Happy Schools Blog » Statement of Purpose

Recommendation Letter is More Valuable than SOP?

HSB — Fri, 04 Sep 2009 03:01:27 +0000

Graduate Schools Admission includes mandatory Statement of Purpose and 3 letter of recommendation. But, which one has more value SOP or LOR?

SOP or LOR

According to Stanford University Dean of Admissions Derrick Bolton. He states:

If you asked me ‘could I make a decision on an application without essays?’ I would say ‘absolutely’, but ‘could I make a decision without recommendations?’ ‘No way.’ To me the recommendations are more important than the essays, but the essays get more attention.

- Derrick Bolton, ‘Faculty Spotlight: Interview with Derrick Bolton,’ March 13, 2006, The Stanford Business Reporter.

LOR is worthless

LOR has high importance compared to SOP.But students applying for India have 100% control on the LOR. Only few selective professors and Managers will give confidential LOR. Majority of the students applying to Graduate School will write LOR by themselves and get signature from their Professor or Lecturers.

Many universities in America might not be aware of such things. In such cases, LOR is just worthless. Do you agree?

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Recommendation Letter is More Valuable than SOP?

What Should Be The Length of Statement of Purpose?

HSB — Thu, 04 Jun 2009 12:45:37 +0000

What should be the length of the Statement of Purpose (SOP)? This is one of the common question asked by students applying for Masters Degree or PhD in American Universities. Longer the SOP, better the hance to get admission?

SOP Length?

Universities usually specify the length of the SOP. For instance if you look at

Essay Topic length is specified very clearly. When the length is specified, make sure you follow that. During SOP review at HSB, we have seen 2 page Statement of Purpose, without spacing and margin. It had over 1500 words packed into 2 pages. It was very hard to read the contents.

Try to have 1 to 1.5 line spacing and fit within 2 pages. Edit and re-edit the essay to remove unnecessary contents. If you happen to read the SOP after couple of days of writing it, you will can edit it better. Refer to the following Sample Statement of Purpose, that will help in your SOP preperation. Don’t copy and paste the contents from the sample SOPs, use them as reference.

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What Should Be The Length of Statement of Purpose?

Harvard Business School – Admission Essay Topics

HSB — Sun, 24 May 2009 13:54:29 +0000

Majority of the students applying for M.S. Degree ( computer Science, Electrical Engineering, Mechanical, Civil, Biology, Biotechnology, Bio-informatics, ….) write general statement of purpose for Grad School Application. But, top ranks schools, specify the Essay Topics. So, it will be easy to evaluate the applicants. Harvard Business School have posted the Essay Topics for the Class of 2012.

Essays

What are your three most substantial accomplishments and why do you view them as such? (600-word limit)
What have you learned from a mistake? (400-word limit)
Please respond to two of the following (400-word limit each):
1. What would you like the MBA Admissions Board to know about your undergraduate academic experience?
2. Discuss how you have engaged with a community or organization.
3. Tell us about a time when you made a difficult decision.
4. Write a cover letter to your application introducing yourself to the Admissions Board.
5. What is your career vision and why is this choice meaningful to you?

Joint degree applicants

How do you expect the joint degree experience to benefit you on both a professional and a personal level? (400-word limit)

Word Limit on Essay

Did you note that there is a word limit (400 to 600) on essays? So, if you cannot express yourself within the required limit, chances of getting admission will be reduced substantially. But, some school don’t follow that in strict sense, but if they have word limit on essay or page limit, make sure you adhere to that.

During our SOP review, we have seen 3 to 4 page SOP’s with single line spacing. Reducing 4 page SOP to 2 pages with 1.5 line spacing takes lot of time. We had advised those students to make necessary changes.

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Harvard Business School – Admission Essay Topics

Why Do You Need Sample Statement of Purpose (SOP)?

HSB — Thu, 21 May 2009 13:09:52 +0000

Statement of Purpose is mandatory while applying for Graduaet School Admission. Students who come to this blog for the first time usualky leave coments like these

I want to study master degree of clean energy, hope can enroll in this Sept. if anyone can offter the SOP for this field, really appreciate.

I am a final year management student n going for Master in Finance so can anyone please send me a sample sop

hi can u suggest me good sop for msc in physiotherapy

There are so many similar comments to the article Sample SOPS. But why does everyone want a sample SOP in the field they plan to apply?

Sample SOPs

SOP is something that will highlight your story. All you need is few sample sops that will show how to write a SOP, format and template. You can use that template and create the SOP for your field with your story and experiences. There is really no need to get an exact sample college admission essay for your field.

Students asking for Sample SOP’s in their field are definetly looking to copy the exact SOP. If you are thinking to copy the exiting SOP, it will be easy to find out with other credentials, if SOP was written by you.

If your TOEFL Score is say less than 79 and AWA Writing Score in GRE in 3.0 and if you have a SOP that is well written, that make it very obvious. So, try to avoid copying SOP. Understand how to write a SOP and create your own.

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Why Do You Need Sample Statement of Purpose (SOP)?

Sample Statement of Purpose Writing Guide – 8 Minutes Video

HSB — Thu, 19 Mar 2009 15:51:33 +0000

Here’s a quick guide to students on how to write Statement of Purpose for Graduate School admission.

If you liked this video you might want to check out Sample Statement of Purpose Section for more tips.

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Sample Statement of Purpose Writing Guide – 8 Minutes Video

Stanford University MBA Admission Essay Topics

HSB — Sun, 08 Mar 2009 12:09:20 +0000

In last week’s article Why Colleges Ask for Statement of Purpose, explained in detail, how colleges evaluate a student based on college admission essay. Some schools specifically provide the topic for college admission essay. Admission essay for MBA usually takes a lots of time and effort to write than the statement of purpose for Masters degree programs in Engineering field. If you are planning to get into Ivy League MBA Schools then, Admission essay play very important role along with GMAT Score.

Stanford MBA Essays

Stanford University requires students applying for MBA to write 3 essays from the following options and topics

Essay A: What matters most to you, and why?
Essay B: What are your career aspirations? How will your education at Stanford help you achieve them?
Essay C: Short Essays-Options 1-4

Answer two of the four questions below. Tell us not only what you did but also how you did it. What was the outcome? How did people respond? Only describe experiences that have occurred during the last three years.

Option 1: Tell us about a time when you built or developed a team.
Option 2: Tell us about a time when you felt most effective as a leader.
Option 3: Tell us about a time when you tried to reach a goal or complete a task that was challenging, difficult, or frustrating.
Option 4: Tell us about a time when you went beyond what was defined, established, or expected.

Admission Essay Requirements

Length of all the essay should not exceed 1800 words. Also, they do provide maximum words for each essay

Essay A 750 words
Essay B 450 words
Essay C 300 words each

All the essays should have 12 point font size with double line spacing and have all the essay in single document. When University provides such detailed description for MBA Admission essay, then you realize how structured and organized the program will be? Of course its Stanford University. Stanford accepts GRE Score instead of GMAT for admission with no minimum requirements specified.

Essay Writing Tips

In their admission website you can find very details description of what essay should be about and here are some of the tips

Many good essays describe the “what,” but great essays move to the next order and describe how and why these “whats” have influenced your life.
From both parts of Essay B, we learn about your dreams, what has shaped them, and how Stanford can help you bring them into fruition.
This is a process in which you look inside yourself and try to express most clearly what is there. We are trying to get a good sense of your perspectives, your thoughts on management and leadership, and how Stanford can help you realize your goals.

I certainly have to agree that above tips hold not only for MBA admission essay but also for students applying for Masters program.

Sample Statement of Purpose

HSB don’t have many sample MBA admission essay, but we have lots of sample statement of purpose for Masters programs ( Biotechnology, Electrical Engineering, Computer Science, Mechanical Engineering, Chemical Engineering, Molecular Biology, ..).

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Stanford University MBA Admission Essay Topics

Why Universities Ask for Statement of Purpose

HSB — Sun, 01 Mar 2009 05:15:32 +0000

Statement of Purpose (SOP) is mandatory requirement when applying for Graduate Schools. Some schools call them as Personal Statement or College Admission Essay. For Undergraduate admission, students will be asked to write college admission essay on a specific topic, but for Graduate School admission, it will be more general. Universities use SOP to lean more about you. When you are applying for a program located half way around the world, SOP makes it easy to decide if they want to admit you to their program.

Sample Statement of Purpose

Here is a very nice video from University of California that explain in detail and in depth about the importance of College admission personal statement with an example. Video is 50 minutes in length, if you are looking to craft a SOP that will explain what kind of person you are and what you should include in a SOP that will get you an admission.

Don’t Copy from Sample Statement of Purpose

You can find lots of sample SOPs and students usually tend to copy the content from Sample Statement of Purpose and use it as it is. But, its very important to explain what kind of person you are and how you will contribute to college. So, try be as Original as possible in your Statement of Purpose. Same applies to sample LORs.

If you read the comments to some of the article here in HSB, students specifically ask

I need sample SOP for Biotechnology
I’m applying for MS in Pharmacy, can you send me few sample statement of purpose and LOR’s
I’m applying for Masters in Electrical engineering with Embedded system as major, I need some statement of purpose

It very easy to say, if they are asking for a specific SOP, they are going to copy it. Because, if they are planning to write college admission essay with their personal experience, all they need is few sample sop and it really doesn’t matter which department the SOP is used for. Essentially you are going to write a story about you, but you can find format of SOP, page layout, structure, language style used, but same story and personal experience cannot be yours. So, don’t copy college essay when applying for colleges.

It will be funny, if someone after reading this article, writes a comment to this article requesting a sample SOP.

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Why Universities Ask for Statement of Purpose

Female Science Professor’s Graduate School Essay

HSB — Sat, 20 Dec 2008 20:30:29 +0000

FSP – Site run by a professor in science. I started reading her blog few days back and some of the articles are interesting. She has written about Graduate School Admission essay with an example.

Only 11 days left to get Statement of purpose, letter of recommendation, universities for your profile for very small fee. If you happen to talk to US universities admission consultants, you will know the fees they charge. think about how much money you can save. You can find more details about university review.

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Female Science Professor’s Graduate School Essay

SOP and LOR Review + Free Bonus

HSB — Wed, 10 Dec 2008 04:24:26 +0000

I have been providing free Statement of Purpose(SOP), Letter of recommendation(LOR) reviews. But, I’m expiring that offer and moving forward documents will be reviewed for a very small fee. You will get personalized review about your SOP, LOR and Resume. I have discovered some new tips and techniques that will be used during the review. I’m sure the secret tips that I have discovered will improve your admission and financial aid chances dramatically.

Bonus – List of Universities

As an introductory offer, I will provide few universities that match your profile. Make use of this introductory offer. Bonus offer is valid through end of this year.

Click here for more details about SOP and LOR Review.

Students who have already submitted their SOP and LOR will get it reviewed for free. Consultancy firms are charging Rs 10,000 or more for for providing the same service. Again, as bonus, I will provide with few schools to apply.

Again, bonus offer will expire on Dec 31 2008. All you need is to submit your interest to get the documents reviewed and bonus list of universities is waiting for you. Click here for Statement of Purpose, Letter of Recommendation and Resume Review.

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SOP and LOR Review + Free Bonus

Top 10 Checklist For Writing Statement of Purpsoe

HSB — Thu, 20 Nov 2008 13:49:23 +0000

Unfortunately there is no one-method-fits-all technique to writing a quality college essay, every topic requires a different approach. However, that being said if you follow this top 10 checklist you can make the process a little easier.

1) Understand what is being asked.

Read the question two or three times, make sure you understand exactly what is being asked. One of the biggest mistakes students make is writing what they think others want to hear, rather than the issue being asked.

2) Plan.

Once you have read the question a few times and you are confident that you understand what is being asked, ask yourself “what do I need to do to answer the question?” Begin jotting down ideas on paper – anything that pops to mind. Start to formulate a ruff plan, then slowly an overall plan for each section will start to emerge.

3) Tell a story.

As you make your plan, try to tell a story, set the scene, and introduce the reader with some background info. Take the reader on a journey that ends with a conclusion – a conclusion that answers the question.

4)Ask yourself “so what?”

Does your story have a point? As you write your essay, after each section, ask yourself “so what?” Does this paragraph have a point, is it helping to tell the story I am trying to sell?

5) Do something different.

Take a risk. Don’t write the essay that everyone else is writing. Imagine you are the marker – after reading 30 essays, the novelty will wear off. A bit of creativity, taking a slightly different angle on even the most boring topic, may be that extra push your essay requires. Remember, even seemingly boring essay topics can sound interesting if creatively approached.

“The danger lies not in writing bad essays but in writing common essays-the one that admission officers are going to read dozens of”
- Scott Anderson, associate director of college counselling at Mercersburg Academy (PA).

6) Big words do not make good essays.

Many students think big words make good essays. Big words are fine, but only if they are used in the appropriate contexts.

7) Grab interest from the beginning.

Expect your marker to spend just a few minutes reading your essay. You must use your introduction to grab their interest from the outset. Your introduction needs to do two things; firstly create mystery and Intrigue. It is not necessary or recommended that your first paragraph give away the entire essay.

Raise questions in the minds of the reader so that they will want to read on. Appeal to their emotions so that the reader forms a personal connection with your essay. Secondly do not summarize the entire contents of your college essay in your Introduction, if you summarise the entire paper, the marker need not read the rest of your essay!

8)The body is the story.

The introduction sets the scene for the rest of the essay so make sure the body of your essay is consistent with the points raised in your introduction and make sure you tell that story.

9)Research.

Take the time to research all the information that is required for your college essay. Use a variety of sources – local libraries, teachers/tutors, and friends. With the internet at your finger tips you have access to over 5 billion web pages. Use search engines such as Google to search for information, try a variety of queries, ranging from broad keywords on the discipline to specific queries on the subject matter. Use websites such as Wikipedia and Answers.com. If you get stuck, you can find custom research for your college essay from a number of reputable websites, when using these websites; remember not to plagiarize. For guidelines of what constitutes plagiarism, visit ipassoc.org

10)The conclusion is crucial.

It is the logical ending to your essay. Students can quite often find the conclusion to be the most difficult part of an essay to write, because they feel that they have nothing left to say – hang in there, it is important to keep in mind that the conclusion is often what your marker will remember most, your conclusion should be the best part of your paper. A good conclusion should complete the essay and emphasize the importance of the thesis statement outlined at the beginning.

If you follow the above tips, you’re already half way to writing your essay. Before we finish remember that you do not need to write this masterpiece on your first attempt. It’s not possible, and all that pressure is likely to give you writer’s block. For your first draft, write anything that comes to mind. Don’t worry too much about grammar or spelling. Just get it down on paper (or computer screen). If time permits, it is also a good idea to spend a little time (a few days or a week) away from your draft to not only refresh your ideas and thoughts but also decide if you still consider your approach correct.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Julie_Samuel

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Top 10 Checklist For Writing Statement of Purpsoe