SOP Guidelines for UK

This is to highlight the requirement of a Statement of Purpose as part of the student application
documentation.

Please note these points are just a guide and can be different for every applicant depending upon their
individual circumstances.
Introduction:
First up, innovatively introduce yourself (in about 100 words) and create a strong impression
on the reader from the word go. Talk about your interests, passion, ideologies or anything
that helps introduce you best. Once read a SOP and the applicant started with a very bold
and effective opening line – “For many years I was worried what I would do if I didn’t
become an accountant – it all started with my first visit to my uncles accounting firm while I
was in grade 10. It was that day and I never considered anything else as a profession
thereafter. I instantly took a shine to the world of accounting”. This is very positive as an
introduction and is an indication of confidence as well. Your introduction will be the first
impression, so put in the best effort and be enthusiastic when you talk about yourself. If
there has been that vital turning point in your life, state how it has influenced your choices.

Academic Background and Achievements:

Once you are off to a flying start in your introduction, move onto other topics. Refrain from
talking about your childhood dream or schooling background unless you achieved
something noteworthy back then or if it’s still relevant. If you are applying for a Bachelor
program, simply jump to your Year 12/A Levels to start with. Share why you chose the
stream or field in year 12 (like Commerce/Arts/Science etc.) and briefly outline any instance
or experience in life that prompted you to choose the stream. If applying for a master’s
program, then walk the reader through your choice of bachelor’s Degree in your home
country and what prompted you to choose the bachelor’s degree. Your SOP is your sales
pitch, so be unrestrained in displaying your accomplishments such as good marks in certain
subjects or any other achievements that are relevant and proudly state each one of those.

If you have work experience, then you need to chronologically outline it on your SOP.
Ensure you state the dates accurately, mention your job title, company name and location
properly. A line or two describing your experience with the company or your duties and
responsibilities would be a good thing to add as it lends a level of credibility to your claims.

Until now was the easiest part! Your thinking cap will now need to be on for rest of the SOP
writing!

Reasons for choosing UK and the University:

Before you try to justify why UK for your studies, you may explain why not your home
country. Quite likely a similar program would also be available in your home country and the
Visa Officer may first be interested in the “why not” above. Your reasons for not studying in
your home country may be anything from poor infrastructure in colleges, lack of good
quality education providers, excessively theory-based study and so on. Don’t just highlight
them but provide some data to validate your claim. Example list few colleges you
researched in your home country that offer the program but do not have the infrastructure
compared to the UK University you are considering.

When it comes to why UK, consider a comparison with other popular study destinations and
look at parameters like Weather, Affordability, Safety, even your UK connections through
friends etc. is a positive thing – yes, it’s positive unless you say you are blindly following
them! Not too long back a student stated on his SOP, “I chose UK only for one key reason –
to get out of my comfort zone in my home country. He of course explained that further
however that single reason was highly impactful and made his SOP look unique.

At time of outlining reasons for choosing the University, think practically. It is easy to copy &
paste advantages of the University from the website or brochure but let me remind you,
majority of applicants do exactly this, so it would be ideal if you at least tried to stand out of
the crowd. Try to tell a story, your true story of course!

There are usually a set of reasons for our choices. Stick to those rather than pasting
everything on your SOP. Let’s say you mainly liked the Central location of Campus, Tuition
fee and Ranking of the University. You should then highlight how these are advantageous to
you. So, link up the location with reduced travel time, cost and convenience. Indicate how
the tuition fee fits your family’s financial planning and possibly meets your parent’s budget
requirements as well as your loan repayment plans. Explain why ranking was important – if
you chose the University because it is in Worlds top 2% Universities, then show how you
found this information on ranking or show how employers prefer graduates from well
ranked Universities. Rankings / Ratings are based on multiple parameters, so it would make
sense to state precisely what you find attractive about the University such as Teaching
Quality, Student Experience, etc. Doing this extra bit adds the crucial ‘Unique Factor’ on
your SOP
Why the program & career prospects?
In this section state how, completion of this program will join the dots in your career plan. In
other words, you must demonstrate the cost benefit analysis you have made. Is the program
going to enable you to obtain better jobs and how? Will this program help in promoting you
from your current position? I recall a Bio-Tech background student showing a staff notice
from her company. The notice advertised a Managerial position and one of the mandatory
requirements was “Must have an MBA qualification”. Her SOP for MBA program included
this information and she attached the advertisement with her visa file too. This was an
excellent initiative. I also recommend students that they visit an organisation in their vicinity
that is related to their field of study. Meet the Manager to obtain feedback straight from the
industry and include this as part of reasoning for choosing the program. It would simply
reflect your level of seriousness and research on choosing the program. Again, this type of
data adds the crucial ‘Unique Factor’ to your SOP.
Universities usually list their lecturing staff names on the website. You must learn to make
use of such type of information while writing the SOP. Let’s say you are going for an MIT
program. You may then research the IT lecturers’ names by going on the University website,
check their qualifications or achievements in IT and you may cite that as one of the reason
for choosing the University. There you go, you have earned another ‘Unique Factor’ for your
SOP. Just think differently!
There are the other items like course fee, duration, subjects, electives etc. which could be
highlighted in this section and these should be available easily on University website.

Finally, you need to focus on career plans. What will you do after you complete your studies.
If returning to home country then state the pay packages expected with evidence in the
form of websites, link or other documented evidence. Share names of companies you would
target for jobs. If you have plan A and plan B, even better, share it - that would indicate you
have researched well and have done thorough preparation before investing in your study.

In this section it would be advantageous to state the duties and responsibilities of the role
you intend to have in an organisation. If you can link it with what you said you love to do in
earlier sections, then that’s a perfect ending to your SOP!