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[micaela]

It's been 15 years since I graduated with a masters degree and want to pursue a PhD.  I'm having difficulty distilling my statement of purpose.  The university I'm applying to wants applicants with research experience.  I've worked in the same place (small public health clinic) for the last 13 years providing direct clinical services and worked on a 3-year research project 10 years ago.

Given that the university wants someone with research experience, I want to highlight the research project I did a long time ago.  The problem I'm having is that a large portion of my essay is on a project I did at the clinic 10 years ago.  The research ended, other (non-research) programs came and went...it's been like that for my entire career.  I feel that I don't know what to highlight because of the numerous programs I've done.  Any suggestons?   

[infopri]

Hi, micaela, and welcome to the fora.

Can you summarize these projects?  Did they have any commonalities, especially where your involvement was concerned?  That is, can you say something along the lines of:

Over the past decade, I've been the coordinator for eight public-health outreach projects.  For all of these projects, I did X, Y, and Z.  One project in particular stands out because it was a research project, exploring <whatever>.  My role was to <what you did>.

You'd have to flesh it out, of course, but would this general approach work for you?

[micaela]

Thanks for the welcome infopri.

Yes, actually, I think that approach would work!  I just experienced an "A-HA" moment as I read it!  I guess I'm feeling pretty stressed out and your input was just what I needed...it's that simple. 

Thank you, gracias!

[infopri]

Glad to be of help!  Good luck on your applications and on your doctoral career!  And keep posting to the fora; we love to hear new voices.