Ramani K. Raman

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Step 5: Polishing

By now, you have an almost complete and read SoP in your hand. However, you would have been reading and re-reading the document so many times that by now you loose all ability to critically appraise the document. The document is your handiwork- even glaring mistakes can escape your eye - its natural. So the next thing is to show your SoP around.

Showing your SoP around doesn't mean that you ask opinions from every Tom, Dick and Harry. If you approach10 people, you will get 10 different opinions about the same thing, many of which may even be contradictory. This will add to your confusion and muddle - whose judgment are you to trust? So restrict your "review committee" to 2 or 3 people at the most. Pick them carefully. 

  • Choose one of these as someone with excellent command over written and spoken English. A friend in the English or literature department maybe? An English teacher maybe? He/She may point out mistakes in grammar. They may also be able to rephrase sentences in the document to make it look more elegant.

  • Choose one professionally qualified person - your professor or project supervisor. This exercise will be worthwhile only if the person is sufficiently acquainted with the aim of an SoP, the audience to which it is intended and what the SoP is expected to achieve.

Another very important point you need to note is to not use the same SoP for all the universities. Dont think that it is sufficient to just change the name of the university and send the same document to all places. A generic SoP can be easily spotted. Doing this will immediately cast you in bad light with the reader. The admission committee wants to know why you chose to apply to that particular university. Using clichéd sentences like it being one of the best universities around the world will not get you anywhere. Instead, you really need to research the university. Try to find out some unique characteristics. What can this university give you that none of the others can? Perhaps its association with leading research laboratories in US and around the world? Perhaps exposure to some highly focused stream of research you are interested in, which doesn't happen at all universities. Perhaps a social setting of your preference? Whatever it is - you need to research the university.  

Note that what you are trying to do here is to impress on the reader that you have made sufficient background research into their department/university and there has been some level of concerted thought before applying. Most of us don't operate this way - well, I didn't. We go by what our peers and seniors and rankings say. We just pick and choose among equally ranked universities at random. Nevertheless, you have to somehow bring this in your SOP. At the same time, don't make it too obvious. Dont go about stating course numbers in their syllabus that you find interesting! - Get what I mean?

Tailor your SoP for every university. To do this, you obviously cant go through the whole process for each university. The way I did is to leave one paragraph in the SoP to be university-specific. This could be the para in which you state why you want to go to that particular university. Some of this 'tailoring' may also be incorporated into the para where you state your research interests. If you can manage to comment intelligently on some similar research activities in that department - great! If you had some fruitful discussions via Email with any of the faculty members about the research activities, do make it a point to mention that. In this way, give the impression that you have really thought about applying to that particular university (even if it just happens to be a random choice!)

By this point, your SoP should be more or less finished. 

As a finale, here are some points to always keep in mind while composing your SoP

  • You are not Shakespeare and nor are you expected to be one. So don't fret that you can’t find the silken touch in your writing. What you should focus is on how concisely you highlight all your positive aspects.

  • SoP is more than just a resume. Merely restating your marks and percentages is a strict No-No. Talk about how you developed  a liking for the subject, about some projects you may have done, what your possible research interests may be etc

  • Avoid expansive words. Dont show off your vocabulary. Write to communicate, not to impress.

  • Common Pitfall: It is very easy for you to get sucked into a never ending loop of redrafting your SOP again and again. You will probably be never ever satisfied with how your SoP looks. While SoP is very important, it is not everything! It is just one part of your application. Your GRE scores, reco letters and other things also matter a lot. So don't unnecessarily fret over you SoP and spend more time than necessary on it. Remember - your first priority is to ensure that your application reaches the university well ahead of the deadline! Time is of essence. Spend about three to four weeks at the most on your SoP. Thereafter, just quickly wrap it up and move on.

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