I read around 50-100 graduate applications every year. Maybe 95% of them make the same major mistake: they tell me very little about what the applicant actually wants to research. 2/

Most students assume (understandably!) that a grad school statement should be like an undergrad application. They write autobiographically -- "I started here, then I did A then B then C really well, and now I'm applying to work with you". This is a mistake. 3/

Unlike an undergrad statement, a grad school SOP needs to tell the reader (the prof(s) who you want to work with) what you want to work on. The main thing readers want is to understand how your interests would gel and to imagine where they might be able to advise you. 4/

The best SOPs I've read are written in three acts. Act I: Research interests Act II: Supporting evidence (background/experience) Act III: Fit to the faculty/department 5/

Act I: What are your research interests? What are the intellectual issues you want to better understand? This should be specific enough to make it clear that you know the major open questions in your research area, but not so specific that you're proposing one study. 6/

Act II: What is the experience and background you have that enables you to carry out graduate work on these issues? Your thesis/RA experience shouldn't be autobiography, it should be evidence -- look, I really have the skills, ability, perseverance, etc. to do this work! 7/

Act III: How do your interests match specific faculty members at the department you're applying to? This is the part that changes the most between applications. You core interests (Act I) shouldn't change much -- they're what you generally want to work on, regardless of where! 8/

This leads me to an important point: Act I should really be the actual reason you're applying. It takes a long time and lots of trial-and-error to figure out your intellectual interests. If you haven't figured them out yet, that's not a knock on you! 9/

But if you find yourself feeling like you're making stuff up or only trying to appeal to a PI just to get accepted, take a step back and ask yourself why you're applying. A PhD takes too long and pays too little to do something you're not genuinely excited about. 10/

Finally, this is all just my opinion and I'm sure not universal. Still, I hope it helps some prospective students! My 1st draft grad app was an autobio too. Luckily, I had the chance to show it to a prof (thx @Ori_Friedman!) who gave me this advice. I rewrote and it helped! 11/

@RomanFeiman Is it bad form to reach out to faculty at prospective schools, talk to them about your research and theirs, and ask if they think they’d be a suitable fit?

@PLEASEREADLATER I think it’s great! Not everyone replies but I like these convos personally. Sometimes I learn about great fits and encourage them to apply. Sometimes I can help people save an app fee and maybe point them to a better fit. If your q is substantive, I think t can’t hurt.

@RomanFeiman This makes me feel much better about applying for programs this year. I feel disadvantaged as an international student with less than a 4.0 GPA and no full-time research (only part-time) but I have a well-defined research interest, project proposal and targeted prior experience.

@RomanFeiman Thanks Roman. I just sent this to a mentee who is applying to grad school!

@RomanFeiman Your field? In economics, and I imagine in the humanities, students don't enter knowing even what subfield they want to study. They are encouraged to mention some in their statement, but we don't believe them, because they're too ignorant still.

@RomanFeiman I would be careful of how expecting specific and accurate knowledge of the problems in a field biases acceptance to students from R1 institutions instead of PUIs. I did 1 year of research as I applied to schools and there was no way I could have articulated any of the

@RomanFeiman These are freshly graduated students from a basic degree. Based on what experience would they have a reasonably informed opinion of what they want to research? I think it is better to just list their skills and former research experience, and approach it as a blank slate.

@RomanFeiman Echoing others, in theoretical physics it's rare for a prospective grad student to know what they'll research. Even if they clearly lay it out, it's unlikely to pan out and people (like me) take a nonlinear path through their PhD, so I don't find this useful information.

@RomanFeiman Cool advice - but remember that many applying are working under duress financially, and trying to figure out their life plan. The burden for making these points clear should be on the person/org/department that is seeking candidates to do the work (i.e. the ones in power). 📚

@RomanFeiman Nice! I would add that if still unclear of your interests, then don’t apply to a PhD program. Do something else, like a non-ac experience to think more about what sparks your interest and whether a phd is even necessary to pursue that interest.

@RomanFeiman One way my grad program combats this is by actually asking us to answer 5 questions that revolves around our research. . These questions help us tailor the statement of purpose just for our research. Then we also have to do an autobiography separately. It helps a lot.

@RomanFeiman Wow. Thank you. I'm currently reading "A Field Guide to Grad School" by @JessicaCalarco. That, coupled with this thread, will surely prove invaluable as I write these SOP.

@RomanFeiman @FishCsCells Many prospective graduate students have only experienced a small slice of the available research opportunities and are overly focused on the small slice of the pie they’ve tasted. I look for applicants that appreciate the size of the pie and describe the parts they fancy.

@RomanFeiman Maybe rather than just making a twitter thread about it you could make it a not-hidden curriculum and explicitly state in the application instructions what you're looking for? If 95% of applicants are interpreting it wrong that seems like a problem with the instructions not them.

@RomanFeiman A large portion of prospective grad students are not on academic Twitter. How will you make this great info accessible to them? Have you gotten your department to provide it online to prospective students? Personal website? Blog? We’ve got to build the pipeline off twitter too.

@RomanFeiman I am in agreement. Don’t just discuss tasks. Describe what you found, what it meant, and why it was important. Tell the reader what excites and intrigues you enough that you want to make a career of it.

@RomanFeiman @RomanFeiman, other professors and departments have different view points. Actually, I encourage people with any interest in research to go ahead and apply. Maybe they won't get into your research group, but another professor/university might be a better fit for their interests.

@RomanFeiman What do you say to those who are intentionally somewhat open-minded? My experience with undergrad was that it really is not the same as grad school, so it felt wrong to make any overly strong statements because it's impossible to be sure at that point

@RomanFeiman @prisonculture I think this may be valuable information for certain traditional PhD programs. It doesn’t align with many non-traditional programs. In general, ask graduates and current students, advisors etc. about the specific structure of the programs you are applying to.

@RomanFeiman This is extremely helpful advice. I’ve been floundering on my personal statements. Thank you!!

@RomanFeiman and assumingly, because we also submit our CV, it’s a waste of word count to repeat our undergrad timeline, unless it’s contributing to direct context of interest in the grad program?

@RomanFeiman But it also depends on major, some PhDs need solid funded projects to collect data and then analyze. This mean that even if student’s and PI’s interest interescts, doesn’t guarantee position as along as there is no funded project

@RomanFeiman Thanks for sharing this valuable info. I'm an international student with an interest in climate change and natural disasters, seeking a Ph.D. I've crafted my statement to this pattern but finding a potential supervisor or anyone to review is a bit difficult. What do you suggest?

@RomanFeiman Thank you for this! I'm in the process of putting my materials together and my top choices (depending on acceptance and funding) are the places where people I admire are going in the direction I want to go. I will articulate that!

@RomanFeiman Yes, but let’s not gatekeep this info on academic Twitter! Let’s publish this on our application sites! Ohio State’s English Dept was the only school I applied to that did an excellent job of this

@RomanFeiman @prisonculture I appreciate your insight, but something to keep in mind is that this is not the prompt grad schools use. They suggest writing about yourself, what brought you here, and then why you’re interested in their program. If they want something else, they need to adjust the prompt.