Two short versus one longer writing sample?

[operationchampagne]

Hi everyone,

 

I've been feeling conflicted about this for a while (and haven't been able to come up with a satisfactory answer for myself), so I figured I would ask the internet. I'm applying to interdisciplinary/visual culture/film studies programs this season. (Think Stanford MTL, Berkeley Rhetoric, Brown MCM) I'm interested in the aesthetics of decolonization vis-à-vis film and other visual and textual mediums. 

 

I was trained as an art historian at a small liberal arts college, and my most substantive piece of research was on the problem of memorializing the Algerian War in France. I'm proud of this work, but I don't think it showcases the kind of analytical (especially theoretical and literary) thinking that I want to do in graduate school. 

 

On the other hand, I have two shorter writing samples, both on films -- the first one is about Marilyn Monroe as sublime abjection in Billy Wilder's Some Like It Hot and the other is about the aesthetic of exception (as articulated by Agamben) in The Battle of Algiers. 

 

In short, my problem is choosing between a) a writing sample that perhaps better exhibits my independent research skills and b ) two writing samples that showcase less of my research and more of my ability to think theoretically and are more aligned with my current research interests. 

 

All three professors for whom these pieces were authored will be writing on my behalf. So far, I've gone the route of sending my longer piece to NYU and two shorter pieces to Brown and Stanford. The Rhetoric application is coming up this Friday, and it's my top choice -- there's a professor there who does work at the intersection of postcolonial studies, gender, and film that I would be ecstatic to work with.

 

My biggest concern is that sending shorter pieces will look strange when I've done several independent research projects in my undergrad career -- might they wonder why I'm not sending those? Should I include a note that explicitly explains my reasons for sending two shorter critical pieces rather than my research? I'm torn! Any advice? 

Edited December 4, 2013 by operationchampagne