How much to focus on undergraduate experience if you have Masters degree?

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salvation
Posts: 7
Joined: Sat Sep 10, 2016 12:05 am

How much to focus on undergraduate experience if you have Masters degree?

Post by salvation » Wed Sep 14, 2016 12:12 am

I am applying for PhD positions in the US, and need to write statement of purpose. I am currently in a Masters program, and I believe that I have a lot of interesting and major research experiences (which even lead to publications) during my Masters program which I want to talk about in my statement. However, I was wondering how much I should talk about my undergraduate experiences. I do have some interesting research experiences, but they did not lead to any publications. Given the fact that I only have a page or two for the essay, any suggestions on how to fit my experiences from Masters and undergraduate program?

TakeruK
Posts: 941
Joined: Mon Jan 02, 2012 3:05 pm

Re: How much to focus on undergraduate experience if you have Masters degree?

Post by TakeruK » Wed Sep 14, 2016 11:13 am

I would say to spend most of your time discussing the strongest/most successful points of your experience. In your case, it sounds like you probably want to spend more time on your Masters work. It's still useful to discuss your undergrad research work too. Perhaps one way you can approach it is to start with the most compelling stuff (Masters work in your case) and then mention what you did in undergrad later. When you are writing about the undergrad work, instead of providing every detail, just focus on the aspects that were unique from the Masters work. (e.g. if you developed a specific skill in undergrad that you didn't use in your Masters work).



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