Statement of Purpose questions
Hello, everyone! I've been following this community for the past year, and it has been so much help to me as I weighed the pros and cons of going back to school!
A quick background:
I am applying for my M.A. in Urban Affairs and Public Policy with a concentration in Historic Preservation for this upcoming fall semester. I graduated cum laude with a B.A. in Art History in 2009 with a major GPA of 3.88 and an overall GPA of 3.708. While I feel mentally ready for graduate school, most of my hesitation in applying involves my financial situation. Happily, I currently work in the IT Department for my prospective school, and my superiors recently offered me a full work assistantship and stipend should I decide to continue my studies at this university. (Also happily: I really love the program here and it fits quite well with my career goals/research interests.)
While I intended to apply for spring admission, I have been in contact with a few people in the department for the past several weeks; they all have VERY strongly urged me to apply for the Fall 2010 semester. (Their final deadline is the July 1st--yes, I know!) I've talked to two professors within my concentration on the matter--when I said I was worried that I would be unable to finish a worthy statement of purpose and study enough for good GRE scores by the July deadline, they assured me not to worry too much after having talked to me about my goals and seen my transcript. Subsequently, I've busted my butt to finish everything else needed for my application over the past two weeks--all that remains is that blasted Statement of Purpose. (And the GREs, which is a whole different story, but I'm taking those in a week.)
That said, here are the essay questions I need to answer. They will all be submitted as one document:
What are your vocational objectives and how will your proposed plan of graduate study relate to them? The response to this essay can be titled "Personal Statement."
Within your field of interest, are there areas of special interest to you? Please explain
Are there special circumstances related to your academic record that you feel we should know about? Have you ever been convicted of a crime? If the answer is yes, explain the circumstances, give the dates of the offense(s) and discuss what you learned from the circumstance.
To me, the first two questions seem like guidelines for writing one fully realized statement of purpose. They recommend 1-2 double-spaced pages for both questions, but I am starting to wonder if I should just combine the two. As I have been writing out my rough drafts, I've had a hard time not intermingling my answers with one another.
Do you think this would be a misguided idea?
Thank you so much for your help!
A quick background:
I am applying for my M.A. in Urban Affairs and Public Policy with a concentration in Historic Preservation for this upcoming fall semester. I graduated cum laude with a B.A. in Art History in 2009 with a major GPA of 3.88 and an overall GPA of 3.708. While I feel mentally ready for graduate school, most of my hesitation in applying involves my financial situation. Happily, I currently work in the IT Department for my prospective school, and my superiors recently offered me a full work assistantship and stipend should I decide to continue my studies at this university. (Also happily: I really love the program here and it fits quite well with my career goals/research interests.)
While I intended to apply for spring admission, I have been in contact with a few people in the department for the past several weeks; they all have VERY strongly urged me to apply for the Fall 2010 semester. (Their final deadline is the July 1st--yes, I know!) I've talked to two professors within my concentration on the matter--when I said I was worried that I would be unable to finish a worthy statement of purpose and study enough for good GRE scores by the July deadline, they assured me not to worry too much after having talked to me about my goals and seen my transcript. Subsequently, I've busted my butt to finish everything else needed for my application over the past two weeks--all that remains is that blasted Statement of Purpose. (And the GREs, which is a whole different story, but I'm taking those in a week.)
That said, here are the essay questions I need to answer. They will all be submitted as one document:
What are your vocational objectives and how will your proposed plan of graduate study relate to them? The response to this essay can be titled "Personal Statement."
Within your field of interest, are there areas of special interest to you? Please explain
Are there special circumstances related to your academic record that you feel we should know about? Have you ever been convicted of a crime? If the answer is yes, explain the circumstances, give the dates of the offense(s) and discuss what you learned from the circumstance.
To me, the first two questions seem like guidelines for writing one fully realized statement of purpose. They recommend 1-2 double-spaced pages for both questions, but I am starting to wonder if I should just combine the two. As I have been writing out my rough drafts, I've had a hard time not intermingling my answers with one another.
Do you think this would be a misguided idea?
Thank you so much for your help!