How specific do I have to be in my MA applications

[Llosaesfloja]

Hello, I am applying to MA programs this fall, and I am just wondering how specific my SOP has to be in order to get into good programs. I know what I want to study (20th cent American), but I am not sure exactly what I want my thesis to be/what lens I want to study it through. Is this an issue? I keep seeing that PhD applicants have to be very specific on what their future studies will look like, and I am worried I just can't come up with anything like that on my SOP, and I wouldn't want to just make stuff up. This is a big reason I am applying to MA programs in the first place and not going straight to a PhD--I was hoping the MA process could make me a more specialized student/scholar.

Also, and this is along the same lines, is it an issue that my WS doesn't match up that well with my intended area of study? My WS will most likely be my thesis essay from my senior capstone class, which dealt with Aestheticism and Decadence in Wilde's Dorian Gray which, of course, isn't in the same field as what I want to study. I have seen that this could be a big issue for PhD applicants, but does the same go for MA applicants? Or are they more lenient here? 

Thanks! 

[Cryss]

On 9/18/2019 at 12:19 PM, Llosaesfloja said:

Hello, I am applying to MA programs this fall, and I am just wondering how specific my SOP has to be in order to get into good programs. I know what I want to study (20th cent American), but I am not sure exactly what I want my thesis to be/what lens I want to study it through. Is this an issue? I keep seeing that PhD applicants have to be very specific on what their future studies will look like, and I am worried I just can't come up with anything like that on my SOP, and I wouldn't want to just make stuff up. This is a big reason I am applying to MA programs in the first place and not going straight to a PhD--I was hoping the MA process could make me a more specialized student/scholar.

Also, and this is along the same lines, is it an issue that my WS doesn't match up that well with my intended area of study? My WS will most likely be my thesis essay from my senior capstone class, which dealt with Aestheticism and Decadence in Wilde's Dorian Gray which, of course, isn't in the same field as what I want to study. I have seen that this could be a big issue for PhD applicants, but does the same go for MA applicants? Or are they more lenient here? 

Thanks! 

You can indeed just keep your interests broad. 20th century American is probably enough specificity for now. I'd imagine some programs would be more stringent than others with regards to this, but it shouldn't be a big deal if you don't know exactly what you want your future thesis to be. When I applied to MA, my writing sample did match my interests, but I got the impression that the WS was more to gauge my critical writing skills than to actually perceive what research I was heading towards. This might vary from program to program, so take this with a grain of salt, especially if you plan to apply to more competitive programs.

Another option is to explain that you are interested in what you've written about, but really want to take your research further by exploring it through the lens of [insert theoretical lens here] because [insert reason here]. Keep in mind that you don't at all need to adhere to this when you are in the program, nor are you expected to. You will need to write which faculty members you want to work with, so if you can find some commonality between the lens and the interests of the possible faculty advisers, that would be good.

 

Edited September 19, 2019 by Cryss

[karamazov]

I have a similar question. I'm applying for both MA and phD programs, and my SoP is mainly geared toward the latter. I propose a specific project as well as some related directions my research interests might take me. Will this be too specific for an MA application? Should I write a more general SoP for the MA programs, or will they just be glad to see that I have a decent idea of my interests and an awareness of the field, despite the fact that an MA is less directed by personal research interests than by coursework requirements? Is the SoP, as @Cryss mentions above about the WS, simply a way for MA programs to gauge writing skill? If so, would my more specific statement work just as well as a more general one? I'd love to not have to write a separate SoP for the handful of MA programs to which I'm applying as backups, but I will if the phD-geared SoP will hurt my chances at an MA.