Many psychology applicants want to stand out in their Statement of Purpose (or Personal Statement, or other similar titles that different programs name these essays).
Some of them go about it entirely the wrong way. Avant garde styles, writing in the third person, writing the whole essay as if it were a fiction story, and other unusual approaches are not going to earn you any respect from most admissions departments.
What will earn you respect and serious consideration as a prospective doctoral student is if you come across as an intelligent, motivated student with an interesting background, strong academic and research experiences presented in an interesting way, and a plan for your future that is well-thought out. A well-written Statement of Purpose will individuate you without alienating anyone reading your essay.
Introduction Section
Introductions should not be long. You have too much ground to cover to spend time talking about your background or hobbies. You need to come across as articulate and academic-focused in two to three sentences.
A classic way to accomplish this is to discuss a class, encounter with a professor or someone else influential to you in your future field, or something you did research on, that attracted your interest or solidified your desire to attend grad school in that area. Some examples of what would be appropriate “hooks” to introduce your reader to your essay are:
- A study abroad experience in Mexico that led to your commitment to studying the psychological health of immigrants.
- A class you took on occupational health that led to you having regular discussions with that professor on that topic and independently writing a research paper on that topic.
- A volunteer experience at an Alzheimer’s home that led to your pursuit of degenerative neurological diseases as a lifelong area of research.
What Not to Write About in the Introduction
These may be tempting topics, but in 99% of cases, they will come off as inappropriate and immature topics for an application to grad school. If in doubt, avoid them.
Your own mental health issues. Even if you’ve completely overcome these issues, even if they’re what led to your love of psychology, and even if your past problem is exactly what you want to study in graduate school. Do not mention them.
Death of loved ones. Your experience with a loved one dying is, in the vast majority of cases, interesting and relevant only to you. If you are studying something like the grief process, it can be a brief mention that you have dealt with death, but there should no dramatic story that you attach to it.
Your childhood. Making a decision to go to grad school based on an experience or decision you had as a child (“child” meaning anything before college), comes across as naive and a poor reason to make an important life decision like graduate school. Even if it’s true that you’ve wanted to be a counselor since you were four years old, find another experience in your life (preferably an academic or research experience) that triggered your intent to attend grad school.
Research and Academic Experience
The details on your research and academic background will take up the bulk of your essay, at somewhere around 250 to 300 words of a 500-word essay. Don’t write fluff – you want every sentence to sell your abilities as an academician and researcher.
Organize this portion of your statement logically, and try to divide it naturally into two or three paragraphs. One way to structure it may be according what you did in each lab you have worked in (with any academic references woven in when relevant). Another may be involve having one paragraph be about your your academic accomplishments and then another about your research accomplishments.
Make sure to mention:
- Academic awards, nominations, and scholarships you have received.
- Publications and poster presentations, and what your contributions and responsibilities were for them.
- Details of the most impressive research tasks you have accomplished.
- Senior theses and independent projects.
Include specifics on all of these! For example, when you’re writing about your research, write about the purpose of the project and what specifically you contributed to it. When you write about your academic credentials, explain why you received that award.
What Not to Write About in This Section
In general, you shouldn’t write about your “numbers”:
- Your grades
- Your GRE scores (Psychology or General)
You also shouldn’t write about anything that admissions committees consider largely irrelevant, such as:
- The clubs were in
- The leadership positions you held
- Your hobbies
- Your volunteering activities, unless they are academically relevant
None of those activities are bad or worthless to admissions committees, but they are an inefficient use of your limited word count when you need to sell yourself as a promising researcher and student.
About the School
Research two unique or exemplary aspects of the program that you genuinely like, and say why you like it. Link it to what you’ve established about yourself and goals, if possible. (For example, “I am particularly impressed by the program’s practical internship requirement, which would be an excellent complement to my academic skills.”)
Make it clear that you have thought about yourself as a part of their program, and that will make the admissions committee more likely to picture you in their program, as well.
What Not to Write About in This Section
That school’s rankings. Your school doesn’t need to hear it’s #4 on a ranking list somewhere. Even if it’s not true, the admissions committee may assume that you’re just applying to your schools based on this ranking, when your choices should be based on more substantial reasons than that. Referring to it as an excellent program or something similar is acceptable.
Minor information from the school’s website. The department knows it has three breadth requirements. Many programs do. Don’t act like this was pivotal information for you in deciding to apply to that program. Instead, focus on aspects of the program that reflect its unique perspectives and styles.
The school’s location. Location may be really important in your decision, and you may have perfectly valid reasons for it being so important. Nevertheless, don’t mention them in your application. Schools want students who want to be at that school, not that school’s location.
Your Future and Goals
Almost all programs will ask you for some sort of future-oriented projection of your career accomplishments in your statement. Some may specify specific timelines or career benchmarks to project your intentions on to (such as where you will be in ten years), while others provide more vague prompts.
In either case, you should write clear statements about your current career aims, your general research area, and what you hope to accomplish in it. You don’t need to be extremely specific, but be detailed enough to show you’ve given this some thought. No one is going to hold you to it.
You can be ambitious in your plans, but also be realistic. You’re going to come off as naive if you write that you are going to be a world-class researcher five years out of grad school.
What Not to Write About in this Section
Demonstrate writing that shows a mismatch of your goals and their expertise. Programs differ in research areas, and also in styles and emphasis. For example, a completely practice-oriented counseling psychology applicant is not going to be a great fit at a heavily quantitative-focused program. There are also different mentorship styles, often having one designated adviser versus being advised by several professors and the department more generally. In fields where applied careers are common, programs will differ in the support and expertise they have toward academic versus industry careers. Figure out what kind of student the program wants, and whether you are the kind of student who would be happy there. If you are interested in a future in academia, make sure you select programs that have successfully produced tenure-track professors.
Say you want to help people. This is especially common in the people-oriented psychology fields, like clinical, counseling, and school. Change your statement from something like “I want to help people with bipolar disorder” to “I want to contribute to research in the treatment of bipolar disorder treatment and prevention in younger adult populations.” Both statements may be true, but the second one turns a vague, “helping” statement into one appropriate as a research goal.
Say you are interested because of the university. Your future university’s academic reputation will have almost nothing to do with the strength of its psychology department. Even if you love the university for some other reason, once you are at the school, you will likely not be a big part of the university’s culture. You will be part of your department’s culture. Stick to understanding the program’s culture.
Final Thoughts
Statements of Purpose are one of the important and the most personal part of the application process. There is lot of ground you must cover in about 500 words, but luckily, all schools generally want to know the same information about you. Insert a little bit of your personality into your writing, but let your experiences and goals naturally sell you as a strong applicant and prospective student in the program.
