Statement of Purpose Without Research Experience?

[lanew]

Hey All,

I'm graduating next year with a BS in Mechanical Engineering and have begun applying to graduate programs in the same field. My problem is the Statement of Purpose (SoP). On top of everything else, you are supposed to include prior research experience. This is supposed to demonstrate that you are capable of pursuing graduate level work.

Unfortunately I haven't done much research. I worked for a professor over the summer but it was more of a technical position than research; I was helping his graduate students prepare test samples, set up machines, etc.

Do you have any recommendations on how I should go about writing my SoP?

Thanks!

 

[tyler_T]

You will certainly want to talk about WHY you would be a good researcher.

If you can't answer that question, you might have a pretty difficult time writing a SoP unless you are pursuing a professional/non-thesis degree.

 

[PhDorBust]

I wouldn't worry, SoPs are only like 1-2 pages, not much space to put research exp. in anyway. Out of my 5 experiences, I'm only to mention the two that are directly relevant to my proposed subfield, and will only devote probably a sentence to each.

Just tell them what you want to do and why. If you're unsure, pick something you have experience with, no one is going to force you to do the work afterwards if you don't like it.