SOP Essays – Guidelines

How to write ‘good’ answers to the questions that require you to write ‘Statement of
Purpose (SOP) essays is one area that troubles most applicants.

The following broad guidelines will help you in writing and structuring your essays
and also help you in ensuring that you are well-prepared to answer the questions
that you may be asked in the Personal Interview relating to your answers to the
‘SOP’ questions:

1. Language: KISS (Keep it Short & Simple). The objective is not to impress the
reader with your vocabulary.

Use simple and commonly used words - do not try to use all those high-funda words
that you learnt in your Vocab sessions.

2. Structure: Avoid long sentences. Flow is the key property of a good essay.

3.Consistency: Be consistent when more than one essay has to be written. Show
your essays to a friend/parents/teacher to go through - if there are inconsistencies
(that you may not notice), they will be able to point out.

4. Clarity: Even when you are not required to write ‘why’ & ‘how’ in response to a
question, be prepared with your answers to these. This will also bring a greater
clarity to your essay.

5. Length: Please make judicious use of the space provided – at least 80% of the
given space should be used up in answering the question. Do not use any additional
space unless the form specifically allows it.

6. Honesty: Be honest in answering the questions. Do not invent examples /

instances/ qualities that you do not have.

For example, if you do not have any extracurricular activities, do not fill anything
under that head.

7. Career Goals / Milestones: Career goals may be likened to the other side of the
river which you need to cross to reach it. You can swim, build or hire a boat or look
for a bridge if any exists or even build a new one! Some even think of flying across!

Goals may be divided into short, medium or long term goals. All the intermediate
steps taken to reach your goals may be considered as milestones.

Admission into the B-school can only be one of the most suitable ‘means’ (and not a
"career goal") considered by you keeping your strengths in mind and considering
your long term goals / ambition.

Typically, what you would like to achieve towards the latter part of your career (say,
when you are 40-50 years of age) can be called long term goals. The next 8-10
years will qualify to be called medium term goals and what you would like to do in
the next 3-5 years would be your short term goals.
 When you write what your career goals are, you may want to consider various
options like corporate career, entrepreneurship, academic career, NGOs, social work,
etc.

8. FMS: ‘Why is FMS the most suitable institute for realising your goals’ should be
answered in a balanced manner. There is no point in saying – “FMS is the best in the
world”. Further, do NOT copy from their prospectus wherein they would have
mentioned some of FMS’s unique strengths. Please collect more information about
FMS and use it. If nothing is possible, rephrase the words from the website /
prospectus. If you can identify a unique strength / offering at FMS and explain how
this can help you in achieving your career goals, it would be a more sensible answer.

In any case, career goal can’t be getting into FMS or even an IIMA!

9. Ethical Questions: No point in painting yourself as a saint! Equally, no point in

proudly mentioning how practical you are and how one has to be flexible & realistic
in this Kaliyuga!

You may share the instances when you did something where you ‘overlooked’ some
of your ethics, or where you were tempted to ‘compromise’ for some short-term
gains. However, you should later realise that it is an inferior / lazier alternative and
you would have done better had you walked the straight & narrow path. A good idea
could be to describe how you have emerged stronger from this experience.

10. Some Specific Questions

A. ‘If I had the freedom, I will change the following in me’: :This is a tricky one! If
you respond to the meaning on the surface, it may imply that at present, you don’t
have the required freedom! On the other hand, can you fully defend that ‘you-are-
doing-what-you-want-to-do’ and ‘you-will-do-in-future-what-you-would-like-to-do’ in
terms of career or activity.

This question can be answered by discussing the choices that you have considered
and the process of arriving at the decision from the options considered by you.

This could sometimes also be used as a check for consistency since this is closely
related to a question on strengths & weaknesses. It is very unlikely that you will
respond that I am perfect and see no reason to change!

B. Learning Incidents: Be specific, describe it crisply but the focus should be on the
learning and ‘how’ it helped you.

C. Principal Interests: Our interests are conscious decisions that we take for we
invest time, efforts, energy in nurturing & building the same. These also influence
our attitudes & behavior and shape our personality - usually in a positive way.

D. Strengths & Weaknesses and Achievements & Failures: Do not take these lightly.
One way to arrive at your strengths & weaknesses is to understand the link between
these and achievements & failures.

Your strengths should help in achievements while your weaknesses should have
contributed to your failures or lack of achievements!
Simply put, achievements are those moments that make you proud of yourself. On
the other hand, failures are not necessarily failing in the exams but these are about
failing to meet the targets you set for yourself.

Be prepared for the follow-up questions – if you have identified ‘X’ as your weakness,
then what are you doing to improve in that area. How far have you succeeded?

It is advisable to list 3-4 strengths and 2-3 weaknesses. Also take care that the
weaknesses that you write are articulated appropriately. You obviously can't say "My
weakness is that if somebody does not agree with my point of view, I feel like
strangling that person." You can say "I am a little impatient with people who do not
agree with my point of view."

E. Examples/ Instances: All examples should be specific and relevant. Make these
as crisp as possible.

F. How did you tackle & achieve a difficult target: Focus should be on the reason
why you decided to take up the challenge and on ‘how’ you achieved the target
despite obstacles.

G. Are you a good team player?: Please ensure that you fully understand what
makes an effective team and the example you mention should include you playing a
key role in building effective team processes leading to the desired outcome. Please
note that this is not the same as leadership.