10 Mistakes to Avoid When Writing Your Statement of Purpose
A Blog where I share the 10 Mistakes Students make when Creating a Statement of Purpose
Here are 10 Mistakes you should avoid while making statement of purpose
Every year thousands of students graduate from colleges and universities in search of a career in their chosen field. As they go out there to look for jobs, they need to write a statement of purpose. This is something which is as important as important as the resume. However, many students do not find this easy and make mistakes that can be easily avoided. Let’s look at the ten mistakes students make when writing their statement of purpose.
The Statement of Purpose is your first impression
The Statement of Purpose is your first impression on the admission board. Your Statement of Purpose is like a letter of application that not only should reflect your personal style, but also be well-structured, well-written and as free from any errors. There are a lot of students who have no idea how to write a good Statement of Purpose. They are familiar with the entire application process from their perspective, but not from the point of view of the admission board. Therefore, there are a lot of mistakes that students make when writing their Statement of Purpose. In fact, most of the mistakes are related to the fact that students are not getting professional help.
Mistake 1: Don’t use first-person pronouns
I’ve had the pleasure of reviewing a few statements of purpose from applicants recently and I have noticed a trend in the way they write. Many of them spend their time listening to all of these tips from people who have never reviewed a statement of purpose before. These tips may seem logical, but they don’t apply to every statement of purpose. For example, one of the most frequent pieces of advice I hear is to never use first-person pronouns in your statement. However, if your statement is effective, then you will want to use first-person pronouns. Here’s a rule of thumb: if you are writing your statement of purpose to tell a story, then don’t use first-person pronouns. But if you are writing your statement to tell a story AND convince the admissions committee that you would be an excellent student, then use first-person pronouns.
The first mistake that students make when creating essays or statements of purpose is using first-person pronouns. Students make the mistake of using the word “I” when describing themselves, their capabilities, and their qualifications. However, these essays are not about you; they are about the company or the school that you are applying to. The company or school does not care about you personally. They care about your skills and your qualifications, so your essay should be about those things. For example, “I have great leadership skills” is a mistake. Instead, the essay should be specific about your leadership skills and the ways in which you have demonstrated them.
Mistake 2: Don’t get personal
The most common mistake students make when writing their statement of purpose is to get too personal. Personal statements are your unique opportunity to stand out from the rest of the applicants by providing information that is not found anywhere else. The personal statement is your chance to explain why you are unique and why you are the perfect candidate for the program, so avoid being generic or telling the same story as other applicants. People will read your personal statement, but they will remember the story that made them laugh or cry or sit up and take note. Giving the reader a good laugh or a good cry is a good thing — in fact, it is one of the most important things you can do in your personal statement. However, if your personal statement is too personal, it can become a problem.
The second mistake students make is that they tell too much personal information that is irrelevant. The whole point of a statement of purpose is to get the admissions officer to get an idea of how you can help their organization. The admissions officers will be reading hundreds of Statements of Purpose and they need to be able to quickly sift through the information to pick out the good stuff. This means you have to get to the point quickly and get to the meat of your story. There is a time for personal information, but it is not in the first few paragraphs of your statement. Personal information should be reserved for the end of your statement, so that the admissions officers have time to digest your story before they hear about you. Remember, this is about them, not you.
Mistake 3: Don’t bore your reader
Most students fail to make their Statement of Purpose (SoP) interesting because they’re afraid of writing something that will make them sound interesting. The truth, however, is that your reader is probably not interested in your life story, and that’s why you must not make the mistake of assuming that your reader is. Most readers will spend less than two minutes to read your SoP, so if you’re going to write something that’s going to be read in such a short period of time, you’ve got to be sure that your writing is going to be interesting enough to make that two minutes worth it. This is why you should focus on the positive aspects of your life. Don’t focus on the negative aspects. Don’t focus on the hardships you’ve gone through. No one cares. Focus on the positive things you’ve done and what you’re currently doing. This way, you’ll make your reader want to know more about you. Just like in a good book, you should leave your reader wanting more.
When writing a statement of purpose, you want to keep your reader engaged and interested. After all, if your reader isn’t interested, why would they want to read your application? So, how do you keep your reader interested? You write about something that is interesting to you. I recently read an article about how it is better to write about something you’re passionate about. This is not true. I have read many applications where the person wrote an excellent statement of purpose and then wrote about something they were passionate about. They put all their time and effort into something they were passionate about and then made a mistake. They didn’t write about it in a way that was captivating. And as a result, they lost their reader. A great statement of purpose is captivating. It grabs the reader’s attention and keeps them interested. It is interesting. A boring statement of purpose will not get you very far. It is the difference between not getting the job and getting the job. Write about something you are passionate about, but make sure to write about it in a way that is captivating.
Mistake 4: Use just one application
You are in college, or maybe you have graduated. You have an idea and you want to start a company — big or small. Your first instinct would be to begin to research what you need to do to get your business off the ground. You’ll Google it and the first result that comes up is to use an application like this. You fill out the application, and after a few weeks, you get a response saying that you’ve been accepted/rejected. The problem with this process is that it only allows you to prove that you are a college student or graduate (your biggest selling point) and that you have an idea. You are still left with many questions like, “How much funding can I get?” or “How much time do I have to create my business?” Most applications don’t tell you these things. Instead, you have to go to the website and read through their FAQs, which is time consuming and frustrating.
Writing your statement of purpose can be a daunting task, and it can be tempting to start with the easiest application to write your statement of purpose in, but unfortunately, that’s not the best way to go. When applying to graduate school, you’re almost always going to have to write a statement of purpose in one form or another, whether it’s a personal statement or a statement of purpose. There are a few different types of statements of purpose, but most of them are similar in the fact that they have the same basic elements, including an introduction, a statement of purpose, a discussion of your skills, and a discussion of your interests. You should only use one application if you are applying to the same program with the same exact essay. For example, if you are applying to a dual degree program, you will usually have to write a statement of purpose for both programs, but you can use the same essay if you are applying to the same program twice.
Mistake 5: Get to the point quickly
When I was in the process of applying to graduate school, I struggled to figure out exactly what to write in my statement of purpose. The amount of time and effort that I put into my own statement of purpose was huge. I think I spent almost a month and a half writing and revising it. I read so many sample SOPs online, and I also spoke with my mentor, and almost every answer I got from her was different from the previous one. Some said to write about a specific experience, some said to write about my professional goals, some said to write about my research, and there were even some who said to write about my hobbies. I ended up writing about a specific experience, my professional goals, and my research all together in a sort of a “I want to gain more experience”, “I want to work in this field”, “I have done this research” kind of way.
Mistake 6: Don’t be wordy
Do you want to know the most common mistake students make when creating a statement of purpose? Of course you do. It’s being wordy. A statement of purpose is supposed to be concise and to the point. The problem is that students want to be descriptive in their statement of purpose, which can lead to it becoming too wordy. Students think that the more words they use, the more impressive their statement of purpose will be. When creating a statement of purpose, you need to be as concise as possible. The aim is to make the reader want to keep reading, not to have them lose interest and stop reading halfway through. It’s ok to put a few more sentences in your statement of purpose if you’re telling a story, but if you’re just talking about yourself, keep it short.
This is a common mistake that students make when writing their personal statement of purpose. They feel that they need to use big words and make their essay sound like a novel. This is a big mistake. You have to remember that the admission officer is reading hundreds of personal statements of purpose per day. If your essay is over 5 pages, the admission officer will not spend the time to really read your essay. Instead, he or she will skim it and pick out comments that he/she remembers. This is because they have to read so many essays in a day that they can’t possibly remember each one. The best way to make sure your essay is read is to make it short and to the point. Don’t use big words that you don’t know the meaning of. The admission officer will pick up on this and think that your essay was written by someone else.
Mistake 7: Don’t forget to proofread
One of the biggest mistakes students make when creating a statement of purpose is that they forget to proofread. It is important to ensure that your statement is easy to read and flows well, especially if you want to make a good impression on your academic institution. It can be tempting to want to finish your statement as soon as possible, but this is the worst thing you can do. One of the biggest mistakes students make when creating a statement of purpose is that they forget to proofread. If you have to submit your statement of purpose in a hurry, then you should make sure that you have somebody else proofread your statement of purpose for you. It is important to ensure that your statement is easy to read and flows well, especially if you want to make a good impression on your academic institution. Another thing you can do to ensure that your statement of purpose flows well is to not use too many fancy words. Remember, a statement of purpose is a formal document and you should use formal language.
One of the biggest mistakes students make when creating a statement of purpose is that they forget to proofread. It is important to ensure that your statement is easy to read and flows well, especially if you want to make a good impression on your academic institution. It can be tempting to want to finish your statement as soon as possible, but this is the worst thing you can do. One of the biggest mistakes students make when creating a statement of purpose is that they forget to proofread. If you have to submit your statement of purpose in a hurry, then you should make sure that you have somebody else proofread your statement of purpose for you. It is important to ensure that your statement is easy to read and flows well, especially if you want to make a good impression on your academic institution. Another thing you can do to ensure that your statement of purpose flows well is to not use too many fancy words. Remember, a statement of purpose is a formal document and you should use formal language.
Mistake 8: Don’t tell a story
Many students make the mistake of telling a story. They begin with the story of their early years, then move on to the story of their college years, and then the story of their future. While it is true that the story of your past and present can explain your passions, you should never tell a story in your Statement of Purpose. In fact, your statement of purpose should be devoid of any storytelling. If your statement is well-crafted and written, it will tell a story all by itself. The story will be a story of your future, not of your past. What you should do instead of telling a story is to present your vision of the future. In other words, explain how your vision of the future is propelled by your past. Then, explain how you hope to achieve this vision of the future with the help of your college.
Telling a story works in some circumstances, but not in all. For example, if you are applying for a creative writing course, telling a story can be a very effective way of attracting the reader’s attention and creating a connection with them. However, most profile writers are applying for business courses, for which telling a story is not an appropriate strategy. Business schools want to know about your skills and your interests, and such an approach won’t be helpful for them. It’s better to tell them about your past experiences, skills and interests.
Mistake 9: Don’t forget to send it to your future school
There are a lot of things you can do wrong in crafting a Statement of Purpose (SOP). You might make spelling mistakes, you might get your facts wrong, you might use dull language, or you might even have the wrong idea about the importance of this document. One mistake that you should definitely avoid is forgetting to send your application to the school you’re applying to. That’s right. A lot of students make this mistake. They write a good SOP, and then forget about the next step: sending it to the universities they’ve applied to. Now, it’s not too late. Schools will still accept your application if you send it to them. But you should definitely send it to them. As the saying goes, “don’t leave anything to chance.” And in this case, the chance is that your application will fall into the pile of applications that the admissions office receives.
You may have spent hours and hours making your statement of purpose and you still might not be happy with it. This is perfectly fine! Remember, a statement of purpose is a living document. It is not set in stone. It is not something that you will print out and leave on your desk. It is something that you will continue to work on and perfect. But, this doesn’t mean that you can’t get feedback early on. In fact, you should! As I mentioned above, you should have 3 people read over your statement of purpose before you send it to your school. Send in a draft and get feedback. Then go back and make the necessary changes. Even after you have sent your statement of purpose in, you can still make changes. Ask for feedback from your future school’s graduate students or professors. They will be able to see if something is unclear or if there is something that you are missing. This is also a great time to ask for help if you are having difficulty with the statement of purpose. If you are still a bit stuck, feel free to message me for help. I’d be happy to look over it for you.
Conclusion —
In my blog post, I shared with you some of the most common mistakes students make when creating a statement of purpose. If you are looking for more information on how to write a statement of purpose, we have a great blog post about the topic.