第六章：Statement of Purpose（ＳＯＰ）

Statement of Purpose (SOP)

Make sure you understand the conventions and expectations around statements of purpose in your field. In some fields, something fairly generic will suffice, and in others, it could be the DECISIVE component of your application. Talk to professors in the field you trust about whether your approach to the statement of purpose is an appropriate one.

This is also the 'fairest' part of your application. If you're passionate about the research you want to do, it will show up in your SOP unless you're a poor writer (in which case, you might want to reconsider the Ph.D. until you're a decent one; good writing/communication is essential for successful researchers). As I wrote in my own post down below, there are several proven techniques of getting a strong SOP. I'll detail the best ones here, which everyone can and should follow (but many don't). One approach you might take before you even start writing your SOP is to: 

1. Select your research area and actively check out the profiles of relevant professors/post-docs/grad students (in that order) at the schools you are thinking of applying to. Check out their publications, and try to read (or at least skim) one representative publication before you start forming an opinion. The goals of this step are three-fold:
   • (a) It will give you a good idea of how productive a research group is, and whether a professor is even accepting (or currently has) students. This is closely tied to the funding situation of that professor.
   • (b) It will make you more informed about whether you really want to join that research group. What looks interesting at the high-level is not necessarily as exciting once you get into the nuts and bolts of the research.
   • (c) If you discover a really good 'fit' (which is the best outcome of this exercise; trust me), you can use that in a big way in your application. In CS for example, students often post their code or demos. Download those and tinker with them. Apply them to new datasets. Have fun with what's available. I'm sure similar things can be done in other research areas.
2. After you have done (1), try to make contact with the faculty member of your choice. At the same time, also try to establish connections with the grad students. My adviser once showed me a list of potential Ph.D. candidates he was screening, and asked me if by chance I'd heard of any of them. As it turned out, I did know one, through early contact. Needless to say, she got the position. The rest of her application didn't even really matter at that point. Note that the reason you should do this step after (1) is to enable you to write an 'intelligent' note to the person you're contacting. It's a good idea to not mention that you're applying at all in your early emails. Instead, try to start a conversation around the actual research. Show that you're interested and that you know what you're talking about. Become a familiar name in that group. 
3. ...and finally, make sure to attend lots of talks by visiting faculty in your undergrad university. You don't know where that will lead you. If someone's talk influences you to pursue an area of research, that's an excellent thing to reference in your SOP.

How does all this relate to the SOP? Well, essentially the SOP is your (diplomatic) chance to show your committee that you did this and more. You can drop faculty names you've successfully contacted, and even reference papers. You can personalize each application. Most SOPs don't cite even a single paper. Citing a paper though will move your application up another notch in the eyes of an academic committee.

Having reviewed certain applications, I would also like to mention one major flaw that shows up in the majority of the SOPs that get rejected. The SOP is NOT the document where you should ever get too 'personal'. Don't waste too many words talking about how you want to be the next Albert Einstein. I'm not saying it should all be dry, but make every word as objective (and verifiable) as you can. This is generally true, but especially so for the STEM programs out there. Academics are impressed by crisp, concise writing.

Compensating for a poor SOP

Compensating for a poor SOP is very difficult. A high GPA and perfect GRE scores will do little to help an applicant who has difficulties writing about research. In some fields, past research experience is expected, while in other fields the ability to write about research intelligently may suffice in convincing the admissions committee to admit you, even if you don't have experience doing research. Strong letters of reference can, to some extent, address a weak statement of purpose. However, there is generally a strong correlation between the strength of letters of reference and past research experience. If you have no official research experience, try and get letters of recommendation from professors where you completed a class research project that got a good grade. Even if you didn't do supervised research with the professor, the professor may be able to comment on your research skills and successes. Definitely contact the professor and remind them of your class project, and the grade you received. Summarize it, and attach the project to the professor so they can refer to it.