Statement of Purpose

[pointedears]

Or Artist's statement. Do you think the way we have to write these are different from how the 'others' do it? Can we afford to be a little more casual, more personal in our statements(because an artist's personality is reflected a lot in his work). Thoughts? Did you follow the normal grad school application path? Or did you make it more 'you'.

[graphikchik]

I really don't know the answer to this, since I can't crawl inside the heads of the review committees. However, my thoughts are that you need to bring your personal experiences and views into the statement. It's the one way you can share your ideas and show that you are a thinking about things in your work. I personally have a lot of different kinds of experiences as I've been out of undergrad for 9 years. I've worked different kinds of jobs not directly related to graphic design. Therefore, I used my SOPs to speak a bit to these experiences as well as my personal views on the artwork I create. I also tried to tailor each one a bit to reflect some of the things that attracted me to the different programs I was applying to. In as much as speaking directly about some of the faculty's work that I really related to. I think I did a better job with some schools as compared to others. I did look at some of the sample SOPs found on websites, but I didn't think they really were all that helpful for MFA programs, so I tried to just speak more to talking about my artwork, my experiences, and my goals for graduate school and beyond.

[pointedears]

That's where I am a bit confused. I didn't include anything about which professors' work I could identify with. I did however say whom I admired and why. Mainly because I really think that when it comes to art(specially studio art), a faculty should be able to bring out the best in a student. It shouldn't matter if we have the same goals in life, or if we have a particular style going on, or even a common purpose, they should be able to see the strong points in me and help me develop that irrespective of what they are like. I wonder if it's the correct line of thought, specially when you're applying to grad schools.

The only thing that mattered when I selected schools was, if the school's philosophy is the same as mine or not.

[graphikchik]

I didn't include anything about which professors' work I could identify with. I did however say whom I admired and why.

I only really did that where I truly saw a connection, not every school I applied to had such a strong connection to my work. However, like you I did try to explain why I thought I would make a good fit with their program, to show that I had done my "homework" so to speak.

[amadeus122]

i, too, found it immensely difficult trying to cram a lifetime's worth of work in the field of "music" into two pages. i think for composition concentrators like myself, the true statement of my purpose can be found in my portfolio. trying to align my style with a member of the faculty's at X university seems to me counterintuitive: i want to work with composers with vastly different approaches to music, media, the written note, etc. and a develop a voice of my own. does a faculty really want to generate a crop of clones of itself at the end of the day?

anyone strongly agree or disagree?

[Colin]

as for name-dropping faculty, can you say it in a way that is uniquely sincere?

consider how may other applicants write something not unique, akin to: "Faculty Art Star is such a huge inspiration to me" ?

[Emma2003]

I tried to approach this only when it seemed really relevant to me. I more focused on the focus of the department as a fit to me, versus the individuals. I don't know about all ya all, but I have found that all too often, it is people whose work is very different than mine who offer insight and help me progress.

[brosenth1984]

i think (although this is late for many) that name-dropping faculty is generally a bad idea. So yeah, you like Kevin Appel, but how does Yvonne Rainier feel about the fact that she is left out. You never know the personalities and "political climate" of the departments, and you could very easily be playing into (and with adverse effects) their own problems.

i think statements of purpose should be personal of course, but their needs to be a formality in the presentation of oneself (and an academic one of that). We recently read through a PHD application where I work, and the entire staff was laughing (in a bad way) about the colloquialisms and the "luscious sensuality" of this candidate. because of this, the Harvard degree won't get her in...