What the reader is actually looking for
An admissions officer skims your SOP with four questions in mind: Why this field? Why this programme? Why are you ready? What will you do after? If a paragraph doesn't move one of those forward, it's filler.
Strong SOPs are specific. 'I have always been passionate about technology' tells the reader nothing. 'I built a Nepali-language OCR tool for my college library after watching staff retype book records by hand' tells them everything.
A structure you can reuse
Paragraph 1: the moment or problem that pulled you into the field. Paragraph 2–3: what you've done since (projects, internships, research) and what it taught you. Paragraph 4: why this exact programme — name two courses, a lab, or a professor and connect them to your goal. Paragraph 5: the concrete plan after graduation.
Write it long, then cut 30%. The second draft is almost always tighter and more honest than the first.
Common mistakes that get an SOP rejected
Re-stating your CV in prose, flattering the university with generic praise, vague future plans, and a length that runs past two pages. Also: never reuse a competitor university's name in the wrong file — readers notice.
Get one person who knows you well and one who doesn't to read it. The first checks it's true; the second checks it's clear.
Ready to act on this?
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