Statement of Purpose (SOP)

Statement of Purpose is one of the most important documents required to be submitted while applying for admissions into foreign universities. When you apply for admission to foreign universities it will ask for many documents like certificates of academic record, letter of recommendation, Bio-Data, scorecard of exam results, cover letter or statement of purpose (SOP) etc.
SOP is one such document which is mostly asked by every university while enrolling any foreign students to their educational programs. SOP is a very important document because unlike other documents which only contains the objective details about the applicant, the SOP can provide subjective details or your any other details that you want to highlight in your CV or profile.

What is Statement of Purpose?

Statement of Purpose is basically a cover letter or an essay about yourself that highlight your purpose as why you want to join that particular course. In Statement of Purpose, you can share the information about your academic record and you can also share your work experience in relation to the course you are applying for. You can also share other information like what influenced you to join that particular course which you are applying for.

What is your objective behind joining this course? What are your ambitions in life? what are your career plans after completion of the course you are planning to join. There is plenty of such information that you can share with the institute you are applying for the admission. It is truly believed that SOP is the only document where you can share reasons and objective of joining a particular course and college which you cannot share through any other document. So when you write a SOP make sure you write down your exact objective and purpose of joining the institute which you might not able to communicate through any other document. A well written SOP can actually increase your chances selection which a poorly written SOP cannot do so.

What should be the length/word limit of the SOP?
Many universities provide the format as well as the word limit within which you have to conclude your SOP. If the format and word limit is provided by the university then you are bound down to conclude your SOP within those guidelines but if no such guidelines are given by the university, then make sure you write a concise and precise SOP covering all the relevant information along with your objective and purpose that you want to share with the university. A well written SOP actually make a great impact over your resume or profile.

TIPS for writing SOP
While writing a SOP the most important question that pop up before the applicant is what to write and what not. So, to clear this doubt you can refer the sample SOPs. You can also consult your teachers and guides and other students who had already applied for the admissions to foreign countries. But while writing the SOPs always remember do not write anything that is irrelevant to the subject and the course you are applying for or which doesn’t add any benefit to your profile while assessing for admission.

Here are a few tips that you can follow while writing a SOP for admissions to foreign universities:

• Be concise and Precise
• Write as brief as possible
• Write all points about you that you want to highlight before the university.
• Your objective and purpose should be clear in simple terms so that admission committee can understand it easily.
• Highlight your academic achievements.
• Highlight your work experience.