Guidelines for the statement of purpose
General guidelines:
Your statement of purpose should be about 900-1000 words. It should be coherent and well-structured, clear and easy-to-follow. Take care of your grammar. Use automatic spellcheck.
When you have finished writing your statement of purpose, give it to one of your friends and ask him/her to evaluate it. If s/he doesn’t understand something clearly, how would other readers do?
Structure:
In the first few paragraphs introduce yourself and highlight data that concern your schooling and academic achievements, which you think the members of the admission committee should really know about you. If you have any experience in working in the field of, or in any project or organization related to, intercultural affairs, write about it here.
In the next paragraphs you should write about your previous studies concerning intercultural studies and/or ethnic and minority relations. You might have been specialized in Intercultural Relations, Intercultural Psychology, Cultural Psychology, Multicultural Education, Ethnic Studies, Minority Studies during your undergraduate years, you may have just visited one or two courses, or you might have just read a book about any of these fields. Write down why and how you have become involved in these issues and why you would like to spend two more years studying them.
In the next paragraphs, write about your special interests and professional plans. We want to know what problems, subjects and research fields you are particularly interested in, what sort of activities you would like to be engaged in, and what kind of plans you have for the future. If you already know what your thesis will be about, do not hesitate to mention it.
End your proposal with one or two closing remarks.
Do not forget, you have only 900-1000 words to convince the committee that you would be an appropriate candidate for the program. Sometimes students ask if they could be a bit personal in their letter. Well, you can turn your voice into a bit more personal so that we could get an impression about you, but do not forget that we are primarily interested in your academic motivations and professional plans.
Good luck.
