Applicants need to submit an SOP (Statement of Purpose) or a LOE (Letter of Explanation) while applying for a study visa for Canada. This step comes after you have got an admission in the university and course of your choice. Today, in this post, we will be discussing about the important points to remember while writing an SOP. At the outset, it may appear that this is just another admission essay that needs to be in the form of a written compilation of an applicant’s achievements but in reality it is much more than that. The admission officer decides whether to call you for an interview based on this essay. It is a reflection of your academic career, your goals, interests and a true impression about your nature and character. Let us first understand the items that an ideal SOP should have:
- Your academic qualification in brief – This should be about your school and college details, subjects studied and some of your best scores. It should be crisp and in alignment with your choice of course.
- Why did you choose to study in Canada – To answer this, you should ideally talk about all the positive points that made you choose Canada over any other country. But one must note not to demean any other country in an attempt to praise Canada. The reasons could range from the quality of education to industry affiliation for courses to the specialization offered or the teaching methodology used.
- Why did you not plan to study in India (or home country) – Here again, the stress should not be on demeaning your own country, since such a nature is not seen in good light. To answer this question, one may opt for reasons like non availability of the course of your choice or the subject combination that you are planning to study. You can also talk about the location constraints if you have any as one of the reasons. For a more appropriate answer, you can even discuss with one of our admission officers who have years of experience in helping students craft perfect SOPs.
- Why did you opt for that particular university – You answer to this question should showcase your detailed understanding of the university that you have got an admission into. This is what the questions aims to know. So, before your answer this question, please make sure that you have done sufficient research about the university and if possible, spoken to a couple of students who are currently studying there or have passed out.
- Your reasons to opt for that particular course and your future plans – This is where you talk about your interest area and future plans with the subject. The answer should highlight the reasons to study the course and how do you aim to use it in your career and to improve the life of others.
- How do you plan to manage your finances– In this section, you talk about your plans to sponsor your education, your expenses during the stay and details of your financial backup. This gives additional confidence to the admission officer that you would be able to fulfill all the financial obligations of this course.
- Your overall conduct – This is often a very important determinant of your success. Every country wants to invite students who display good conduct and understand their responsibilities as a temporary citizen of that country. Irrespective of how well written your other answers are, if you cannot provide a confident answer to this question, all your effort might go in vain.
Tips to make a winning SOP:
- Personalized – Your SOP needs to be a truly reflection of you and your aspirations. Hence, it needs to be personalized in terms of your experiences, expectations, plans and even your writing style. We all are unique in every respect and your SOP should just highlight that. Please remember that the admission officer is an expert having read millions of SOPs till date. So, it would be very easy for him to find out if a particular SOP is personalized or a run of the mill content. So, please write it judiciously.
- Non-plagiarized – This is again one of those must Dos for a good SOP. It should not be a copy from the web. Yes, you may seek inspiration from the thousands of samples available freely on the web but it should not lead you to imitate something blindly. It won’t be worth the effort put in.
- Error free English – This is important since English is one of the formal languages spoken in Canada. Your application would be immediately rejected if the admission officer doubts your ability to converse fluently and correctly in English. Irrespective of how good your TOEFL or IELTS score is, please make sure that your SOP is free of any linguistic errors. There are softwares available to check this. However, it is always a good habit to get your final SOP version checked by an expert to make sure that your style and tone of writing is up to the mark.
- Impeccable storytelling ability – Ability to craft an impressive story of your life while answering all the above questions mentioned in this post (and any other question that is specifically asked in the visa application). The more engaging the story is the better impression it will make and higher would be your chances for a successful interview.
While, it is easy to talk about oneself, writing all of this in the form of a captivating narrative requires experience and expertise. That is why, one of the common advice that you get to hear from students who have been successful in acing admission into Canadian Universities is to get guidance from experts. AT GoCan, we have a dedicated team to help individual aspirants create a tailor made essay that makes a winning case for them. Call us to experience the difference