134: Writing the Statement of Purpose (Replay)

Dra. Yvette Martínez-Vu

Before starting today's episode, I wanted to get quick minute to give a shout out to our newest Patreon supporter, Colette Brown. Colette am shouting you out to say thank you so much for choosing grad school Femtoring as a podcast that you not only support by listening, but also the support financially through your dollars every month. It means a lot for me to have supporters like you, who helped to make this podcast a reality. If you didn't know there are actually several costs involved in putting together this podcast that includes the website and media hosting, equipment and tech, as well as the time it takes for me to record and produce an episode every week for you. If you're interested in supporting me on a monthly basis, like Colette did, please go ahead and go to patreon.com/gradschoolfemtoring or check out the link in my show notes to sign up today. Now, back to today's episode.

Dra. Yvette Martínez-Vu

Hola hola everyone, you might have noticed a slight change in my podcast episode releases, I have decided to go back to providing an episode every week rather than a bonus episode and a full episode with a guest every week. I'm doing that so that I can space out some of the content that I have. And that way I can alternate between one week doing a solo episode and another week bringing in some guests. Hopefully, it'll be more manageable both for myself and for you as an audience member. And also hints at the fact that I am picking up a little bit more work, which is great. I have signed a few more clients, I am working on a book project. And that is going well. So far. I'll share more updates once I can about that process. And I have also started booking a few workshops. So if you're interested in any of that, you can always reach out to me gradschoolfemtoring@gmail.com or on my website.

Dra. Yvette Martínez-Vu

But in the meantime, I hope that you'll enjoy this replay episode, which I've decided to bring out once again, because it's actually my top episode. This one has the most plays out of all of my episodes. And hopefully you'll notice why; I provide step by step instructions on how to write the statement of purpose, which is very important if you're applying to grad school. And if you are going to be writing or you're revising your own statement of purpose, go ahead and check out this episode and download the transcripts. Yes, I have the transcripts for this episode and all upcoming episodes on my website. All right. Enjoy this replay, this throwback to one of my very early episodes. And I will talk to you all next week with a new guest. All right, talk to you later.

Dra. Yvette Martínez-Vu

Hello, hello, today I am going to be talking about the statement of purpose. What is the statement of purpose? This is an essay that you write for graduate school admission that highlights why you're applying to graduate school. And you really want to focus on your academic and professional goals. What exactly goes into the statement where the requirements also like? What are the essential components, I will go over every single element of the statement of purpose, and then I'll give you some tips on how to get started.

Dra. Yvette Martínez-Vu

Alright, so there are essentially about six components that I would recommend you include in your Statement of Purpose, you don't have to write about it in this order. This is just a suggestion in terms of the components that are crucial for your essay, but you can just include it in any order that you'd like. The first part is, of course, an introduction. What goes into your introduction? Well, you need to let us know who you are, and where you're going. So you let us know, you know, what are some qualities about you that make you stand out, you probably want to name the degree program, the department is school to which you're applying to. You can say something along the lines of, I want to enter the Ph. D. program in X at University of California, Riverside. And you tell us a little bit more about who you are. So this is I like to tell my students that the introduction can be almost like a mini personal statement. And it's especially a short version of your personal statement. If you're submitting a statement of purpose for a university and program that aren't asking for anything else. There are some schools that only ask for a statement of purpose, and they don't ask you for a personal or a diversity statement. And if that's the case, you want them to get to know you a little bit more you want them to know, what motivated you to pursue this field? How did you get into it, and give them something that will make you stand out. That could be an anecdote from the past, it could be a quote, that's relevant. It could be some sort of hook. But that's what goes into your introduction, you're briefly telling them who you are, and why you're interested in applying to the program X at University of Y.

Dra. Yvette Martínez-Vu

Okay, so then the second part that goes into the Statement of Purpose is your research experience section. This is where you're letting them know that you are competitive and that you're qualified. And how do they determine that, based on your previous experiences, this should actually be the lengthiest portion of your statement. Or it can be, in some cases, it doesn't just have to be one paragraph, it could be two paragraphs. But this is where you talk about any research or other relevant experiences. You want to tell them about your academic goals you want to tell them about? You want to demonstrate that you are fluent in the discourse of the discipline. If you are involved in any research programs mentioned that you completed any projects, describe the project, describe the results, or the outcomes of that project, did you publish out of that project? Did you complete a certain maybe you completed one or two research papers that you present the topic. After you write about your research experience, you also want to include another section, which is your current and future research interests. You just talked about what you've done in the past. And now you're going to try to address what you want to do in graduate school. This could be an extension of what you have been currently working on as an undergraduate. If you completed a project and a senior thesis, your dissertation project, your master's thesis, it could be an extension of what you're currently doing. But it could also be a completely different project. Maybe you've completed this project, and you're starting something else that is related, but it's not the exact same project. Or perhaps you're switching fields, maybe you switching fields and disciplines, then we want to know what is it that you want to work on in graduate school. And keep in mind that it's really important to be able to talk about a project that you're interested in for graduate school in a very focused manner. They want to know that you can actually propose something that is reasonable that is measurable. And at the end of the day, you may or may not end up writing a master's thesis or dissertation on that project, but they are going to admit you under the basis that you're going to continue to have certain general research interests. So that's the third section.

Dra. Yvette Martínez-Vu

The third section is what do you want to study in graduate school and try to be as specific as possible. The next section, section number four, in my opinion, is the most important part of your statement of purpose. This is the statement of fit with the program. This is where you're convincing them that they want you and why is it that they want you, they want you because your research interests mirror or match or complement the research interests of faculty in that department. This is where you identify two to three professors from that program that you'd like to work with, especially two to three, if this is for a PhD program, because these individuals are likely going to be people that are part of your committee and one of those three will become your dissertation advisor. So you want to tell them, these are two to three people I want to work with describe their research interests, maybe you read an article or two about this person, you want to mention one of them. Outside of that, there are other things you can mention as well, you can talk about what attracts you about the program is the program, well known for something in particular, maybe they have a certain lab, maybe they're known for being interdisciplinary, perhaps you are interested in that university, because there's a great Center for the Study of X, that's related to what you want to do. Maybe also that area is a really good area for you, perhaps that that location is key for you to have access to a certain population that you're studying. You want to think outside of just the professor's that's really important. And that's crucial, and you have to mention that. But also, there are other reasons why you can convince them that this is the right program for you, this is the right university for you. And this is the right location for you to be try to think about those three things, program University location, you can identify some valid reasons within those three, then you'll be set.

Dra. Yvette Martínez-Vu

After the statement of fit, then comes your conclusion. And in the conclusion, you don't want to just rehash everything that you said in your earlier sections, you you want to wrap it up by letting them know what your long term goals are. And so if your long term goal is to become a tenure track professor at a research one university, most likely they're going to really like hearing that. But perhaps your long term goals are to become a researcher. In higher education, that doesn't necessarily mean that you want to become a professor, or perhaps you want to become a director of a center. And perhaps you want to start a nonprofit, perhaps you want to become a professor and start a nonprofit, these are all legitimate reasons to to address why it is that you're pursuing a PhD, and just make sure that it's in line with the types of careers that they prepare that prepare their PhDs for. If it's a more praxis oriented PhD, then odds are they're going to have folks who don't just become professors that you can see what are the careers that they're preparing their students for? And that's something you may want to mention, especially if, of course, if that's what you want to do. But then what else can you do in the conclusion? Something that I really like is when students will have some sort of hook or anecdote or something that they say about themselves in the beginning of their statement, and then they bring it back at the end to try to tie it back and bring it all together provides a really nice arc to your statement. That's something that you can do as well. If you've brought up something in the beginning, we want to bring it back up in the end, that's completely fine. But in general, you want to keep the tone upbeat and positive. Let us know a little bit more about yourself about why this program is great for you. And those are essentially I thought I thought they were six sections. But those are the five sections of a statement of purpose.

Dra. Yvette Martínez-Vu

And now, I also want to give you some general tips to get started. And one thing to keep in mind is before even getting started, you want to make sure you pull up the prompts for each of the schools that you're applying to. Why? Because at the end of the day, the most important thing you need to do when writing the statement is read the instructions and answer the prompt. If the prompt has very specific questions that they're asking you, you answer that prompt. If the prompt is vague, maybe it's a one line and it just tells us describe your research. career goals, then great, you can go ahead and write about, you know the things that I mentioned in this podcast episode. But if they have very specific questions, you want to answer those questions. Sometimes it can get confusing because they'll say, turn in a statement of purpose. But then the prompt sounds like a personal statement, no matter what. Listen to the prompt, no matter what. Make sure that you follow the instructions. If it says that it's two pages, double spaced, is two pages double spaced, if it says it's two pages, single spaced, single spaced, double spaced, if it's 500 words, it doesn't matter. Listen to what they say, some institution, some programs don't provide a page limit. And I get this question all the time. What do I do if there's no page limit? One thing you can do is you can always email the graduate advisor in that department and ask them to verify that there if there is a page limit, if again, they say there is no page limit, you can ask well, what is the average page limit? If they don't want to answer? We are I tend to advise students to stick to the two page rule. Two page single or double spaces typically okay for most programs.

Dra. Yvette Martínez-Vu

What else should you do in terms of preparing for writing the statement? You want to, you know, start to list what you've done to prepare for a PhD? What is your preparation? What is your background? What are your ambitions? Why? What are your reasons for even wanting to pursue graduate school? What are your reasons for wanting to apply to this school in particular? What are your future career goals? Make sure that you know, when you write, I like to say the first you make a mess, and then you clean it up. Write as much as you can, so that you have plenty of material to cut and make more concise. But then once you get to the revision stage, after you have your first draft, you want to make sure that you have someone else that can provide a second set of eyes that can be a professor that you know, that could be a mentor that you may have, perhaps a TA that you've worked with anyone else who can provide insight and expertise on the statement to make it to help make it very clean, organize relevant statement that speaks to the admissions committee, and establishes your unique voice. You want to make sure that your statement sets you apart from other applicants, you don't want to have vague language that can apply to any applicant, you want to convey that you're a good fit, that you're suitable, that you're collegial. And essentially, so long as you share your research experience, you convey your research future research interests and aspirations. You tell us why you're a good fit. And you share a little bit more about your career goals, you'll have you should have all the components to to provide or to give them a solid statement.

Dra. Yvette Martínez-Vu

Those are some of my recommendations, start brainstorming based on what I said, go ahead and get some words on a paper, have someone take a look at it. It's never too soon to have someone take a look at what you're doing. I have had students who have struggled with some writer's block. Also, there's a big emotional side to the writing process of not feeling like they're good enough. And when that happens, I tell them, go on and schedule an appointment. Come see me we'll talk about it.

Dra. Yvette Martínez-Vu

What another tip in terms of getting started is if you struggling to get words on a page, record yourself talking about this record yourself asking the question, what are my research experiences? What are my future research interests? Why am I a good fit for this program? If you can start to articulate that in a conversational manner, you can then transcribe that and put that on paper and then eventually put that into sentences form it into readable paragraphs. And before you know it, you'll have a draft.

Dra. Yvette Martínez-Vu

And I think that's all I have to say about the statement of purpose, at least for now, I know that that is not always the easiest statement to write. It's slightly easier to write, I would say than the personal statement because at least it can be more formulaic than the personal statement. But it's still it's still not the greatest thing to do to draft a statement of purpose. But I trust that you can do it so long as you answer the following questions. You provide all of the necessary components. You'll be well on your way to writing a strong draft.

Dra. Yvette Martínez-Vu

Wow, was that a throwback. I hope that you enjoyed listening to this episode. I decided to include this postscript as a reaction to my listening to this early episode. As you can tell, there are some changes in the way that I record my episodes, the sound quality has improved. Perhaps the way that I speak is a little bit better. There's some improvement there. I've become more comfortable with being in front of the mic. I noticed I was really breathy in that episode. And this is a critique that I think a lot of us who have a performance background, who have acted or done a lot of public speaking— it can be hard to listen to yourself again, especially over time as you improve on your craft.

Dra. Yvette Martínez-Vu

But you know what? The message remains the same. I still 100% back myself and what I said in terms of how to approach writing a statement of purpose. If anything, the only thing I want to reify is that every single paragraph should be reinforcing why you are a good fit for that program. Another thing I want to say is that this statement needs to be very specific, and well edited and revised down to the sentence level. When I work with people one on one a lot of times they're surprised because I give them feedback line by line by line and some people say "wait, why do you need to meet with me if you're providing document review services, if you're giving me the feedback? All I need is feedback." But so you'd be surprised at what an impact it can have to have that one on one session live with that person to teach them how to actually then work on the revisions. What are examples of changing the writing, to make it more specific, and I can only help you if I'm there with you live and if I can ask you follow up questions. And so this statement is very important, just like the personal statement is very important. And you want to take it seriously, you want to give yourself time to work on multiple drafts. If you think that you're gonna be able to knock it out and get it all done in one city and then submit it. Technically, you can do that, but it will not be the strongest statement.

Dra. Yvette Martínez-Vu

If you have the ability to get support from your institution, from professionals, staff member, faculty, graduate students, that is wonderful. I am so excited for you. You keep working hard, and revising and editing your statement to get it to a point where you feel confident submitting it. If you've taken a little bit of a break, if maybe you have gone on a different career path, and now you're making a pivot and you need to go to grad school, then you also shouldn't be ashamed at asking for help. You also shouldn't be ashamed at saving your money to work with someone who does this for a living. And if you aren't able to do even that, trust me, there are a lot of resources, check out this podcast, check out my blog posts, check out my newsletter, and all the other many resources that are available outside of Grad School Femtoring as well. You can do it you are well on your way to crafting a strong statement that will get you into a graduate school that is a good fit for you and your long term goals. That's it. That's my postscript. I hope you enjoyed this replay. I hope it wasn't too bad to listen to an episode from a couple of years ago. I will talk to you all later.