11

In one of Ben Bitdiddle's comment, he confirms that quoting famous scientists in the SOP is generally bad. But I don't know why. Isn't SOP the place to tell our stories, our inspirations, our motivations, our goals, etc? We scientists, who incur ourselves to solve the hardest problems of the world, are inspired by giant scientists, don't we? So I don't know why...

Thank you for answering my question. I get that a SOP "is forward-looking, not about your childhood". But the quote is not necessary to be something like: "The purpose of anthropology is to make the world safe for human differences.". I hereby have two questions:

  1. Does that mean we should definitely get rid all things from our past? Not even a paragraph? I have read some samples, many of them start with "I remember the day as if it were yesterday...".

  2. Also, what if the quote I'm about to use is not relevant to any specific field, for example when I want to write down this quote because I want to change field? "Intelligence is the ability to adapt to change". (I can say that I'm not intelligent, but I really want to change the field - this is just an example). This kind of quote is the results of real scientific activities, it applies for every aspect of life, not an inspiration from pop science books.

I know what makes me confuse now. I was mistaken the SOP to the applicant essay. When I search for the sample SOP in my native language, someone has put the 50 best Harvard applicant essays with the title 50 best SOP. After searching it again by English, I acknowledge where I'm wrong. Thank you so much for helping me.

Community
  • 1
Ooker
  • 8,266
  • 6
  • 54
  • 114
  • 17
    Isn't SOP the place to tell our stories, our inspirations, our motivations, our goals, etc? - No. See this answer – ff524 Dec 09 '14 at 18:45
  • 8
    http://explosm.net/comics/3557/ – user541686 Dec 09 '14 at 23:32
  • @Mehrdad great comic. So I guess we need to prove how we actually love it. In other word you need to show how we spend our lives "studying the tedious little bit as well as the big flashy facts" – Ooker Dec 10 '14 at 01:00
  • Tag definition of statement-of-purpose: "

    Concerning an individual, what influences them, professional interests, and plan for the future, typically described as part of a college applicant's application for admission." Although I agree with the given answers, I can see where the confusion is coming from. If some research has influenced you in a good way, you might feel the need for a quote. Don't do it anyway.

     – Mast Dec 10 '14 at 09:03
  • 5
    @Mehrdad I never thought I'd see the day where a C&H comic is relevant on Academia.SE... – Moriarty Dec 10 '14 at 11:06
  • @Ooker: Please post your new edits as a different question—you're asking something radically different, and creating a "moving target" makes long-term curation of the site difficult. – aeismail Dec 10 '14 at 11:17
  • @aeismail I have two new questions. Does this mean I have to ask two? – Ooker Dec 10 '14 at 11:24
  • @Ooker: Probably for the best, since they're not that closely related. – aeismail Dec 10 '14 at 11:26
  • 10
    "I remember the day as if it were yesterday..." — Wow. That is an awful statement of purpose. – JeffE Dec 10 '14 at 14:12
  • Regarding your edit, quotes are not inherently bad. If what you want to say can be effectively said with a quote, go ahead; it just happens that most quotes say the wrong things. – Davidmh Dec 10 '14 at 14:30
  • @alex0112: what do you mean? – Ooker Dec 10 '14 at 16:19
  • @JeffE: why is it awful? Except for the first paragraph, everything seems to be OK – Ooker Dec 10 '14 at 16:36
  • 1
    @Ooker Heh. I apologize. I read SOP as "Stack Overflow Profile". I was a little confused. ^^ – kingsfoil Dec 10 '14 at 16:38
  • 1
    I know what makes me confuse now. I was mistaken the SOP to the applicant essay. When I search for the sample SOP in my native language, someone has put the 50 best Harvard applicant essays with the title 50 best SOP. After a searching it again by English, I acknowledge where I'm wrong. Thank you so much for helping me. – Ooker Dec 10 '14 at 16:34
  • @Ooker Yeah, the SOP is very different from a college essay. The main point of an SOP is to convince people to hire you, and the main point of a college essay seems to be convincing people that you are a cool person. Basically people will be thinking "do I want this person in my lab? Will he/she be a good researcher and publish lots of papers for me?" The quality of students hired has a direct impact on the faculty's careers. – Ben Bitdiddle Dec 10 '14 at 20:10
  • 2
    @BenBitdiddle I want people to hire me, because I'm cool XD – Ooker Dec 11 '14 at 01:06
  • 1
    @Ooker Lots of bloviating about the wonderful places the author has worked, how exciting everything was, and how much they think they learned, with only the briefest mention of what they actually did or what they actually want to do, with no technical detail whatsoever. And really, they're applying to Princeton CS because of its facilities? Seriously? It's tone-deaf fluff, all self-congratulatory hat and no cattle. – JeffE Dec 11 '14 at 04:18
  • (And based on the buzzwords, I'd guess it was written at least a decade ago.) – JeffE Dec 11 '14 at 04:24
  • @Ooker: are you talking about a statement of purpose when someone applies to graduate school, or about a research statement when they apply for a job after graduate school? – Oswald Veblen Jan 30 '15 at 12:12
  • @OswaldVeblen I mean the one applying to graduate school – Ooker Jan 30 '15 at 14:06
  • Somewhat related: Can an emotional letter of motivation be harmful in a PhD application? – Ooker Oct 02 '15 at 09:15

2 Answers2

34

A statement of purpose is forward-looking. It is not meant to be, to paraphrase Wordsworth, "recollections of early childhood." I don't really care why you decided to study mathematics when you were seven years old, nor do I care about some generic quote from a scientist that inspired you. I want to know what you might want to study as a PhD student, and why you are motivated to study that specific project.

If a famous scientist said something relevant about your proposed project, that's a different story, because it's actually significant to what you want to do in the future. Otherwise, leave it out—it just annoys most of the referees who will eventually read it.

aeismail
  • 173,481
  • 34
  • 418
  • 736
  • 1
    How do you consider a quote is generic or not? Let's say Stephen Hawking said about something about the universe, and I want to apply to study in astronomy, will that quote is relevant? – Ooker Dec 09 '14 at 19:18
  • 4
    I mean if you want to study quasars, and there was a relevant quote about quasars, fine. But astronomy is too broad. If in doubt, leave it out. – aeismail Dec 09 '14 at 19:36
  • 24
    I think using a Stephen Hawking quote in your SOP is going to make you look like an immature fanboy. Even though it may be a completely accurate account of how you got your inspiration, the information the reader is looking for is "what is this person going to do?", not "does this person have the right heroes?". – msouth Dec 09 '14 at 20:41
  • 1
    @Ooker Astronomers and astrophysicists are known for their data, equations, and code. Anything you can quote in a single math-free sentence is almost certainly not considered relevant for science in general, much less a specific project. Quotable and generic are highly correlated. –  Dec 10 '14 at 00:24
  • @msouth: Ok, so let's take another example. If I want to study anthropology, will this quote is address what I'm going to do? "The purpose of anthropology is to make the world safe for human differences." – Ooker Dec 10 '14 at 01:10
  • 7
    @Ooker: Again, that's a general quote about anthropology, and probably has little to do with the particulars of your project. If you have to ask if you can include it, then it's not worth including! – aeismail Dec 10 '14 at 04:00
  • 5
    @Ooker The point is, the people reading this had damned well better know that the purpose, or, better, one purpose, of anthropology is to make the world safe for human differences. You are practically talking down to them if you say stuff like that. What they want to know is what you are going to do as an anthropologist. They know what all the great minds in anthropology have done. You're not trying to sell them on those guys. You are trying to sell them on you. Don't wave a big flag that says "I don't have any original ideas, lemme just pull a great quote out instead." – msouth Dec 10 '14 at 05:55
  • @msouth: I have edited my question, can you come and see? Thank you. – Ooker Dec 10 '14 at 09:56
  • @aeismail: my main concern, from the point of view of mathematics, is that few undergraduates will have the ability to even identify specific research projects they might carry out for a PhD - even if they are exceptional candidates for graduate school. – Oswald Veblen Jan 30 '15 at 12:13
  • 1
    @OswaldVeblen: They don't need to be able to identify specific projects, but they do need to be able to identify particular areas they would be interested in. – aeismail Jan 30 '15 at 14:32
22

Because the people who worship famous scientists usually aren't the ones who've done actual science. Generally their main scientific experience comes from books marketed to a general audience. You do not want to be lumped with that crowd, because it shows you don't know what you're getting into.

Ben Bitdiddle
  • 5,923
  • 1
  • 32
  • 55
  • 2
    I agree. But then, how can you surpass all the pains to get a PhD if you don't have some, erm, ideals, curiosity, passion, etc? Quoting a quote doesn't necessary mean you worship someone, it's just because you think it's right. – Ooker Dec 10 '14 at 01:17
  • 3
    @Ooker In most scientists, their curiosity and passion is specifically targeted towards the nuances of their field, and not towards broad goals like "understanding the universe." – Ben Bitdiddle Dec 10 '14 at 01:27
  • What if the universe is their specific field? See my comment on the other answer. – Ooker Dec 10 '14 at 01:35
  • 6
    @Ooker: The point is that you should be proving that you're ready for graduate study. Part of this is displaying some familiarity with your field of study, so they know that you're serious and know what you're getting into, and aren't just applying to physics programs because you think physicists are smart or whatever. You will have a much easier time displaying this familiarity if you talk about narrower, more field-specific topics instead of quoting books that are popular among poseurs. – Ben Bitdiddle Dec 10 '14 at 01:56
  • No problem @Ooker, best of luck! – Ben Bitdiddle Dec 10 '14 at 09:07
  • 1
    "Less pop, more science", to paraphrase it – smci Dec 10 '14 at 14:19