SoP. PhD application, econ
Hi all. I'm a first time poster and I need some help with SoP. My deadlines are not till mid-December, so I'm not yet stressing out, but it's getting close, I know. I'll take any suggestions. My places ask for 500-700 words, but I'm definitely way under that. Would that be a problem? Thanks in advance!
I'm not sure about including the words in parentheses at the beginning, since in second paragraph I'm talking about immigrating, not growing up (I came here at 16). Also, I'm kind of not sure if second paragraph follows smoothly from the first. Since I'm tailoring to different programs, the last paragraph will be talking about specific professors and research they do.
"(Growing up in New York and) graduating from Hunter College with MA in Economics, I was expected to start working for a bank on Wall Street; after all, that’s what most my classmates did. I was not sure I wanted to devote myself to the corporate world. I valued academic thought and enjoyed research process, yet I was not ready to go back to school after seven years at Hunter. So in order to combine my passion for research and desire for a job, I obtained an academic research position at Columbia Business School.
I started Hunter as a new immigrant, struggling with English and adapting to the entirely new system of education. Hence, my first three semesters were not my best. However, I was able to improve in the following years. I have concentrated on both retaking classes I have attempted before and on succeeding in more difficult classes. Once I was introduced to economics, I did not want to stop. I have completed requirements for BA and started MA the same year. I have concentrated my research in the field of health economics, finishing up with thesis paper entitled “Income Effects on Demand for Health Care: Evidence from Russia”
The skills I received in Hunter have helped me succeed at my job. These same skills were, however, the basis, upon which I extended at Columbia. I spent days working with professors doing various economic and finance research: I’ve looked for, cleaned and manipulated large datasets, and the more I did it, the more I enjoyed doing it. Among other things, I was given opportunity to learn SAS, Matlab, Python and R.
In addition to learning at work, I was able to take classes at Columbia University. Realizing how important mathematics is in economics, I have concentrated on improving my math skills. Currently I am enrolled in the first semester of real analysis. Before the beginning of my Ph. D. program I am planning to complete the second semester of real analysis in the spring, and probability theory in the summer.
I have selected to apply to XXXX University because I want to return to health economics. While still in Hunter, I was inspired by work of XXXX. From here this paragraph will be tailored to what I want to do while in the program and once I graduate from the program."
I'm not sure about including the words in parentheses at the beginning, since in second paragraph I'm talking about immigrating, not growing up (I came here at 16). Also, I'm kind of not sure if second paragraph follows smoothly from the first. Since I'm tailoring to different programs, the last paragraph will be talking about specific professors and research they do.
"(Growing up in New York and) graduating from Hunter College with MA in Economics, I was expected to start working for a bank on Wall Street; after all, that’s what most my classmates did. I was not sure I wanted to devote myself to the corporate world. I valued academic thought and enjoyed research process, yet I was not ready to go back to school after seven years at Hunter. So in order to combine my passion for research and desire for a job, I obtained an academic research position at Columbia Business School.
I started Hunter as a new immigrant, struggling with English and adapting to the entirely new system of education. Hence, my first three semesters were not my best. However, I was able to improve in the following years. I have concentrated on both retaking classes I have attempted before and on succeeding in more difficult classes. Once I was introduced to economics, I did not want to stop. I have completed requirements for BA and started MA the same year. I have concentrated my research in the field of health economics, finishing up with thesis paper entitled “Income Effects on Demand for Health Care: Evidence from Russia”
The skills I received in Hunter have helped me succeed at my job. These same skills were, however, the basis, upon which I extended at Columbia. I spent days working with professors doing various economic and finance research: I’ve looked for, cleaned and manipulated large datasets, and the more I did it, the more I enjoyed doing it. Among other things, I was given opportunity to learn SAS, Matlab, Python and R.
In addition to learning at work, I was able to take classes at Columbia University. Realizing how important mathematics is in economics, I have concentrated on improving my math skills. Currently I am enrolled in the first semester of real analysis. Before the beginning of my Ph. D. program I am planning to complete the second semester of real analysis in the spring, and probability theory in the summer.
I have selected to apply to XXXX University because I want to return to health economics. While still in Hunter, I was inspired by work of XXXX. From here this paragraph will be tailored to what I want to do while in the program and once I graduate from the program."