Letter of intent

[SufjanS]

---

Members do not see this ad.

My goal for this week is to get a basic letter of intent written so that I can give that and my resume to my professors when asking for letters of rec.

That said, I have NO IDEA where to even begin with this. I don't want to sound corny and say things like "audiology is a rapidly developing field that I want to be a part of" or give some emotional story about why I am interested in the field. So what do I need to talk about and highlight without sounding super corny and generic?

Any tips and suggestions on formatting and writing the letter are appreciated!

 

[audi2011]

Seriously, I was stressing about the same thing when I was starting to write up my 'basic' letter. I went and talked to my prof about it and she was like students always look for ways to stand out and make an impression when writing this. That is good but at the same time dont try to be too creative and forget the purpose of the letter. Just be honest and show them you are dedicated to the field. Put in any related work experience, shadowing an audiologist etc. Put in your strengths and weaknesses and explain any poor grades. This can be quite hard because some schools have like a 500 word limit. It is hard to fit every possible thing you want. Also, keep in mind that the committee is crazy busy and they read many letters..so dont go with cliches or how wonderful life is and it will be even better after you become an audiologist lol. They will skip to the next one. I know this because my first letter was pretty crappy and I had to rewrite it many many times to fit the word limit and put in everything I wanted to say. The most important thing...........edit edit edit! Oh and get it edited by someone else.

 

[rEliseMe]

The best advice I got regarding the letter of intent (or as I call it, statement of purpose) is, "Say something that no one else can say." Loosely, that means say something that very few people can say or will admit.

Of course, you'll want it to fit in with the rest of the paper, so don't just say, "I have six toes on my left foot," and then change topics. Maybe you dream about audiological evaluations or maybe extra-loud commercials are what caused you to look into audiology... whatever it is you need a good hook and that piece of advice helped me shape my whole paper.

Also, I agree with editing. I've put nearly 100 hours into thinking, writing, and editing. I'm on my fifth official draft and will probably have one or two more before I'm finished. You don't need to really go to that length but definitely don't turn in your first or second draft.