Usually the purpose is to persuade the admissions committee that you are an applicant they should choose. You may want to show that you have the ability, motivation and experience to succeed in your field. Whatever the purpose, it must be explicit to give coherence to the whole statement.

• Pay attention to the purpose throughout the statement so that extraneous material is left out.
• Pay attention to the audience (committee) throughout the statement. Remember, your audience is made up of faculty members who are experts in their field.

Determine the content of your statement

Be sure to answer any direct questions fully. Analyze the questions or guidance statements for the essay completely and answer all parts.

For example: "What are the strengths and weaknesses in setting and achieving goals and working through people?" In this question there are actually six parts to be answered

1. strengths in setting goals
2. strengths in achieving goals
3. strengths in working through people
4. weaknesses in setting goals
5. weaknesses in achieving goals
6. weaknesses in working through people. Pay attention to small words.

Notice: This example question says through people not with people, if it says with people, answer that way.

Usually graduate and professional schools are interested in the following:

• Your purpose in graduate study. This means that you must have thought this through before you try to answer the question.
• The area of study in which you wish to specialize. This requires that you know the field well enough to make such a decision.
• Your future use of your graduate study. This will include your career goals and plans for your future.
• Your special preparation and fitness for study in the field. This is the opportunity to relate your academic background with your extracurricular experience to show how they unite to make you a special candidate.
• Any problems or inconsistencies in your records or scores such as a bad semester. Be sure to explain in a positive manner the reason for this and justify the explanation. Since this is a rebuttal argument, it should be followed by a positive statement of your abilities.
• Any special conditions that are not revealed elsewhere in the application such as a large (35 hour a week) work load outside of school. This too should be followed with a positive statement about yourself and your future.
• You may be asked, "Why do you wish to attend this school?" This requires that you have done your research about the school and know what its special appeal is to you.
• Nevertheless, the statement is to contain information about you as a person. Hence, provide information that will give the positive impression.