PLEASE REVIEW MY SOP, any constructive feedback/suggestions in grammar, content, structure are welcome. Thank you very much in advance.

Question

AlpheccaStarsYou need to put this aside for 3 days. Imagine that you are on the selection committee. Get out of your own head. If you had five minutes to present your three best, most convincing argument points in your favor, what would they be?  It is still too repetitive. As an example, you used "focus" twice in the sentence quoted below. It dilutes any effectiveness. "Climate and policy studies" are incredibly broad subject areas; certainly not in any way imaginable related to a sharp focus."Climate changes in Australia and policies related to wild fire control and post-disaster recovery" is more what I call "focus".Thank so much AlpheccaStars for being so resourceful. This is the best feedback I have received so far.  The reason why my focus is still broad, I am still reading up on the area I would like to focus within climate change and policy studies. I already have specific topics I am interested, I will incorporated it in the next drafts. Possible best three points:1. My interdisciplinary research backgound, and experiences that puts me into best place as a candidate in the interdisciplinary program. 2. My area of focus is very unique and has a potential to provide great solutions in both disciplines of research. 3. My background, ready to take challenges as international student and very firm on my academic goals. This is a very competitive program, and I do need to stand out to be noticed.  Do you think these points would be convincing enough?

AlpheccaStars · Accepted Answer

I have read a lot of SOPs and cover letters. The ones that attract attention need to be well-crafted and present some unique aspect that sets them apart from all the other candidates.

Hulkar My interdisciplinary research backgound, and experiences that puts me into best place as a candidate in the interdisciplinary program.

All applicants for an interdisciplinary program will make this claim.

Hulkar2. My area of focus is very unique and has a potential to provide great solutions in both disciplines of research.

You have not defined anything that could be described as "focus". Focus means something very specific; drilling down to a small range of narrow topics and details within a broader area.

Again, "providing great solutions" is not anything that would make your application distinguished from the others.

Hulkar3. My background, ready to take challenges as international student and very firm on my academic goals.

That is not much different from the first point.

When you think about this, ask yourself what sort of person are these committees looking for? Here are my ideas.

Certainly well-qualified academic achievers with the background to be able to succeed in the program. They do not want anyone who will drop out early, especially if they need financial support.

Someone who will complement their current student body, adding diversity, novel experiences and ideas. This is hard to predict, because they may have a certain gap that they are looking to fill if they can, for example, a woman from the Scandinavia. Some are looking for teamworkers, some for individual contributors.

Someone who, after completing the program, will enhance the reputation of the institution. This person has ambitions beyond the degree. Getting a PhD is only one step to their greater goals.

The more you learn about this institution, their program, and how they want to grow it, the better you can design your application (without any deceptions!) to portray their ideal candidate. Each institution will have different criteria. so a one-size-fits-all type of letter will not be very compelling.

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PLEASE REVIEW MY SOP, any constructive feedback/suggestions in grammar, content, structure are welcome. Thank you very much in advance.

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