milleniumgypsy (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
milleniumgypsy) wrote2008-12-30 08:39 pm
milleniumgypsy) wrote2008-12-30 08:39 pm
Comment on my SOP?
So I am writing up a SOP for a university (not past deadline, don't worry), and I am hoping that I can get some help with it?
Here are the guidelines for the essay:
Essay. Write and submit a 500-1000 word essay outlining your motivations for seeking the MSES degree, including professional interests, career goals, and research topic(s) you wish to pursue for your thesis. Please note the faculty members whose research interests are similar to your own.
I grew up on the shores of Lake Superior, in Michigan and have always had an affinity for the water. Aquatic ecology is my main interest and this includes everything from the algae to marine mammals to the water itself. My goal for graduate study is to eventually get my Ph.D. and become a research professor. I decided on this path in life when I was only in middle school, and I have not wavered in my determination to make this dream come true.
While I was a student at Awesome Technological University (ATU), I was selected to be an undergraduate teaching assistant for Dr. Jane Smith's botany laboratory. This experience allowed me to interact with and teach a set of students over a semester. This included grading their work, helping them with concepts they didn't grasp, and taking them into the field for instruction. The knowledge that I was partly responsible for their success was very rewarding and helped confirm my desire to teach.
After graduation from ATU, I pursued job experience to help me refine my life goals. First as an intern for the Really Awesome Wildlife Refuge and currently as a groundfish observer with Groundfish Contractor Company (GCC).
Working at the Really Awesome National Wildlife Refuge on Mars was a fantastic experience for me. It allowed me to see the practical application of biology in different forms. Duties I performed included surveying for piping plovers, setting up predator exclosures at nest sites, surveying vernal pools, recreating habitat for threatened species, managing invasive plants, and developing a new weekend outreach program for the public each week. I also participated in a research project involving mercury impacts on salt marshes and sharp tailed salt marsh sparrows. This was a highly rewarding experience. Not only was I directly helping threatened and endangered species, I was also working with the public and educating them on the plight of these species. Once people were educated on the subject, often people were not only ready to stop whatever harmful activities they were doing, they would be willing to do more to help.
I am currently a groundfish observer at GCC. This job entails collecting data in the challenging environment of the Bering Sea. I create my own sampling designs. I identify fish, skates, and invertebrates in hauls. I sex, measure, weigh, and collect specimens including otoliths and scales. This position requires intense amounts of self-motivation because I am my own supervisor and the conditions are at best demanding. It's also important work because the data collected is critical for in-season management of the fishery as well as for future management decisions. Being a groundfish observer has helped me to better understand what I want out of my biology career.
In the long term, I would love to research species of marine invertebrates. I have a general love for marine invertebrates, especially cephalopods. Specifically, I have an interest in cuttlefish that has grown over the years. I was intrigued by a recent study showing that cuttlefish embryos learn to distinguish prey before they even hatch, having fully developed eyes and translucent shells. The possibility that they have a complex language of body positioning and coloring is also endlessly fascinating to me. Their intelligence is something that I think is worthy of study.
I would also love to research marine mammals. Topics that I am interested in include interactions between killer whales and stellar sea lions, the fitness of different killer whale ecotypes over time, the effect of global warming on ice associated seals, killer whale interactions with fishing vessels, or research on beluga whales impact on salmon populations. I also am interested in sturgeon. I became interested in the sturgeon while working with Dr. Jane Doe. Her enthusiasm for this particular fish was contagious, and I too fell in love this adorable fish.
While reading past research topics on your website, I found that the topics of study at your institution are things that I find fascinating. This is one of the reasons I believe that I would be a good fit at Awesome Place. Receiving my M.S. will allow me to get the research experience in an academic environment that I need to move forward with my career.
Faculty members with research interests closest to my own are Dr. Jane Doe2 and Dr. John Doe.
I'm not sure how to end the piece though. Thank them? Make a summary of what I said?
I am also not sure if I should add in school experience. I just have my UTA experience from school and my biology job experience. I have also spent time as a manager at a retail location in a national park, I don't know if that is worth mentioning (training people, fielding customer questions including ones about the national park, lots of responsibility, etc). They are asking for a resume though so I was thinking it wouldn't be a bad thing to leave that stuff on the resume. School stuff however...
Also, I'm having trouble getting two of my references to send out LORs, or even respond. I know that I could get a LOR from a professor- she was my adviser for my minor and knew me from freshman year to graduation. However, she isn't a biology professor, my minor was fine arts. She knows me better than my other two biology references, but I don't know if it would be harmful to have a reference from someone outside of my major?
x-posted to applyingtograd
Here are the guidelines for the essay:
Essay. Write and submit a 500-1000 word essay outlining your motivations for seeking the MSES degree, including professional interests, career goals, and research topic(s) you wish to pursue for your thesis. Please note the faculty members whose research interests are similar to your own.
I grew up on the shores of Lake Superior, in Michigan and have always had an affinity for the water. Aquatic ecology is my main interest and this includes everything from the algae to marine mammals to the water itself. My goal for graduate study is to eventually get my Ph.D. and become a research professor. I decided on this path in life when I was only in middle school, and I have not wavered in my determination to make this dream come true.
While I was a student at Awesome Technological University (ATU), I was selected to be an undergraduate teaching assistant for Dr. Jane Smith's botany laboratory. This experience allowed me to interact with and teach a set of students over a semester. This included grading their work, helping them with concepts they didn't grasp, and taking them into the field for instruction. The knowledge that I was partly responsible for their success was very rewarding and helped confirm my desire to teach.
After graduation from ATU, I pursued job experience to help me refine my life goals. First as an intern for the Really Awesome Wildlife Refuge and currently as a groundfish observer with Groundfish Contractor Company (GCC).
Working at the Really Awesome National Wildlife Refuge on Mars was a fantastic experience for me. It allowed me to see the practical application of biology in different forms. Duties I performed included surveying for piping plovers, setting up predator exclosures at nest sites, surveying vernal pools, recreating habitat for threatened species, managing invasive plants, and developing a new weekend outreach program for the public each week. I also participated in a research project involving mercury impacts on salt marshes and sharp tailed salt marsh sparrows. This was a highly rewarding experience. Not only was I directly helping threatened and endangered species, I was also working with the public and educating them on the plight of these species. Once people were educated on the subject, often people were not only ready to stop whatever harmful activities they were doing, they would be willing to do more to help.
I am currently a groundfish observer at GCC. This job entails collecting data in the challenging environment of the Bering Sea. I create my own sampling designs. I identify fish, skates, and invertebrates in hauls. I sex, measure, weigh, and collect specimens including otoliths and scales. This position requires intense amounts of self-motivation because I am my own supervisor and the conditions are at best demanding. It's also important work because the data collected is critical for in-season management of the fishery as well as for future management decisions. Being a groundfish observer has helped me to better understand what I want out of my biology career.
In the long term, I would love to research species of marine invertebrates. I have a general love for marine invertebrates, especially cephalopods. Specifically, I have an interest in cuttlefish that has grown over the years. I was intrigued by a recent study showing that cuttlefish embryos learn to distinguish prey before they even hatch, having fully developed eyes and translucent shells. The possibility that they have a complex language of body positioning and coloring is also endlessly fascinating to me. Their intelligence is something that I think is worthy of study.
I would also love to research marine mammals. Topics that I am interested in include interactions between killer whales and stellar sea lions, the fitness of different killer whale ecotypes over time, the effect of global warming on ice associated seals, killer whale interactions with fishing vessels, or research on beluga whales impact on salmon populations. I also am interested in sturgeon. I became interested in the sturgeon while working with Dr. Jane Doe. Her enthusiasm for this particular fish was contagious, and I too fell in love this adorable fish.
While reading past research topics on your website, I found that the topics of study at your institution are things that I find fascinating. This is one of the reasons I believe that I would be a good fit at Awesome Place. Receiving my M.S. will allow me to get the research experience in an academic environment that I need to move forward with my career.
Faculty members with research interests closest to my own are Dr. Jane Doe2 and Dr. John Doe.
I'm not sure how to end the piece though. Thank them? Make a summary of what I said?
I am also not sure if I should add in school experience. I just have my UTA experience from school and my biology job experience. I have also spent time as a manager at a retail location in a national park, I don't know if that is worth mentioning (training people, fielding customer questions including ones about the national park, lots of responsibility, etc). They are asking for a resume though so I was thinking it wouldn't be a bad thing to leave that stuff on the resume. School stuff however...
Also, I'm having trouble getting two of my references to send out LORs, or even respond. I know that I could get a LOR from a professor- she was my adviser for my minor and knew me from freshman year to graduation. However, she isn't a biology professor, my minor was fine arts. She knows me better than my other two biology references, but I don't know if it would be harmful to have a reference from someone outside of my major?
x-posted to applyingtograd