Statement of Purpose - MS in Canada
A perfectly written Statement of Purpose exhibits your personality, strengths and weakness, something which the CV and LOR cannot do. This is your opportunity to pen down your story in your words. It is the only non-official record that can have up to 30% weight in deciding your admit to a university of your choice in Canada. You need to bring out the best notes on what makes you the perfect candidate for the graduate program.
Table of contents
Highlights
- Every SOP (or Graduate Essay) is supposed to be unique.
- Your Statement of Purpose must depict you, and also puts to display your English skills and mastery in connecting with others.
- A well-penned SOP has good, clearly used vocabulary and is free from grammatical errors.
Before You Start
- Check the university requirements to see if there is a theme for the Statement of Purpose.
- Note down the word limit - 500 words/1 pages/ 4500 characters etc.
- Never refer any SOP before beginning yours. Just be acquainted with the standard structure and prepare a draft.
Requirements
- Your CV (optional)
- Microsoft Word (or any text editor)
- Text to PDF converter (optional)
- Grammarly and Hemingway editor (Optional)
Step by step Guide
Your SOP is your story, and no one can tell your tale better than you. This guide should give you a proper framework with which you can build your Statement of Purpose.
- Go through your CV. This will set you on the track immediately and will show what main points can be mentioned in the SOP. This will also help you in differentiating the SOP from a CV.
- Remember - all academic information and qualifications are already in your CV. So, you should not be restating them in your SOP.
- Think about one incident that has driven you to pursue master’s in Canada and is a noteworthy factor for you to pursue the degree.
- Now you have enough information to begin. You must now breathe life and add emotions to your Statement of Purpose.
- Get your marks cards and achievements to speak for you - tell the story behind them. Engage in deep thinking. Just let it all flow, you can edit later.
- Mention what has encouraged you in opting for the particular domain, why that university and why Canada.
- Have someone check your document to get a different opinion. Check (i) Is the essay coherent? (ii) Does it reflect your work and personality? (iii) Does it give the right spirit? Make corrections accordingly.
- Keep editing it for a few days.
- Now have a look at other SOPs online. This is to see if your SOP is on par with the competition. You may include/omit some information based on this.
- If your institution expects you to answer a specific question(s), ensure you have addressed every single part of the question.
- Now you do the final editing. You can use free online tools such as Grammarly or Hemingway editor.
- Lastly, use these tools on MS Word (i) Justify (ii) Insert the header & footer.
- Save this document as a PDF.
Useful Tips
- Writing a brilliant SOP needs a lot of time and thought. See to it that you have sufficient time to prepare, make changes and proofread your Statement of Purpose.
- 3-5 minutes is the maximum time given by admission authorities to read your SOP. If your Statement of Purpose is similar to that of others, it will not impress them.
- Different universities have different accomplishments, are ranked for various courses and accredited by different organizations. Mentioning this in your Statement of Purpose will give the impression that you have done your homework on the background of the institution.