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Statement of Purpose
Most recent revision of this article was led by Communication
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Fellow Ignacio Martin Arzuaga Garcia.
e.g. Article, Poster, CV
Criteria for Success
1. Focus on the aim. Your Personal Statement needs to
The Statement
“
convince a faculty committee that you are qualified for
their program.
of Purpose
2. Customize it. It should convince the admission gives you the
committee that you are a good fit for the particular chance to highlight
program you are applying for. your skills and
3. Stand out. Highlight your skills and experiences that previous achievements
convey your strengths and differentiate you from other to complement your
candidates. Resume, stand out
4. Be precise. Focus on concrete and quantitative examples. from the rest of the
5. Be concise. Your Statement of Purpose is no more than 2 candidates, and
pages. The MIT CEE graduate program recommends 1 – 1.5 convince the
pages. committee that you
would be a great value
Structure Diagram for the department.
Take advantage of it!
Ignacio
Martin
Purpose Arzuaga
Garcia
5th Year
The graduate school Personal Statement is a document that
Graduate Student
complements your resume and application form, describing your View Profile
:
profile
in a
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Abstract
Coding
Cover Letter: For a
Faculty Position
Figure Design
Journal Article
narrative way and convincing the admission committee that you
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would be a good match for a particular department or program. MIT students: Want to talk with one of
Take into account that matching goes both ways: they should be our Fellows about your project?
interested in you, and you should be interested in them. Your
personal statement should make this match clear. MAKE AN APPOINTMENT
Analyze Your Audience
Your personal statement will be read by a graduate committee –
a handful of faculty from the program. They’re trying to
determine if you will be a successful graduate student in their
department and a successful scientist after you graduate. They
are interested in your qualifications as a researcher, your career
goals, and how your personality matches their labs and
department.
The graduate committee probably reads hundreds of
applications every year. To make it easy for them to figure out
that you are a good fit, consider the following suggestions:
Make direct, concrete statements about your
accomplishments and qualifications.
Create a narrative that serves as a personal brand and
helps them remember you.
Give them some unique examples that describe you and
:
make you stand out, and which will make them
remember you as “that candidate that was so passionate
about…’ or “who has lot of experience in…”, although they
might not remember your name.
Skills
Create a personal narrative
PhD programs invest in the professional and scientific growth of
their students. Get the committee excited about investing in you
by opening your essay with a brief portrait of what drives you as
a scientist. What research directions are you passionate about,
and why? What do you picture yourself doing in 10 years?
Close your essay with a 2-3 sentence discussion of your long-
term career interests. No one will hold you to this; this just helps
your committee visualize your potential trajectory.
Describe your experiences
Experiences are the “what” of your essay. They are the most
efficient and easiest way to prove your capabilities to the
admissions committee.
What experiences led you to develop your skill set and
passions?
Where have you demonstrated accomplishment,
leadership, and collaboration?
Include research, teaching, relevant extracurriculars and
leadership positions.
State concrete achievements and outcomes like awards,
discoveries, or publications, or projects completed.
Achievements are not limited to research projects or
publications. You can discuss, for example, a research-oriented
class project in which you stood out, and that is related to the
type of work you expect in graduate school. Think about
experiences demonstrate your ability to conduct research.
Quantify your experiences to show concrete impact. How many
:
people were on your team? How many protocols did you
develop? How many people were in competition for an award?
As a TA, how often did you meet with your students?
Describe actions, and always direct the message to highlighting
your performance, not how important the company was or how
well-known the professor you work with as TA is.
Vague Concrete experience
experience
As a senior, I My interest in structural analysis led me to
received an A take advanced coursework to learn more
in a graduate- about Steel structures. At the graduate-level
level Structural Mechanics course, I learned about
Structure joints design which boosted my interest in…
Mechanics
course.
During my During my third year, I had the chance to
third year, I conduct a research-oriented class project
worked on a about the hydrology of the Mississippi river
project for my and the impact of global warming in its
Hydrology regime. In this project, I ran a hydrological
class that numerical model using the open source
made me get software … While working in this project, I
interested in faced with the difficulty of getting updated
numerical topographic data of the study area. I managed
modelling. to overcome this issue by…
I volunteered Committed to being a great ambassador of
at the Career our class, I volunteered at the Career Fair for
Fair for the last three years, welcoming the companies’
last three representatives, guiding them to their
years. At this locations, and helping them assemble their
position, I booths. This experience allowed me to gain
demonstrated training on dealing with time constraints and
my a large group of people. Last year, for
leadership example….
and
:
management
skills.
Demonstrate match to your target program
A key point on writing your Personal Statement is to
demonstrate that you have done previous research about the
program to which you’re applying, that you understand its
characteristics and objectives, and that you are really interested
in joining it and willing to do your best to be successful in it. To
do this:
Read the program’s website. Learn about its faculty
members and the projects they are working on. Check
what topics and high level goals the department is
committed to. Identify the main research areas.
Get in contact with faculty and students in your target
program. If you have had a positive discussion with
someone at the department, you can include in your
essay how those interactions confirmed that you would
be a good match for the program.
State which professors in the program you would be interested
in working with. Show how their research areas align with your
background and your goals. You can even describe potential
research directions or projects.
“Statement of Purpose” vs. “Personal Statement”
Many schools distinguish between “Personal Statement” and
“Statement of Objectives/Purpose”, providing different writing
prompts for each. The main difference between these two types
of essays is that the “Statement of Purpose” focuses on your
professional background, goals and research interests, while the
“Personal Statement” is more about your personal history and
where your motivation for graduate school comes from.
Experience only Personal Statement
Focus Academic Personal history
background General
:
Strengths motivations
Professional Personal
experience accomplishments
Achievements Personal details/
Research “Your Story”
interests Challenges
Fit with the overcome
program
Career goals
Resources and Annotated
Examples
Annotated Example 1 Annotated Example 2
This statement of purpose This statement of purpose
resulted in admission to the resulted in admission to the
CEE doctoral program. CEE doctoral program.
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