How to write a Statement of Purpose for applying graduate school?

Question

Hello everyone. Almost everyone graduate program requires a well written statement of purpose. As a foreign student, I have never heard of such thing before, so I am quite confused here. Is there a form you have to follow? How many words should I write? Should I sound really formal or can I also make it sounds very unique and personal, where should I draw the line? How important it is for my application?

Thank you very much for your wisdom!

Answer 1

Presumably you have some reason for wanting to attend graduate school.  Just tell what it is: what you hope to learn, and what you might do with the information once you had it.

Answer 2

The personal statement is kind of there to let you explain in your own words why you should be accepted to that schools graduate program. Usually they have guidelines like: "Why do you want to attend graduate school", or "How can you be an asset to this school".  It's mainly a chance to list your strong points. A good personal statement should be around 2 single space pages. It is an important part of your graduate application since your acceptance commitie will be reading it, but don't spend endless amount of time it. sorry if there is some bad spelling I wrote this from the phone.