yes, i recently finished my undergrad work with two bachelors degrees (journalism and political science) and am looking into enrolling into graduate school into a Masters of Science and the Public. I have done tons of background information on the program itself, which is woring with the Center for Inquiry. The program says it would be beneifitcal for journalist, and will be delivered completely online. Just wondering if I should describe more about my plans as a journalist and what I accomplished in my undergrad work or should I talk more about the questions they poise in the program description. Also wondering if I should talk about how the entire program will be delvered completely online and how I have talking several courses online and how successful I will be because of this. By the way the references I will be using will be from one of my online professors who taught both of Latin American Politics courses onilne, from which I earned a very good grade. My other two references will be one of my professors who taught me a number of courses in journalism and the other one taught me in quite a few Canadian Studies courses.
Basically, I am just looking for some guidance on how to go about beginning the personal statement. I have some done some .info on how to structure graduate essays, and am just done sure where to start or what to include and what do exclude. If you would like me to show you what I have, just let me know and I will email you what I have. Thanks
Greetings!
If you have enough room within whatever their word limit is to mention how well your undergraduate work fits their program, that would be fine. I would not, however, waste too much space on telling them what's on their website, as they already know, and would expect that you would have investigated that. The main thing you want to do is to stand out from the crowd by showing them why you are ideally suited for their program. There may be lots of students with similar grades and scores; why should they choose you over someone else? Think about where your unique talents and qualifications lie, and let them know. :-)
Thanks,
Sarah, EssayForum.com
Okay, here is what I have for my personal essay thus far. The deadline for admission into the program is Nov. 1st. As I mentioned before, I have already been in contact with three references and plan on getting some face-to-face feedback from one of my advisors, in addition to mailing a copy of my transcripts from both my undergraduate work and my time at community college, but I figured I would post a copy of what I have written so far. The only thing I ask is after you read my statement and provide me with some constructive crticism, would you please delete my personal statement as it is rather personal. Thanks.
Statement of Educational and Career Goals
Please write a detailed statement of your educational and career goals
My academic endeavors extend farther back than my senior year of high school year. As a young child in elementary school, writing was one of those things that I had a passion for and always seem to come natural to me. With my solid foundation of liberal arts and sciences courses in high school allowed me to receive a Regents Diploma where I concentrated my studies on current events, history, English, and of course writing. Even when I wasn't working on my school, I would spend my free time refining my craft for writing with short stories, poetry, and even political, sports, or music commentaries. Immediately after graduating from high school I enrolled at Adirondack Community College for an Associates Degree in Liberal Arts Humanities and Social Sciences. During my two years there I took several technology and communication based courses that whetted my appetite to become culturally edified and skilled in public discourse on a variety topics in how they impact on the discussion with the general public and those people in a position of power. As a radio host at the college radio station, I learned how to research and develop topical beats and talking points that would keep the listeners' interest for the entire two-hour period by balancing commercial and music breaks to foster a personal friendship with the audience.
There is substantial evidence that technology is a vital component for the success of the entire higher education enterprise: Technology encourages individualized learning and improves student achievement and develops critical thinkers. The rapid evolution of audio-photo-video recording capabilities through the field of journalism education will create a flood of multimedia content that gives me the ability to immediately adapt my skills to fit any situation I face. The potential me to take enroll in any lecture at anytime, at anyplace, and anywhere: The possibilities are endless and may slowly becoming a building block for modern education by creating - the virtual classroom. Education and technology always seem to be developing side by side and educators are always searching for new innovative ways of teaching. Education in colleges today is ever changing. With the emergence of new technologies, teachers and students along with distance learners are discovering different, more radical ways to approach distributing content to further understanding the nature of science and its role in public knowledge. With tons of information bombarding people in all directions, new ways to bypass the traditional face-to-face interaction that has been the cornerstone of education since people begin the free exchange of ideas become developed in combination with technology and its role in the sciences.
Today, my interest in science and its interaction with the public is continuing to mature, yet I still can't avoid my hunger to life long learning, especially one that will correlated to previous research in civic journalism. But first and foremost, I want to continue learning and educating myself on both national and international issues on a grand scale with the finest and most talented of journalists, researchers, professors, and fellow graduate students. For professional journalists, the direct result of the technological innovations is an enhanced learning world of education not limited by classroom walls or geographic area. The news media's first priority is to deliver to the general public a message that conforms to their own expectations of what is newsworthy. Time is changing and so is the way students are expected to learn.
With a Masters of Science and the Public within the School of Education from SUNY Buffalo and a certificate in Science and the Public from the Center for Inquiry, the likelihood for future research opportunities will allow me to discover start-of-the-art technologies used inside a virtual classroom setting that will undoubtedly be incorporated in the technologically-driven workplace of the 21st century by which I will have extensive experience with after having effectively used them in the Masters program. But in this challenge is also an opportunity to produce all new services for on-campus, distance and life-long learners. In fact the greatest opportunities for these technologies are in the ways they will be used that have not been imagined yet. The merging of technology with science will quickly create demand for greater involvement from the general public for academic purposes, global issues, and other social settings. The portable and on-demand nature of the completely online program will suit my career aspirations by allowing me to do freelance work as I complete my degree requirements and makes the time, money, and energy of graduate study one worth pursuing, implementing and supporting.
For my entire college career I have been actively involved with cutting edge software drawing portraits with Adobe Illustrator, creating layouts in InDesign, adding color options in Photoshop, creating animation in Flash MX, or redesigning pages in Dreamweaver for online websites. All topics discussed in the masters program will definitely supplement the journalistic skills and ethics I have already learned in my undergraduate study. Over the first few years of my college career, I focused much of my energy on delivering personalized descriptions for radio as well as a camera operator, working both behind and in front of the camera at the college radio station. For the past three years, I have been working diligently at news writing and reporting as a staff writer for the college student-run newspaper. In addition to my work at the newspaper, I have also written for the college online magazine. There are many reasons I am interested in the Masters of Science in Public from SUNY Buffalo. These days it is not just the amount of experience needed to produce good copy, but people also need to be aware of how their words can be understood properly without impacting the quality of the work. The online masters program will allow me to not only take graduate courses at my own place but also allow me to continue working and fine-tuning my skills as a freelance journalist. Technology has always been apart of my life and I believe SUNY Buffalo is one of the leading colleges in distance education.
Education and technology always seem to be developing side by side and as a graduate student I am always searching for new innovative ways of learning. I believe the stability of an online graduate program will work to my advantage and allow me to concentrate fully on my graduate studies by focusing my attention on what I need to do to be successful. In addition to this specific interest I believe that the opportunity to learn online will serve a broader goal of where journalism, technology, and education are headed. During my undergraduate work, I took a couple of online courses and enjoyed the experience very much, which is why I feel as though I can learn a lot more than I would via the traditional classroom. The supporting technologies involved in online courses from the SUNY Learning Network made my experience with them surprisingly rather easy to use, thanks in large part to the faculty and students and I am sure with SUNY Buffalo's professors and students the experience will be much the same. Having been surrounded my technology my entire life, I am more than confident in my abilities to use computer-related applications as well as the Internet. All of these skills will undoubtedly benefit me in finishing the degree requirements necessary for the Masters of Science and the Public online program within the School of Education at SUNY Buffalo.
Upon completion of my graduate work in the Masters of Science and the Public from the SUNY Buffalo is to further immerse myself in the multicultural experiences through independent travel and work, in this way I will be reaching my goals with each action I take. I am well aware of the intense study required for a specialized graduate degree and I strongly believe this is definitely a different task I can not only achieve but also excel at. I know where to direct my energy that will ensure me success in your program and stability when I enter the workforce as someone who is able to fully understand the problems facing people in the future and how they can better handle themselves by adapting to a changing world. I am a highly motivated student who feels I have an obligation to bring all citizens of the world to an understanding of how science relates to public awareness, thus my skills as a journalist, in addition to my graduate work will allow me the knowledge and skills needed for me to accomplish these goals by giving me the wherewithal to sustain and accomplish anything.
My goal is to keep challenging myself in ways that other people have not in order to find new methods of creativity, consistency and efficiency. What many people have hard times achieving is where I come forward, working to isolate the problem or objective so I can render a solution. Being dynamic means introducing many new elements and abilities to a situation that I have experience with, but even more potential to grow into a better student, person, journalist, activist, and researcher as I believe I will benefit greatly from the forum created for an open online debate among people of various ages, sexes, and ethnicities that will aid me in my future work that will provide me with information on how the public feels about any certain issues or trends currently discussed in today's news media.
My own future is important to me, as you can see I already have an excellent education with my undergraduate work. Hopefully, I will accepted into the Masters of Science and the Public program by earning a degree in this growing field, and already have a phenomenal amount of pertinent experience for a person of 24. I want to go to graduate school. I especially want to attend your school. This feels right. I have seen the difference I could have with an opportunity to earn a Masters in Science and the Public, along with a Certificate from the Center of Inquiry. I see this masters program as the perfect bridge from where I am now to where I want to go professionally. I am a student with the intellectual capacity, the real world experience, and the tenacity and courage to excel at your school. I am also attracted to the inventiveness and uniqueness of the program courses and how they will benefit me in my journalism career. I am well aware of the time and money it will take to complete the work needed for my masters; however, I am looking forward toward this new stage in my life and believe I am ready for the challenge.
Greetings!
When you are working on making the sentences a little more manageable, keep in mind that it is almost always more interesting to read about specific examples than about vague generalities. For example, I found this interesting: "As a radio host at the college radio station, I learned how to research and develop topical beats and talking points that would keep the listeners' interest for the entire two-hour period by balancing commercial and music breaks to foster a personal friendship with the audience" (if a little long for one sentence). However, I found my interest waning when I got to this part: "Education and technology always seem to be developing side by side and educators are always searching for new innovative ways of teaching. Education in colleges today is ever changing." These are rather obvious observations and as such, are not all that interesting. You might try to find a way to spice this up a little.
I hope this helps!
Thanks,
Sarah, EssayForum.com
