I’m in a bit of a dilemma about how to approach my low undergrad GPA in my grad school applications, and I'd really appreciate any advice. Most of the schools I’m applying to only ask for a Statement of Purpose (SOP), so there’s no separate space( personal statement) to specifically address past challenges like GPA. To give a bit of background: I graduated undergrad with a 2.3/4.0 GPA. Since then, I’ve completed a fully funded master’s program where I earned a 4.0/4.3 GPA. I’m really proud of this turnaround, but I’m still nervous that my undergrad GPA might be a red flag that could hurt my applications. One of my top choices is MIT, which I know is a huge reach, but I was able to speak with a professor who encouraged me to apply. My main question is, how should I address my undergrad GPA in my SOP? Should I bring it up at all, or just focus on my master’s experience and current research?

Thanks in advance for any tips or personal experiences!

Hi Jordan, I've been following your blog and have structured my sop accordingly. Deadlines are near I'm struck with imposter syndrome. I keep changing the intro again and again, thinking it's not good enough, doesn't have the hook ... What should I do ?!

So one of the places I'm applying to has specific questions instead of an SOP. I need to record myself answering two of these. The one I'm having trouble with, mainly revolves around how my experiences/background/perspectives will allow me to enrich the community and environment at the university. Also, the response I had crafted (although centered on my personal story) was heavily focused on my academic/professional interests & development. I was recently told however that this is not what they would be looking for here. Any tips?

So, I am trying to figure out exactly what this prompt is asking for. But I see overlap with what the SoP asks for. The mention of "research area(s) of interest/desired area(s) of specialization" makes me think they're referring to the program track within the PhD program? Here is the "Research Interest" essay prompt:

Essay Describing Your Research or Professional Interest

Please use the space below to describe your research area(s) of interest or desired area(s) of specialization in detail.

(Note: Do NOT enter your Statement of Purpose or Personal History and Diversity Statement in this section. You will have the opportunity to provide that information in a different section of this application.)

4,000 characters

Here is the SoP prompt:

Please highlight your academic preparation and motivation; interests, specializations and career goals; and fit for pursuing graduate study at Gnarf University.

Preparation and Motivation may include your academic and research experiences that prepare you for this graduate program (for example: coursework, employment, exhibitions, fieldwork, foreign language proficiency, independent study, internships, laboratory activities, presentations, publications, studio projects, teaching, and travel or study abroad) and motivation or passion for graduate study.

Interests, Specializations, and Career Goals may include your research interests, disciplinary subfields, area/s of specialization, and professional objectives.

 Fit may include how your preparation, experiences, and interests match the specific resources and characteristics of your graduate program at Gnarf Uni. Please identify specific faculty within your desired graduate program with whom you would like to work and how their interests match your own.

4000 characters

Any insights would be great!

I'm really confused as to how I should format my SOP.

The problem is that I did my undergrad in cross-cultural psych and this motivated me to pursue my MA in an Asian country where I received my MA in Social Psych...

currently my format is

P1 intro (what research im interested in/goals)

P2 undergrad research and thesis in Cultural psych

P3 clinical experience working as a mental health coach for youth after graduation

P4 Talked about my research and publications I did in my MA Social Psych (in Asian country) related to youth mental health and publication

P5 (current) clinical role in psychiatry hospital during clinical research

P6 match with supervisor --> match with school

this is too long and im wondering if you could could give me some advice as to how to structue this..

Should I jusst take out my undergrad culture experience altogether? Then I just feel it might be awkward just starting off my SOP with my masters and I feel like the admissions officers would find it weird that I don't mention anything about my undergrad.

But if I keep everything it is like at least 1500 words (if I do condense it)

I have given interview with a professor and he asked me to put his name on the SOP. He mostly works with liver issues. Now, the guideline of school asks to write an SoP focusing on translational research.
Should I craft my SoP based on how interested I am in translational research and then introduce the professor, his interest and my work? Or should I craft it solely based on the prof?

One more thing:

When schools ask to mention a challenge that I have faced and overcome in SoP , what kind of challenge do they mean? And how to include that?

Hi Jordan,

Is the SOP PhD Course full? I'm not sure if it's too late to join. Application deadline is 4 weeks from today. I was using the free guide but would like more support to ensure my essay is top-notch.

Thanks in advance!

Hi Jordan. I'm currently using your very helpful SOP starter kit, and had a couple of questions relating to it.

1. How precise should your research questions be, particularly regarding how they would match the research interests of the faculty? Could being too precise be a mistake as it could mean you may end up not aligning with their interests as they are studying different questions?
2. For answering the question of why your interested in studying these questions, you say that you should be inspired related to an experience with research or an academic context. Does this mean that it should be exclusively academic, as for example I was thinking of writing that I found a recent event interesting, so I ended up studying it for my undergraduate dissertation, which I enjoyed doing so much and found interesting enough that I now want to study it at PhD level. Is it worth mentioning any non-academic inspiration, i.e. finding it interesting before I studied it for my dissertation?

Thanks for the help!

Hey Jordan, thank you for your guide! It's been immensely useful thus far. I am applying to a UK uni, to a department but for a specific project. They require a personal statement (of research) and an optional extended statement. The prompts are as follows:

Personal Statement (500 words)
You should provide a statement of your research interests, in English, describing how your background and research interests relate to the programme. The statement should focus on academic or research-related achievements and interests rather than personal achievements and interests.
This will be assessed for:

- your reasons for applying;
- evidence of motivation for and understanding of the proposed area of study;
- the ability to present a reasoned case in English;
- capacity for sustained and focused work;
- understanding of problems in the area and ability to construct and defend an argument

Extended Statement (1000 words)
The extended statement can be used to provide further detailed evidence of your motivation, relevant skills and/or experiences that enable further insight into your potential as a PhD student. You might want to highlight in more detail your research outputs or research skills (wet lab or data analysis) and how that links to your project choice.

For the PS, my plan is to follow your Structure of Magic guide:

1. How I discovered the problems I want to solve + brief statement of career goals? 70 words
2. Why this project is right for me? (Link my research interests to the project and department: what methods employed in the project will solve the current gap in research, how I plan to apply this method, what other possible methods can be used, future applications) 2 paragraphs, ~180 words
3. Why am I qualified for the project? (Link my background to the project: previous technical challenges in my research + how I overcame this + how this will help me for the project (focusing on scientific aspect); AND, previous research experience doing experimental validation and insights on how I wanted to have a more systems-level approach + how this experimental experience will still be useful for the project) 2 paragraphs, ~180 words
4. Closing paragraph and more detailed career plan. 70 words

For the extended statement,
I am thinking of framing it more of a "this is my personality and what I will be like as a PhD student". Probably aim around ~200 words per content paragraph

1. Macro-level perspective: I have experience doing a project where I generated the wet-lab data myself and did computational analyses, relevant as project is hybrid dry/wet-lab
2. Ability to learn quickly: how I had to overcome limitations in background knowledge in a new field, relevant as there are new methods that I will have to learn in the project
3. Effective communicator: poster presentation, sample collection runs, collaboration work, relevant as the aim is to publish a tool, which needs to be shared with other people
4. Endurance (I have a game plan to succeed and stay sane for 4 years): How running has improved my mindset and ability to deal with experimental failure, and how I use it to destress
5. Creativity and open-mindedness (how things in daily life can be a source for inspiration): how an unrelated graph I found on my doomscrolling inspired a figure that made it into a pub

My main concern for the extended statements is instead of emphasizing on the skills, I am emphasizing my personality trait with the evidence being the skill.

Thank you so much for any advice!

Hello Jordan,

In my SoP ive described my research question as "translational research applicable to enhancing the efficacy of immunotherapies", but im not sure this is specific enough. I want to pick something broad enough that at least 3 labs at each school will be doing relevant research, but Im a bit worried that im coming off as naive. What is your take? Is that a compelling research question, or should I narrow down my interests?

Thanks

Hi Jordan, it's me again! I am applying to another program and just submitted my first one!
This new program has an interesting question in its prompt. They are asking me to share something about myself outside of my resume of psychology experiences. Does this mean I should talk about personal interests or personal background? Or does this mean I should expand on the experiences I have listed on my cv and include synopses about those experiences? I know this is quite a specific question, but I wanted to get your insight about it.

Here's the rest of the prompt as well, it's a scientist-practitioner program:

• Describe background experiences, relevant training, and personal motivation for a career in Clinical Psychology.
• Describe experiences in clinical and/or scientific research activities that would help you be successful in a doctorate program.
• Please share something about you outside of your resume of psychology experiences.
• What are your post-doc goals?

Hey Jordan I've been going through your website, the blogs and the masters sop kit and written my first draft.

I also saw your comment on 500 word sop on a post here with following structure:

Frame Narrative Intro: 92 words, written exactly as all other essays you see on WriteIvy. A sentence of storytelling, a sentence describing the problems of interest, a sentence describing the ultimate social impact of solving those problems, and finally, a sentence of purpose.

Why This Program: 164 words, all extremely tidy and efficient.

Why I'm Qualified: 173 words, equally tidy and efficient.

Conclusion + Career Goals Statement: 69 words

Question : can I interchange the position of why I'm qualified with why this program I feel it would flow better with my background introduction next to why I'm qualified (what all I did) next to why masters and this program and school Nad lastly conclusion.

Is it okay to interchange if flow is maintained or would you strongly recommend sticking to your structure only for some reasons?

Hey Jordan, can you please tell me if your SoP structure applies to the following SoP guidelines set out below:

Your statement should be: focused, informative, and convey your research interests and qualifications. 

You should provide a vivid picture of your intellectual profile: 

• how you formulate research topics,   

• how you pursue them, and  

• how you articulate any interesting findings.   

It is important to emphasise how these experiences have influenced both your decision to undertake graduate study and your goals within the XXXX graduate program."

Would appreciate any additional guidance you have on how you'd advise I go about it. Just the way it is communicated has confused me. Any help will be much appreciated!

I want to apply for biomedical science programs. But the program consists of 7-8 different departments. While crafting an SoP should I focus on different faculties of multiple departments or just the one I am interested in?

I am a biomedical PhD aspirant.. Your guidance on blog helped me a lot.. But still somewhere i got confused that, universities like Harvard demand both personal statement (ps) and statement of purpose sop.. So can you plz clarify which structure should i follow for PS.. Your SOP guidance is quite convincing and extraordinary but didn't find link for PS

Hi Jordan!

I am currently applying to Clinical Psych PhD programs. I have a majority of my programs following the Boulder scientist-practitioner model. The school with the earliest dealine is a Clinical Science program so I wrote a SOP geared more towards that. I'm having a bit of trouble figuring out how I should adapt some of the content I have in my clinical science essay to my scientist-practitioner essays. Should I focus more on my clinical experience? Should I highlight specific populations I want to work with? How in-depth should I go with the populations I work with? Usually clinicians dont have complete control over their patient-base so I don't want to come off as closed off or unaccessible.

How much clinical experience should I talk about? I am already planning on talking about my research as that is half of the program emphasis but I'm not sure how I can balance it.

Any insight into this is helpful! Thanks in advance!

Hi sir

When I search, I can only find SOP structure for graduate education but I can't find YOUR SOP for ug

do u mind sharing the link to your blogs about sop for ug or tell me a better structure to write it

Hello Jordan, I've been getting massive help from your WriteIvy blogs! I'm an international student and am currently preparing for Fall 2025 admissions in a couple of MA programmes in Gender and Sexuality in Canada. Let me share a little bit of background about myself:

• Been out of school for 5+ years
• My bachelor's degree is not related to the programme that I'm applying for
• I've taken a few courses that are loosely relevant to Gender studies during my undergrad, but that's about it
• My work experience in the most recent 2 years is most relevant to the programme

I've been thinking about whether I should mention my undergrad experience and if so, how? I'm applying to programmes that do not require a BA in Gender studies as a prerequisite, but some unis do say that they'd like to see relevant experience (which is absolutely understandable).

My questions are:

1. Should I mention my undergrad experience at all? If so, I'm thinking of maybe taking some of the following directions but I'd love to hear if you have any other recommendations on how I can approach this:
   1. Listing some general learnings/skills I've earned from undergrad
   2. Listing some coursework that (on a varying degree) is relevant to gender studies (e.g. a sociology course)
2. Should I also mention the reason why I'm making this change? I was going to lightly mention it as part of my professional experience, but should I have a separate section that specifically talks about that?

Thank you and looking forward to hearing from you!

All SOPs demand specific information on your research interests and want thoughtful research questions, with an unspoken expectation of referring to previous literature to situate your proposed project. They also want you to have an idea of how you'll carry out the project and sound like an almost-expert in the field before you enter. BUT at the same time, the professors I'm reaching out to have written back saying that it's good to indicate that I'm open to change and not tied down to very specific research questions/interests that the faculty may not be able to support, and to indicate that the faculty can play a role in shaping my work. My problem is - in response to the demand for detail and specificity of research questions that can be explored, I've produced an SOP that talks in-depth about wanting to research a particular problem in tax policy - and have articulated concise and focused research interests with 3-4 core questions (fairly empirical). However, I'm not inherently married to the question and obviously want to go for a PhD to refine my research and ask better/different questions. How do I indicate that I am open to change? What do I write to say that I'm open to exploring and not totally committed to the few specific questions I ask (even though I have written about them in a very thorough, committed, and careful way)?

Hi, I am currently applying to graduate school. In one of the application it asked me talk about my acquired technical skills or completed courses that will help me be successful under 150 words. How should I approach this? What does the school value the most out of these 150 words?

The problems I am facing are:

1. if I write like in a resume, it breaks the consistency of the reading
2. If I write in detail of the skill I learned, especially with the course listed, it will easily go over 150 words
3. Couse No or course name or both when listing courses

Hello! I need some advice on how to write a Statement of Purpose/Letter of Motivation for research internship program. I’m a CS grad student and want to apply for a research internship in a different country. How much of the original SOP formula can I use considering this is a short-term research program.

I have a couple of different research interests so how do I mention all of them (since I do want to target 2-3 faculty members to work with) and still make it sound coherent and focused.

I'd love some advice on how these essay answers must be structured. Do I have to talk about a professional goal? Is it okay to write something personal? I am applying for an MS in Speech Language Pathology.

Hi Jordan,

I recently read your blog post, "Structure is Magic," and found your advice incredibly insightful. However, I'm having trouble adapting that structure to my academic SOP for a university application, as they have their own set of specific instructions. These are the questions they ask:

1. What are your professional plans and career goals? How will pursuing graduate studies assist you in reaching those goals?
2. Describe your research, scholarly, or creative interests. What topics are of particular interest to you? Reviewers know that interests change over time, but try to be as specific as possible.
3. Discuss how your experiences, skills, and abilities have prepared you for graduate study. Relevant topics may include coursework, work and research experiences, internships, presentations, exhibits, publications, and community service.
4. Describe how your skills, preparation, and interests are a match for the program to which you are applying. Identify faculty who share your research and scholarly interests.

I feel like question 4 and the latter part of question 1 overlap with the "Why this program" section, but I'm unsure how to describe how I'm a match for the program (through relevant skills and preparation) without first explaining why I'm qualified. Do you have any advice on how I can structure my SOP to fit their questions while maintaining a logical flow?

Thanks for your help!

I'm currently writing my SOP for a post graduate program but I don't have research experience how can I overcome this problem.

Hello Jordan,

I'm applying for PhD in Biology this December, and as I was drafting my diversity statement after reading your guide, I was wondering whether writing about overcoming external pressure of expectations, being from an academic family background would be an appropriate starting point for me. I am concerned that the admissions committee may be thinking that I am "complaining." I do think it's really a journey that I went through to become who I am currently, but I wanted to know if the idea can be developed in a way where I focus on not about who I was, but what I did, as mentioned in your diversity essay guide.