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I know that many people find it very difficult to formulate their thoughts into sentences and write them down, but if you can explain why you want to study this or that subject, then this means that you already have strategy and some idea of how it should be in your admission essay. In addition to good strategy for writing an essay, you also need to understand what the statement of purpose is and how you should structure and format your text to meet all requirements for such tasks. I think that if you read more articles about this on special educational sources, then you will be able to quickly edit your drafts with ideas, so that you choose the best and get well-written text.
Lione – Write it as if you’re speaking aloud and telling a friend. Include everything that pops into your head. Your life plans, goals for a career, etc. Write a lot. Then go back and put things in order: remove the phony stuff, check spelling and grammar, edit, edit, edit. If all else fails, here’s more advice (I hope CDH allows me to post this link):
https://www.usatoday.com/story/college/2014/10/23/9-essay-writing-tips-to-wow-college-admissions-officers/37397979/Good luck!
Lori 💋Hi Lione, I totally agree with the previous responses, they’re all good ideas and suggestions. Here are some more.
You sort of implied that you have a particular college in mind. Why do you want to go there? Do they have classes and a course of study that you want to pursue and maybe are unique to your hoped for profession? Have you heard they have excellent professors? Was it recommended by friends or family or a current teacher? Are you the first (or one of the first) to go to college in your family? Or have others in your family attended, told you about it, and got you excited -whether it’s this particular college or any other.
Part of what college admission offices are looking for is, do you understand the challenges that colleges – and their particular college – have and are you willing to work to meet those challenges. There are lots of form letters out on the internet, but I believe colleges are looking for a little more than just a list of your background accomplishments. Let your personality shine through, show that you’re eager to accept the time and effort they will ask you for when you arrive on campus. Often, what admission officers are also looking for is, can you put down on paper, in a informative, positive, and, oh, say polished manner, something about yourself and your desires for the future,
There are usually no guarantees, any of these suggestions (mine and others) should help you compose a paper that will hopefully get a second and third look, and acceptance.
Good luck!
To expect an applicant to a post-secondary institution to have a clear sense of purpose or direction in terms of life, livelihood and career is, perhaps, a bit unfair,
No, it really is unfair. How many of us have gone through life wishing we had chosen a different path or pursued a different dream.
College, University, etc. have specific purposes. One of these is to have the opportunity to examine various fields of tuition with a view to choosing from amongst them something to which one can add something of value and take pleasure in doing so. Other purposes include:
Socialization with a view to expanding one’s own ideas and view of the world, making of friends and associates with whom to unify and ally in the achievement of common goals.
The development of the faculties of discourse and communication, critical thought, research and evaluation, professional techniques and the basics of independent thought.
The acquisition of knowledge and the co-ordination of various fields of study with a view to developing specific expertise as well as a more general overview of past findings and the resulting speculations and hypotheses.
The development of individual independence and self-reliance commiserate with the self-axamination that develops a better understanding of ourselves, others and the foibles and strengths we share.
Unfortunately it seems to me that post-secondary institutions, even the most highly regarded, have a tendency to be diploma mills. For example, focused specializing without regard for the importance of generalization providing a unified sense of (as Dirk Gently would say) the interconnectedness of everything. I also suspect, judging by some masters and doctoral theses I have read or the statements of persons with advanced degrees that the relevant institutions really should refund them their tuitions.
So, your question is are you prepared to dedicate yourself to an intensive programme of self-education embracing a wide array of topics? Have you ‘learned to learn’ or are you just another of the spoon-fed products of a rather inadequate and ethnocentric system of education? Can you think? That you would suggest that you find it, “… difficult to formulate [your] thoughts into sentences and write them down…”, is not reassuring. Is an academic endeavour in your best interest? I recommend it but the question still arises.
Since the SOP you refer to is specifically for baccalaureates applying for admission to graduate school I would think that a crucial element would be to:
Define a question(s) or field of study that has attracted your interest and why it interests you.
Describe how your CV and experience have prepared you to approach the matter.
Some notion of what conclusions you might expect (a sort of general hypothesis) and the methods you generally propose to use to further develop and test that hypothesis.
What are your goals should you achieve the desired degree and how your desired efforts would benefit the pursuit of those goals.
As for compositional strategy, in the absence of specific examples, I would think that beginning an outline based on the journalistic questions of who, what, where, when and why might be a start.
Who are you and what have been your curricular and extracurricular achievements and participations?
What particular topic or field do you wish to pursue?
Where do you wish to engage in this pursuit? What institution is most amenable to the success of this effort?
Do you feel that you can accomplish your goals within a reasonable period of time?
Why this path of academia?
There is also the question of how (i.e., how do you intend to finance this programme), but the above essentially deal with that, or should.
And on, and on and on ….
Araminta.
I recently helped my eldest daughter work on hers as she was in a similar predicament – albeit for her resume/cv. But we focused on what she has achieved rather than what she hasn’t, as she was worried that her lack of life experience would count against her.
Ww then tried to see how college would support her towards the next steps of her education/career and used that as a starting point for her Personal Objectives etc.
Hope that is of some help
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