Hi everyone. My name is Rodolphe Devillers, I'm graduate officer at the Department
of Geography at Memorial University. As a
grad officer one of my duties is to lead
a committee that reviews application
from candidates like you that want to
join our grad program. One of the
elements you will have to submit when
applying to grad school is called a
statement of interest. Depending on the
grad school this is sometimes called
statement of purpose, statement of intent,
research statement and so on. In short, a
statement of interest is a text that
explains why you are applying to this
specific program and what makes you a
good candidate for it. It can capture
information about your past experiences
like earlier studies, maybe past
employment related to this field,
publications you authored related to the
program, extracurricular activities of
interest, etc. It should also capture
information about your interest in this
field maybe even how the program will
help you reach your career goals. Don't
be afraid to be specific when discussing
some of those points. Writing this text
is probably the most challenging part of
your application. So here are three tips
to help you write this text and submit a
stronger application. First, customize
your statement to this specific
application. Many of you will apply to
many graduate programs, that's fine you
have to find a program that meets your
needs. Submitting an application to grad
school can be very easy, yes? Few clicks
on the website, copy pasting some text,
uploading documents and done. Mistake.
Probably the most classic mistake
actually. Resist the temptation to
recycle too much material from a
statement of interest from one
application to another. Each statement
should be carefully crafted for each
specific application. People reviewing
your application will be interested in
knowing why you're interested in this
specific program or this specific
university. This requires you to
understand the details of the program
and university. So do your homework, look
at the program website to get some
details about courses, instructors, look at the details on the
university and maybe this program is
unique in its focus or structure, maybe
the program offers courses more relevant
than other similar programs, maybe it
allows you to access specific resources
or equipment, maybe student that
graduated from this program have
carriers you're interested in or maybe
the ability to work with specific
professors on specific project is what
draws you to this program.
Be specific don't be afraid to say
you're interested in working on this sub
discipline or with Professor X, no not
Professor Xavier from X-men
unfortunately. Second, write a statement
as Goldilocks would! Do you know
Goldilocks? The blonde girl that enters a
house of three bears in the forest. If
you don't know the story, I let you
google it. Well, Goldilocks likes what is just right. She
likes a chair not too big, not too small
a bed not too soft not too hard and this
is exactly how your statement should be, just right. In terms of length for
instance, don't make it too short or too
long unless required by a specific
program aim for something around six
hundred to a thousand words. A shorter
statement may not allow you to express
many ideas, but a longer statement may
lose the attention of your reader and go
in unnecessary details. Same thing for the
level of detail about your specific
interest it has to be just right.
Avoid vague statement like, I want to
apply to your program do it too it's
very good reputation or I want to find a
program that can challenge me
intellectually, this may be true but it
doesn't really explain why you want to
apply to this specific program or how
this will help you meet longer career
goals. A statement to vague can suggest a lack of focus but being too specific and
also in some cases be an issue. Let's say
for instance, you only want to work on a
very specific research project, people
reviewing it could think this program is
not the best fit for that or that nobody
is currently available to supervise you
on this. So show focus but also some
flexibility. Also, if you're applying to a
program with a research project, please
do not use this space to copy/paste your
20-page research proposal.
Summarize your key points here. Generally
try to find the right balance between
the two general and the two specific.
Third, check your writing. Of course I
assume you will put your best effort in
writing this text. You think the
committee will only read your text to
understand your motivation, big mistake.
Here is a little secret for you. This
text is also seen as a sample of your
writing skills and writing skills are
really important at the graduate level.
So did you forget that you few typos in
your text or your sentence clear, is your
grammar correct or your arguments will
organize in the text all of those things
are important. A poorly written text can
really decrease your chances of being
admitted even if the rest of your file
is very strong. So write your text
carefully, proof it and get other people
to review it before you submit your
application. That's it! If you follow
those simple tips you will already be
ahead of many other candidates. Good luck
with your application and I look forward
to maybe meeting you in person on the
Memorial campus in the future.
