A statement of purpose should not be simply seen as a chance to define your personal values and vision; more than that, it provides the opportunity for you to connect with the organization that you are applying to.
In this article, I discuss how you can appeal directly to the institutions that you are applying to by making sure your values align with theirs. Personal statements or statements of purpose are a different type of academic writing.
I worked as a professional editor for a large editing company for over five years. And there were two periods of every year, where 90% of the work involved editing several dozen personal statements or statements of purposes on behalf of students, professors, and scholarship applicants.
They were usually short — between 500 and 1000 words. However, for these, you had to careful than usual with other academic documents, such as academic essays. Instead of proofreading and copyediting, the focus was on developmental editing, with heavy commentary.
We had to provide students/applicants with advice on what to include, what to exclude, appropriate tone, and so on. More time was spent on commentary than on actual editing or proofreading this relatively small document.
Apart from that, another important aspect was advising students on how to exclude or include information to align their values with those of the institution to which they were applying. Read on to learn more.
What is a statement of purpose?
The statement of purpose is a short essay typically 300 to 500 words that highlights your educational background, achievements, and goals. A statement of purpose is a document that is part of a series of documents required to complete an application to an educational or similar institution.
It can apply to a wide variety of education-related applications. This includes:
Undergraduate university applications
Graduate university applications
Scholarship applications
Job applications in the educational field
In the case of undergraduate college applications, you can think of your college application essay as your SOP. For graduate university students, an SOP is much more well-defined and important.
In the same way that a college application essay can decide whether or not you enter the university of your dreams, the same can be said of a statement of purpose. You should know already that university applications are competitive.
There are only a limited number of seats for a wide range of students from all over the world. This is especially true for prestigious universities based in the United States, Canada, Western Europe, and other so-called first-world countries.
There will be a large pool of candidates who are already prequalified in terms of criteria, such as SAT scores, high-school grades, TOEFL or IELTS scores, and so on. So, how do you stand out?
One way of doing so is by aligning your values with those of the institution or organization that you’re applying to. How do you do so? I will explain in the following section.
How to write a statement of purpose
When writing a statement of purpose includes making clear what your story is and how it aligns with teh value of the educational institution that you are applying to. Matching your values with those of the educational institution that you’re applying to is a matter of framing.
Of course, it’s unrealistic to expect that your experience and values will automatically match with a college, university, or scholarship that you find attractive. This is where framing comes in. What is framing? This means curating your personal and educational experience in a way that appeals to the people or institution that you wish to get into.
You should first do research on the institution that you’re applying to. Then, you need to start asking questions to begin framing your experience to match your experience with their values.
Here are a list of questions to consider:
What does this organization stand for?
Have I ever participated in activities that match these values?
What activities of these institutions can I highlight to match with mine?
What are the specific details in terms of persons or projects can I mention and tie to my own personal story?
This is an issue of storytelling. It doesn’t mean you have to exaggerate or lie. It means you have to curate your personal story in a manner that appeals to your target audience.
I remember having to edit a personal statement by a Mexican student applying to a university. His story was an inspiring one. He mentioned the tragedy of his grandfather's passing and how it had led to instability in his family.
He hoped that gaining acceptance to a liberal university would put him in a position to help fill the gap that the passing of his grandfather had left. However, the language that he used may have led to bias against him.
He mentioned being a “patriarch” to his family, especially to deal with the quarreling among the female members of his family. In a liberal environment such as an American university, “patriarch” likely has a negative connotation.
A liberal institution instead values collaborative leadership and communication. More than that, it would be wary of the idea of a teenager believing himself to be in a position to “set women straight” as opposed to respecting the age, experience, and unique contributions of these women.
My advice was to get rid of the word patriarchy and any mention of quarrels among the women his family. Instead, he should simply mention his grandfather as an inspiration for leadership, and how he hoped that an education at the university would help in teaching him how to become a leader in his own right.
Final thoughts
A statement of purpose is unlike other forms of academic writing. Most other types of academic writing are formal and impersonal. They appeal to logic and reason. And you should be as unbiased as possible.
With a statement of purpose, you’re telling a personal story. This personal story is not supported through citations, paraphrasing, or quoting. Instead, it is a curation of your own personal experience in a way that is appealing to your target audience.
If you are a graduate student, in your statement of purpose mention the work of prominent scholars from this department and how your past work or current interest aligns with theirs. If you’re a scholarship candidate applying for an environment-based scholarship, mention how past projects by the institution inspired you. Always think of an angle that allows you to align your interests and values with that of the organization or institution you are applying to.
Cite this EminentEdit article |
Antoine, M. (2024, September 17). How to Write a Statement of Purpose: Aligning Values. https://www.eminentediting.com/post/how-to-write-a-statement-of-purpose-aligning-values |
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