Two minutes, no form
Is your statement of purpose good enough? Check it the way a committee would.
Twelve questions, each one something a reader weighs before they finish your first page. Answer them about your draft and you get a verdict, the three things to fix first, and the page that shows how. One of the four verdicts is that your draft is fine and you should keep your money. That outcome is real, and it is why the other three are worth believing.
Reviewed
1 of 12 · Specificity
If you replaced the university's name with another one, how much of your statement would still make sense unchanged?
2 of 12 · Specificity
Your most substantial piece of work (final-year project, thesis, a job deliverable): does the statement say what the problem was, what you did, and what happened?
3 of 12 · Shape and length
How does the statement open?
Openings are where templates show first: readers have seen the childhood-fascination opening thousands of times.
4 of 12 · The argument
Could a reader finish the statement and say, in one sentence, why this course and not the obvious alternative?
5 of 12 · The argument
What does the statement say happens after the degree?
6 of 12 · Your record, explained
Is there a gap, a low semester, a backlog or a change of direction visible on your transcript or CV?
7 of 12 · Your record, explained
Pick any claim in the statement. Could you talk about it for two minutes if an interviewer asked?
Visa officers and admissions interviewers test exactly this. A sentence you cannot expand on is a liability, not an asset.
8 of 12 · Consistency across the file
If you have a visa statement, study plan or letter of explanation, does it describe the same plan, in the same numbers, as the admissions statement?
9 of 12 · Consistency across the file
Is the document the kind this country asks for?
The UK and Ireland ask for a personal statement about readiness for the subject. The US and Canada ask for a statement of purpose that names faculty and direction. They are not the same document.
10 of 12 · Shape and length
How does the length compare with the programme's limit?
11 of 12 · Specificity
Count the adjectives about yourself: passionate, dedicated, hardworking, motivated. How many are there?
12 of 12 · Fit with the programme
Where did the paragraph about the programme come from?
Nothing you enter leaves this page. There is no form behind it and no record of your answers.
About this check
Is this SOP checker free?
Yes, and it asks for nothing: no email, no upload, no account. The questions are answered on the page and the result is computed in your browser. Nothing is stored and nothing is sent to us.
What does the checker actually test?
Six things a reader weighs in every statement: how specific it is, how well it fits the programme, whether it makes an argument, whether your record is explained, whether it is consistent with the rest of the file, and whether its shape and length are right. Each question maps to one of those.
Will it tell me to buy your service?
Only one of the four verdicts points to a written-from-scratch service, and one of them tells you plainly that your draft is fine and you should keep your money. The others send you to the fix you can make yourself, with the page that explains how.
How accurate is a self-check?
As accurate as your honesty about your own draft. It cannot read the document; it asks you the questions a reader would and trusts your answers. If you are unsure about one, answer with the weaker option: the result is more useful when it is harder on you.
Does it work for a UK personal statement too?
Yes. One question checks specifically whether you are writing the format the country asks for, because a UK or Irish personal statement and a North American statement of purpose are different documents, and sending one where the other was wanted is the commonest avoidable error we see.