Graduate school applicants write one overall goal or multiple small goals with an overall purpose. You focus these goals with a personal, written statement that accompanies the scores of your graduate record examination (GRE), transcripts and other documents. For example, if your goal is to become a history professor by getting a master degree in American History, then every paragraph of your statement must relate to this goal. College essays often ask for a thesis, which focuses your paper. In the same way, your purpose is like a thesis, but in this instance, you must show that this is a goal for your life's work. Most applicants focus on a goal that applies to the program, such as becoming a green energy architect who needs a master degree in architecture to achieve this objective.
Graduate admissions want to see personality, which sets you apart from thousands of other applications. Writers choose many ways to deliver a purpose, but the best ones give specific, coherent examples that demonstrate self-knowledge and originality. The Career Center at Berkeley recommends including some of these topics in your statement: your purpose in graduate study, academic knowledge and field preparation for an area of study, why you chose a specific graduate school and an overall insight into who you are as a person. One part of the paper explains reasons for a bad semester or academic probation. If you experienced any hardships that led to less than average grades or bad scores, then explain what happened and continue with a positive statement regarding how you rebounded from these low points.
When you begin your statement of purpose, you want to have plenty of time, which means months of preparation. For one month prior to writing the statement of purpose, spend a half hour to an hour each day, brainstorming different experiences that molded who you are and might contribute to your paper's objective. As you write the opening paragraphs of your statement, be specific about your goals while grabbing the reader's attention. In follow up paragraphs, document experiences in the field or during school that correlate to your goal, including the value you learned from each example. In your conclusion, remark the sum of your experiences, what led you to the specific graduate school and why the school is the next step toward your goal.
In general, you need to reflect specificity and personally. You want to avoid statements that are broad, empty and awkward. Run-on sentences and passive voice, such as "I will be" or "I am excited by," are not friendly to the reader. Unless you explain why an event challenged you or why something was significant, avoid these words and their synonyms. Other statements such as "meant a lot to me," "I like helping people," "I can contribute" and "appealing to me" are overused in admission essays, and committees tend to skim over these phrases. Statements also should avoid "I've always wanted to be" or "what I did with my life" approaches, listing achievements, or lecturing the reader on what the program needs or what defines the program. The admissions committee already knows the school's program. They want to know how you fit into the classes and curriculum.
Your current school's career or writing center provides counselors and tutors to help come up with a plan for your statement, and may even offer programs that improve writing techniques. Your professors who gave you recommendations are also important resources to call upon when writing. They may know the teachers at a program of your choice or what topics will catch the attention of the admissions committee. Once you finish a first draft of the essay, bring the paper to friends, family and professors to read and offer critiques.