How to write a successful Graduate Degree Purpose Statement: Part 1
I recently had the opportunity to write out a Graduate School Application for the University of Washington’s Master of Science in Human Centered Design & Engineering, and am stoked to say that I received my acceptance letter. Upon reflection, there are a few things I learned while writing my purpose statement that I’d like to share.
- Get outside opinions & critique
- Take personal ownership over the prompt
- Construct a compelling narrative
- Take risks — learn from failures
- Write “Proactively”
- Spend time sweating every word
Below is a quick break down of each section. I hope that you can learn from them and that they help make your purpose statement awesome.
Updated - January 2019: I’ve written a part 2 for people looking to learn a bit more about how to make sure their Graduate Purpose Statements are truly awesome. You can find it here.
1) Get outside opinions & Critique
Probably goes without saying, but getting outside opinions is hugely important. As with anything when we’re hunched over a paper or design, getting outside eyes on the subject can be enlightening. Surround yourself with people that you know will provide honest feedback which will push you to write better than you could’ve ever without help.
My personal strategy was to line up 4 reviews of my first draft, and 3 different reviews for the second/third rounds, with one person in particular reviewing both the beginning draft and final. This way there is a nice sense of consistency throughout the review process.
Make sure to thank them at the end, some people will give you tons of their time for free.
2) Take personal ownership of the prompt
This is a bit more tricky, but ultimately it boils down to making sure that you’re writing about what you want to write about. For instance, during the process of writing out my purpose statement I probably explored 10–15 other examples, in addition to the feedback provided by my reviewers. Ultimately though it’s important to have conviction about what your going to write, otherwise you’ll lose your unique voice. Own it. Perfect it. But make sure that you’re answering the prompt.
For example, one of the questions that I answered dealt with Teamwork. It would’ve been easy for me to talk about what a team can accomplish together, but I took it in the direction of what keeps a team moving down the same path.
3) Construct a compelling narrative
Statistics by themselves are rather boring, in the same way that a mobile phone by itself is rather drab. It’s what you do with those numbers and that tool that ultimately make it interesting.
Example: Within my purpose statement I talked about the numerical value of the work that I had accomplished. It’s important that I quantified the value of the work, but more importantly I qualitatively discussed the effects of the work that I accomplished for the organization. I strove to paint a picture of a non-profit that was struggling with a real human issue. While numbers were important for understanding the “value,” resolving the human issue was significantly more impactful and meaningful. Yes, more people used the website… But those people used the website because it helped them resolve a question.
A narrative about your work has real sticking power. And ultimately when someone is reviewing hundreds of applications it’s important that you standout at the end of the day. It’s easy to say use improved by 50%, but more important to express that within a narrative.
4) Take risks - learn from failures
I’m a human, and as a human I’ve had my share of failures. Anyone who hasn’t failed is lying, or trying to sell you something. The purpose statement is an opportunity to paint a picture of who you are, what you bring to the table. It was a risk focusing one portion of my purpose statement on a failure rather then a success, but ultimately I think the risk was worth it.
First off, it was a brief narrative that spoke about a project. Secondly, it addressed what I learned. I think there two components helped paint a picture of resiliency, of learning, and accepting defeat when it arrives… but striving to learn from it and grow. There is that saying “what doesn’t kill you makes you stronger…” I hate that cliche, but it’s incredibly true. Along with Death & Taxes, Failure is one thing we as humans will all experience, but what we get from it will define us.
Take the risk, and learn from failures. Use it to your advantage that not many others will think to talk about how they failed when their so focused on trying to make themselves look good.
5) Write “Proactively”
Writing proactively is all about making sure that you fit into the narrative as a key component and not just a seat warmer. It’s important that you focus the language towards “I did this… I helped with this… When my team accomplished…” rather then “I watched… I witnessed.”
This was the biggest critique from the first draft I produced. My reviewers wanted to know that I had participated and proactively tackled the work, rather then passively taking part in the activity.
Another location where this arose was the during the prompt that asked what will you “get” from the program. It’s here that I said, I will get this… I will get that… Not I “hope” to get this. By making it a proactive statement it’s not a question of whether or not I will receive this, but that I know without a shadow of a doubt that I will gain value from the program.
6) Spend time sweating over every word.
Each prompt that I wrote I spent time sweating over every word because there was a limit of 500 or 250 per prompt. It goes without saying but if you’re going to apply to a specific program, go out and learn the lingo that they use. In writing out my prompts I probably spent as much, if not more, time reviewing every page of information that was accessible on their site to pick up the right words. I spent time listening and watching lectures to make sure I had a robust understanding of the words in context, and reviewed third-party blogs on the subject matter.
I wanted to reviewer to read the paper, and go… “dang… this guy’s got it.”
Sweat over every word and the connotation. Make sure you know when your selection is positive, negative, or neutral. Use phrases that amplify your points, and narrate your essays with words that paint pictures.
These are just a few things that I learned while writing out my purpose statement for graduate school. I hope you’re able to pull from them, or even simply allow them to confirm your understanding so that you can write a great purpose statement.
Happy writing!
