GSAS Applicant Statements

We ask that you tell us about yourself in the GSAS application for admission. The Statement of Academic Purpose is required and describes your academic plans. The Personal History Statement is optional and gives information on your background. Please see below for a description of what should be written in each statement.

Each statement is short (no more than two double-spaced pages). You should be sure to proof each one carefully before you submit your application, as no updates or revisions are accepted after submission.

Once you begin your application, please be sure to carefully review the instructions in the Applicant Statements section to be sure that there were no updates since the time this web page was published.

Statement of Academic Purpose

Animal Studies

In a concisely written statement, please describe your interest in Animal Studies and your past and present work as it relates to your interest in this field, your educational objectives, and your personal and professional goals.

Anthropology

Ph.D.—The Statement of Academic Purpose should offer a clear sense of your training in anthropology or related fields, your strengths as a scholar, and the reasons you are applying for the doctoral degree. It should refrain from lengthy personal anecdotes. While applicants need not indicate a precise dissertation topic, it will be helpful to the admissions committee to have a sense of their main area(s) of topical and geographic interest and the critical theoretical questions and/or conversations that drive their interest in pursuing the degree. Finally, applicants should address their particular reasons for wanting to work within the Department of Anthropology at New York University. The statement may not be more than 1,500 words, although if that word count exceeds two double-spaced pages it is okay.

M.A.—In a concisely written statement, please describe your past and present work as it relates to your intended field of study, your educational objectives, and your career goals. In addition, please include your intellectual and professional reasons for choosing your field of study and why your studies/research can best be done at the Graduate School of Arts and Science at NYU. The statement should not exceed two double-spaced pages. 

Chemistry

The Department of Chemistry does not ask for a Statement of Academic Purpose. Please do not provide one. However, they do ask you to describe your motivation for graduate school in chemistry. You may elaborate on chemical problems of the greatest interest to you and include discoveries in the field of chemistry that have inspired you.

East Asian Studies

Ph.D.—Please concisely describe your past and present work—and your academic training—as it relates to your intended field of study and your academic and career goals. Although you are not yet expected to provide a specific dissertation topic, please do your best to indicate your principal area(s) of topical and geographic interest and the central theoretical questions that are motivating your pursuit of a graduate degree. Finally, please indicate your reasons for choosing to work within the Department of East Asian Studies at New York University. The statement should not be more than 1,200 words in length; if that word count exceeds two double-spaced pages, it is okay.

M.A.—Please concisely describe your past and present work—and your academic training—as it relates to your intended field of study and your academic and career goals. Also, indicate your reasons for choosing to work within the Department of East Asian Studies at New York University. The statement should not be more than 1,000 words in length; if that word count exceeds two double-spaced pages, it is okay.

English

The work of the faculty of the Department of English at NYU is characterized by a wide variety of interdisciplinary approaches, encompassing literary history, theory, and criticism, as well as careful reflection on the methods of literary study. We are especially interested in graduate students who will be comfortable bridging historical periods in their reading and writing, and who are curious about a wide variety of approaches to literary studies.
 
The admissions committee requires from all applicants a statement of academic purpose, which will be judged as a piece of writing. It will use this statement to evaluate how well your aspirations and interests suit those of the Department of English at NYU. This statement of academic purpose should be succinct (no more than 1,200 words, although if that word count exceeds two double-spaced pages it is okay) and address most, if not all, of the following questions:

  1. What kinds (genres, styles, forms, etc.) of literature most engage you? 
  2. What, for you, is the purpose of reading literature critically? 
  3. Are there particular kinds of criticism/theoretical approaches/methods of literary study that you would like to work within or learn more about? 
  4. How have your intellectual and scholarly interests been shaped by your time outside and beyond the college classroom? 
  5. In the light of the description above, do you have a particular reason for wishing to work within the Department of English at New York University?

Fine Arts

Please describe briefly and concisely your past and present work as it relates to your intended field of study, your educational objectives at NYU, and your career plans. In addition, please include your reasons for choosing your field of study.

The Institute of Fine Arts Admissions Committee requests that you consider the following for inclusion in your Statement of Academic Purpose. Please make your statement succinct (2-4 typed pages; please note this limit is a bit longer than what is specified at the top of this page) and use the upload button below to include it in your online application.

  1. Aspects of your background that may be relevant to a career in the history of art or conservation.
  2. Name your primary area of interest within art history or conservation.
  3. What you think are the critical issues in this field.
  4. Your reason for choosing the Institute of Fine Arts rather than another graduate program.
  5. Your career plans.

Hebrew and Judaic Studies

In a concisely written statement, please describe your past and present work as it relates to your intended field of study, your educational objectives, and your career goals. In addition, please include your intellectual and professional reasons for choosing your field of study and why your studies/research can best be done at the Graduate School of Arts and Science at NYU. The statement should not exceed two double-spaced pages.

Ph.D.—Applicants to the doctoral program in Hebrew and Judaic Studies are required to append to their statement of academic purpose a one-page, double-spaced description of their proficiency in Hebrew and the sources from which it was acquired. Non-native speakers of Hebrew should indicate

  1. The institutions at which they studied Hebrew;
  2. The textbooks from which they studied;
  3. The extent to which their program of study incorporated Biblical, classical, and modern Hebrew; and
  4. The highest level achieved.

Native speakers should indicate the years completed in Israeli schools and universities. 

Applicants to the doctoral program in Hebrew and Judaic Studies may also, at their option, include an autobiographical statement in Hebrew, one page maximum. This statement should be hand-written personally by the applicant and should be saved as a pdf file to be uploaded.

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.

Journalism

Applicants to Journalism programs should refer to separate instructions.

Psychology (Master’s Program in General Psychology only)

Please describe briefly and concisely your past and present academic, research and/or professional accomplishments as they relate to your intended field of study, your educational objectives while at NYU, and your career goals following the master's program. State your specific area of specialization in the general master's program in psychology and include your reasons for choosing this field of study. What specific goals and objectives do you have for applying to NYU?

The statement should be concisely written, in a professional/academic, rather than a personal/informal style, and should not exceed two double-spaced pages.

All other Psychology applicants should refer to the instructions for “All Other Applicants.”

Religious Studies

In a concisely written statement, please describe your past and present work as it relates to your intended field of study, your educational objectives, and your career goals. In addition, please include your intellectual and professional reasons for choosing your field of study and why your studies/research can best be done at the Graduate School of Arts and Science at NYU. As part of your statement, please explain why you are interested in the academic study of religion and what you hope to achieve upon completion of the M.A. in Religious Studies. The statement should not exceed two double-spaced pages.

XE: Experimental Humanities & Social Engagement

Prepare a narrative that integrates your past and present work as it relates to your intended field of study, your intellectual objectives, and your career goals. We encourage you to indicate your intended thesis project or field of research. Include how and why your studies/research can best be done at XE: Experimental Humanities & Social Engagement, and the broader Graduate School of Arts and Science at NYU. The statement should not exceed two double-spaced pages.

All other applicants (to a program not named above): 

In a concisely written statement, please describe your past and present work as it relates to your intended field of study, your educational objectives, and your career goals. In addition, please include your intellectual and professional reasons for choosing your field of study and why your studies/research can best be done at the Graduate School of Arts and Science at NYU. The statement should not exceed two double-spaced pages.

Personal History Statement

The purpose of this optional essay is to get to know you as an individual and as a potential graduate student, and to understand how your background will add to the diversity of our school. Please describe how your personal background has motivated you to pursue a graduate degree. You may discuss educational, familial, cultural, socioeconomic, or personal experiences or challenges; gender identity; community services, outreach services, first-generation college status or other matters relevant to your decision to pursue graduate education. Please note that the Personal History Statement is not meant to be a general autobiography.

The statement is optional and should not exceed two double-spaced pages. It should not duplicate the Statement of Academic Purpose.

Last updated November 12, 2018.