Ever since I interned with University of Nebraska, Lincoln in 2015, I had become the unofficial SOP reviewer among my friends. It felt easy to talk about your story — why you did what you did. After reviewing 100s of SOPs, I thought writing my own SOP for B-school applications would be a piece of cake!
I cracked my head for 20 odd days but couldn’t pen down even the draft of a draft SOP. Finally, with some help, I managed to get a sensible story — one that didn’t make me fall asleep mid-way. That’s when I realised a few golden rules and busted several myths of writing SOPs.
1. You have to be good at writing.
WRONG! You have to be good at story telling. We humans are natural story tellers, pen down your story in your mother tongue if it helps and translate it later. This helps you maintain the flow and will make your story sound natural.
2. Your English needs to be fancy and impeccable
WRONG! Your English needs to be simple. Put yourself in the shoes of the person reading your SOP — If they had to go through 1000s of SOPs, would they prefer the one that force them to open their dictionaries or the one in layman terms? Obviously the second! No one wants to stop to search for what API or LATAM stand for.
3. You can get your SOP written by anyone.
WRONG! While I know people can get their SOPs written by third parties which would probably now be replaced by ChatGPT, there is no alternative to writing your story in your words. By all means, get your SOP reviewed by others after you have drafted it but no one else can tell your story better than you.
Now that we have busted the most common myths, lets go through some golden rules of writing SOPs.
Golden Rule #1: Identify the PURPOSE
Everyone knows you want an admission. But why do you want the reader to know your story? Some might want to highlight a gap year, talk about a trauma they’ve faced or simply mention their fit for the college. Either way, your SOP should highlight 3 strengths. These should align with the strengths and weaknesses you mention in your application. What helped me is writing down all my achievements year wise. I put a column next to that and mentioned a strength it reflected. The person in your SOP, in your application and in your resume should all be the same — You!
Golden Rule #2: Don’t Repeat
If your college asks for a resume, or there is separate essay asking about your short and long term goals, don’t repeat all of that in your SOP. Skip everything that has already been mentioned in other sections of the application. Instead focus on why you did what you did and how it made you feel. For instance, if my resume mentions I hosted a conference, my statement of purpose could talk about what I learned from this experience and how it adds value to me as a person — which could be to conquer my stage fright. Ensure the impact your experiences have made on you are pronounced in your SOP.
Golden Rule #3: Follow a pattern
Have you ever picked up a story book where the author travels back and forth through time? They give the best headaches. And the person evaluating your SOP would want to sleep well. So, keep it simple and follow a chronological order (either forwards or backwards). One simple pattern you can follow is:
Para #1: Give an anecdote and state your motivation to pursue this course. (<4 lines)
Para #2- #(n-2): Talk about your relevant experience in a particular choronological order keeping in mind Golden Rule #1 and #2. Focus on smooth transitions. An abrupt ending or starting will break the sequence in the reader’s head.
Para #(n-1): Mention how your values align with what the college believes and advocates. The student-college fit should be loud and clear by now. Research well on the courses/professors at the college. Be specific when you talk about what subject or research piqued your interest.
Para #n: Conclude by talking about how you can give back to the student cohort through the program you have chosen.
Golden Rule #4: Get it reviewed
Get it reviewed by multiple people. Reach out to people on Linkedin or other platforms who have done the same course from the same university. This helps you understand how to tweak your SOP to the particular university. In general, follow a 3 step process to get your SOP reviewed:
- Draft review — this should be reviewed by as many people as possible. At this stage you should be evaluating whether your SOP is easy to read, has a purpose and tells your story.
- Semi-final review — this should be done by someone who has graduated from the particular course/university you are applying to. Do not pick more than 2 reviewers at this point. Ask questions like — What matters to the college most? If I could remove one paragraph, which paragraph wouldn’t hurt the chances at the college? Are there relevant courses at the college that fit the motivation in the SOP?
- Final review — This is where you read your SOP for final grammatical checks and ensure word count is strictly adhered to. Read it again after you paste your content into the given textbox on the application to ensure the formatting is as you want it. If you are asked to upload a file, prefer uploading a PDF. By this step, you should have read your own SOP a minimum of 50 times.
Golden Rule #5: Prepare for the interview
With the various versions of SOPs during the draft and review process, it is easy to forget which version was finalised. Read your final SOP another 50 times. This is extremely important if your college has an interview process as your SOP would be the primary discussion.
That’s about it! With these simple ingredients, you have the perfect SOP. Do keep in mind that writing an SOP can be a time taking process even for the best! Ensure you give yourself atleast a month’s time. Try it out and let me know what worked for you and what did not!
