When preparing your application to university or graduate school, you may notice that some schools ask for a “Statement of Purpose”, whereas others require a “Personal Statement”. This leads everyone to inevitably type into the search bar: What’s the difference between a Statement of Purpose and a Personal Statement?  Think of it like this: A Statement of Purpose is more about the Statement. A Personal Statement is more about the Personal. Statement of Purpose A Statement of Purpose (SOP) is like a CV in paragraph form. You need to start with an introduction describing why you are interested in your