HOW
IMPORTANT IS YOUR
STATEMENT OF PURPOSE?
|
The statement of purpose
or personal statement is an EXTREMELY important
part of your
application because it provides the faculty assessing your application
a significant impression of who you are as an individual and your
writing ability. You should write a general statement of purpose
as the first step
in
considering
graduate school. Writing about your passion(s)
and goals will help to clarify and begin your articulation of your
future aspirations. A
powerful statement of purpose will demonstrate your intellectual
development. When beginning your general statement of purpose
you should consider your personal background, research interests,
graduate school plans, your audience, and tone of your essay.
PERSONAL BACKGROUND
• Portray a sense of what makes you
a unique individual
• What are your goals/aspirations?
• What experiences have you had that you feel have helped to prepare you
to meet your goals? (Experiences in classes, with faculty, internships, research
programs)
• What areas do you still want to develop in (research skills, networking)
• How will this research program prepare you to fulfill your personal and
professional goals?
RESEARCH INTERESTS
• What is your general area of interest?
(social inequality, molecular biology, chemical dependencies)
• What specific research question(s) do you want to work on?
GRADUATE
SCHOOL PLANS
• What specific graduate programs/schools
would you consider applying to?
• Is there a specific pathway or area of interest that you want to specialize
in?
AUDIENCE
• Who will read your statement
-Faculty
-Graduate Students
-Interdisciplinary Fellowship committees
• Write in a sophisticated fashion
TONE
• Create the ideal image of yourself
• Be honest
• Be assertive and motivated
• Do not be apologetic
The most crucial part of writing
your statement of purpose is receiving feedback from
professors, department advisors, professionals in your field of interest,
and other on-campus advisors such as a GIP
Coordinator or a Career
Center Advisor. The
feedback you receive will be invaluable to crafting your essay into
a polished, professional statement.
HOW DO I BEGIN?
Pre-Writing Exercises (PDF)
General Overview of the
Statement of Purpose from UC Berkeley's Graduate Opportunities Program (GOP) (PDF)
DISCIPLINE-SPECIFIC ESSAYS
Essay Edge |
