Statement of Purpose
The major goal of the personal statement is to communicate to the
admissions committee what it is about you which makes you stand out
from the other applicants. The more competitive the school, the
larger the pool of applicants with strong GPAs and GRE scores, the
more important the personal statement becomes in the selection
process. Therefore it is important to devote ample time to writing
your statement.
Remember your statement should catch the attention
of the reader from the fist paragraph, from the first line - this is
extremely important.
There are two general approaches for writing your personal
statement. The first one is chronological approach, which is the
most common one (which does not necessarily mean the best!). The big
mistake one can make here is to describe everything beginning with
your childhood very thoroughly. I advise you to use no more than one
paragraph to write about your childhood and school years (two is ok
if something really extraordinary has happened to you - Olympiads,
teachers and books are not to be considered extraordinary). Do not
use generalities, be as exact as possible. Try to write mostly about
your research interests, research projects you have worked on,
scientific seminars, conferences or summer schools you have attended
so the general is be to the point and the point of the statement is
outstanding you, your interests and your research. Also don't spend
valuable time telling the admission committee about our wonderful
alma mater - MIPT, they are either already know about it (most
likely) or it won't help. Check out examples of good chronological
statements in Sample Statements.
The second one is thematic approach. In this case the statement is
organized around one or two key ideas, usually it is the field of
your research or your major interest in science. The statement might
be either chronological or not, you might site your childhood
experiences in the middle of your statement to prove some point, and
write about your current research in the very beginning. The point
is that your key idea should shine through the structure of the
statement.
Definitely there are many more ways to organize your statement since
it is very unique and personal writing. There is no best way to
write your statement, keep working and you will succeed!
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