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NDSEG SOP

Posted: Sat Nov 26, 2011 1:15 pm
by dasgut
How much would you guys include about specific research interests in the NDSEG SOP? I'm not sure how much to put. I also am not entirely certain what questions I want to work on. I just know which areas I like. How would you guys approach this?

From NDSEG:

• As part of this statement, we are interested in your ideas about: ◦ the kinds of research in which you would like to be engaged during your graduate study or in the longer term; or
• Please discuss these research interests in sufficient detail for an expert who is technically competent in your field to judge your understanding of the questions to be addressed. This includes relevant hypotheses and approaches one might take to answering the questions, and other research principles required to investigate the research area you identify.
• We are interested in not only the science, but also your longer-term goals and how the science fits into your life as an individual. We do not want this to look like a grant submission
Your response will be limited to 3,000 characters, including spaces.

Re: NDSEG SOP

Posted: Sat Nov 26, 2011 5:37 pm
by owlpride
I assume that you also applied for an NSF fellowship? What did you write for their research statement?

I don't know about the NDSEG, but the NSF certainly does not expect its fellows to carry out the actual research that they are proposing in their application. Do you know enough about any area of mathematics to coherently discuss open problems and potential approaches there? I'd just write about that.

Re: NDSEG SOP

Posted: Sun Nov 27, 2011 10:39 am
by dasgut
I actually didn't apply for the NSF. Their research statements seem even more intense than NDSEG. I know what areas I want to focus on, but I'm not up on the literature and I don't know what the open questions are. Hence, my problem :/

Re: NDSEG SOP

Posted: Mon Nov 28, 2011 12:06 am
by owlpride
Maybe your professors have a suggestion for you?

It seems that the NDSEG is much more competitive than the NSF; with only a handful of awards per field, I would not be surprised if the competitive applicants were actually in a position to write a good research statement without too much effort.

When I applied for the NSF, I BSed my research statement two days before it was due by expanding on a few questions that had been raised in a seminar earlier that week. Turned out that none of these questions were particularly interesting, but they seemed convincing enough to the mathematicians evaluating my application.