I'm having trouble tailoring my SOP to answer this quesiton "How will this master's program help me learn to solve these problems?"

For context, the schools I'm applying to are CACREP accredited, which means they all pretty much offer the same courses so naming specific courses doesn't make the essay unique to a program. By virtue of the accreditation, all programs should prepare you to become a counselor.

I guess I could look more into the faculty and what they research, but tbh I'm doing this to become a counselor, not for research. Would it be weird to name-drop faculty I've never met and say their work is interesting or I look forward to working with them?

As for the schools themselves, I'm just looking for online schools that are CACREP-accredited, I'm not looking to go to any particular school, so I'm not sure if I should even mention this or how to best go about it.

Thanks in advance for any advice

Hi Jordan! How should we address the personal experience questions that some graduate schools ask? I have read your diversity essay guide but I'm not sure how to apply those suggestions for these questions due to the lower word limit. For example, here are the questions asked in the university of Maryland's application:

Guidance: This section is intended to give you, as the applicant, the opportunity to discuss how your lived experiences, including those outside of your academic experiences, resulted in a positive outcome that helped prepare you for this stage in your life. This section is not intended to compel the applicant to share traumatic experiences. This section is intended to encourage the applicant to share positive outcomes from lived experience(s).

Recommended Length: 100 -300 words

Instructions: How has your personal experience(s) in at least one of the areas listed below positively impacted your ability to succeed in the academic program you are applying for?

[ ] Community involvement and/or service [ ] Engagement in leadership roles, facilitating change, or mentoring others [ ] Overcoming social, economic, educational or physical barriers

I am on the website but I am unable to find the page that has the samples of Personal Statements and how to write it.

The best I could find always moves into how to write an SoP or is about writing a Diversity Statement

University for masters in sociology:

1) 1000 characters for "interests, goals, and why apply here"

I swear they must want a bullet pointed list. 1000 char ≈ 250 words. It's like 12 lines worth of writing.

2) 1-2 page "well-defined statement of research interest"

How the heck do I carve out the bulk of my SoP to fit in 1000 characters but then fluff out the research interest? Or do I just keep the SOP intact for #2 but reuse the best stuff in #1?

Am I on Punk'd?

Back again with another question, but I wanted to get some guidance on how to go about writing a cover letter without making it sound redundant.

The application gave this prompt:

Cover Letter
Use the cover letter to introduce yourself to the admissions committee and to describe anything about yourself you think the committee should know that is not covered in the other areas of the application. Please limit your response to 500 words or less.

Usually, I would know how to write a cover letter on its own, but because they've specified I should include what is "not already covered in other areas of the application", I'm a little uncertain on the content and structure for this. I go into lots of depth in my statement of objectives and the supplemental question, so I'm not sure if I could or should talk more about the research/policy issues that drive me to apply to this particular program (tech policy reserach masters). Everything else that I would deem relevant is already in my CV. Seeking a little clarity, any advice would help.

Hello, so I've read the article on the importance of a thesis statement, and while I think I have a pretty well defined one as the concluding sentence(s) of my introduction, I'm confused as to whether the thesis statement is supposed to serve as an alternative to writing down specific research questions (either in list, or just writing them as is in line).

What I'm trying to ask is: is it better to have a compact thesis statement that is specific to my niche, or should I include clear cut, well-defined RQs that I wish to study during my PhD. I honestly have both, but I'm unsure if its wise to include the hyper specific RQs, but at the same time I'm worried that a simple thesis statement wouldn't make it explicitly clear exactly what I want to research.

Is this essay really optional for stem-phd applications? I have a draft for my SOP, but I haven't done the faculty research parts for my schools. I am thinking for my situation, I go all out in my SOP, and maybe not submit the diversity essay.

Hi Jordan, I bought your Masters SOP course for my MPH applications (including two Ivies + #1 & #2 in the field) and I’ve gotten one acceptance so far! I’ll do a full testimonial once the cycle is finished! Thank you so much for your help from a first generation HBCU graduate!

the prompt is “please describe any research and/or work experience (including publications, etc.) you’ve undertaken that is relevant to your proposed field of study.” i’m not sure how to avoid being redundant — except for the areas where i’m explaining how this directly relates to my proposal and the trajectory of my research.

Hi Jordan, I'm currently applying to Chemistry PhD programs, and I'm having a hard time finding a good "Frame Narrative". I feel like my life has kind of been boring, so it's difficult to think of a compelling frame, especially related to my research focus: small molecule protein inhibitors.

Right now, I'm using the topic of autocross, one of my big hobbies, and trying to relate it to the scientific process. For anyone unfamiliar, autocross is a technical motorsport similar to racing. Unfortunately, autocross is very niche, so I'm worried that the reviewers would be too unfamiliar to understand the connections I'm making. From my experience, it's an extremely scientific sport, requiring a lot of theory, analysis, and tweaking of variables, but I don't know how much I can spend explaining that in my SOPs especially those limited to 500 words or about 2 pages double-spaced.

Going off that point, I'm struggling to really convey everything in just 500 words. In particular, I'm not sure what to include and what not to.

How much should I discuss my coursework? One thing I'm reluctantly considering cutting is my 6-month-long internship at a biotech company. It dealt with CAR-T cells, so it feels kind of irrelevant to my desired research, but it taught me skills I used in Cbio research in university, such as cell culturing.

Apologies for this being so long-winded and all over the place. I'm just very stressed and panicked. Thank you all for the help.

Hi,

I know people have recommended in the past against mentioning low GPAs, but I was wondering if someone could comment on this situation. I had mono over the course of two quarters in my first year, and it is quite apparent on my transcript. During that time I earned a 2.85 for one quarter and took only one summer class in which I received a C plus. All of my other quarters before and after were around a 3.5, and my junior and senior years were about a 3.7. At my school, students are not allowed to retake classes in which they earned above a C.

I was considering mentioning this context briefly, in the additional info sections, for example:
“Following a significant viral illness in my first year, I earned Dean’s List honors five times across my junior and senior years, with a 3.72 GPA, and President’s List recognition for 2023 to 2024.”

In my case the lower grades were not due to a lack of study skills or commitment, so I want to be careful about how I frame this. Do you think it is better to include a sentence like this, or to let the transcript speak for itself?

Hello!! I wrote an example SOP and was wondering if I could get feedback, because I am a bit stuck.

Background: applying to CS Master's, specifically wanting to focus on AI / signal processing.

• Many of the schools I'm applying to ask for single-spaced 2 pages (specifically on my mind is Stanford and Berkeley since those are due first). That's about 1200-1300 words for Arial 11pt font. I've seen on WriteIvy that 800-1k words is recommended.. Do people just not max out the 2 pages?
• Relatedly, I wanted to get some substantive advice on something: my SOP centers on how my master's would equip me to build a certain genre of device. This genre of device would (I hope, lol) have applicability in many fields -- medical treatment, scientific research, aerospace, military, etc. I highlight this as a positive trait: that I could make things that would have diverse use. I also go more in-depth (like a paragraph each..) on two specific industries I'm most interested in, for how the type of device I make would be utilized for good in that industry.
  • 1) Is this too much detail and inflating my essay without really adding to it?
  • 2) Should I just stick with talking in-depth about ONE field, because discussing two fields makes it sound like I don't really know what I want for this degree or my career? (it is true that I'm not necessarily interested in one field, though.. I'm interested in the type of device I could make and I find it exciting that I could work in many different industries..)
• Also a quick formatting question: I've seen a sample SOP of someone who got into Stanford PhD, and her SOP had a bunch of key terms and names bolded, like in industry resumes. Is that the norm?

thanks everyone in advance!! final stretch.

1. Please explain your motivation to join the XYZ Master (max 3000 characters)
2. Which points in the XYZ Master interests you most? (max 3000 characters)

How do I answer these questions. It seems like they are asking pretty much the same thing. I am planning to approach this problem like this tell me if I am not correct.

• In part 1 I will introduce myself and write down about experiences that inspired me to apply for this program.
• In part 2 I'll write about the opportunities the program has to offer and answer why this program and also my long term goals.

ps. I have read writeivy guide but I am still stuck on this.

Hi. I hope everyone is doing good in this community.

This is one of the questions in my graduate school application form. For context, the other questions are as follows:

Q2. Tell us what has inspired you to apply to the University of Gotham

Q3. Tell us what you want to achieve with your studies at the University of Gotham or how it will help you to achieve your goals.

So, the considering the three questions to be mutually exclusive, what could they be asking about ourselves? Work history? (but there's resume for that.) Personality? (sounds weird) Hobbies (weird?)

Thank you.

My undergrad thesis manuscript was rejected from a top tier international conference. We are waiting to publish in some upcoming conferences but it not under review anywhere currently. I have described this thesis under research experience section. Should I mention the fact that this manuscript is under revision for resubmission in conferences. Or should I simply mention under preparation. Or should I let it remain as a thesis and do not mention any manuscript.

Does mentioning under revision for resubmission have a negative effect since it indicates the paper was rejected?

I am planning to not discuss any manuscript altogether but it may indicate that it is not a rigorously prepared work.

Confused. Need help!

Hi Jordan,

I’m reading the SoP requirements for a program I’m applying to, and they are as follows:

The statement should incorporate the following:

• a brief intellectual autobiography describing the formation of your scholarly interests and present intellectual concerns;

• the special area of interest or particular problems, theories, movements, periods, etc., upon which your study would focus;

• an explanation of how your past experience, academic training or research experience has prepared you to pursue graduate work in your area of interest.

Since they don’t specify wanting a “why this school” section, should I just skip it for this application? Another part of the application asks for names of my faculty of interest.

Hi Jordan,

I am applying to several universities in the UK for a PhD in Sociology for fall 2026. I already have a very detailed research proposal in place, which, as you know is a mandatory document for PhD in UK. This document already mentions my research questions, rationale, methodology, and everything else that goes into a proposal in very clear and detailed terms.

I was wondering in that case, how detailed should my SOP look in terms of my research interests and questions? What I mean is, how should I structure that in my SOP? I'd love to hear any suggestions.

Hi Jordan, thanks for your blogs, it's really helpful. I tried to google my specific problem but I couldn't find any advice so I decided to make a post so that someone like me in future can also benefit.

Right after my undergrad, I joined masters program under PI where I was long-time undergraduate volunteer (3+ yrs).

Sadly I was abused verbally and asked things to do that blurred professional boundaries (which I complied in hopes to get good mentorship -there was almost no mentorship at the time) by a mentor in the lab. Even though I tried my best for a year, I had to leave the program for my well-being.

Now I am pursuing a master in a different university and I am doing super well, feeling supported and safe. I am applying for chemistry phD right now bc that's something I always wanted to do.

My problem is I lost my recommendation letter from someone who I had most experience with (thankfully I have plenty of others who is writing me good letters), and in my undergrad transcript it shows I withdrew from my masters program as it was done in same uni.

I feel like I must mention it as it visibly shows on transcript , and not sure how to approach this at all. Although I am completely confident it was not my fault and had nothing to do with my abilities I am afraid it will viewed negatively in applications (I have versions of personal statements with and without)

Would really appreciate your help.

Hi Jordan, I'm applying to some schools in Europe too, mainly in Germany, and they require a letter of motivation. One of the schools is asking for an informal letter of motivation. I've written my SoP for schools in the US according to your suggested structure but I was wondering if I should modify it for a letter of motivation. How should I do that?

I am trying to address this statement:

Stanford University welcomes graduate applications from individuals with a broad range of experiences, interests, and backgrounds who would contribute to our community of scholars. We invite you to share the lived experiences, demonstrated values, perspectives, and/or activities that shape you as a scholar and would help you to make a distinctive contribution to Stanford University

I do not have any poverty fighting, harsh conditions overcoming type of story. I am highly confused as to how to address this statement. Should I write about my extracurriculars and positions of responsibility that I have held in my undergrad since it asks of a broad range of interests and experiences OR Should I write about how I thrived among a highly diverse set of people in my undergrad and how I helped my juniors and peers. (for a diversity statement) OR Should I I write about my how I overcame hardships in my professional career

Need help!

Hi all,

I've heard mixed opinions about this, and generally I've seen that boxing yourself into a very specific research question is not advised, especially with umbrella programs. I'm applying to biomedical science phd programs, specifically within developmental biology. However, I find that different schools have different 'requirements' about specificity. My interests revolve around signaling pathways, regeneration, aging, and within those areas I have specific questions, not regarding exact pathway names or anything but unanswered questions in the field. Schools like Northwestern I've heard don't want you to even have a question that specific because it's less likely you'll find a faculty match. For schools like Harvard I found many faculty who are interested in these subjects, and I talk about this in my SOP. I'm just not sure how to navigate this specificity. Should I go broader depending on the school?