Statement of purpose

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 The examples and perspective in this article deal primarily with the United States and do not represent a worldwide view of the subject. Please improve this article or discuss the issue on the talk page.

A statement of purpose, or personal statement, is a brief and focused essay about one's career or research goals, and is frequently required for applicants to universities, graduate schools, and professional schools. A statement of purpose (SoP) is a concise essay about one's career goals, identified means to achieve them and accomplishments so far towards those goals. It is a required document when applying for admission to most professional programs in the United States. Often, SoP is used as a yardstick to assess the capabilities of a prospective student in terms of critical thinking, analytical abilities, interests, aims and aspirations. It is a good way for an applicant to communicate with the admissions committee. Most admissions committees look for a short, crisp and ideologically clear SoP.

It is also known as a Graduate School Essay. Other universities sometimes call it a "Letter of Intent", "Letter of Intention", "Statement of Intent", "Statement of Intention", "Statement of Interest", "Goals Statement", "Personal Statement", "Personal Narrative" or "Application Essay". The name can be just a name but often it influences content and length of the essay. Every university has its own regulations, but most of the time it will be 1-2 pages.

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