4.1. Identifying and Writing About Your Program Fit
Up to this point we’ve talked about the first two goals of the SoP framework: experiences and motivation. You might think of these goals as having a cause-and-effect relationship – that is, how your past experiences have influenced your current research interests, objectives, and overarching motivation to pursue a graduate degree. The next step is to identify your fit to a specific graduate program; this is one of the most important components of the SoP that is often overlooked by writers. In this section, we explore how you establish this fit to program. (As mentioned earlier in the pressbook, this guidance does not apply to applicants to professional programs, such a medical and law school as those programs do not typically allow identifying program fit. This is a crucial difference between statements of purpose for masters and doctoral application and personal statements for MD/DO and JS programs.)
- Goal 1. Experiences: The relevant experiences you’ve had which have informed and prepared you to pursue a graduate degree.
- Goal 2. Motivation: Your purpose for wanting to pursue a graduate degree which is often related to specific research interests and/or career objectives.
- Goal 3. Fit to Program: A discussion of why a particular graduate program is right for you given your motivation (and especially your research interests and objectives).
