what not to include.?

[satyad18]

Hello,
I've just finished preparing my SOP. Its almost complete with all the relevant points mentioned. The thing that is worrying me is that the word count is roughly 700-750 words!
SOP includes:
para 1: quote + applicable description
para 2: introduction + research groups I'm interested in
para 3: mentioning research experience
para 4: Miscellaneous Accomplishments
para 5: mentioning profs with whom I'm interested to work with
para 6: conclusion

Is there anything that isn't necessary to be included and which can bring down the word count to some 500-600 words.?Does the word-limit really matter.?

[geshi]

Delete the following:

para 1: quote + applicable description
para 2: introduction + research groups I'm interested in
para 3: mentioning research experience
para 4: Miscellaneous Accomplishments
para 5: mentioning profs with whom I'm interested to work with
para 6: conclusion

That should fix your problem. Best of luck!



P.S. 1) Word limit isn't a huge deal unless the online application actually limits the number of words you can enter.
2) It sounds like you have a lot of repetition in there. Mentioning the research groups you're interested in AND the profs you're interested in? Paragraph 1 sounds like an introduction to me. Could probably just remove paragraph 2 entirely. What's a conclusion for? "As you can see I'm very interested in your school, blah blah blah."

[satyad18]

Thanks geshi.

P.S. 1) Word limit isn't a huge deal unless the online application actually limits the number of words you can enter.
2) It sounds like you have a lot of repetition in there. Mentioning the research groups you're interested in AND the profs you're interested in? Paragraph 1 sounds like an introduction to me. Could probably just remove paragraph 2 entirely. What's a conclusion for? "As you can see I'm very interested in your school, blah blah blah."

It really did fix my problem!