A loose nail in the wall of my Brooklyn apartment splits my finger. Still a restless seven-year-old, I used my bandaged hand to draw new toys and whimsical pictures for my mother. I told her that I would be an artist someday. She replied, "You need to stop that. That's not a real job and you won't make money doing that."
Since then, I developed the false belief that I needed to rely only on myself to succeed. After attending design conferences and being inspired by designers like Dana Tanamachi & Alex Lin, I knew there was a lot more I needed to learn. I now understand that I cannot become a great designer on my own. While I have come a long way and accomplished many of my personal goals, achieving my most important goals - to be a great designer, to influence design, to foster design's posterity and to become a Creative Director - will require the guided stimulation of my creativity and the guidance of some of the greatest minds in design.
I have the potential to finish this program because I have accomplished every challenge I have faced. I took on the task of designing my school newspaper without any experience in publication design. With no prior newspaper to work of, I learned how to use InDesign to develop the newspaper, established word counts for the writers, and convinced the Newspaper to hire a photographer whom I directed in less than a month. In addition, I designed the school ads for the newspaper to keep the look consistent.
Later, I designed and maintained the website for Council Member [insert name]'s campaign despite lacking any experience in this area. I worked tirelessly many nights to learn the basics and then spent the next summer designing entire campaigns despite my complete lack of experience in political design or branding. I cherish opportunities to grow and make a unique mark. I consider every challenge to be an opportunity; thinking that something is too hard means that I am thinking about it the wrong way.
[Insert College] will play an essential role in helping me accomplish my goals. First of all, the value of learning from experienced and successful creative directors like [Insert professor], [Insert professor], and [Insert professor], would be invaluable. In addition, the program's masterfully designed curriculum will not only demonstrate the essentials of design directing with classes in design management and marketing but also nurture my creativity with classes in interactive design, motion design, and typography.
A master's degree from [insert college] would also prepare me to collaborate with future leaders in design and mentor the next set. At [insert college], I would take full advantage of the schools career services, challenge myself in class, and utilize my thesis project to develop an app that would create a social platform to communicate with government. Design is constantly evolving and the only way I can contribute to this evolution is by developing the strongest foundation possible at [insert college].
I really liked your seconded paragraph. It is a nice way of tying in why you want to attend grad school.
In the third paragraph I think the sentences could be structured a bit differently Here are some recommendations.
I have the potential to finish this program because I have accomplished every challenge I have faced.
[I am confident that I will successfully complete] this program[,] because I [continue] to overcome every challenge I face.
I took on the task of designing my school newspaper without any experience in publication design.
[I was able to successfully design] my school newspaper[,] without any experience in publication design.
With no prior newspaper to work of, I learned how to use InDesign to develop the newspaper, established word counts for the writers, and convinced the Newspaper to hire a photographer whom I directed in less than a month. In addition, I designed the school ads for the newspaper to keep the look consistent.
[Regardless of the fact that I had] no prior newspaper to [reference], [I quickly?] learned how to use InDesign to develop the newspaper. In less than a month I was able to establish word counts for the writers, convince the newspaper [administrators?] to hire a photographer whom I directed, and consistently designed the newspaper ads.
