Canada is one of the major student destinations to study abroad across the globe. After the United States, the United Kingdom, and China, the Institute of International Education found Canada to be the fourth most popular country for international student enrollment as of 2019 with over 642,000 international students. Yet many students lose an opportunity to go and study there as they fail to secure a student visa for not addressing important information asked by the admission officers.
In this article, you will get to read the crucial steps of writing an SOP for a Canada study visa so you do not have to miss an opportunity to study at your favorite university.
What is an SOP?
Before we learn to write an SOP, first we need to know what is an SOP exactly. SOP or Statement of Purpose is basically an essay written by a student explaining their qualification, intention, and purpose of choosing a particular course, in a particular university in a particular country. The SOP is a clear insight into that student’s life, interests, achievements, and life goals. It’s basically a process where the admission panel gets to know you through your words.
What is a study visa?
A student visa is a special endorsement that is appended to a government passport that is provided to students who are enrolled in approved educational institutions. These are non-immigrant visas hence the obtainers are not required to hold citizenship of that country.
Importance of an SOP
An SOP decides whether you are going to join your dream college or not. What else can be more important than that? It helps the concerned panels to know about your sincerity and genuineness. A nicely written SOP put you above hundreds of students of your same caliber. The Shastri Indo-Canadian Institute even facilitates Indian students’ scholarships based on their SOP and qualification.
How to write an SOP for a Canada study visa?
In the SOP for Canada study visa, students have to write and explain their reason for choosing Canada as a study destination, and a particular program or course in a particular university. They also have to mention their academic outline, plans after completion of studies, achievements, and work experience if any.
Structure for an SOP for Canada study visa
A good SOP would be the one where all the characteristics of a candidate would reflect. Canadian visa officers go through hundreds of SOPs daily and in order to stand out in their eyes, your SOP really needs to be crisp and thoroughly formatted. You may follow the steps given below to write your SOP.
- First Paragraph – A good opening statement here can make your SOP distinguishable which could give you huge boots. You may put some famous quotes or even broadened themes of your course or your plan for the future. Just remember nothing should be irrelevant to your course, plan, and motive. Then you proceed with your reasons for choosing Canada as your study destination but no other country. Discuss all aspects from the quality of education, employment scenario, job opportunities for students, its acceptance of diversity, and every other small detail that grab the attention of the admission panel and how it’s going to align with your goals. They should be convinced in the first paragraph itself that you are well-researched about the country.
- Second Paragraph – Then come to the part you need to tell in a nutshell how this particular course will help you in building what you are looking for yourself as a career. Be very honest in your approach and try to avoid very complicated language. Remember your goal is to show your personality, not your literary skills. Write about your course objectives and your plans to gain from them. Also, give them an insight into your core interest in the chosen field and its technical aspects. For example, why have you chosen ‘Agricultural Science’ as a niche instead of ‘ Bioscience’?
You also need to explain your reasons for choosing a particular university among all other top universities in Canada. If you ask, I’d suggest, using all the research experience you have while looking for universities in Canada. You may also add-up things like how you have seen alumni of this college exceeding in life, how well they talk about this college/university in their alumnus pages as if they were at home away from home etc., and at the end that’s how you knew that this was the place you are going to give the most important few years of your life. Never forget to mention their research-based education approach and even fee structure if you want.
- Third Paragraph – You need to write about your academic background in a very crisp manner here. Make a list of your academic scores from high school to your last degree. Also, mention your achievements throughout your academic years in a separate section. It needs to be explanatory. Extracurricular activities can be added bonus. Address if there is any education gap honestly as far as possible. Also, address why have you decided not to continue your education in your country. Then come to your work experience, if any. Do not leave any gap here either. Mention your source of funding for your study and your stay in Canada.
- Fourth Paragraph – You need to explain your plan after completing your study. After taking a decision as big as studying in a foreign country, the panel must see how much clarity you have regarding your future plans. Here your plans either be short-term such as your project thesis and how you are planning to complete it with the resource available to you and long-term plans of you becoming some professional in your respective field. What kind of growth do you see in the chosen path of career and why and how. Eventually, you also need to mention clearly that after the course completion you will go back to your country.
- Last Paragraph – All your efforts could go in vain if you do not end this on a better note. The last paragraph needs to be very positive in approach and hopeful with sensible thoughts. Do not forget to express your gratitude towards the university authorities who had given you a chance to study in the first place. I mean that’s where all it started right?
Tips for a good SOP
The first and foremost key to a good SOP is to revise. No expert hands or minds are free of errors and here one error could cost you the loss of an academic year. Hence, make a draft of your SOP first. Read it again and again. Correct it with each revision wherever you feel it’s required. Also, try to make it crisp and a little engaging. Some humor in between will not cost anything. Avoid flowery words and complicated sentences. Write it in a formal and confident yet very approachable way. Do not repeat what you have already explained in your CV or resume. Also never copy and paste from others. Plagiarism will not do any good.
The ideal length for an SOP
Try to finish your SOP in 1,000 words. It should not be a tedious job while preparing as well as reading it. In some cases, you may have the liberty to make it to 1,500 words too. But the art is to wrap it under minimum words.