I've been taking swings at my statement of purpose for a Masters of Fine Arts in Creative Writing for a few weeks now. Finally, in the last week of November, I'm getting serious about it. Why now? Because I promised myself I'd have all these technical pieces finished by Dec. 1 (one month before my earliest deadline). So it's crunch time.
Helpful resources I've found in my search:
"How to Write a Great Statement of Purpose," Vince Gotera
Practical how-to advice for a MFA statement of purpose:
http://www.uni.edu/~gotera/gradapp/stmtpurpose.htm
"A Purposeless Statement?" Peter Derby
A little more theoretical advice, but necessary to make you step back and realize there is no magic words that can unlock your MFA:
http://chronicle.com/jobs/news/2006/12/2006121301c/careers.html
As always the MFA Blog has some good tips:
http://creative-writing-mfa-handbook.blogspot.com/2007/08/tips-on-statement-of-purpose.html
And if you're interested, M. Ramirez Talusan from the MFA Blog, has posted her old statement of purpose online:
http://mramireztalusan.blogspot.com/2007/11/mfa-statement-of-purpose.html
Their advice in summary? Don't bad mouth people, write like a professional not an artist for the essay, tell a captivating story or tell about your writing interest if it is more captivating than you are. Oh and say specifically why the hell you're crazy enough to go to get an art degree in writing.
