What Do Universities Look For In Statement of Purpose?

You have an excellent academic background with great grades in your exams. So, you applied for admission to some of the world’s leading universities abroad.

Now guess how many students have gotten “great grades” in their exams as well?

Exactly: many!

In that case, how do the admission committees decide which applicant to pick and who to reject?

This is where Statement of Purpose or SOP comes to play a key difference-maker.

Helps you stand out

Also called a letter of intent, SOP enables you to stand out in the crowd. It allows you the space to communicate with the admission committees and explain why you should get admission at that university.

SOP also helps students who don’t necessarily have rich grades but have a strong personality or “purpose”. A well-written and conveyed statement of purpose can reserve their spot at the university despite having lower exam scores compared to other students. That’s because the top universities in the US, the UK, Canada, Australia, and other nations now no longer run after grades but they also consider various factors when assessing admission applications.

What’s the “purpose” of a statement of purpose?

Statement of purpose is more than just “should be done”. It’s an essential part of your university application admission that provides a peek to admission committees into your personality. The main purpose of the SOP is to provide admission committees more insights into your life, goals, aspirations, and values. It helps them better understand who you want, what you want to do in life, and how you can contribute positively in the community.

How to write a statement of purpose?

Depending on the program you’re applying for, the points of consideration for admission committees may vary. For instance, if you’re applying to study biotechnology, they may consider a whole range of different factors than you applying for business studies.

Further, admission committees at different universities may have their distinct set of criteria to judge an SOP.

This level of dynamism makes writing a statement of purpose challenging. Meaning, there’s no defined rule to write this essay. It varies from one student to another, depending on their individual cases.

This is why it’s recommended students get help from experts when writing SOP to improve their chances of admission.

If you’re going the DIY way, here are a few things to keep in mind when writing a statement of purpose for college admission:

• Avoid grammatical and punctuation mistakes.
• Ensure the communication is clear, concise, and engaging.
• Explain what stands you apart from other applicants.
• Add more depth to other parts of the application. (For instance, if you have mentioned doing community service for a certain period anywhere in the application, talk about it a bit on the SOP.)
• Show that you’re familiar with the university and its program.
• Talk about what you want to achieve with the degree you’re applying for.

These are some of the things, among several, that you should keep in mind when writing a state of purpose.

In the end, ensure to spend enough time on this. As mentioned earlier, SOP is one of the biggest difference-makers. The better your SOP is, the higher the chances of getting admission to a top university.

For more information or for help, get in touch with overseas education consultants.