Most program paragraphs sound like this: the faculty are world-class, the curriculum is comprehensive, the program has an excellent reputation. Every sentence is a compliment, and none of them tells the reader anything. They already know their program is good. What they want to know is why it is right for you.
What the reader is asking
Behind “Why this program?” are three practical questions. Do you understand what this program actually offers? Do you need it, rather than any program in the field? And will you make use of it, and add something to it? A good program paragraph answers all three in a few specific sentences.
A method that works
- Name your gap. Say plainly what you cannot yet do. Maya can trace a data failure in a logistics system, but she does not yet know how clinical records are structured and exchanged, or how to test a workflow change before it reaches a patient.
- Research the program. Read its course list, its labs and centers, the work of faculty in your area, its practicum or clinical placements, and recent student projects.
- Connect two or three things to the gap. For each, say which part of the gap it fills. A course on clinical data standards answers one need; a practicum with a health system answers another.
- Say what you bring. One sentence on what your experience adds to the classes or research you just named.
Before and after
Your excellent program will give me the knowledge I need to succeed in the growing field of health informatics. The curriculum covers many important topics, and the faculty are leaders in their areas.
What I lack is the clinical side of the record: how patient data is structured and exchanged, and how a workflow change is tested before it reaches a patient. That is what I need this program to teach me.
The second version names no professors and praises nothing, and it is already stronger, because it tells the reader exactly what the program is for. Add the program’s own specifics to it, tied to that gap, and it becomes a plan.
Mistakes to avoid
- A list of names. Professors named without a reason read as flattery, and a name you cannot discuss in an interview is a risk.
- Out-of-date details. Courses get renamed and faculty move. Check that everything you name is current.
- The same paragraph for every school. Replace the program’s name with a competitor’s. If the paragraph still reads fine, it is not about this program.
- Invented specifics. If you cannot find enough detail, say what you need and why this kind of program provides it, and keep researching. Never guess.
For where the program paragraph sits in the whole statement, see chapter 4 of the personal statement guide.