SOP and discoveries that sparked interest

[daydreaming]

In discussing discoveries and theories which sparked your interest to attend graduate school/research in a specific area, how brief should one be? I feel as though with such a limited amount of space one can only adequately discuss a couple theories in any amount of detail.

Would it be better to focus only on a couple things and spend some space discussing them?

Or is it a good idea to briefly outline several discoveries and theories which are applicable and you are genuinely interested in?

Also, is there a need to recapitulate the discover or theory or can it be assumed that the people reading will know (assuming you are applying to relevant programs)?

Thank you in advance for any advice!

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[Ruchi agarwal]

Thank you!

 

[SomedayPsychPhd]

I have the same question that daydreaming posed to the forum. I am trying to write my SOP (which has a 500 word limit) so that it includes how I became interested in psych, my research/clinical experience, why I want to attend X program, and why I want to work with X professor. Currently, I have a paragraph on how I became interested, but I am way over the word limit. Do people tend to address this in just 1-2 sentences instead? Thanks!

 

[CheetahGirl]

In everyone's 'story' there is some common thread that runs throughout (one prof referred to it as the "red thread"). You should learn about this when attending a clinical program, and it is helpful in understanding coherence of anyone's narrative. When you start to build your SOP, think about your most salient interest or factor (your top one or two, but not more - b/c you don't want to appear scattered), then follow that idea through from your past to your present, picking up several key points and details along the way.

For example (not my story...just making this up): As the oldest of 3 children in my family, I established a strong sense of responsibility and commitment to those around me at an early age. This was apparent when I became high school class president and captain of the debate team. I furthered these personal traits into college life, as I took on the responsibility of supervising 4 undergrads during my senior year working in Prof X's lab. During my research, I became heavily committed to the concept of affective regulation and how it plays a part in patient's lives. I now find the responsibility that comes with patient care to be intriguing, important and an area of training I'm fully committed to in graduate studies. At University of X, Prof Y is researching an area of affective regulation that strongly interests me. I would appreciate the opportunity to discuss the possibility of furthering Prof Y's work with my own ideas.

IMO these 152 words (only) give a clear picture about this imaginary person & his/her interests & some personal information too, and a basic example to show the idea of a common "red thread" that flows throughout the narrative. Good luck tying all your ideas together.

Here's another thread with similar writing tips for word limits on essays: http://forums.studentdoctor.net/thr...in-sop-that-are-in-app.1042481/#post-14633100

 

[CheetahGirl]

Also, is there a need to recapitulate the discover or theory or can it be assumed that the people reading will know (assuming you are applying to relevant programs)?!

daydreaming, no need to recapitulate some discovery or theory. If you must reference it, be brief, like "Along with my intuition, Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs (1954) gave me the framework to better understand the patients that I worked with in my volunteer position with the Samaritans." (Again, not my personal example b/c the first rule of Samaritans is not to talk about Samaritans.) But, note that I provided the reference of Maslow's book that fully developed the idea, but nothing more is needed. Be succinct...and while you shouldn't assume your reader has the full idea of the concept, just make sure your placement of it makes sense and you provide a scholarly reference (which is what you constantly do throughout graduate school) in case they want to know more about it because of genuine interest.​

 

[SomedayPsychPhd]

Thank you very much CheetahGirl - you are really good at writing concisely! It helped me a lot and I really like the idea of picking one common thing (I was trying to fit in too many) and thread them throughout the essay. I am excited to try to re-write the newer version now. Thanks again and best wishes!