5 Quick Tips to Make Your SOP Stand Out From the Crowd & Make a Stellar College Application

When Laura dropped her application to her dream university, she found that her first application got rejected despite her outstanding grades, significant work experience, and volunteer work. To add to her surprise, her classmate Wendy, who was an average scorer and had a little bit of part-time work experience, managed to secure a seat at the same university in the same program.

Wondering what got Wendy selected and Laura to get rejected? It was their Statement of Purpose A.K.A Personal Statement. While Laura took her SOP for granted and didn’t invest much effort into it, Wendy, conducted rigorous research, went through our sample Statement of Purpose Essays and noted the points discussed below on how to write a good personal statement.

When you apply to a university, there are bright chances that your application may have to fight it out with other applicants with similar scores and work experience. Imagine applying to a university where both you and your competition come with the same 8.2 CGPA, above 1000 score in SAT, and similar volunteering experience. What could compel the admission committee to select you over the other? This is where a well-articulated Statement of Purpose will help you out.

Universities all over the globe are looking for dynamic, capable, and well-rounded individuals. Because your resume, grade sheets and the passion to study don’t reflect your true potential, Universities solicit a Statement of Purpose from candidates to evaluate their character, potential and worthiness for the seat at their university.

Here’s How to Write a Good Personal Statement/Statement of Purpose

Now that you know the importance of a well-articulated Statement of Purpose. Let us dive into the 5 ways of Drafting a compelling Statement of Purpose.

1) Put the “Personal” in your Content

What you need to keep in mind is that Your SOP needs to Present Stories, not Statements. Take a blank piece of paper and get to know yourself a little better. Introspect and think about compelling things about your character. Jot down your life experiences or adversities that you overcame during your pursuit. Here are a few things that could add a compelling attribute to your story.

• Personal stories about family -

  While including statements about your family, make sure that it serves a purpose in an SOP and substantiates your potential. You could include stories about your family that inspired you to pursue a specific course or provided something to learn.

• Stories about culture and identity -

  You can include inspirations that you drew from your culture or your identity. This would substantiate that you can add to the diversity on the campus and bring rich experiences along with you.

• Facing and overcoming adversities -

  Everyone faces challenging moments in life. But it is not everyone who bounce back. The majority gets bogged down by challenges, But a few who outgrow the challenges, come out stronger and wiser. They are the kinds that the admission committee looks for.

2) Make it Specific

One of the common mistakes that students commit is that they get lost in the stories and arguments and eventually end up talking about nonspecific things. These are the kinds of SOPs that sound vague. Trust me, they are a huge turn-off. Refrain from making vague statements like “I am applying to the program because I am passionate about studying the course.” Instead, Substantiate this with reason. Answer questions like “Why I like the chosen field”, “What inspires me”, “What prerequisites do I check?”

3) Check Your Tone

There is no standard tone for a statement of Purpose or a Personal Statement. Just make sure you don’t overdo the “formal” in your SOP. Your tone and diction should be suitable to be read by the admission committee while maintaining a friendly, conversational tone throughout your statement.

4) Include your extra-curricular and achievements. But don’t Brag about it!

It is great that you can play the guitar or kick the ball all the way to the goal post. But how does it make you the right fit for a course in Business Analytics? When you include your co-curricular and achievements, be humble about them. Don’t let the committee think that this is all you got. Instead, make them believe that you come with the aptitude to study the course of your interest while having the capabilities to do something extra.

Also, connect your extra-curricular activities with your course. Include your learning experience, the challenges that you overcame and connect it to substantiate your zeal to learn. Perhaps, learning the guitar taught you to be patient and persistent or maybe the Football taught you discipline and introduced you to fitness.

5) Briefly Explain, your Future Plans and Goals

If you sound like you know what you come with plans and future goals, it makes more sense for the admission committee to choose you over a person who is just applying to the course for the sake of earning a degree. Let them know about your future goals and how the degree would help you to achieve them. Be brief and specific about goals. PS, “Starting a start-up” is not a future goal. If you are writing that you plan to kickstart a startup, make sure to answer these questions. What problem would your start-up solve? How would it change the lives of people? How would it generate revenue? Tell them the exact subjects in the course that will help you realize your start-up.

Hire a Professional SOP Writing Expert Today!

Now you are all set to write a powerful Statement of Purpose to impress the admission committee and secure your seat in the dream university. However, If you are still unsure if you can write a powerful SOP, and don’t want to end up like Laura, in the story. Then feel free to contact My Assignment Services. We have experts with decades of experience in mentoring students and preparing their statement of Purpose that gets selected. Hit us up and get your sample statement of Purpose written by our professional SOP writing experts.