How to write a powerful SOP

how to write SOP

How to write that powerful SOP that will get you admitted to your dream schools? Many applicants shudder at the thought of staring at a blank sheet. In this post, we will make the process easy for you.

An SOP is a mandatory component for applying to Master’s programs in US and other countries. Hence, it is important that you write a perfect SOP that contains everything that Adcom is looking for.

What is a good SOP?

Let me show what I mean. Look at the following examples, which one do you think is a better approach?

A: “I have CCNA and CCNP certifications in most of the fields to serve as a proof for my knowledge in these fields”

OR

B: “For instance, in my math class, I found myself getting frustrated with my calculator because it could not handle matrices with complex numbers. I took the matter into my hands and wrote a java program to find the determinant of a matrix involving complex numbers, which would run on my mobile phone. It worked well, and this was just the beginning of bigger things for the next three years.”

Approach A tells what you have done, something that is easily mentioned in the resume itself. B tells me why you did something and gives me an insight into your thought process.

A is wasting precious space by repeating stuff on your resume. Clearly the Admission Committee will prefer to know your potential better as a candidate and B shows them exactly that.

A: “As it is evident, my academic qualifications in the field of networking are exceptional.”

OR

B: “During the internship, I faced a crunch situation while designing a Cost-effective Power Generation Unit. Since factors such as time to procure and implement the solution were not considered by me before designing the circuit, the entire complexion of the solution got changed – which taught me my first lesson in engineering management.”

Approach A is to state your opinion (which in this case makes you sound arrogant anyway even if you are not). In B, you are giving facts and letting the Admission Committee form its opinion. This is known as TELL vs SHOW. Don’t tell me what you think you are, show me examples and let me form my own opinion. Obviously approach B will give better results.

How to write a compelling SOP?

We covered the essential paragraphs of a SOP in our Statement of Purpose (SOP) guide

Now you know that SOP is not your verbose resume and it is not simply a collection of what you did. It is your story and unless you understand what is the Admission Committee looking for in your story, you will struggle to write the winning SOP.

Trying to cover the following pointers has worked well for applicants working with us-

  1. Background and Aspirations
    • Clear goals help
  2. Academic and Professional relevance
    • Show you are good in your field
  3. Personal Story
    • Show a face behind the application
    • Talk about how you have overcome challenges, what motivates you?
    • Talk about how you have applied your learning
    • Show that you can execute your lessons in practice
  4. Why are you applying to this school?
  5. Why should this school admit you?

How to write the perfect Introduction for your SOP

Next, let’s look at a real introduction used by a candidate who is now studying MEng at Cornell-

“From programming cells of an excel sheet with math formulas in my fourth grade to building a security plugin for Mozilla Firefox considering the current threats to privacy and security on Internet, I have realized that problem solving is what excites me. After a year and a half as an Application Developer in Risk Technology at JP Morgan Chase, I have found my passion in improving the way Information is used in businesses. Therefore, I wish to return to school to pursue a Master’s degree in Computer Science that will allow me to explore the subject in greater depth, particularly the fields of Data Mining, Database and Software Engineering, and use it effectively to address real-world challenges.”

  • First line shows that the candidate knows about his field
  • Second line shows that he has solid background and proficiency
  • The last line clearly identifies his goals

In the MS Book, we use something called SOP Canvas to help build your story. If you fill it out sincerely, I’m pretty sure your SOP will end up better than majority of applicants out there!

Don’t use templates

One major mistake that I have seen in students’ SOPs is that they all look same. It is tempting to pick out 5-6 SOPs from Internet and hash them up to create your own SOP. That is where you will dig your own grave because using templates or copying will only get you to come up with things that others already have. The key to a successful application is to stand out from the crowd, not copying them.

Read how to Avoid other common mistakes that 80% applicants make in their SOPs

In summary: understand what AdCom is looking for

So, those were some insights into the tricky world of SOPs. It’s a rookie mistake to think that SOP is a description of your resume or that there is a set template that you can use as a shortcut. Use SOP to highlight your strengths and tell your unique story.

This is why we do a detailed call to craft a student’s story and then formulate strategy for SOP and LORs in our MS Admissions Consulting. Do not use shortcuts for your SOP, give it time and let it evolve into a solid personal statement.

Do MOOCs (online courses) help in MS applications?

MOOCs for Applications

Many students wonder if doing online courses (MOOCs) will help in their MS or college applications.

What are MOOCs

MOOCs are (Massive Open Online Courses) targeting open access for student participation via Internet. In a world where everything is just one click away, why should education be left behind? Why do we need to be in a physical classroom for gathering knowledge? This is why MIT and Harvard created edX in 2012 that hosts online university level courses. Soon, sites like Coursera, Udemy, Udacity and Khan Academy started offering a large variety of courses for academic, professional and interest based learning. 

Most of the engineering colleges in developing countries are struggling to find qualified faculty. While the courses are being taught for the sake of it, students are passing not by proving their knowledge but by last minute rote learning, copying assignments and solving previous year question papers. They say a true engineer never studies until the last two days before the exam!

But this jugaad engineering falls flat at the first contact with professional world. After all, you need to know and do things when you show up at work. Similarly, when a student applies to universities abroad, they expect you to be not only conversant in the basic subjects but also exhibit mastery over some of them. And getting into these top notch universities is not about cracking an entrance exam, but impressing with your overall profile – projects, grades, experience, scores etc. Poor Indian student realizes that his jugaad is not going to work here.

How to use MOOCs to enhance your applications

You can improve skills that are helpful in your college or graduate program by taking MOOCs. That is one way to improve your candidature for BS or MS in USA.

  • MOOCs can compensate for your low grades in a similar class you took in college. Or, they can fill in for lack of a formal education in the area you are applying to. For example, if you are expressing an interest in Computer Security and your college did not offer enough relevant electives, you can take such courses on a MOOC.
  • Developing good projects in these courses can be a great way to show you are a pro-active learner. These projects can go into your resume and add more talking points in your next interview. Few skills that can be advantageous during your hunt for on-campus jobs and assistantships are web development, perl scripting, excel modeling etc.

Case Studies of applicants using MOOCs to their advantage

Yasho Vardhan, an MIS applicant was feeling that his average GPA was putting him at a disadvantage in his applications. To further enhance his profile, he decided to take Introduction to ‘Python for Data Science’ on edX and ‘R Programming’ on Coursera. Since he was interested in Analytics which is growing more popular and competitive, he felt that he needed something more than his academics and work experience to differentiate himself. Further, such courses were highly recommended by his seniors at University of Maryland, the place where he headed to. 

For more info, read: What MOOCs are popular among MS applicants?

Where to find good MOOCs?

Here are top sites to access high quality free courses that you can look at:

While MOOCs are good for skill development, having a MOOC certificate alone may not help that much. There’s always a trust problem – who knows if you only took the MOOC certification exam or your friend? Therefore, let not the certificate be your primary motivation, try to genuinely learn something and reflect that in your story.

Why do applicants prefer Fall semester over Spring?

ms in usa - fall vs spring

If you did not receive your dream admit in Fall or if you had missed your Fall deadlines, you are probably considering a critical question that many applicants are confused about – Fall vs Spring?

Although it remains inconclusive whether starting your graduate school in Spring adversely affects your admission chances, there are few things you should know about applying for Spring semester:

School shortlisting in Fall vs Spring

Primarily, not all schools have a Spring intake and hence, your choices of programs that you can apply to are fewer than what you have in Fall. Moreover, some schools have Spring applications only to fill out their left over seats from Fall admissions and admit students on a rolling basis. Some of the schools that have a Spring intake are:

  • Cornell
  • UIUC
  • Purdue
  • CMU
  • University of Wisconsin Madison
  • USC
  • NYU
  • Syracuse

Getting a summer Internship Fall vs Spring

You can get a CPT only after 9 months of your arrival into USA. For this reason, Spring students cannot get a CPT to intern off-campus during their first summer. However, they can still do a full-time summer internship their second summer but they need to attend one more semester at their school after finishing the internship. This means that they cannot do a summer internship in the second year if they are planning to graduate in 3 semesters only. If a summer internship is critical for you, then consider applying for a course beginning in Fall so that you do not face such restrictions.

Do enquire with your department if summer internship is possible after going in Spring. Our student Praneeth confirms that SUNY Stonybrook does NOT allow it.

Getting Financial Aid

While some people argue that chances of scholarships are low in Spring than Fall, there is no evidence to support this. It all depends on the availability of funding with the university and the Professors.

Availability of Courses in Fall vs Spring

There is another notion that not all the mainstream courses are offered in Spring. Again, I have seen this both ways i.e. some courses are offered in Fall typically and some in Spring, so there is no general rule across all the schools. More popular courses might be offered preferably in Fall since that is the most common intake period and number of students enrolling for the courses are higher in Fall. However, it is better to take a look at the curriculum before assuming that you will not find enough good courses in Spring. You might be interested in some courses which are offered in Fall only but the chances are that you can take it in your second semester anyway. Many courses are designed such that you can take first part in fall second part in spring, you wouldn’t be able to take these courses in spring.

Accommodation, Weather and Networking

It might also be very difficult to get accommodation when you join during spring as most leases start fall and end in summer. You also miss the big university wide orientations that happen during fall. January weather in east coast is pretty bad too.

This is part of the MS Book. To get more such relevant information, please check out MS Book: Smart Engineer’s Complete Guide to MS in USA.

A motivating story for students

As some of you go for your GRE or other exams, this story may help you getting that extra boost of morale.

There was a boy named Masaru in Japan. When he was young, he wanted to learn & master Judo. Unfortunately, he lost his left hand after an accident. He became very sad. When his father saw his condition, he took him to one the Great Masters of Judo in Japan. After thoroughly analyzing Masaru, the Master told him to come from next day for practice. Masaru became very happy after hearing this. On the first day, the Great Master taught him one trick and instructed him to practice it.

After one week, Masaru came back to the Master and asked for teaching him another trick as had practiced the first one long enough. Master replied him to practice the same trick again & again.

Another week passed, months and years passed.

One day, after 10 years of practice, Master informed Masaru that he has nominated his name for the national championship of Judo which will be conducted in Japan, next month. Masaru was shocked after hearing this as he had been practicing only one trick for the last 10 years. Master told him to be relaxed and calm. One the day of championship, Master advised Masaru to remain calm and concentrate on the fight and use only that trick which he has taught him. Masaru won the first fight and then the second one and gradually, he entered semi finals. He couldn’t believe himself. Master again advised him to remain calm and concentrate on the fight and use the same trick again and again. Masaru managed to enter the finals and then he thought that now it’s time to face the best one in Judo in Japan and the opponent will beat him very easily as he knows only one trick. When Master came to know about this, he gave him the same advice.

After the finals, Masaru won and couldn’t believe himself and started crying out of joy. When Masaru went to Master asked him how it happened, the Great Master replied that for the last 10 years, he has been practicing only one trick and he has become master of that. To counter this trick, the opponent has to hold his left hand which which he didn’t have. His weakness became his strength and he won.

Moral: Understand your strengths and weaknesses. Build strategy that will help you succeed and stick to it. A warrior who has practiced one move 10,000 times is more lethal than another who has practiced 10,000 moves one time. 

Common mistakes that applicants make in writing SOP and application essays

How to avoid most common mistakes while writing SOP or other application essays for your MS, MIS and MBA applications? And, what does this Computer Science Professor at UCSB has to say about SOPs? We have already talked about the technical aspects of a SOP in our previous post. Today, we will look into how to avoid some common pitfalls.

Here are some common problems we have observed.

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How to get more admits in your MS MBA applications

how to ensure success in applications

Although the outcome of our study abroad applications is not entirely in our hands, you can plan to get more admits when applying to MS/MBA programs.

Your mental attitude is important

Psychology is an important factor and a big one when it comes to distinguishing between successful and not so successful people. At the end of the day, skills can be developed. Anyone can tirelessly work towards a goal but what matters for long term success is one’s mental fortitude and mindset of dealing with failures.

When we look at successful people, we wish to be like them, we wish we could get advantages like them. We even think they got things their way, perhaps they were lucky. But do you think they didn’t have to deal with failure? Everyone – every single person – has to deal with failures and its how you deal with it that can make all the difference.

Now, why am I talking about this all of a sudden amidst the application process is simple. You will plan a lot and put your best foot forward while applying to world’s best universities. The fact is you will still get few/many rejects. You play to win and you shall apply to succeed. BUT – yes, there is that big but – sometimes, you will face rejections. Those who can accept failures gracefully without giving in to it will be the ones who will make it bigger in the end.

How can you get more admits?

This is why you should apply to a combination of schools – its like diversifying your portfolio which is the first basic rule of investments. You distribute your eggs in different baskets hoping that at least one basket will remain safe. Usually for MS, you shall apply to 8-12 schools spread between ambitious (high rank, erratic ones), moderate and safe schools. Some people do apply to more but it can get cumbersome managing so many online applications, asking recommenders to fill so many LORs etc.

Apply to good mix of schools

So while you are gearing up to seeking success in all your applications, do take a good look at the list of schools you are applying to. Getting more admits is a matter of applying to right kind and number of universities.

Keep a good mix in there – don’t be too aggressive or defensive. This will also be determined by how desperately you wish to go abroad this year itself (also known as your risk profile). Is this a make or break situation for you or do you have back up options.

What’s your Plan B?

For graduates – do you have a good job offer in hand that you can go to if you don’t get your dream admit? The more desperate you are to succeed in your applications, more defensive you will have to be. And this is why solid school research is necessary. Being aggressive (applying to more than 4 ambitious schools) is okay if you can afford the risk – after all who wouldn’t want to get an admit to a super awesome high ranked school! But just in case you don’t get into those, what’s your Plan B? If you haven’t thought about it, think about it now.

Your school list should be aligned with your risk profile. Make sure it is.

I have seen some super smart students applying very aggressively but then left distraught with rejections. Don’t reach that stage. Know the risk when you apply aggressively and be prepared if things don’t work out in your favor. If admit is so critical for you, do apply to some safe schools as well and be prepared to go there if needed. Nothing is worse than applying to a school but not feeling comfortable in going there (why would you apply to such a school at all?)

Stay prepared for the best

As always, Gita said it best – “do what is in your hands, don’t fret about the outcome”. But yes, what you can do is be emotionally mature and plan accordingly. If you are prepared, you would know what lies ahead of admits as well as rejects. Reject is not the end of this world. You can do something meaningful this year and reapply – perhaps get into much better school anyways (called a blessing in disguise and it had happened with me). Its how you look at things that matters.

Want to make your application perfect? Check out our high level counseling packages

Hello friends,

If you are applying for Fall 2014, it is time to tighten your belt and get ready for the ride. This is the time to take that extra efforts in making your application stand out. As a bunch of successful students who have graduated from TOP 10 universities in USA ourselves, we offer that extra polish that can help your profile shine brighter.

From careful SOP reviews to tips on managing scholarships, from reviewing your school list to suggesting schools that may be a great fit for you that you might have missed, we specialize in LAST MINUTE ADVICE.

So if you want our expert eyes to ensure that your application is the best you can, give us a call and join our High Level Counseling Package (don’t you love that name) TODAY! It is perfect for those who are already working on their own or with another counselor. Don’t leave any chances, go for the best.

How much does work experience matter for MS?

One of the most common questions we have encountered among applicants is about work experience. Remember, we are talking about MS and not MBA.

  • I will work for two years and then apply to get into better schools
  • I did not receive the admission into my desired school, so I’ll wait and join a job and then reapply
  • I want to go immediately after college and not wait for work experience
  • I have five years of work experience, should I apply for MS at all or only consider MBA?

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Importance of GPA and GRE scores in your MS applications

Often a student wonders if her GRE score is good or is the GPA OK?

Here’s how I look at it-

Admission Committees use your GPA and GRE scores to determine whether you can handle the course load or not. A low GPA or GRE score makes them question your aptitude and ability to manage the curriculum. Further, having a low Quant score and doing poorly in your core courses (e.g. Data Structures for Computer Engineers etc) raises a red flag. So, while a low GRE score on its own may not disqualify you completely, it puts you at a huge disadvantage. I have seen students with superb research profiles or good industry experience but mediocre or subpar scores struggle to get into quality schools.

A GRE score < 310 (and Quant score < 155) can be a serious deterrent and you might consider retaking GRE. We prefer students get GRE > 320 to be able to remain competitive at top schools.

Similarly, when mentioning your GPA, it is important to convey where do you stand in your class/university. For e.g. saying your BE percentage was 73% does not tell the admission committee anything unless you tell them that you fell in top 1% of the class or top 10% – it makes all the difference!

Tip: If you end up applying with low acads (GRE or GPA), do try to explain somewhere in your application that the low score is not reflective of your ability to excel at the program for so and so reason (need help? contact us).

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