Student Workshop (FA24): Writing Statements of Purpose

On December 26, 2024, the Department of English and Humanities at ULAB held an online workshop titled “Writing Statements of Purpose”. This workshop was designed for the students from the BA and MA in English programs, graduating in Fall 2024, to provide them with the knowledge needed to navigate their foray into higher education. This session was led by Md. Jalal Uddin, an alumnus of DEH and currently a PhD student in the Department of English at Louisiana State University (LSU), USA.

Mr. Uddin explained how students who want to pursue higher education overseas must draft the ideal Statement of Purpose to take advantage of the best scholarship options. He described how, instead of employing AI, one could create a good SoP using their own words and efforts as the statement needs to be personalized to tell an appealing story focused on relating one’s own experiences with the discipline to be studied.

The facilitator further listed the typical errors that students make when writing an SoP and offered several solutions to help avoid them. Finally, Mr. Uddin explained the importance of extracurricular activities in supporting a student's SoP and raising the likelihood that they would be admitted to the universities of their choice.

After going through the session's key points, the workshop ended with an interactive question and answer session.

Report written by Akbar Fida Ononto (211013035)