This is the first draft of my SoP for graduate school in philosophy. From what I have gathered these SoPs are supposed to be roughly one page long and let the committee know what your philosophical interests are while not giving your life story. I think they are supposed to help the committee see that you are a good match for the department. I have have always been a poor writer, but I am really trying to improve. I think my biggest weaknesses are my grammar, awkward sounding sentences, and the general flow of the essay. So if someone could help me fix the bugs in this essay I would really appreciate it. This essay is for one of the masters programs, I plan on tweaking it slightly for the other masters and Ph,D programs.
Dear graduate committee at Western Michigan University,
I am applying to your M.A program in philosophy in order to expand my knowledge in several philosophical fields and to help myself become a better philosopher. My main area of interest is in philosophy of mind, with similarly strong interests in the philosophy of language and metaphysics. In addition to these fields I have broad interests in many other areas of philosophy, such as, philosophy of science, ethics, non- western philosophy, and 19th century philosophy. I am interested in all of the sub-areas within these fields; however, in philosophy of mind I have become very interested in the problem of intentionality and mental representation. In my undergraduate tutorial I focused on essays attempting to solve Franz Brentano's concerns with materialistic intentionality and on opposing essays trying to support these concerns. Mental representation, intentionality, and the language problems that arise within this area are the things that I would like to focus on most while attending graduate school. I am also very interested in studying the physical sciences related to the problems in philosophy of mind. In metaphysics my favorite topic has become persistence through time. Of particular interest to me is how the mind persists through time and what this means for different accounts of the mind. My interest in philosophy of science stems from my studies in several scientific fields like, biology, physics, and psychology. I find arguments for theory choice to be the most interesting, but like every other field, I enjoy studying all of the different sub-fields. I would be happy to pursue concentrations in any of these areas, I believe that I would be very satisfied as a professional in any one of these fields.
I hope that studying philosophy as a graduate student will allow me to grow enough as a philosopher to eventually enable me to teach philosophy at a collegiate level. Studying philosophy at this level will be immensely satisfying on its own, but my ultimate goal is to teach philosophy. My motives for becoming a professor are not just to teach undergraduates though, I would also love the opportunity to work with other philosophers and have my interaction with them be part of my job. I think that even though my GPA and GRE scores may not be as high as some of the other applicants, I am still just as able to complete the program and to prove myself as a future potential colleague. I don't think GRE scores are a very helpful measure of philosophical ability anyway. They may be the most object comparison of incoming students, but that objectivity seems worthless if it isn't measuring something related to philosophy. I hope that the other parts of my application are enough to convince the graduate committee of my dedication to the field and ability to do work at a graduate level.
I chose the Western Michigan Philosophy department for several reasons including; its listed concentrations in philosophy of mind and philosophy of science, its excellent placement record which includes Ph.D programs that I would like to attend, and what seems like a strong desire to help students in their pursuit of these Ph.D programs. I think that Western Michigan University is a great place for me to widen my philosophical knowledge while still allowing me to focus on the areas that interest me the most. I hope the committee feels that I am as good of a fit to the program as I do and gives me the opportunity to study philosophy at Western Michigan in the near future.
In addition to these fields, I have broad interests in many other areas of philosophy, such as, ---No comma here,--- philosophy of science, ethics, non- western philosophy, and 19th century philosophy.
In metaphysics, my favorite topic has become persistence through time.
Of particular interest to me is how the mind persists through time and what this means for different accounts of the mind. My interest in philosophy of science stems from my studies in several scientific fields, like, biology, physics, and psychology.
I would be happy to pursue concentrations in any of these areas, and I believe that I would be very satisfied as a professional in any one of these fields.
I hope the committee feels that I am as good of a fit to the program as I do and gives me the opportunity to study philosophy at Western Michigan in the near future.
I think they'll be lucky to have you as a student.
Good luck in school and have fun!
:)
