phd - Is it a good idea for a nonnative English speaker to have native speakers help make the English in statement of purpose perfect?

I am applying to doctoral programs in the US.

Since I am not an English native speaker, I am wondering if it is okay to have native speakers help make my English perfect in my statement of purpose?

I ask so because I am concerned with that, since the committee definitely knows that I am not a native speaker in English, my perfect English in statement of purpose could lead them to suspect. By "suspect" I mean the argument: If this person's writing is this good, then this person's TOEFL scores must be almost perfect.

Answer

It's definitely a good idea (in fact anyone in your situation should do so), I have seen plenty of people around me in my graduate school who had done so. There even exist professional services specialized for this task (it's a pretty big business in some countries).

Regarding your concern that the jury might think that you have been "cheating", forget about it:

• by providing a flawless statement of purpose despite being non-native, you are showing the jury a lot of motivation;


• if the statement of purpose was used to assess your true level of English, they wouldn't ask for TOEFL/IELTS;


• when writing research articles later on, you will still often have a native speaker around to answer questions.