Overview of Statement of Purpose Framework

While these prompts vary in what they call the SoP, the length, and the specificity of the criteria, what you might notice after reading is that the prompts ask writers to address their motivation for applying to graduate school, their relevant experiences, and their fit to a particular program. What’s especially exciting is that this way of thinking about the SoP aligns with ongoing empirical research about the statement of purpose (Todey, in progress) which shows that SoPs across disciplines and degree programs are similar in their underlying structure. This structure can be summarized in the following framework which includes three goals that are typically communicated in this order:

You might think of these goals generally as your past (experiences) informing your present (motivation) which further informs your future (fit to program). Each of these three goals will be discussed individually in the following sections. Section 2, Identifying and Writing About Your Motivation, will start with discussing motivation because it really functions as the heart of the statement of purpose. It is important that we address this goal first because without a clear sense of your purpose for applying to graduate school, the SoP will be especially challenging to write. Section 3, Identifying and Writing About your Relevant Experiences, will help you think about which experiences you should discuss in your SoP. Section 4, Identifying and Writing about your Program Fit, will guide you through determining which graduate program is right given your research interests and career goals.