Statement of Purpose

This statement is sometimes like the Personal Statement, but here the selection committee wants to know more about your academic experiences, academic goals, the personal inquiries you have regarding a particular issue, and, above all, why you are a great fit to the program.

Like the Personal Statement, the length is between 500-1000 words, but there are some programs that are more flexible.

Here it is also important to keep it simple and direct. 

Here you should try to demonstrate that you know some things about the discipline, so it could be great if you can mention some papers, books, or researchers that have inspire you.

Here are some questions that may help you:

• What research interests do you have?

• Where? 

• What kind of social phenomenon? 

• Which time period? 

• Which musical genre? 

• What research questions do you want to answer?

• Why will this particular discipline enable you to achieve your research goals?

• What’s your academic background?

• Which experiences motivated you during your undergraduate/master’s years to pursue graduate study? What did you learn from them?

• Research/teaching assistantships

• Courses

• Conferences

• What are your strengths and weaknesses?

• Why is this program the best place for you to pursue your goals? And why are you a good fit—how do you contribute to the program’s goals and needs? Try to find between 3 to 4 reasons:

• Research centers

• Other departments that interest you

• The relation between your research interests and that from some faculty members (this is very important). Here you should mention the 2 or 3 faculty that you would like to be your advisor.

• The university in general

At the beginning, don’t worry about the length of your essay—try to create a big picture for yourself, and then you can condense information from there.