Your Statement of Purpose should describe your educational goals and your qualifications to undertake graduate study. The Admissions Committee gives great weight to this essay in evaluating your application to the program.
Before writing the statement, spend time researching the other NYU departments and schools in which you plan to take courses. You can research course offerings via NYU’s public course search and by going to departmental websites. The NYU public course search has listings for all of the courses offered across NYU. You can use the filters on the left to narrow your search in whatever ways you find most helpful. To start, you should make sure to narrow your search to graduate courses (select “graduate” for "Academic Career").
There are three parts to the Statement of Purpose:
1. Your concentration (approximately 800 words)
At Gallatin, each student develops an individualized concentration, i.e., a program of study organized around a coherent theme or set of questions and drawing on a variety of academic disciplines and professional fields. In this section of your statement, please describe the concentration you will pursue at Gallatin. Tell us about the kinds of knowledge and skills you want to acquire, the themes and questions that drive your work, and the disciplines and fields that will shape your intended curriculum. If your concentration involves pursuing practical skills - like an artistic practice or professional competencies - tell us about how your research project at Gallatin will give context and meaning to those skills. Finally, explain why you chose Gallatin's individualized program rather than a more traditional graduate program in your area(s) of inquiry.
2. Your qualifications (approximately 300 words)
In this section, discuss any academic, professional, or personal experiences that have prepared you for graduate work in this concentration. Expand on your transcript and your resume: flesh them out and add any other experiences that attest to your qualifications for undertaking the proposed program of study.
3. Your plan
Please include a tentative list of specific courses that could constitute your program of study. To help you compose your list, please visit Albert, the NYU registration system, and select “Public Course Search” from the available options. You may also find information on the websites of the various NYU graduate schools. Your course selections must be in the form of a list and include the name of the NYU school and department, the course title, and the course number (e.g., Steinhardt School, Department of Art Education, Issues in Pedagogy, ARTED-GE 227). Please keep in mind that departments often alter their course offerings and that some of your choices might not be available. Note: Your list should include only graduate courses. If you might want to do independent studies and/or internships, list those as well. If there are particular faculty members with whom you would like to study at Gallatin or elsewhere at NYU, you may mention them here. This section of the application allows the committee to assess whether or not you are ready to execute your vision by calling on the schools, departments, course listings, faculty, and myriad opportunities available to you during your time at NYU Gallatin.