Help with SoP

[chicamala21]

So I'm working on a first draft of my SoP. This is what I have as far as how my classes and internships have influenced my current interests; the rest of the statement will be specific to each school, which is what I'm having more problems with (but that's another story)

Comments

[etherealpearl]

Hello fellow marine scientist! :) Having gone through the grad school application process last year I can share some of the helpful info my advisors gave me.

The introduction is really blunt and the whole sop doesn't seem very well connected. You should definitely try and get rid of any "this fascinates me" statements and instead focus on how your experiences have lead you to your current research interest. Definitely play up your research internship - a cv will only give the basic jist of what you did. From your sop it seems like the research you did as an undergrad isn't obviously related to what you want to do in grad school (invertebrates vs fish). Talk about the protocols and research methods you used in your previous work that you could bring to the table as a grad student (molecular work? behavior studies? what knowledge could you apply?) Also go more into why you want to work with fish now - what did you learn from your previous research that caused your switch?

Also, as it currently stands, I don't feel like the your sentences about your role at the aquarium really make sense with what you are trying to say in your sop. Unless you specifically want to study one of those three species you listed, I would not go into "favorites" (in the words of my advisor - you can risk sounding to "finding nemo-ish"). Did your time at the aquarium give you insight into different environmental impacts effecting fish? policy? science eduction? interacting with the public as a scientist? Find some way to solidly connect it with your reason for wanting to pursue this particular research course.

When I wrote my sop I structured it as:
* brief overview of research topic - 1 paragraph
* my background and how it prepared me (previous research and marine science related activities) - 3 paragraphs
* school specific information about how I would fit in/who I wanted to work with - 2 paragraphs

Hope that helps (sorry if I was a bit harsh)! and good luck with your apps!!

[chicamala21]

Oh gosh thank goodness another marine science person! LOL

Yea, I tried to stay clear of the Nemo-ish stuff, which is why I avoided the whole "I fell in love with marine science at Sea World" business (which is true, but still)

Well the way my internship is set up, we heard presentations from all the mentors, ranked them from our #1 to #8, and the director of our program matched us with a mentor, so this poject was actually my second choice. But I chose it because I liked the mentor/people in the lab, I liked the project, and I saw how I can apply the work to fishes (fishes also experience changes in oxygen levels depending where they are, they have adapted responses to changes in the environment in general) My first choice was actually population genetics of red drum, but I didn't get that.

Basically, my time at the aquarium exposed me to a lot of new information/animals (I had this huge binder with info on animals so I could talk to visitors) and that's how I can to the point of wanting to study fish more. I saw the great diversity and now I think they're the coolest things ever.

You weren't harsh at all; you've actually been such a great help! If I may ask, where did you end up?

[etherealpearl]

I was definitely in the same boat: worked as an education/outreach assistant at an aquarium which turned me onto marine science and along with a invertebrate class narrowed my focus to inverts, did a summer REU where I was placed into a project (zooplankton behavior), completed a senior thesis on (potentially) symbiotic marine bacteria, and for grad school I am looking into marine/aquatic invasive invertebrates. Basically, I spinned my sop so that even though I had a lot of research in other areas and a definite lack of research in what I actually wanted to do I was familiar with molecular techniques (yeah pcr!), the necessary statistical techniques, and various field/collection methods.

For yours I would say definitely play up the similarities between the crabs and the fish, especially the research methods that could transfer over. Are you a senior this year? and if so are you already working in a lab? If you could possibly get into a fish lab you could take about the gradual evolution of your research interests - but regardless focus on the positives of your experience even if it wasn't exactly what you wanted to do or what you see yourself doing in the future (I managed to throw in a bunch of things in my sop that could be considered negatives that actually made me a better researcher). Your best bet for the aquarium bit would probably use it as a transition into your current interests (who dosen't like fish diversity ;P) but I would go in more than a sentence or so.

I'm going to start at Texas A&M in the fall (straight through phd rather than a masters first) which is quite exciting.

If you have any questions or need anyone to look over additional sop drafts feel free to pm me. I don't think there are a lot of marine science people in this community :)

[chicamala21]

Unfortunately I don't have the time or mobile access to the marine science campus for research (I work when I'm not in class), so this would be it (other than all the stuff I've done in classes, and unfortunately we don't have a fish biology class as far as I'm aware of) unless I switch jobs. It's just this feeling I have, like I went though my phases of marine mammals and corals, but this one has just stuck no matter what. But I do need a better reason than "I have a gut feeling".

But yea, I'll definitely focus on spinning everything so that it correlates with my interests.

[holdup123]

"gut feelings" are generally ok for masters programs. Most people (at least in the sciences) use them for spring boards to 1) gain research experience, 2) develop research interests, 3) see if they like grad school