本文由芝士圈首席文书官Andrew Daum（牛津大学PPE）撰写。

This is an admissions buzzword. But it’s become so widely used because it’s true.

Even IF it doesn’t really matter to you who the professors are and what they’re interested in right now… I can guarantee you it WILL matter if you get an offer. Spending time online researching professors, looking up and scanning through a few key articles, and skimming through the courses they teach really WILL you a better idea of whether their interests and methodologies ACTUALLY fit yours.

You can then tailor your argument, in a paragraph following those in which you’ve explained your interests. In this paragraph, your goal would be to show how multiple faculty members COULD support your research interests.If the department has a pet methodology, it’s helpful to know that. They’ll be looking out for students who match up to it.

If faculty members are involved in interdisciplinary programs that engage distinct or emerging subfields or methodologies with specific colloquia, this is a signal for you.

If this makes them a good match for own interests, it’s a no-brainer: You should highlight those aspects of your own work and goals. (If you’re applying to a research-orientated program; if it’s practice-orientated think, focus more on practical experience and opportunities the program offers instead, but the principle is the same).

In addition to choosing the right schools and discussing the right aspects of your interests, discovering fit is also about understanding attitudes and cultures in your target department.

Things like collaboration, innovation, appetite for trailblazers, doing quantitative/qualitative/theoretical or practical work are all tempered or encouraged to varying degrees by different departmental approaches.

Therefore talk about things in ways that will make sense to that department. Mention anything unique that the program offers, whether its resources, research groups, opportunities for exchange, PROVIDED you link it yourself and make it relevant to YOUR case (don’t repeat the website!).

When you discuss your academic past, it helps to try to think of each thing you’ve done as an influence on your current path.

Think about how events have shaped your plans for grad school. Think about where—in turn—you’re intending time spent at Grad School will take you next. Everything you do takes place on a continuum. It’s best to think and express yourself that way.

You don’t get into Grad School and suddenly: mission accomplished. There are certainly hurdles in life, but don’t build them up so high you can’t see what comes next.

Statement of Purpose really needs to show you get this. That you envisage and intend a bigger project for yourself, requiring skills and knowledge beyond what you’ve acquired so far.

Define your bigger project—your PURPOSE—and then cut out everything that doesn’t cohere smoothly with your pursuit of that project. At the end of the statement you want to be able to say: Here I am! That stuff in paragraph 2 where I talked about that lab work and 3 where I talked about those things I did on my thesis and 4 where I talked about what I did with that funding I got – that all feeds into this bigger project I want to accomplish now – that your program is just perfect to help me pursue (and all you guys on the program? here’s why you’re going to love it!)

State your direction. Show why it’s a continuation of your development. Show them you are capable of functioning independently at this level. But also that they can offer you something in terms of guiding you (and you’re open to and respectful of that).