How to create the most impressive SOP anyone can think of? What will make the University sit up and take notice, and say, hey, we want this student in our classrooms?
A Statement of Purpose, is actually the purpose of your life! As I write this for you dear students, I reflect back on the people who helped me reach where I am today, and am ever so grateful to all the teachers who wanted me to think for myself, and all those interviewers who ever asked me the question- where do I see myself in life ahead? As I begin a new chapter in life I am asking this question to myself again, and all the preparation to this very question upto this point in life becomes so very pertinent to me too, and at this age in this juncture of my life. So begin this note as a note to yourself, where do you want to be in life, and how do you wish to achieve that. Take this act of a distant University wanting you to fill as a God given opportunity to create your own canvas in life. As many books you read on self help, every single one of them will tell you that it is all in the mind. So if you wish to create your own destiny, start with a pen in hand, and a paper on the desk, and begin writing your will on this Universe.
People will tell you to first write why you want to study a particular subject. Indeed, almost every recommendation on writing a personal statement or a statement of purpose including perhaps one on this blog would place emphasis on why you wish to study a particular course. It is important that you know why you would like to study a particular course, but an even more important need is for you to know and put down on paper how you wish to play your role in this world? Yes, you read this right, the most important thought which should cross your mind and you should meditate on is how you wish to serve God and humanity and which role you would play which would help you achieve this. Do you wish to build the most beautiful buildings, or do you wish to create the best music which heals the world? Do you wish to fly an aircraft with such finnesse that every fellow passanger on the plane feels this has been the best flight of their life, and they alight from the aircraft in such positive spirits that you collect as many blessings as anyone can operating a single flight?
Or do you wish to heal the world through medicine, or to teach students to become beautiful human beings within and without? Do you have an eye on creating beautiful paintings and works of art which take one’s breath away, and they remember the famous words from Keats? Do you wish to patiently listen to people and help them discover themselves or do you see yourself as a maverick who pulls out rabits from hats and pleases an eager audience? Would you like to try being a banker or a financial analyst, or would you choose to work for the Government in an important position? Or maybe you wish to join politics and show that world that politicians can be trusted too? Do you like machines or robots and would you like to build one which does much more than what man has built to date or are you fascinated by computers and would like to code a program which would uplift humanity? Whatever be your calling, you can identify it now and announce it to the world through this SOP.
Pen down your purpose in life and began expanding on it, and you will find the flow so invigorating that before you know, you would have completed your statement of purpose many times over, perhaps even created a novellete while you are at it, and you would not have the heart to trim it down for someone at the University who would like to read no more than a few hundred words. Every single day in my life passes and I regret that I never had the conviction to become an actor. I used to pride myself on my creativity, and somehow ended up in a position which strictly prohibited all creativity in life- I became an accountant! I am, however, not complaining as the pay was always good, I got to travel the world on different assignments, and God allowed me enough wisdom to one day take a decision to become an entrepreneur. So when I sit down today to guide you all through this process of writing an SOP, I am turning into an actor inside, so I can visualise all roles in life I could play, and perhaps you might find one role within these pages worthy of the soul inside you? So here goes!
Most of us think at a young age just out of our secondary studies in school that we would be fortunate if a particular University which is carrying a course which would make my life really accept me. I was no different, and so we begin our first step towards what we wish to do in life on a backfoot. Remember, every University would accept you, and yes, including the ivy league should you have conviction enough to approach them with the right credentials. You have it in you, no mountain is not passable if you prepare yourself sufficiently rigorously. If the ivy league wants us to get into an entrance exam, we will prepare so hard that they will have to accept us. If our marks in senior/higher secondary was not good enough, we will resit the exam and show the world what we are made up of. And no, a year does not matter when you reach my age and reflect back, that that year could have been the highlight of my life!
In the next para I am going to talk about what role in life I would like to play, and being an actor, you would find I step into numerous roles. Maybe one of those might be your calling, if not, you can send me a quick note on what your calling is, and I would try to step into that one too, and jot down a few jolly paragraphs which you can reflect back on while writing your own life story!
An actor: This is perhaps the easiest for me to respond to. I was born and brought up in a joint family in India, and we were fortunate to have every gadget on entertainment and every record of notable value in my uncle’s collection. He was a movie buff from the sixties and seventies, which we still regard as the golden age of cinema in India. He had so many video cassettes, compact discs, and now dvd and blue ray disks, and he even had a dedicated employee of his converting everything he had, and he could buy, into digital media too. He still has the most awesome amplifiers and speakers, and had converted a large room in the basement with everything a movie buff would dream of, as close as possible to a real theatre. I remember his father and grandfather scolding us and saying we would be spoilt rotten and would get the stick treatment if we ever were found in this room when we ouught to be studying. Well, you know how it goes- all of us cousins would routinely sneak into there for hours on end. Now my grandfather had built on this very successfull business of embroidered dress material in Lucknow, and all my eleven (ha ha, you read it right) uncles were in charge of different units. The family was wealthy by some standards on the business which was setup by my great grandfather after migrating from Lahore in 1917, having started with a meager capital and selling Gandhi caps!
So with an overdose of movies and music, our happy childhood was spent in playing gully cricket and acting out our favourite actors and fight scenes. Needless to say, we thought ourselves as great actors, and I, particularly, could mimic quite a few of them rather well. Since I was closest to sharing my uncle’s love for vintage movies and music, I was his favourite and had access to records at all times. I even played gatekeeper enjoying my sense of entitlement at times, must to the chagarign of my cousins. Now I have successfully completed my 12 years of studies, and awaiting results (I do hope I get decent marks, atleast my agent tells me that my record so far should likely get me a chance to be considered at your famous University), and I dream of pursuing the excellent curriculum your University have on arts and cinema.
I have no other ambition in life than being an actor. Being an actor is not only for earning money, but I have, in my young age, realised that an actor can help influence the society to nudge towards love, and humnity propsers generally with the message of love, which an actor can help permeate in so many ways. I am quite sure I will become an actor in my own right, and despite all stories about nepotism and how difficult it is to get into the film industry, nowdays the gap between opportunity and talent has reduced greatly with the advent of various social media where one can showcase one’s talent. Now a good actor worth his salt can earn sufficiently well into any form, be it theatre, or creating solo humour videos and posting on social media. So I have no shred of doubt at all, I would just like to become an actor. And I would like to ensure that I hone my existing skills with the wealth of knowledge your fabulous University has to provide during my 3 years studying as an undergraduate of arts and cinema.
A mechanical engineer: Most of my friends today want to become a computer engineer. I love my laptop, and having coded myself on flutter ( I have indeed created a few noteworthy programs in my summer vacations), but I just cannot see why my friends cannot see the value in being a mechanical engineer. Well, even if all machines were to take over humanity through artificial intelligence, lets us not forget that we need those mechanical robots with arms and legs to first be on the shelf before a programmer can infuse life into it! And that is what I always used to dream about, building machines of such quality that would withstand the test of rigours of use and time. I mean, look at the various machines we use in our day to day life, definitely they can be made better at every price point. Look at my dad’s car for instance- it is a huge truck which can offroad and also go to the market, and it costs perhaps the lifetime of my pocket money today, but it has so many niggles. Why, the fan belt broke the other day and we had such a scare, with the car going on around 80 on a highway, and all of a sudden the brakes failed because the alternator belt is connected to the main fan belt! How is that for safety, Mr Manufacturer?
When I build a car, I will ensure the basics are so robust that no life threatening brake down can happen with normal usage of the car. Yes I know companies like Toyota have all this, but I do believe I can bring about a mini revolution here in quality. Maybe Toyota would like to offer me a position of engineer one day at one of their plants! And this will be made possible only with the correct mechanical engineering course, and I have found that your University’s curriculum is best suited for my needs here. Well, I shall be elaborating on why this University a little later in this note, as I would like to point out one important thing about being a mechanical engineer- it opens a whole avenue of building a world class repair centre in my town. Yes, there are car repair workshops all over, but I have not come across a single large workshop which repairs other machines reliably. Why, my washing machine keeps on breaking down every now and then, and that is after we have replaced 3 of them in the last 10 years and now bought the most expensive one on the shelf!
Computer Engineering: I remember when I was a very small child, Nokia released a phone and advertised- ‘Is this what computers have become?’. I was small but could not understand this billboard as I boarded the escalator to watch a movie in my favourite mall with my mother and father, but I distinctly remember my father exclaiming loud to my mother that he wanted this phone. My mother being practical as she was, she discussed why Nokia thinks this can replace the computer. Now people readily think a bigger version of a tablet is really a computer, and for some genuis friends I have, they can use their phone for everything a computer can do, at least in our case, including typing at full speed and creating powerful documents, spreadsheets or presentations. Who can underestimate the power or a computer today. They are in everything, from our appliances at home to the car, to the door of my flat, we cannot envisage life without a computer today.
So when there are so much application of computers, and there are so many millions around the world who have taken programming as their profession, why do I want to do the same? The answer is in the question itself. Today, there is so much emphasis on every action done by a human being or a machine being aided by a computer program, that there is ample scope that many millions more programmers would get released in the system as soon as they are ready. Oh, this is but a tip of the iceberg, think about the number of specialist programmers needed in new disciplines or languages or technologies coming up, why, the earning of blockchain programmers must be in millions itself. Today I can see no greater career than a person who can get the computers do his biding. The binary language of 0 and 1, which allow the transistors in the CPU to sitch on and off and get the computers do what the programmer intends, is a fascinating world in itself. Oh, I could get lost in these digits my whole life and no one would be happier than I would be. So yes, computer engineering it is for me. Has been, is, and will always be. With this I submit my application to your esteemed University with a sincere hope you would consider it favourably and make my dream of arrive on your shores to study your curriculum a reality.
There are two other salient points which your SOP should bring forward;
1. Why this University
2. Why this country
Both of these require a lot of research and a fair bit of imagination. Research why the University is considered good. Who are the alumini, are there alumini who have done well in life, if so, how do you relate to them or your career. Keep all beliefs sincere as an experienced evaluator will quickly see through if the thoughts you have penned down are yours or the idea belongs to someone else.
The country selection should be easy and you should be prepared with the benefits compared to other developed countries vis a vis your own country. Remember, they want you to come over to study, and not try to be one of them to start with. Getting into society is a painstaking process, and they will not include you legally unless you demonstrate you are worthy of being included as one of them. Be clear, there is no hurry. If you do well in your studies and are able to get a job then your path is clear. Even otherwise the contacts you make during your 3/4 year study period should be a good launching pad for you to go back again and again till such time you are ingrained in their society.
So let me pen down how I would write for the country if I were the student:
1. UK: Every Indian dreams of being in the United Kingdom atleast once in life. We were ruled by the British for over 200 years and are aware that the British always prided on the saying ‘the sun never sets on the British empire’. I am aware of history of the struggle for independence of India from the British, but I am a sincere believer of learning from history, but not being a judge to what I have not had first hand experience. So the past is of academic importance for me. The learning for me has always been of awe, how did the British succeed to colonise India, and be in India, which is a large country with a rich history of freedom fighters, for such a long period? The answer for me has always been in the learning, the methods, the culture and the knowledge which the British displayed all these centuries. And I am very keen to be in England for these 3 years of my study to find out first hand why you have progressed so much. Doubtless, there must be a culture of enterprise and hard work which enabled you as a race to reach where you have been, you are. I would like to receive the most important part of my knowledge and learning as a student imbibing this culture. Then there are other factors of climate, the time difference and the Indian diaspora which lives in Great Britain, and I feel I would be at home. One or two people I know who have been to Englad say the climate is completely suitable for me, who hail from Northern India and my city near Himachal has similar climate to England. It is my life’s ambition that I learn from a British University, and perhaps I would be able to find my bearing in this world if I learn in a country which will not only give me a degree, but teach me so much which perhaps a University in another country might not. I feel I would do my career great justice if I pick up a degree from a University in England.
US: The land of entrepreneurs has always fascinated me. I have heard stories of the opportunities available to Indians when we return back from the US after completing studies. My father has always been told stories by some many of his friends who socially visit us over time that their children are studying in the US. Oh, how their chests swell with pride when they explain how well their child is doing in the US and already there are big companies in India who have shown an interest to recruit them as soon as they land back in India. I remember my dad saying so and so has landed an INR 2 million starting salary the very day they returned back to India after picking up an undergraduate degree from the US. For my parents now it appears the only purpose in life is that they should also be able to boast that they have sent their children to the US for higher studies. I am so enamoured by this that now I feel the only studies which would do justice to my ambitions would be the degree completed from the US. I believe more than the degree, US will also help me hone my entrepreneurial skills for me to build a big business in India in the future, once I have had sufficient experience working for a multinational company in India after returning back from the US. I am so keen to explore US and the culture which has created unicorns world over that I would consider myself indeed fortunate if I am able to find a place in a US University.
Australia: We Indians living in North India know the value of the coastline. I have fond memories of the most famous holiday spot for me, Goa. Oh, how I would play in the waves and the sand and would not go back to the resort no matter how much my parents try pulling me back. I always felt so comfortable around the sea and the climate it always got my spirits soaring. And now, when my agent told me that a University might accept me for higher studies in Australia, I thought, wow, it is like a dream come true. What better way to spend 3 years of my life than in a country full of beaches and the sun, it would be like a picnic for me. I would be able to concentrate on my studies knowing that a beach awaits me over the weekends. Most of my friends want to go to the US to study, but I am just unable to keep drooling over the prospects of studying in Australia. Imagine the concentration I would be able to demonstrate towards my studies, that I would be able to perhaps, no not perhaps, certainly perform the best I have in my life in studies. I cannot wait to be in Australia, complete my studies, and apply at a decent position in a multinational company in India. I am told by the counseller that prospects of Indian students in Australia when they return back from their MBA are almost at par with a top management college in India. And my dad has the money, so why not enjoy life to the fullest these three years while I complete my studies. Australia it always was, and Australia it is, no doubt about it.
Now lets talk at little about what we would write as to why we have chosen a particular university. Lets take the case of any University, say, University of Worcestershire. You would need to first ensure you do as much research on that University as you can. Today almost all information is available on the internet and the social media, and you only need to be a bit smart to reach that information. The internet will tell you what the University has to say about itself at first, right off the pages of its own website. I am sure a keen student will be able to pick up as much information as is required to make a suitable case for admission. Maybe the University is looking for just this fact that a student has taken the effort to go through its web pages, that might be enough for the admissions team to grant you admission. Maybe, they want you to compare a few Universities and present the case as to why their University is the preferred choice for you.
University of Worcestershire: It might not be an exaggeration to say that what drew me to your University pages is the fact that you have one of the best cricket grounds in the county, and that you actively encourage your students to play cricket and participate in matches. I mean, if a nice touch of cricket was all that someone required to assess me, I would win hands down. Yes, I will not make the Indian cricket team, but at least I could blast a few big ones away from the ground, and I can bowl a mean yorker, yes sir, I think I play reasonably well. Playing cricket professionally might even have been a career for me had it not been for both of my elder brothers who have made a name for themselves in the industry over the past few years. And they too, have a degree from a University in England!. Now my parents will not listen to me, they say I have to study hard and join a big company in India, and build a big enough house like my brothers have built so they can stay with one of us on rotation when they are older. Man, the expectations the parents carry on their children today! But to come to the point, your University is ranked 3 on student satisfaction index for the past 2 years, and within the top 10 for the degree I am aiming for. What more can a student from India want? Good people on the campus, all round development through sports and extra curricular activities, and a library where one can get lost in books. I particularly was in awe of your grand basement which can seat so many hundreds and which students too use for band practice owing to its fabuous acoustics. The course I have chosen is electrical engineering, and one of my passions besides cricket has been music. So unless you refuse me, I don’t intend even looking at another option. Worcestershire it is for me, and will be always my preferred choice for University. Some of my friends have already started asking me about the research I have on your cricket grounds, and are they envious.
