Getting Accepted to the Ph.D: State Your Purpose

Imagine that you are the CEO for a considerably large and successful company that is planning to build a new corporate headquarters. After compiling a list of resumes in search of a construction engineer who might lead the project, you come across an applicant with a very impressive work history: he has been a design engineer for thirty years, in which time he designed many prominent buildings, including a major league baseball diamond. He graduated from MIT in the top of his class with a Master’s in Engineering, and he has a college major in Technical Drawing from Virginia Tech. A zealot for learning, he has read hundreds of books in his field, including many on constructive engineering.

As the CEO, you’re not ignorant. You know the difference between a design and construction engineer. Do you hire this guy? I think not. A key component missing from his resume is the fact that he has never actually built anything. The guy has been successful, and is obviously very intelligent, but he doesn’t at all fit what you’re looking for. Of course, I’m not sure why the guy, if he’s so intelligent, would put in an application for a job he knows he won’t get, but, give me a break, it’s just an illustration…

In the same vein, believe it or not, doctoral programs aren’t interested in students who are merely bright. They also may not be interested in students who are merely bright and well-prepared in their field. A doctoral committee is usually looking for students who have specific focuses suited to the specific interests of the faculty.

The “statement of purpose” portion of the application is your opportunity to prove not only that you have delved deeply into a specific area, but also that your perspective or the direction you would like to take with a particular idea, theory, method, etc. within that area is compatible with the interests of the faculty with whom you would potentially work. As I’ve noted before, the statement of purpose can either make or break your application. Unlike our design engineer, you should know better than to submit an application where you just don’t fit.

Here are some recommendations for preparing your statement:

1) Make sure you fit! Peruse the faculty page of the program websites to see what members of the faculty, if any, are interested in what you are, at the level of topics, theories, methods, etc.

2) Consult some books and articles about how to write it. You’ll find that most applications are asking for the same sorts of things, such as:

What you want to study at graduate school.
What you hope to find.
What contribution it will make/Why you want to study it.
What experience you have in your field.
Why the program is a good fit.
What you plan to do with your degree once you have it.

Princetonreview.com has an article on this subject.

2) At the same time you will definitely want to tailor your statement to each specific program. You may drop a line or two about how the writings you’ve read by a faculty member or members influenced you in the area you’re interested in. Or, you may focus on different aspects of your area. For example, if you are interested in Pauline studies, you could discuss the implications of Second Temple Judaism as a background for understanding Paul. But if another faculty has more interest specifically in apocalyptic literature and its influence on Paul, you may emphasize this more. But do not feign interest in an area you are not interested in. The tailoring is more a matter of emphasis than of entirely changing the content.

3) Do not present as your primary interest an area or areas you do not know much about. The admissions committee can smell a contrived display of savvy. Make sure it’s very clear that you know what you’re talking about.

4) This may seem like common sense, but in the hurly-burly of application season—when you’re trying to compile five or more convincing applications, and attempting to make financial ends meet and keep your grades up—deadlines come prematurely, and proofreading falls by the wayside. This year I made sure that at least one person had read each of my statements before I submitted it. I would recommend soliciting a proofread from a peer as well as from a professor in your field. This should eliminate the possibility of both writing errors/deficiencies and theoretical problems. What if your diction doesn’t make any sense to anyone but you? Or what if your idea is incoherent, improbable, unpursuable, or already used?

5) Try to complete your statement of purpose, or at least a rough version, before soliciting application references from professors. Often referrers are asked to indicate how well acquainted they are with your goals and your potential of attaining them. Your statement of purpose is a good way of informing them of these things. And in some cases—such as if a professor either has not seen your most recent writing or does not remember you as well as you’d hoped—this will be a good way to re-apprise them of you identity and abilities.


I'd considered attaching one of my statements, but, then, that may be a very foolish thing to do. I looked around for some sample statements online, and although I did find some, I did not find any for any Religion or Theology departments.