Social Psych SOP - Round 2
I've taken advice from her and my thesis advisor since my last draft, and significantly revised it. Any input or criticism (anything at all - even to just repeat what someone else said!) is absolutely appreciated.
EDIT: Thanks for all the help! SOP taken down. If you would like to see it, send me a message.
I also have two questions (one related to my SOP, one related to Writing Samples) below the cut.
1. My thesis advisor mentioned that my SOP was a little dry, and that anything that would feature my personality would be good. However, she also said that it wasn't a "fatal flaw' because it shows I'm serious about what I want to do, and that I shouldn't stress about it. What do you guys think I could do to inject some much needed personality into it, without sounding unprofessional?
Everything I've tried so far sounds too anecdotal and "unserious." Would talking about how I'm passionate for the material, and that I read blogs like The Situationist (a popular academic blog related to my field that several potential advisors contribute to) be good, or too tangent and specific? Any comments at all on this conundrum are appreciated.
2. For several of the programs I'm applying to, I have to submit a Writing Sample. I have two papers I'm considering. The first is my honors thesis proposal, which may look too professional (as I wrote many drafts and had substantial input from my advisor and her grad student while writing it). The second is a recent paper for a (methodologically flawed) content analysis project that I wrote for my social psych methods class, which the professor regarded as the best paper in the class.
Which would be better to submit? Although my thesis proposal is much better written, I'm afraid that adcoms might think that it will be too well written to be my writing. This has already happened twice before. My advisor thought that her grad student wrote the proposal for me when her grad student first showed my draft to her. Additionally, a member of the committee that hands out a reward for the best psych honors thesis proposal every year was assured by my advisor that it was my writing. I'm concerned that if people have reservations that it's my writing now at my own university, that there will be bigger concerns at adcoms out in the wild.
EDIT: Thanks for all the help! SOP taken down. If you would like to see it, send me a message.
I also have two questions (one related to my SOP, one related to Writing Samples) below the cut.
1. My thesis advisor mentioned that my SOP was a little dry, and that anything that would feature my personality would be good. However, she also said that it wasn't a "fatal flaw' because it shows I'm serious about what I want to do, and that I shouldn't stress about it. What do you guys think I could do to inject some much needed personality into it, without sounding unprofessional?
Everything I've tried so far sounds too anecdotal and "unserious." Would talking about how I'm passionate for the material, and that I read blogs like The Situationist (a popular academic blog related to my field that several potential advisors contribute to) be good, or too tangent and specific? Any comments at all on this conundrum are appreciated.
2. For several of the programs I'm applying to, I have to submit a Writing Sample. I have two papers I'm considering. The first is my honors thesis proposal, which may look too professional (as I wrote many drafts and had substantial input from my advisor and her grad student while writing it). The second is a recent paper for a (methodologically flawed) content analysis project that I wrote for my social psych methods class, which the professor regarded as the best paper in the class.
Which would be better to submit? Although my thesis proposal is much better written, I'm afraid that adcoms might think that it will be too well written to be my writing. This has already happened twice before. My advisor thought that her grad student wrote the proposal for me when her grad student first showed my draft to her. Additionally, a member of the committee that hands out a reward for the best psych honors thesis proposal every year was assured by my advisor that it was my writing. I'm concerned that if people have reservations that it's my writing now at my own university, that there will be bigger concerns at adcoms out in the wild.