Writing The S.O.P.

It was the summer of 2010. I had just finished with my Masters exams and was planning to do a second Masters abroad. Some of my friends suggested looking at universities in the US. Following their advice I started exploring the websites of various US universities. It was then when I came across this strange thing called an S.O.P. otherwise called the Statement of Purpose.

As I read through the websites of several universities I figured out that an S.O.P. is nothing but a short essay on yourself, your academic goals, why you want to pursue the subject you are applying for and whats so great about the university you are applying to. This was not tough to write! I knew what I wanted to study and why; all I needed to know was about the university I was applying to. How difficult can that be?

During this time, I got together with a friend whose next-door neighbor had gotten through a university in the US. That being the case, he felt that it gave him the divine mandate to enlighten an ignorant savage like me about the great complexities and mysteries of applying abroad. Like a faithful disciple I listened to his sermon for about two hours. What he emphasized in these two hours was that neither my academic track record nor my GRE score counted towards a strong application. It was the S.O.P. and the recommendations that were the clinchers. He emphasized that his neighbor had spent months trying to perfect his S.O.P. and that is what saw him through. His advice – do the same in advance.

The next morning I grabbed pen and paper and got down to writing my S.O.P.. My friend had made it clear that it should not be more than a page long. Keeping his advice in mind I exploited every bit of my knowledge and intellect to draft a S.O.P.. Once, twice, thrice, four times I went over it, and after a day-and-a-half of scrutiny I was very pleased with my effort. I had stated everything within a page trying to be humble about my achievements as my parents had taught me to be. I was honest and straight forward. When I beheld my finalized S.O.P. I was overcome with a sense of pride at my achievement. According to my friend, I had completed the most difficult part of the application!

What with my satisfaction, my friend took it on himself to see that I had the perfect application material. So he dragged me to meet his neighbor who had come on vacation. I met this guy one evening. He was chubby and had a prominent beer-belly sticking out of the tight fitting t-shirt, which made prominent the faint outline of biceps. He considered himself an NRI and tried his best to impress us. He was quite successful with my friend, who literally worshipped him. I, on the other hand, was quite amused. He looked at my S.O.P. for a long time, shook his head and said, ‘This is crap! No one will take you if you write such nonsense.’ I felt insulted and was infuriated, but for my friend’s sake I kept quite. Doing my best to control my anger, I politely asked, ‘What should I do to improve my chances?’ Gravely the fellow replied, ‘I think I can show you how.’

He brought his laptop and showed me his S.O.P. that had got him through the US university. I read through it in amazement and disbelief. Someone had to be really stupid to be fooled by that! He had written that he had never come second in his life (his academic scores said otherwise) and that he was the most brilliant fellow in the whole of the country! His S.O.P. was nothing but blatant boasting, something my parents have always stressed is improper! I could not do it.

Since that incident, many others have told me that the S.O.P. is not about telling the truth but about marketing yourself. Whoever markets the best, gets through irrespective of their proven caliber. I do not know how much this is true. I plan to stick with my format and find out for myself. I won’t mind being rejected if what they say is true. God bless America!