theolivebranch
Dec 12, 2010
Graduate / "In the non-profit world..." - Writing an essay for a master's program [4]
It's been a long time since I've written an essay like this. Here is my first crack at an essay for a MA in Publishing and Writing. Any help appreciated!
Prompt:
To give the faculty adequate time to review each application, limit your essay responses to two to three pages in length. Include the typed, double-spaced essay(s) with your application.
Explain your short-term and long-term professional goals. How will an Emerson education assist you in achieving these goals?
Reflecting on any relevant work and educational experiences, describe how you would contribute to the program and to the profession.
Additionally, please elaborate on your specific area of interest-book publishing, electronic publishing, magazine publishing, or some other type of publishing.
My Essay:
In the non-profit world there is always a story to tell. This story can often be complex, multi-faceted, and abstract. The founder, the program coordinator, or the development director, among others, is the one who can create the heart behind that story since he or she is in the trenches experiencing the organization's community first hand. How to convey that heart, however, is a different matter. As a communications coordinator for a non-profit, I've relished the opportunity to take those first hand experiences and convey them to an audience in an accessible manner.
When I graduated from college with a degree in cultural anthropology, I had no idea what my career goals were or what I wanted to do for a living. This doesn't mean that I didn't have passions or that I was floundering; I just wasn't sure how to work those passions into a career where I felt engaged and challenged. For the first time in my life, the next step was unknown. It felt great, actually. I drove to Alaska on the Alcan Highway and worked for the summer.
When I got home at the end of the summer, I applied to jobs that looked interesting, trying to not feel constricted by my qualifications, or lack there of. This is how I fell into the role of communications coordinator at a local non-profit. If you had asked me six months earlier, when I was driving up to Alaska, if I esteemed to be part of an organization that ran family camps for special needs populations, I would have said, "What's family camp?" Landing this position, however, was one of best things that could have happened to me and the reason why you are now reading this application essay.
I was initially hired because of my writing background. The organization needed a staffer who was approachable and relaxed, but clear, concise, and professional on paper when communicating with funders, prospective campers, and interested rental parties. Gradually, I began to take on more and more responsibility for creating marketing materials. This ranged from publishing our quarterly newsletter to writing website copy to photo editing. These projects sparked something new for me. I began to feel engaged, passionate, and immersed at work in a way that I had only achieved while pursuing personal interests.
Given the opportunity to be a part of the Emerson College Master's of Publishing and Writing program, I will enhance my ability to craft an accessible way to convey a message. Non-profit organizations need leaders, fundraisers, and program coordinators, but they also need someone who can design, edit, and compile information in a way that informs their communities, creates buzz, and properly represents their goals. My long-term professional goal is to remain in the non-profit world working with organizations to design materials that are visually appealing, organized, and well written, representing the organization in it's best light so they can achieve their mission.
As a communications coordinator, I have felt challenged and inspired while learning concrete skills, such as how to use new desktop publishing software, but also while editing a co-worker's writing to get at the meat of the matter. Through first hand, on the job experience I learned as I went along about copy and developmental editing, design and production, marketing and publicity, and online and desktop publishing software. I am seeking an advanced degree that would enable me to develop my knowledge and implement these skills further. The Master's of Publishing and Writing program at Emerson College attracted me because of its comprehensive nature. I am motivated by the complexity of compiling a published piece from developmental editing to design and layout to publicity and I am eager to explore further.
As an anthropology major that studied abroad in Mongolia and Scotland and through my experiences in the tourism industry in Alaska I have worked with diverse populations in many places. In Mongolia, I traveled in the Gobi Desert collecting primary research by conducting interviews with herder families for my senior thesis. In Chicago, I work for a for-profit marketing firm that helps small, artisan food companies tell the story behind their product. I hope to add these diverse experiences to the program at Emerson College as well to the field of publishing. We all have a story to tell - I feel passionate about publishing because I know that the writing that accompanies this story we are telling is only a small picture of how it gets to the reader. Using creative skills to carry out the complex dance of writing, editing, design, production, and marketing has been one of the most enlightening learning experiences of my life and I hope to delve deeper soon.
It's been a long time since I've written an essay like this. Here is my first crack at an essay for a MA in Publishing and Writing. Any help appreciated!
Prompt:
To give the faculty adequate time to review each application, limit your essay responses to two to three pages in length. Include the typed, double-spaced essay(s) with your application.
Explain your short-term and long-term professional goals. How will an Emerson education assist you in achieving these goals?
Reflecting on any relevant work and educational experiences, describe how you would contribute to the program and to the profession.
Additionally, please elaborate on your specific area of interest-book publishing, electronic publishing, magazine publishing, or some other type of publishing.
My Essay:
In the non-profit world there is always a story to tell. This story can often be complex, multi-faceted, and abstract. The founder, the program coordinator, or the development director, among others, is the one who can create the heart behind that story since he or she is in the trenches experiencing the organization's community first hand. How to convey that heart, however, is a different matter. As a communications coordinator for a non-profit, I've relished the opportunity to take those first hand experiences and convey them to an audience in an accessible manner.
When I graduated from college with a degree in cultural anthropology, I had no idea what my career goals were or what I wanted to do for a living. This doesn't mean that I didn't have passions or that I was floundering; I just wasn't sure how to work those passions into a career where I felt engaged and challenged. For the first time in my life, the next step was unknown. It felt great, actually. I drove to Alaska on the Alcan Highway and worked for the summer.
When I got home at the end of the summer, I applied to jobs that looked interesting, trying to not feel constricted by my qualifications, or lack there of. This is how I fell into the role of communications coordinator at a local non-profit. If you had asked me six months earlier, when I was driving up to Alaska, if I esteemed to be part of an organization that ran family camps for special needs populations, I would have said, "What's family camp?" Landing this position, however, was one of best things that could have happened to me and the reason why you are now reading this application essay.
I was initially hired because of my writing background. The organization needed a staffer who was approachable and relaxed, but clear, concise, and professional on paper when communicating with funders, prospective campers, and interested rental parties. Gradually, I began to take on more and more responsibility for creating marketing materials. This ranged from publishing our quarterly newsletter to writing website copy to photo editing. These projects sparked something new for me. I began to feel engaged, passionate, and immersed at work in a way that I had only achieved while pursuing personal interests.
Given the opportunity to be a part of the Emerson College Master's of Publishing and Writing program, I will enhance my ability to craft an accessible way to convey a message. Non-profit organizations need leaders, fundraisers, and program coordinators, but they also need someone who can design, edit, and compile information in a way that informs their communities, creates buzz, and properly represents their goals. My long-term professional goal is to remain in the non-profit world working with organizations to design materials that are visually appealing, organized, and well written, representing the organization in it's best light so they can achieve their mission.
As a communications coordinator, I have felt challenged and inspired while learning concrete skills, such as how to use new desktop publishing software, but also while editing a co-worker's writing to get at the meat of the matter. Through first hand, on the job experience I learned as I went along about copy and developmental editing, design and production, marketing and publicity, and online and desktop publishing software. I am seeking an advanced degree that would enable me to develop my knowledge and implement these skills further. The Master's of Publishing and Writing program at Emerson College attracted me because of its comprehensive nature. I am motivated by the complexity of compiling a published piece from developmental editing to design and layout to publicity and I am eager to explore further.
As an anthropology major that studied abroad in Mongolia and Scotland and through my experiences in the tourism industry in Alaska I have worked with diverse populations in many places. In Mongolia, I traveled in the Gobi Desert collecting primary research by conducting interviews with herder families for my senior thesis. In Chicago, I work for a for-profit marketing firm that helps small, artisan food companies tell the story behind their product. I hope to add these diverse experiences to the program at Emerson College as well to the field of publishing. We all have a story to tell - I feel passionate about publishing because I know that the writing that accompanies this story we are telling is only a small picture of how it gets to the reader. Using creative skills to carry out the complex dance of writing, editing, design, production, and marketing has been one of the most enlightening learning experiences of my life and I hope to delve deeper soon.