Steps to Draft a Statement of Purpose

Drafting the right SOP is a complex process involving several steps. Like creating a Personal Statement, each step complements the next step and therefore, all steps become equally important. 

On that note, let’s move to the next video to understand the steps involved in drafting an SOP. 

In the video, you understood the six steps that are involved in drafting an SOP. These six steps are as follows: 

These steps are crucial in the drafting process of the SOP. Each of these steps corresponds to the next steps and are interdependent on each other. 

Next, you learnt about the first step of drafting the SOP, that is, Introduction. You can add the following pointers in the introductory paragraph:

• Introducing the SOP.
• Introducing your academic field of interest. 
• Writing about why this course interests you.
• Writing about what you want to do in this course and during your stay there.

You can understand more about writing the introduction through the following example:

Next, you learnt about the second step of SOP drafting, that is, Mention the background. While mentioning your background, you should include the following information:  

• All the information about your school or college goes here. 
• Write about your exposures - industrial, academic, training and professional.
• Include all your extracurricular experiences. 
• Mention any other experience gathered. 

You can get more ideas on the ways to mention your background information from the image given below:

Having understood how you can write the introduction and mention your background, let’s now move to the next video to understand two more steps of drafting an SOP. 

In the video, you learnt about the third and most important step of drafting your SOP, that is, Reasons for pursuing the course. While writing the reasons for pursuing this course, you must mention the following information: 

• Specify why you want to pursue this course - Discuss the course curriculum too.
• Mention the skills that you are looking to acquire.
• Explain how that skill would help you get into your career of choice. 

You can learn more on how you can list your reasons for pursuing this course from the following image. 

Next, you learnt about the fourth step of drafting the SOP, that is, Mentioning career goals. While mentioning your career goals, you must insert the following information:

• Specify the career goals that you wish to achieve after completing this course. 
• Provide a glimpse into your long-term(10-year) and short-term goals.
• Do not talk about staying for long in a foreign country.

You can learn to mention your career goals in the SOP from the image given below:

Let’s now move to the next video to understand the final two steps of drafting an SOP. 

In the video, you learnt about the fifth step involved in drafting an SOP, that is, Your reasons for choosing the university. Here you should: 

• Specify why you seek admission in this university only; prepare pointers such as career prospects and research areas.
• Mention how the course guidance and exposure would help you in your career.

The following image will help you understand how you can include your reasons for choosing the university:

Finally, you learnt about the last step of drafting the SOP, that is, Concluding the SOP. While concluding your SOP, you should mention the following details:

• Sum up in a paragraph everything that you have written so far.
• Engage the readers in the final lines of your SOP.
• Do not mention financial assistance or any sort of assistance during your stay.

You can refer to the following points to conclude your SOP:

With this, we come to the conclusion of this segment on ‘Drafting a Statement of Purpose’. In this segment, you learnt about the six steps of drafting an SOP. In the next segment, you will explore certain hygiene factors that must be followed while drafting an SOP as well as ways in which you can customise your SOP.