What is a statement of purpose?

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

• I'm applying to grad school and I've researched a lot on statements of purpose and they seem to be a mixture of personal statements, reasons for applying, and research goals. The main school I'm hoping for is looking for a statement of objectives and the word count should be between 300-500. So roughly, one page. I've already filled up 4/5 of the page discussing possible research and professors to work with. With the little space I'm allotted, it seems like there's only room for my research ideas and goals post-graduation. I want to make sure myself is represented as well as my ideas if a "statement of OBJECTIVES" would call for this.

• Answer:

  I'm pretty sure the statement of objectives is just a shorter version of the statement of purpose (which is usually up to 2 pages). The statement of objectives would put emphasis on the things you want to accomplish in graduate school as opposed to going into too much detail of your past experiences. This is how I interpret it, but it'd be good to ask the school for details if you're unsure.