What is the difference between a personal statement and a statement of purpose?

A personal statement tells your story and why you are drawn to a subject; a statement of purpose focuses on your academic and professional goals and how a specific programme will help you reach them. Institutions use the terms differently, so always read their exact prompt.

Typical differences:

• Personal statement: more about you, your experiences and motivation; common for undergraduate applications.
• Statement of purpose (SOP): more about research interests, career plans and fit with the programme; common for master's and doctoral applications, especially in North America.

Both should be honest, specific and well organised. If the instructions give questions to answer, answer those questions directly, whatever the document is called.

A quick example of the difference in focus:

• Personal statement line: "Helping my father keep the accounts for his shop first made me curious about how businesses make decisions."
• SOP line: "I want to research pricing decisions in small retail firms, and Dr Mensah's work on informal markets fits this goal closely."

If a programme asks for both documents, avoid repeating the same content; let each one do its own job.