Often, you might get confronted with the issue on what to include in your statement of purpose letter. You may look at the different statement of purpose examples on our website to get inspiration and to know exactly how to go about writing the document. To guide you further, here are some tips for writing an effective statement of purpose examples
First paragraph: all about you
Start by introducing yourself with a short background, then state your current career objective or goal. Make sure that this introduction relates to the program you’re aspiring for. When comparing a statement of purpose vs a personal statement, this is the main difference.
For instance, you don’t talk about how much you love animals when you plan to apply to medical school. All the information contained in the introduction should have something to do with the specific aspect of the program you’re applying for. This means that you have to do thorough research on the program. This ensures that anything you include on the document relates directly to the details included in the program.
Second paragraph: your reasons for applying
The next thing to include in your statement of purpose template is an explanation of the reasons why you became interested in this specific field of study. In the first section, you stated your goal and background related to the program. Here, you provide an explanation of your interest.
This is the reason why you’re writing a statement of purpose, to inform the admission officers of the reasons you’re applying. Avoid giving reasons that are too general as this only confuses admission officers on your purpose. Furthermore, they won’t see you as a good candidate but just as part of a group who just provides too many reasons.
If you understand your own reasons for applying and you specify them as much as you can, you can easily convince admission officers that you’re the correct choice.
Third and fourth paragraphs: why you’re the best candidate
In the third section, you can open up about your personal experiences that have relevance to the area of study you want. Take these from your past jobs, projects, internships, and so on. However, some people may not be able to come up with such applicable experiences.
If this was your case, talk to other people, friends, and relatives who know you very well. They may help in ferreting out some significant experiences you’ve had.
You can describe in the fourth paragraph any other experience you’ve had which helped you decide on the field of study or has helped you in preparing for graduate studies. But be as concise as possible in expounding on this topic as the letter is not the right forum to narrate long stories.
Closing paragraph: future plans
In the final section of the letter, take time to concisely explain your long-term objectives, career-wise. Be very specific and clear when writing about this topic. You may notice the objective here is very different from your current goal in the first paragraph. In the beginning, you talked about your present desires or actions and the goal in this final paragraph refers to what you’re planning to achieve. In the concluding paragraph, you discuss what you want in the future.