Excerpt: What's your story, Dandelion?

A summary of the main article: Right approach towards writing an SOP

As soon as you decide to jump onto the bandwagon of studying abroad, there starts an endless cycle, a catastrophe of events of preparation, research, anxiety attacks, portfolio building, applications, the butterflies in stomach, offer letters, interviews and finally the feeling of getting detached to fly away to a new land of self development and growth - almost like the dandelion seeds floating through the wind.

Unfortunately, in this hassle, we forget what makes us special. There's thousands of students applying to universities every year! So does it mean all of them follow the same path?

The answer is a big fat 'NO'. It's this point where we have to stop ourselves from falling into the race to prove our worth. Universities look for authenticity, they want to know your journey, the places you stumbled into, the places you dusted yourself and rose to the occasion, the times which taught you life lessons, the memories where you were an explorer, the moments where you surrendered yourself to a situation as well as the moments you fought back.

So when the universities ask you for a 'Statement of Purpose' (SOP) it literally means as it reads - What's your purpose, dandelion? ...and how can the university be the wind that catalyses your journey towards your purpose?

It does sound hard, isn't it? But I'll share some pointers to help you keep an eye on yourself whether or not you're being authentic and genuine to yourself and your journey while writing down your story.

1) How to begin?

• A million times we want to begin our writings with a quote, our conventional schooling has trained us in such a way that we're tempted to start with some fancy quote about architecture, a phrase/dialogue by a famous architect or some thought of the day you read somewhere and found unique.

• At that moment, you should pause and question yourself, is that quote valid? Does it, in any way, resonate with me? Is it a product of my journey so far?

Does the quote summarise my struggle, my learnings, my passion and my hunger for more? If even one of these gets a whisper of a 'No', scrap the idea of beginning with a quote right there, or dig deeper within yourself to find why that quote needs amends.

2) What's your Once Upon A Time...?

• Your beginning doesn't have to be something very catchy that draws interest, but it should simply be something that begins your story - something as simple as a 'Once upon a time...'

• There are a million stories that begin with Once Upon a Time, but each one is unique, with a diverse ending. You might just be another 'Once upon a time' for them, but the reader will be eager to know what makes your story special.

• Travel back to where your professional journey started for you - a memory trapped deep inside your mind, could be a memory from childhood that triggered your interests, a friend, a respected person who you came across, a stranger you crossed paths with and had a memorable chat, or perhaps even a memory of remorse...

...if you search well and declutter your thoughts, you'll find that one unique reason that made you choose the field you're in, that one reason that makes you surprisingly highly unique!

3) Find The Breeze!

There is a turning point where your story started getting very interesting.

• It could involve your recent past, your educational journey through your bachelors, or probably that one evening in your third year, with your best friend, a talk with your classmate or a scolding from your tutors, a book in the library or a guest at your college, a day at your internship which provided a channel to your professional approach.

• Think of the breeze that gave your professional thoughts a flow, a direction, that laid the foundations of the way you perceive the world around you.

Once you understand what the breeze was and have revealed it to the reader, the story has already become interesting. The reader now wants to know what path you are heading to, with this wind driving you.

4) The Crossroads

• Throughout the flow of the breeze, there are twists and turns, some swift currents, soothing moments, but now, the breeze is long gone and has dropped you at a crossroad, has nurtured you enough and given you the power to sow your way in.

• Narrate all these incidences to your reader, and just like the wind, drop him at the crossroads with the same suspense the breeze left you with.

• The reader is now curious to know how you'll be making the choice. The choice isn't what course, specialisation, module, subject, university reputation or ranking. But the choice of which direction you want to grow in.

You can narrate the things you see on each path, each direction and leave it to the reader to guess what you may be hinting at, or the other way around, you can describe in detail, everything that attracts you towards that one particular direction. Either way, all the reader wants to see is the passion by which you narrate the details of your state of mind while taking a decision at these crossroads.

5) The Way Ahead

If you have been thorough at the previous four milestones, you are already at the end of your SOP!

• You can either leave him at the crossroads, or go one step further and choose a path, proudly telling the reader that the story isn't over yet! And that more fun awaits on the path that you have chosen.

• A path that directs the way you want to grow in life. A path that'll travel through the university of your choice - what all you imagine seeing on that path, all the fun you'll have along the way and all the learnings you can assimilate as you walk through it.

If you're able to express these five turning points of your journey to the reader, you have the ever so perfect SOP that the reader will be pleased to read and absorb. Your SOP will not be an end product of a generic process, but will be a true reflection of yourself and your purpose. It will sketch your image as a human being in front of the reader, who is proud of their small, yet so far significant accomplishments.

After that, it will be up to the reader to decide whether or not they like your story, but as a writer, you'll be proud to have written a damn good one!

What I aimed through this article is to set your mind running, set you on a treasure hunt of memories, of moments that drive you to make the hard choices, all those tiny dandelion bristles, that make you, into YOU! Dust off all the old boxes, grab your pen and paper, it's time to write.

So tell me now... What's your story, Dandelion?