CS PhD Statement of Purpose (SoP) LaTeX Template

A simple LaTeX template with an example Statement of Purpose (SoP) for CS PhD and graduate school applicants.

I made this repository public in the spirit of paying it forward. When I was applying to PhD programs, seeing concrete examples helped me understand what a strong SoP could look like. I hope this helps future applicants do the same.

Best of luck, you got this! :)

What's Included

• SoP.tex: Editable LaTeX source for the statement of purpose.
• SoP.pdf: Compiled example PDF.
• LICENSE.md: CC0 license, so you can freely reuse and adapt the template.

Preview

You can view the compiled example here:

Open SoP.pdf

Who This Is For

This template is useful for students applying to:

• Computer Science PhD programs
• Systems, ML, AI, and other research-focused graduate programs
• Research-based MS or PhD programs
• Graduate school programs that require a Statement of Purpose

The template is intentionally simple. The goal is to give you a clean starting point, not to constrain your writing.

How to Use

Clone the repository:

git clone https://github.com/Swapnil-Gandhi/SoP-Template.git
cd SoP-Template

Edit SoP.tex, then compile:

pdflatex SoP.tex

This should produce SoP.pdf.

Using Overleaf

You can also use this template in Overleaf:

1. Download this repository as a ZIP file.
2. Open Overleaf.
3. Create a new project from the ZIP file.
4. Edit SoP.tex.
5. Compile the project.

Notes for Applicants

A strong Statement of Purpose is not just a list of accomplishments. It should explain what research problems excite you, what experiences prepared you to work on those problems, why graduate school is the right next step, and why the specific program is a good fit.

Please use this as a structural reference, not as text to copy. Your statement should sound like you.

Other Resources

1. What’s a Good Statement of Purpose?

2. How to Write a Bad Statement for a Computer Science Ph.D. Admissions Application

3. cs-sop.org is a platform that makes SoPs from past CS applicants accessible to all.

4. Get LaTeX for Mac, Linux, or Windows

Contributing

If you have suggestions that would make this template easier for applicants to use, feel free to open an issue or pull request.

License

This repository is released under the CC0 license. You are free to reuse, modify, and share the template.