Journalism Personal Essays

Cultural Reporting and Criticism

The Cultural Reporting and Criticism (CRC) program in Journalism requires applicants to submit a personal essay that will be judged both as a piece of writing and as an indication of whether your aspirations, abilities, interests, and experience are suited to CRC.

The essay should be specific and detailed enough to give the admissions committee a concrete sense of who you are as a potential cultural reporter and critic. It should address the following questions: What do you expect to get from CRC? What do you think you can contribute to it? What aspects of your background and experience are most relevant to your interest in the program? What kind of writing have you done and what do you aspire to do? Which cultural issues and phenomena most engage you? What publications do you read regularly and why? Which cultural journalists do you admire, which do you dislike, and which have influenced you? Feel free to include any other ideas you consider relevant to your application.

CRC places most emphasis on letters of recommendation from professors or editors with whom you have worked directly and who can assess your intellectual abilities and the quality of your writing.

Please append to your essay a brief statement of your plans for financing your graduate work. This statement must be included, whether or not you are applying for financial aid.

Global and Joint Programs

Africana Studies | East Asian Studies | European and Mediterranean Studies | French Studies | International Relations | Latin American and Caribbean Studies | Near Eastern Studies | Russian and Slavic Studies

Journalism requires applicants to write a personal essay. The essay is an extremely important part of the application, so treat it accordingly. The essay should be 1,000 to 1,500 words in length. In addition, all applicants must submit at least three samples of their work, whether published or not.

The goal of the essay is to give the Admissions Committee a concrete sense of who you are as someone who aspires to a career as a professional journalist, writing and reporting for print, online or broadcast media. It should address the following questions: What do you expect to get from the program? What aspects of your experience are most relevant to your interest in journalism? Tell us about your background--your academic degree, intellectual interests, work experience, life experience, and other sources of inspiration--and explain how this background informs what you want to do as a journalist.

Applicants should also describe their existing "body of work" as a journalist, critic or just someone who writes. We are mostly interested in published work, but if you have yet to break into print, then tell us what kind of writing you have done. What have been your major themes? What issues and phenomena most engage you? What publications do you read regularly and why? Which journalists do you admire, which do you dislike, and which have influenced you?

In addition, for the non-Journalism field of study (Africana Studies, East Asian Studies, French Studies, Latin American and Caribbean Studies, Near Eastern Studies, or Russian and Slavic Studies), please briefly describe your past and present work as it relates to your intended field of study, and your reasons for choosing your field of study.

In addition, for International Relations: the program in International Relations (IR) trains individuals who wish to make a difference on international affairs either through continued academic study or via the actual practice of international affairs in government, the non-governmental or private sectors. Please explain, in a brief and concise manner, how your past studies and work experience relate to a course of study at the graduate level in international relations at NYU. You should include how your educational objectives will help you to achieve your future career goals, and should briefly outline where you see yourself 10 years after graduating from NYU. Please also explain why you chose to apply to study in the IR Program at NYU and how NYU specifically will help you to advance your personal and professional objectives.

European and Mediterranean Studies does not not require an additional statement. Only the Journalism personal essay is required.

Please append to your essay a brief statement of your plans for financing your graduate work. This statement must be included, whether or not you are applying for financial aid.

Journalism and Religion

Journalism requires applicants to write a personal essay. The essay is an extremely important part of the application, so treat it accordingly. The essay should be 1,000 to 1,500 words in length. In addition, applicants must submit at least two samples of their work, whether published or not.

As part of your personal essay, please include a discussion that provides the Admissions Committee with a sense of who you are as someone who aspires to a career in journalism, writing and reporting about important matters in the news and analysis of religious issues.

Two different writing samples are required. One should be an example of your strongest academic writing, preferably a paper written for an undergraduate course that demonstrates your ability to construct a coherent argument. It should not exceed 25 double-spaced pages. The second should represent your aptitude for journalism. A clip from your college newspaper, a personal essay, and an academic research paper are all acceptable.

Please append to your essay a brief statement of your plans for financing your graduate work. This statement must be included, whether or not you are applying for financial aid.

Literary Reportage

Literary Reportage requires applicants to answer the following questions. We will judge both the style and content of your writing.

Describe the project you want to pursue. Tell us about the stories you want to write, in as much detail as possible. Big ideas, themes and questions are essential, but just as essential are specific stories—real names, real places—through which you explore them. We expect your work to evolve while at NYU, so you are not committing to your agenda now.
Who/what have you read and been inspired by? What, to your mind, are the similarities and differences between creative writing and creative nonfiction? How can "literary technique" be applied to the practice of long-form journalism? What do reporters do? What do you envision “Literary Reportage” to be?
Tell us about your academic degree(s), intellectual interests, work/life experiences, and explain how they inform your project. Describe your "body of work" as a journalist, blogger, or just someone who writes. What are your strengths and weaknesses as a writer? What do you expect to get from Literary Reportage?
Describe how you plan to use the city and the university’s vast resources. We welcome projects of national or international scope, but only if they can be reported effectively from the city and its environs (with the usual extensions of email and telephone) during the school term.
You may answer the above questions separately, or in a single essay.

Please append to your essay a brief statement of your plans for financing your graduate work. This statement must be included, whether or not you are applying for financial aid.

News and Documentary

The News and Documentary Program in Journalism requires applicants to write a personal essay. The essay is an extremely important part of the application, so treat it accordingly. The essay should be 1,000 to 1,500 words in length. In addition, all applicants must submit at least three samples of their work. This can be print or video clips or scripts.

The goal of the essay is to give the Admissions Committee a sense of who you are as someone who aspires to a career as a professional journalist/documentary filmmaker. It should address the following questions: What aspects of your experience are most relevant to your interest in journalism? Tell us about your background—your academic degree, intellectual interests, work experience, life experience, and other sources of inspiration—and explain how this background informs what you want to do as a journalist. What do you expect to get from the program?

Applicants should also describe their existing "body of work." This can be print, video, radio or documentary work you’ve already done. Video experience is not a prerequisite at all so if this is the case, your body of work might be volunteering somewhere, working with an NGO, teaching etc. We’d also like to know what publications you read and news or documentary programming you like, and why. Which journalists do you admire, and which have influenced you?

Please also address what motivates you to pursue the documentary long form in particular. In your third semester, you will be creating a capstone piece of journalism--a half-hour documentary. What might this project be about and how would you approach it? Although experience in documentary is not required, your ideas are.

Please append to your essay a brief statement of your plans for financing your graduate work. This statement must be included, whether or not you are applying for financial aid.

Podcasting and Audio Reportage

Your personal essay is an opportunity for you to reveal more about who you are and for you to connect your goals for attending this program with your background and qualifications. The Admissions Committee will be looking for your voice in your writing style, as well as paying close attention to the evidence you provide in the case you are making for why you should be selected. While many students aim for 1,000-1500 words in length, writing for audio requires efficiency and clarity, therefore shorter essays may also be effective. In addition, applicants are asked to submit 3 work samples, which can be links to audio or multimedia work. Work samples do not need to be published work, but we suggest choosing work which demonstrates your journalism, narrative storytelling or audio production skills.

In your essay, please address the following questions:

Why are you applying to this program and what do you hope to gain from your graduate studies?
Why audio? What is it about this medium and what in your background or experience has motivated you to pursue this field of study? What is your experience with audio production? What experience do you have in journalism?
Audio Journalism is a medium that values voice. Whose voices have you been inspired by and whose voices do you imagine we would hear in your work?
Tell us about your interests and background. What life experiences, intellectual pursuits, educational or creative pursuits or other sources of inspiration inform your desire to create audio journalism?

Please append to your essay a statement of your plans for financing your graduate work. This statement must be included, regardless of any request for financial assistance.

All Other Programs

American Journalism | Magazine and Digital Storytelling | Reporting New York | Reporting the Nation | Business and Economic Reporting | Science, Health and Environmental Reporting

The goal of the essay is to give the Admissions Committee a concrete sense of who you are as someone who aspires to a career as a professional journalist, writing and reporting for print, online or broadcast media. It should address the following questions: What do you expect to get from the program and the specific concentration to which you are applying? What aspects of your experience are most relevant to your interest in journalism? Tell us about your background--your academic degree, intellectual interests, work experience, life experience, and other sources of inspiration--and explain how this background informs what you want to do as a journalist.

Please append to your essay a brief statement of your plans for financing your graduate work. This statement must be included, whether or not you are applying for financial aid.