In the application form of the school I'm applying, there is a short definition of SOP:
Your statement of purpose should explain why you want to study your proposed course and how it will help your life and career.
The message is direct: why I want to study here and how it will help my life. It doesn't ask for my past research, it doesn't ask for my community service, it doesn't ask what I'm working on. My research proposal is asked in another field.
This contradicts to what I know on SOP. My prepared one is strictly followed to this question: Choosing research ideas to include in a statement of purpose.
My questions are:
- Does this mean that the school actually doesn't care about my past research, and talking about it just waste my space?
- Unfortunately I just noticed the difference after I submitted my application. If the answer for the question above is yes, then how bad my SOP is?