in studying, but also serves as a writing sample and interview. A poorly written statement can keep you out of the program of your choice, while a well-written statement may prove to be the deciding factor that gets you admitted. The central theme of a statement of purpose should be the reasons that you are interested in attending a specific program at the institution. The statement should be well organized, concise, and completely free of grammar, punctuation and spelling errors. Try to be original and interesting without sounding conceited. Typically, statements are two to three pages, typed and double spaced.

Before you begin a draft, keep the following suggestions in mind:

Remember your audience. You can assume that the admission committee consists of professors in your area of study. You do not need to define basic terminology. Do not talk down to your audience. Stick to what you are an expert inyour life and experiences. Establish your voice. Choose a voice/tone that is confident without sounding arrogant. Usually a straightforward tone will serve you best. If you need to explain poor GPA or GRE scores, do so without making excuses. Just state what affected your performance and follow-up with what you did to improve the situation. Your tone in the essay should reflect what is special, unique, distinctive, or impressive about you. Answer the question. Most graduate school applications do not give you much instruction on how to format the statement of purpose. In that case, use the suggestions outlined below. However, if an application specifically asks you to answer a question, make sure that you address every aspect of the question in your essay. Turn weaknesses into strengths. There are always two ways to look at everything. For instance, you can write, I nearly flunked out of school in my freshman year and I am just now regaining focus, or you can equally (and honestly) say, Lacking focus my freshman year caused my grades to suffer. As you can see from the last 60 units on my transcript, I have improved my grade point average to a level demonstrating readiness for graduate level work.
Published by Advising Services, 111 South Hall, University of California, Davis

In summary, the reader should be able to:

Ascertain the origin of your interest in a field of study. See the growth of that interest over a period of time (as illustrated by experience). Clearly see that, for the applicant, attending graduate school is the next logical step in the sequence toward a specific goal.
http://advisingservices.ucdavis.edu
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