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SFU: Profile: goals & program fit

150 words maximum

Please provide a clear description of your educational goals and the connection between your proposed program at SFU and the attainment of those goals
What it’s really asking

This is the Personal Information Profile's fit question, used in the Diverse Qualifications pathway. SFU wants a clear, specific line from what you want to do, to the program you have chosen, to why that program gets you there. It is a logic check, not a feelings essay.

Why they ask it

At 150 words there is no room to wander, so the reader is really testing whether you understand what the program is and whether your goal is concrete enough to be believable. Vague ambition under a tight cap is the most common way this answer fails.

Three ways in
Name the program precisely

Name the exact SFU program and one course, concentration, or feature of it that matches your aim, so the fit is provable rather than asserted.

Make the goal concrete

State your goal in plain terms (a field, a problem, a kind of work) instead of an abstraction like 'making a difference'.

Anchor it in evidence

Anchor the connection in one thing you have already done that points toward this goal, then let the program be the next logical step.

✕  Weak opening

“Ever since I was young, I have been passionate about helping people and making the world a better place.”

✓  Strong opening

“I want to work in public-health data, and SFU's Health Sciences program is the only one near me that pairs epidemiology with hands-on quantitative methods.”

✦ Annotated example · Health sciences via data. Written by EssayLens to teach, not a real applicant’s essay. Tap a highlighted line →
I want to become an epidemiologist who works on respiratory illness in coastal communities, and I am applying to SFU's Bachelor of Science in Health Sciences to get there.1My interest is not abstract. After two winters volunteering at a Burnaby clinic, I noticed the same asthma patients returning whenever air quality dropped, and I wanted to know why the pattern held.That curiosity is why SFU fits. The faculty's strength in population and public health, plus the required practicum, lets me move from noticing patterns to measuring them.2Courses like Quantitative Health Methods would give me the statistics I currently lack, and a co-op placement with a regional health authority would test whether my interest survives real fieldwork.3I am not assuming the path is straight. I expect the methods to be harder than the volunteering was, and I want to find out early whether I have the patience for the data, not just the people.I do not expect SFU to hand me a career. I expect it to give me the methods, the placements, and the people to turn a clinic observation into work that helps.4
  1. 1Opens by stating the goal plainly and naming the exact program in the first sentence. SFU rewards fit stated without throat-clearing, and 150 words leaves no room for a slow build.
  2. 2Connects a specific program feature (the practicum) to the goal. This is the literal task: showing the link between the program and the goal, not just praising the school.
  3. 3Names concrete courses and co-op, and frames them as a test of the goal. That self-aware framing ('whether my interest survives') is exactly the honesty SFU prizes.
  4. 4Closes by drawing the program-to-goal link in one plain line, ending on evidence-minded language rather than a grand promise.
Stuck? Start here
  • What is the actual job, field, or problem I want to be working on, said in one sentence a stranger would understand?
  • Which specific SFU program have I chosen, and what is one concrete feature of it (a course, a concentration, a lab) that matches that aim?
  • What is one thing I have already done that points toward this goal, however small?
Before you submit
  • I name the exact SFU program and one specific feature of it, not just the university.
  • My goal is concrete enough to picture, not an abstraction like 'success' or 'helping others'.
  • I stay well under 150 words and end as soon as the connection is made.

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