Statement of Purpose

[teenxenakisfan]

I'm curious about how people are contending with their statement of purpose, particularly for composition. Are you focusing primarily on what you plan to do with your education? Talking in-depth about specific works? 

 

because my junk and background are relatively complex (rigorous classical training but art school BFA, work is electro-acoustic + interdisciplinary), this is kind of my agenda:

 

exposition/introduction to work/process/style >> background/arrival at style >> explanation of process via analysis of specific work >> why style/process/background/interests make me a suitable candidate for [specific institution] + what I plan to do at [specific institution]. 

 

One thing I'm wondering: is it a mistake to talk in-depth about a specific work for roughly a paragraph? I do this to illustrate how I make my work/my work's trajectory, which I feel is warranted because my work is process/research-based and usually begins as text and is gradually transformed into music. I don't know if it's a waste of wordage that could be better spent in the annotated list of compositions or something, but at the same time I feel like giving a tangible example is very helpful in explaining how/why I do what I do. 

 

I took a broader, less cohesive approach last year and was accepted to all the music programs I applied to, so I don't know if it's a mistake to fix what ain't broke and whatnot. Just curious to see what other people are doing. If anyone is interested in actually sharing their SOP I'd be happy to trade. 

 

Good luck to everyone!

[Haroun]

I heard some schools allow you to include a note for each composition when you submit your portfolio. That might be a better place to explain your work in-depth maybe?? (rather than in your SOP)

Or if it has something to do with the school fit, that may be more significant. But I don't think you want to make a paragraph in your SOP sound like an analysis.

 

But I'm not a composition student, so that's just my opinion...!

[teenxenakisfan]

I heard some schools allow you to include a note for each composition when you submit your portfolio. That might be a better place to explain your work in-depth maybe?? (rather than in your SOP)

Or if it has something to do with the school fit, that may be more significant. But I don't think you want to make a paragraph in your SOP sound like an analysis.

 

But I'm not a composition student, so that's just my opinion...!

 

 

that's a great point, and removing the 'analysis' freed up about 200 words to talk about other things. Thank you!