Statement of Purpose

Graduate and professional schools often require some sort of written statement called a “statement of purpose,” “personal statement,” or “letter of intent” as a part of the application. Some statements require rather specific information about the applicant’s intended area of study within their graduate field and others are quite unstructured, leaving the applicant free to address a wide range of matters. The importance of the statement varies from school to school and from field to field.

Determine your purpose in writing the statement

Usually the purpose is to persuade the admissions committee that you are an applicant who should be chosen. Whatever its purpose, the content must be presented in a manner that will give coherence to the whole statement.

Pay attention to the purpose throughout the statement so that extraneous material is left out.

Pay attention to the audience (committee) throughout the statement. Remember that your audience is made up of professionals in the field, You do not need to educate them about the field, they are already knowledgeable from their years of experience. What they don’t know about is you! They want insight into who you are, the experiences that you have had and of most importance the impact that those experiences have had on you. This is what makes a personal statement personal!

Determine the content of your statement

Be sure to answer any questions fully. Analyze the questions or guidance statements for the essay completely and answer all parts. Usually graduate and professional schools are interested in the following matters, although the form of the question(s) and the responses may vary:

Determine your approach and style of the statement

There is no such thing as “the perfect way to write a statement.” There is only the one that best fits you.

DO

DON’T

Where to go for help