So, you’re writing your speech pathology statement of purpose and looking for examples?
When I wrote my essay, I remember thinking to myself… “I wish I could just read somebody else’s. Not to copy, but just to get a CLUE of where to start!”. So… here is the next best thing! Below is a list of topics I talked about in my essay, in order!
This is obviously very personalized to me, and my life, but will hopefully help in deciding how and where to start!
1) Intro: I began with a personal story about my brother, what originally sparked my interest in speech-language pathology.
2) Paragraph 2: My work experience during my undergrad, and how my focus in Autism led me to want to continue my education at XYZ University
3) Paragraph 3: My background working in multidisciplinary teams, how they are important, and how I contributed to student organizations other than ones related to speech
4) Paragraph 4: The characteristics that will help me succeed in grad school. I talked about working nearly full-time during my undergrad, volunteering, etc…
5) Conclusion: Why I want to continue my education and why I picked that school. I gave information about that particular school and related it to my personal experiences outlined earlier.
Throughout my whole essay, I intertwined Autism and its importance throughout my life. I picked schools that had a focus in Autism so that I could make a fair case for why I wanted to go to each school.
A friend of mine wrote her statement of purpose like this:
- Think about what makes you unique and start with an action statement. (This friend actually went back to school after staying home with her kids for several years, but wanted to show those years weren’t wasted. Her opening sentence was “I tried to attack motherhood with my usual intellectual fervor and work ethic.” and described language and literacy ways she helped her children as they were growing.
- Summarize previous education history (which wasn’t Communication Sciences), but tied it in to Communication Sciences type issues.
- Talked about why original path of education was not a perfect fit, highlighting CSD interests, as well as volunteer work that led to SLP.
- Talked a little more about volunteer work (if you have any specific numbers, mention them!) “Next, I spent over 60 hours of my summer vacation volunteering at a therapy camp…”
- Interests in future research (what areas? What areas of research does your school specialize in? Focus on your areas of mutual interest!)
- How would I use my degree in SLP in the future (more long term goals, why this school can help you get there)
I hope these speech pathology statement of purpose examples help! The most important thing is to proofread, proofread, proofread!
If you’re in need of a little more graduate school advice, check out my other blog posts:
- Applying to SLP Graduate School, Where Do I Start?
- Preparing for SLP Graduate School
- Advice for SLP Graduate Students
- Top 5 Products for SLP Graduate School
- Five Fun Sites for SLP Graduate Students
- How to Survive SLP Graduate School
- For the Poor Grad Student: All of my FREEBIES
Good luck!!
Your blog is AMAZING! I’m starting the grad school application process this Fall, and randomly stumbled across your blog. This article definitely helped me get on track with what I want to write about in my personal statement. Thank you so much!
Thank you so much, Katherine!! You just made my whole day! I really, really appreciate your comment. Glad to help! Let me know if you have any questions along the way!
OMG, you are a angel. I have been trying to write a admission essay and I just couldn’t do it. I had a mental block. But now with your outline it will be much easy to get started. Thanks a million. Finding your blog was like getting a gift from god.
Betsy
Betsy you are just wonderful!! How much nicer could you be?! Good luck with everything!! Feel free to email me at speechymusings@gmail.com if you have any more questions along the way!
Excellent post! I’d like to add something about my experience if I may. I had a significant dip in grades for a few semesters due to a very serious issue in my personal life. I was so worried that this would ruin my application. I very briefly explained what I was going through in my statement along with how it’s made me a better student and clinician. Of course, I also included my related volunteer/work experience. I was hesitant to get so personal, but I think it helped me in the end. It’s encouraging to know that some schools appreciate life experience as well as academic. Sorry for the rant. I hope this helps someone out there! The application process can be so discouraging but do the best you can and it will happen!
I can relate! I transferred colleges to improve my GPA and mentioned that in my statement. I also took a semester off because of a seizure that I had, and mentioned that as well. I was accepted into two of the schools I applied to, and I am convinced it is because of my honesty. Of course, I mentioned leadership and volunteer experience, which I am sure helped as well!
Something I found to be a great resource at my school was career services and the writing center. Both of these resources helped me write my personal statements and resumes.
Yes to all of this!! Congrats into getting into 2 schools!!
How did you find out the schools that had a focus in autism?
Look closely at their sites! Many have specific autism camps, or labs, or classes, etc…
Hi Shannon!
I’m a current undergrad (and college blogger!) and I’m about to start the application process for graduate school. I just wanted you to know that your blog is GOALS for me! I hope to continue blogging throughout grad school and eventually make my own materials as well.
I was wondering how you found time to blog during grad school? I love blogging and I always find time to do it now but I wanted to know if you thought it was hard to balance coursework on top of blogging. How often did you post while you were in school? Sorry for so many questions I’m just really excited to have found a blog that’s pretty much everything I want to do in the future haha.
Hi! Thanks for reaching out 🙂 I actually found it fairly easy to blog during grad school as I lived very far away from my family and friends! It was a nice thing to do on weekends when my grad school friends headed home and such! Blogging is also nice in the way that when you get super busy, you can take a few weeks off, no big deal! Good luck with everything!