Guidelines to writing an effective Statement of Purpose (SOP) for Ireland

With an excellent academic reputation, pristine landscape, friendly people, and rich culture, Ireland is a perfect destination for higher studies. There are many reasons to study in Ireland out of which some lie mainly in areas like skill development, entrepreneurial skills, and high-class international syllabus.

The country has many top universities like the Dublin International University, which provides a wide array of courses in the field of Science and Technology, Humanities, and Economics. Some other reasons like low tuition fees and living costs, and post-study visa ease, make it one of the top destinations in the world to study.

Also, if we talk about reports published by various agencies, then Ireland is ranked No.3 in the Global peace index with a GPI index of 1.288 only next to Iceland and New Zealand, which means the country is crime and corruption free. According to the OECD education report, Ireland ranks at No.4 for the highest standard of education.

SOP – the Statement of purpose is an important document that a student submits while applying for a student visa. It essentially depicts the mindset and aspiration of a candidate or applicant, who want to apply for the same. Every student puts in a lot of effort to get into the best of colleges for having a bright future and this written statement would describe the best of you in front of the authorities, hence this is considered an essential phase of student visa application where you need to put your best foot forward.

Your genuineness, hard work, future, and career path are your USP and hence if this needs to be portrayed, this SOP enables the deciding visa authorities in giving you the student visa. The entire idea is to compose a written statement that describes the best of your motivation to join a particular course and depicts the fundamental reasoning behind your selection. Often many students overlook the importance of SOP and there are cases where your visa is not approved because you haven’t portrayed the intent clearly, hence this becomes a certain mandatory document.

So when we say that it’s an important and mandatory document in your visa application let’s look at some important aspects that you should include in your SOP.

1. Depicts personality: The SOP should be in brief depict your personality and what you have done in past, what you would do in the future, and what you stand for.

2. Motivation, aspiration, and perseverance: As you would have read, the 3 words, in a nutshell, should show your motivation, Aspiration, and Perseverance to join a particular course.

3. Creative, original thought: The letter itself should be creative and original, depicting your past life and future ideas as a student. As we say, avoid copying.

4. Key aspects: Combine all thoughts based on your talent, experiences, and ideas and tell the deciding authorities how you are important in their system.

5. Financial stability: Well, goes without saying, you should explain to the authorities that how stable are you or your family financially to help you go through this phase of student life, which will be a deciding factor for your visa application.

6. Extra-curricular activities: Life is more than studying as a student. And hence you would notice that your family will always want you to do something extra, hence if you have excelled in something apart from your studies, like extra-curricular activities then have it mentioned in your profile.

7. Intention of application: Your intent to join a particular course, what inspired you to take the course, and your future career path should all be included in the SOP.

8. Works: If you have in past submitted or published any papers, works then including the same in it, goes a long way.

9. About yourself: Interests and Hobbies goes a long way in shaping your personality and you should mention the same in your statement, this will talk more about “YOU”

Here are the guidelines you should follow for a perfect SOP

• Planning: As it goes without saying, planning on how to construct your SOP is important. The same goes for Ireland’s SOP as well. Collects facts, details, and additional information and makes a skeletal draft, have a good idea of what to write and what not to.

• Stand-out approach: The aim here is to ensure that you do not give a regular SOP. To ensure this, you can think of adding personal elements and touch, the overall tone of SOP has to be professional and crystal clear.

• Easy to understand and read: Whenever you want the reader to read all that you have written, you need to keep things simple and easy. Also, you need to engage the reader, it should not be boring and timid. The admission counsels go through such SOPs every day hence you need to ensure that your document is not generic or lengthy.

• Sentence build-up: Just ensure that you don’t write a long essay, keep it crisp and in short sentence format. It is important to keep the interest of the reader alive, hence ensuring things are simply put.

• Word Count: It is widely believed that an Ireland SOP should be constructed between 900 to 1000 words or up to 2 pages unless the university specifies otherwise.

• Avoid Jargon: Usage of complicated words, Jargon is universally believed to be a put-off. It’s generally told to be avoided and is the same here.

• Technical Skills and knowledge acquired: You would have done this a lot while preparing your CV and it’s not different here. Technical skills and knowledge go a long way as everyone wants to know a little bit more about you, hence you should mention it in your SOP.

• University Contribution: Though is not highly required, but talks more about your personality, universities may never ask you to disclose but it’s always good to tell the University how you can contribute to the university. For example, if you are good at some extracurricular activities or have done social service the same can be a contribution that you can mention in your SOP which can be an attractive aspect to tell the university apart from your studies.

• Informal writing: Style of writing matters a lot. It should be professional, precise, and appealing. Maintain your composure and write in a formal approachable manner. The informal style of writing is the sort of writing we use to speak to our friends or while putting up a post on Social Media platforms.

• Dull introduction: A candidate should always remember that an engaging introduction will go a long way. If your introduction or the opening sentence is dull and unappealing, then the reader may not go much further. Do not focus much on self-introduction, rather discuss your academic interests and background.

• Last-minute writing: As you know that any job you rush with, you may not be able to put your best foot forward in urgency. We recommend you at least write your SOP 30 days before your deadline.

• Complimentary words: The purpose of SOP is to tell about yourself, and express your thoughts. But do not be over complimentary about the University or its faculty, complimentary words may sound like you being much desperate to get in and might put off the reader. If you like something about the University, just be precise in a few lines.

• Not adhering to the word limit: This is one of the most common mistakes one makes, not adhering to the word limit. This puts an impression that you will be judged on your ability and capability. Another aspect of this is, you respect the time of the reader, which if you don’t stick to might put the wrong impression on the reader and hence question your preparedness for writing an SOP.

• Proofreading: This is the most common error a candidate makes. You would have put your time and thought into writing a well-constructed SOP, but mistakes may also be visible. These mistakes can range from being grammatical to punctuation, repetition of some sentences, etc. Of course, you would have devoted much time to gathering your thoughts, and making good valid points, but to ensure that there are no errors or silly mistakes, take your time to read what you have written and correct if anything is wrong or unnecessary. You can try the below techniques:

1. Read it multiple times, revise if required

2. Read it again after a day or two

3. Tell a third party to proofread 

• False information: This is a red flag in any SOP, never mention something that you don’t know or have done. Polarised or copied information in your SOP might lead to a direct rejection of your application and may also put you on a blacklist.

So, we believe that the above information would be sufficient for you to create a good, appealing SOP. Also, you can research well and create a well-drafted SOP, but simultaneously you can take the help of an expert or outside agency to create a good SOP where you will understand the difference between an SOP written by a rookie compared to an experienced person, in any circumstances we would be happy to assist you further and wishing you all the best for your future endeavours.