GUIDELINES FOR WRITING THE STATEMENT OF PURPOSE
(Please keep the following instructions in mind while attempting the questionnaire below. Most of
these guidelines are extracted from University Websites wherein they have mentioned details about
what is expected from the SOPs/Essays)
The statement of purpose should convince readers – the faculty on the selection committee – that
you have solid relevant achievements behind you that show promise for your success in graduate
study. Think of the statement of purpose as a composition with four different parts.
Part 1: Introduce yourself, your interests and motivations
Part 2: Summarize your undergraduate and previous graduate career
Part 3: Discuss the relevance of your recent and current activities
Part 4: Elaborate on your academic interests
Here you indicate what you would like to study in graduate school in enough detail to convince the
faculty that you understand the scope of research in their discipline and are engaged with current
research themes.
a) Indicate the area of your interests. Ideally, pose a question, define a problem, or indicate a theme
that you would like to address, and questions that arise from contemporary research. This should be
an ample paragraph!
b) Look on the web for information about departments you’re interested in, including professors and
their research. Are there professors whose research interests parallel yours? If so, indicate this. Check
the specific program; many may require you to name a professor or professors with whom you might
work.
c) End your statement in a positive manner, indicating your excitement and readiness for the
challenges ahead of you.
Essential Tips:
1. What the admissions committee will read between the lines: self-motivation, competence,
potential as a graduate student.
2. Demonstrate everything by example; don’t say directly that you’re a persistent person, show it.
3. If there is something important that happened to you that affected your grades, such as poverty,
illness, or excessive work, state it. Write it affirmatively, showing your perseverance despite obstacles.
You can elaborate more in your personal statement.
4. Unless the specific program says otherwise, be concise; an ideal essay should say everything it needs
to with brevity. Approximately 1000 well-selected words (1-2 single space pages in 11-point font) is
better than more words with less clarity and poor organization.
SOP GUIDELINES
** Kindly be truthful about your answers so that we can add facts to your SOP.
** For questions asking detailed answers kindly restrict your answers to 200-300 words. Answer all
questions with as much detail as possible and relevant.
** If there is any core technical info you need to mention, please do in the respective answers.
** Kindly refrain from using the exact content from your resume in the answers.
** Kindly streamline your thought process while reviewing this document as the SOP shall reflect
the answers given below.
** Ensure that you answer ALL the questions in as much detail as possible.
1. What course do you wish to pursue? Any specialization?
2. What inspires you to do this course? (For. EG. Was there an incident/person? How did you
learn about this course? Why do you think you will be a perfect fit for this course?
3. What attracts you to pursue your studies in this country?
4. What have you completed in your education so far? What are your Academic achievements?
Do you have any gaps/year drops/Backlogs/KTs? What was the reason for backlogs? How did
you overcome this challenge of the KT’s/backlogs? (Kindly maintain the chronology of the
events).
5. Name a few subjects/broad areas of research from your Present/UG curriculum which you
enjoyed working on and would like to continue these subjects in your Future/Master’s
curriculum. What are your key learning’s from these courses? What did you enjoy these areas
of research?
6. Name a few subjects from your UG which you found difficult and why? What did you learn
from the challenge of handling these courses? Have you any Backlogs?
7. Please mention in detail with timelines regarding all your academic projects. Describe in detail
each of these projects and what were your key learnings from each of them. Highlight the
technology/software used in these projects.
8. Please provide details of any work experience including internships. Any professional
achievement and what you have gained out of these experiences? Kindly mention the details
about the work done by you on the projects undertaken by you at work. Highlight the key
learnings and the key challenges in each of them. (Kindly maintain the chronology of the
events).
9. What papers/technical paper presentations have you written or published? (Kindly explain if
working on these aspects gave you new technical insights and what you learnt out of doing
these projects/papers and what your role was in the project). Suggest practical applications
or life goals any with these papers/projects?
10. What motivates you to pursue further education in your area of interest? - Past Education
Experience, Past Work Experience, Past Research Papers/Projects???
11. What is your long-term goal? What is your Dream Company to work in? Or what is the dream
business setup you wish to achieve if you have a business idea in mind? Or what is your dream
research area or proposal which you wish to work on in the future? How would the further
academic structure help you with the same?
12. Have you worked on any extra online courses or certificates or workshops or camps or
conferences etc. which have helped you boost your profile? Kindly mention in detail.
13. Do you think you have the ability to think out of the box for conducting research or introducing
innovation in Business? Please provide examples of past situations of out of the box thinking.
(if applicable, for Business based courses)
14. List your relevant Co-curricular activities which include scholarship exams, tech fests,
competitions, technical workshops, paper presentations etc. What have you learnt from each
of these?
15. List your relevant Extra- curricular activities which include sports, cultural festivals, organizing
events and participation, display of talent (singing, dancing etc.), social service and
volunteering for NGO’s, fund-raising etc. (achievements, participation etc. to be mentioned).
What have you learnt from each of these? What motivated you to do these activities?
16. What are your strengths (personal characteristics, skills, technical proficiency) that would help
you in your success in this career/program choice? Please provide suitable examples to
demonstrate them.
17. What are your drawbacks as a student and an individual? How will you overcome them? Do
you think this experience will help you in doing so? (Mention negative points, end with
positivity and learning.)
(Any other additional details not addressed in the questionnaire, so far that might help
highlight achievements or reasons for why your application must be successful. Why should
the application committee choose you?)