School for Graduate Studies Application Essays Admissions SUNY Empire State College 2 Union Ave. Saratoga Springs, NY 12866-4390 www.esc.edu/grad Rev. 7/13; 6/14
Criteria for Admission in Graduate Application Essays You must write and submit the required essays. The application review committee weighs the quality of your essays very heavily in their decision about whether you will be admitted to the program. The criteria considered in their review include: 1. whether the program is appropriate, given your interests, needs and background; 2. whether your basic writing skills (grammar, spelling, sentence structure, etc.) are sufficient for graduate-level study; 3. whether you are able to write a coherent, well organized essay in a style appropriate for graduate-level work in your academic field. The assigned essays must be original to this application and responsive to the specific questions (they are not intended to be writing samples drawn from previous undergraduate or professional writing assignments). If you use any material from other sources/authors, you must include appropriate academic documentation and citation. Aside from considering the quality of your essays in the decision about your admission to the program, your essays may be used in the process of advisement in your degree program. Decisions about requisite courses of study or other necessary remedial actions may be based on the quality of your essays, so you should make sure that they represent your best effort. Required Essay Questions Labor and Work Policy Social Policy If you are applying to one of the policy studies programs (M.A. in labor and work policy or M.A. in social policy), please answer questions 1 and 2. 1. Explain how the graduate program with specific reference to its policy emphasis and your chosen area of study (business, labor, social policy) will help you achieve your purposes for pursuing a master s degree. Please include any other information about your needs and goals that might give us insight as to why our program will serve you well. Your answer to the question will help us understand whether we can serve your needs. Your essay should be one to two typewritten, double-spaced pages. 2. Focusing on your area of academic, social or professional interest, choose a current issue facing business, labor or social policy. What debates surround this issue? What positions do the various sides take? Once you have examined these various positions, make a case for a particular approach that you believe would help improve the situation. In what ways would that approach provide a solution? Thinking clearly about issues and expressing these thoughts in writing are important aspects of graduate study at Empire State College. In order to be considered for the graduate program, you must address all of the above questions in the form of a coherent, well-organized essay of three to four typewritten, double-spaced pages. 2
Required Essay Questions Liberal Studies The M.A. in liberal studies is especially designed for those who wish to explore a particular question, theme, problem or issue from multiple points of view. Unlike a vocationally focused degree or a degree in a single discipline, it allows you to explore the various ways in which your area of interest can be approached and analyzed. For example, a narrowly defined vocational degree in health care management might look at health care from the legal, administrative and financial framework alone. An interdisciplinary master s degree in liberal studies, on the other hand, would understand health care as an arena for contending social interests and political ideologies and view health as a cultural preoccupation, a theme of literature and a spiritual and philosophical concern. Similarly, a typical professionally oriented master s degree in education might focus on applied teaching methods in a particular discipline, age group or student population. Thus, the focus might be on teaching science in elementary school, for example or on teaching developmentally challenged adults. An interdisciplinary master s degree in liberal studies requires a different approach, one that views teaching within a broad framework of historical and social relationships and might explore the meanings of such concepts as childhood, pedagogy, normalcy and difference and encourages students to think broadly about their interests and to explore them from a variety of perspectives and viewpoints. With these examples in mind, tell us about your area of interest in the following essays: 1. What question, theme, problem or issue do you wish to explore? How have you come to have this interest? What has shaped your curiosity? How do you see using the breadth and freedom of interdisciplinary study to organize your studies and achieve your goals for your master s degree? 2. According to the following quotes, our minds and our bodies, our attitudes and our dreams, are molded by experience and by the cultures in which we live. Those cultures strongly influence not only what we know but also what we value and, indeed, who we are. We invite you to use one of these quotes as a basis for essay #2. You may choose to agree or disagree with one of the quotes, discuss the quote in greater depth, or use it as a point of departure for developing ideas of your own. As you craft your essay, you should keep a number of points in mind: Your essay should be approximately 750-1000 words. In writing your essay, you may draw on your professional knowledge, your reading, and/or your general understanding of culture and society. You will not be judged for your opinion. You will be evaluated for the ways in which you construct and sustain a coherent, well-organized argument. Avoid clichés and meaningless generalizations. Be specific and thoughtful. If you use secondary sources in your essay, use standard bibliographical forms. Quote A: The body what we eat, how we dress, the daily rituals through which we attend to the body is a medium of culture In no case is this more strikingly true than in that of anorexia nervosa and bulimia, barely known a century ago, yet reaching epidemic proportions today. Far from being the result of superficial fashion phenomena, these disorders reflect and call our attention to some of the central ills of our culture. Susan Bordo, Unbearable Weight: Feminism, Western Culture and the Body Quote B: We lived in the country where roads were not paved Every day it seemed we complained about the long walk to the little white wood-frame schoolhouse and our father told us again and again about the many miles he had walked 3
to attend school. Generations of black people have known what it means to see education as the practice of freedom Growing up in a community where I would be sent here and there to read the Bible to Miss Zula because she does not know how, to read this and that, a letter, words on a detergent box to read to write for others. How could I not understand the need for literacy? How could I not long to know? And how could I forget that fundamentally the purpose of my knowing was so I could serve those who did not know, so that I could learn and teach my own education as the practice of freedom. bell hooks, Talking Back Quote C: The various disciplines that make up the arts and sciences are the cultural frames in terms of which attitudes are formed and lives conducted The interpretive study of culture represents an attempt to come to terms with the diversity of the ways human beings construct their lives in the act of leading them. Clifford Geertz, Local Knowledge Required Essay Questions Master of Business Administration in Global Leadership 1. Empire State College s MBA-GL program is designed for those who are interested in developing new business skills to effectively lead their organizations in today s highly competitive global environment. In this essay, we would like you to tell us about yourself in about 500 words, explaining your post-mba short-term and long-term career goals, and how Empire State College s MBA-GL program will help you to achieve these goals. In this essay, the admissions committee is looking for candidates who have valuable global business knowledge and/or skills, and can communicate their professional aspirations well. The committee also wants to know why Empire State College s MBA-GL is the right program for you. 2. Role-playing the Chief Executive You are the chief executive of a global industrial products company producing metal containers. Historically, your company has succeeded at maintaining a strong and stable return on investment by maintaining cost leadership in a relatively narrow product line and by limiting R&D to immediate process applications. You have a healthy balance sheet with very little debt. You have good labor relations, with a slightly higher than average payroll cost per employee, but low turnover and low training costs for your relatively experienced workforce. Your company has avoided the industry s tendency to broaden and diversify its product line and to invest in new technologies. The downside of your cautious strategy is that during the past decade your market share has slipped from second to fourth in a broadening industry. Moreover, a new product technology breakthrough by one of your global competitors may soon lead to a significant substitution of plastic for metal containers, although this is not yet known with certainty. You have no current R&D program exploring the development of a plastic container product. In addition, intense globalization and competitors pressures for cost reductions appear to challenge your cost leadership. You have decided to assemble a team of senior managers and other experts to explore your options. Describe the composition of the team you will assemble and what criteria you will use to select its members. Further, describe the questions that you will ask the team to explore. Discuss in no more than 1000 words, but in the most specific terms appropriate, the problem facing your firm and facing you as the CEO. You must accept as given the information provided, but you are free to make additional, reasonable assumptions as long as you state them in your essay and those assumptions do not materially alter the general nature of this problem. Outline for your team your short list of strategic options and pose questions that might best get at other options not yet on your short list. Discuss all relevant, general considerations (e.g., you should not neglect the financial implications of a strategic option calling for significant investments, but you need not describe the technical details of an issue of equity you think might be needed to pay for them.) In this essay, the admissions committee is looking for candidates with the capacity to frame well a large, general organizational problem, in a manner that reflects a good analytical understanding of the global business and organizational 4
problems facing a chief executive and in a form that reflects the candidate s ability to think and write critically. It should be understood that the committee is not interested in a demonstration of specific metal-container industry knowledge; candidates with such knowledge should refrain from data-driven analyses that give insufficient attention to general principles and to the exposition Required Essay Questions Master of Business Administration in Management 1. Empire State College s competency-based MBA program allows experienced professionals to accelerate through the program by awarding credit for MBA-level knowledge through assessment of prior academic and professional knowledge. The best candidates for this program have both valuable business knowledge and the ability to describe it well. In this essay, we would like you to tell us about yourself in about 500 words, describing the highlights of your professional career. Don t be humble: let us know about special challenges overcome, important accomplishments and any recognition you have received for work well done. In this essay, the admissions committee is looking for candidates who have valuable business knowledge and/or skill, and can communicate it well. The committee also wants to know why Empire State College s competency-based MBA in Management is the right program for you. 2. Please choose ONLY ONE of the following: A. Reflect on Managerial Competencies As a manager, you have frequently been challenged to respond to situations involving competing tensions or values. For example, a manager is expected to be productive and efficient, yet sensitive to the personal needs of his or her employees. Recent research on managerial leadership (referred to as the Competing Values Framework) has identified these eight roles essential for effective management: Producer, Director, Coordinator, Monitor, Facilitator, Mentor, Innovator and Broker. Reflecting on your own strengths, weaknesses and style as a manager choose some or all of these roles for a discussion of about 1000 words. How and in what situations do you perform these roles? Which roles do you perform best, which least well? If relevant, please describe a time in your career during which your level of competence in one of more roles improved significantly and how that improvement took place. Further, describe a role in which your performance is currently in need of improvement, and outline a plan for improving your competence in that area of management. The admissions committee is looking for candidates who can reflect well on the variety of challenges they face in building their managerial capacity, as well as on the special challenges of developing one s own competence with a focus on balancing the repertoire of roles essential for effective performance. OR B. Role-playing the Chief Executive You are the chief executive of an industrial products company producing metal containers. Historically, your company has succeeded at maintaining a strong and stable return on investment by maintaining cost leadership in a relatively narrow product line and by limiting R&D to immediate process applications. You have a healthy balance sheet with very little debt. You have good labor relations, with a slightly higher than average payroll cost per employee, but low turnover and low training costs for your relatively experienced workforce. Your company has avoided the industry s tendency to broaden and diversify its product line and to invest in new technologies. The downside of your cautious strategy is that during the past decade your market share has slipped from second to fourth in a broadening industry and a new product technology breakthrough by one of your competitors may soon lead to a significant substitution of plastic for metal containers, although this is not yet known with certainty. You have no current R&D program exploring the development of a plastic container product. You have decided to assemble a team or multiple teams of senior managers and other experts to explore your options. Describe the team or teams you will assemble and what criteria you will use to assemble them. Further, describe 5
the questions that you will ask of that team. Discuss in no more than 1000 words, but in the most specific terms appropriate, the problem facing your firm and facing you as its CEO. You must accept as given the information provided, but you are free to make additional, reasonable assumptions as long as you state them in your essay and those assumptions do not materially alter the general nature of this problem. Outline for your team your short list of strategic options and pose questions that might best get at other options not yet on your short list. Discuss all relevant, general considerations (e.g., you should not neglect the financial implications of a strategic option calling for significant investments, but you need not describe the technical details of an issue of equity you think might be needed to pay for them.) In this essay, the admissions committee is looking for candidates with the capacity to frame well a large, general organizational problem, in a manner that reflects a good analytical understanding of the general business and organizational problems facing a chief executive and in a form that reflects the candidate s ability to think and write critically. It should be understood that the committee is not interested in a demonstration of specific metal-container industry knowledge; candidates with such knowledge should refrain from data-driven analyses that give insufficient attention to general principles and to the exposition of their discussions. Required Essay Questions M.A. Adult Learning 1. The M.A. in Adult Learning is especially designed for those in the full range of settings in which learning in adulthood takes place: the private and public sector workplace, organizational and community life, formal education, social work and justice, health care the list goes on and those who wish to work in the field. In this first essay, you are asked to explore your own relationship to the field of adult learning. First, what is your current area of work? What is the basis of your commitments to the field in general and your own work in particular? Second, what do you hope to accomplish in the program? Do you have a general area of interest? Is there a question, theme, problem or issue that you wish to explore? Or this might be even more compelling do you have a focused project that you would like to bring to fruition through your master s degree? Is there, for example, a project or program proposal you would like to develop, a curriculum you would like to design, a book chapter/proposal or article you would like to write? In your answer, please be as specific as possible. This is your chance to introduce yourself, let us know who you are and what you want to do, and how the MA in Adult Learning can help you meet your goals. Your essay should be approximately 750-1000 words. Feel free in this essay to write in a personal, informal voice. 2. The following quotes take a variety of positions concerning the purposes and roles of adult learning. We invite you to use one of these quotes as a basis for essay #2. You may choose to agree or disagree with one of the quotes, discuss the quote in greater depth, or use it as a point of departure for developing ideas of your own. As you craft your essay, you should keep a number of points in mind: Your essay should be approximately 750-1000 words. In writing your essay, you may draw on your professional knowledge, your reading, and/or your general understanding of adult learning. This essay should be written in a more formal voice, as if you are already writing a paper for an academic assignment. You will not be judged for your opinion. You will be evaluated for the ways in which you construct and sustain a coherent, well-organized argument. Avoid clichés and meaningless generalizations. Be specific and thoughtful. If you use secondary sources in your essay, use standard bibliographical forms. 6
Quote A: What we want to do, what we must do, is ensure that every person currently in the workforce or approaching working age has access to the resources to achieve employability on his or her own terms. That is, all must have not only the skills and competencies to fulfill the needs of their present jobs but the ability, flexibility, and means to learn new skills and competencies as required. - Pamela Tate, Forward, Barry Sheckley, Lois Lamdin, and Morris Keeton, Employability in a High Performance Economy (1993) Quote B: We lived in the country where roads were not paved Every day it seemed we complained about the long walk to the little white wood-frame schoolhouse and our father told us again and again about the many miles he had walked to attend school. Generations of black people have known what it means to see education as the practice of freedom Growing up in a community where I would be sent here and there to read the Bible to Miss Zula because she does not know how, to read this and that, a letter, words on a detergent box to read to write for others. How could I not understand the need for literacy? How could I not long to know? And how could I forget that fundamentally the purpose of my knowing was so I could serve those who did not know, so that I could learn and teach my own education as the practice of freedom. bell hooks, Talking Back (1999) Quote C: The resource of highest value in adult education is the learner s experience.... Therefore all genuine education will keep doing and thinking together.... Experience is the adult learner s living textbook. - Edward Lindeman, The Meaning of Adult Education (1929) Required Essays M.A. in Community and Economic Development 1. In 250 words or less, describe your personal and career goals and explain why you believe this program will help you achieve them. 2. You are the mayor of an economically distressed city of 45,000 in upstate New York that has decided to hire a consultant to help plan the city s community and economic development. You are thinking about questions you will ask prospective consultants when you interview them next week. Once a thriving manufacturing center, your city is now in decline. Major employers have left the area, leaving only a hospital which is itself struggling because of the high number of uninsured patients that it serves. Though there is a county community college nearby, many of the city s youths leave for 4-year colleges and end up re-settling elsewhere. In the last ten years, this outflow has been stemmed only by immigrants entering the city. As you might expect, with business tax collections down, the remaining population bears an increasingly heavy burden just to keep the town running. Roads and bridges are deteriorating; the schools are also crumbling and classes are becoming larger as public funding declines. To make matters worse, the student population consists of a disproportionate number of special needs children. The population is aging rapidly and the decline of middle class life, once taken for granted, is reflected in a shrinking median income and a poverty rate that exceeds the national average. Please indicate what qualities you will seek in your consultant and the top five priorities that you would expect him/her to address in the interview. Thinking clearly about issues and expressing these thoughts in writing are important aspects of graduate study at Empire State College. In order to be considered for the graduate program, you must address all of the above questions in the form of a coherent, well-organized essay of two to three typewritten, double-spaced pages. 2
Required Essays M.A. in Learning and Emerging Technologies 1. In a coherent and well-organized essay of one to two pages (typed, double-spaced), provide a statement purpose, indicating your specific goals for the program, academic and/or professional preparation, and your ideas for a potential topic for your final project. 2. Submit a small sample of work using one or more digital tools (provide link to the digital sample as part of this essay)*, and a brief reflective essay (one to two pages, typed, double spaced) on the intended purpose of the sample, and critique of the final result which would include thoughts of what you would change or do differently to improve it. * A note on the digital sample: Interested candidates are encouraged to submit an application, regardless of perceived proficiency in using various digital tools. A digital sample of work is requested as a way to determine applicants comfort levels in navigating and producing in digital environments. The faculty is interested in seeing applicants capability and potential, and they understand the possible range of experiences and proficiencies that individuals may bring to the MALET program. Particular attention will be paid to the brief essay of critical reflection on the purpose, design and potential of the chosen sample. Examples of possible digital samples include, but are not limited to: Blog Personal website Portfolio (or portions of) Podcast Social networking page Photo gallery Video segment Customized form/template/brochure Customized flowchart/mindmpa/wireframe Virtual world avatar (profile) Machinima clip 3-D creation Required Essay Master of Arts in Teaching Thinking clearly about issues and expressing these thoughts in writing are important aspects of graduate study at Empire State College. So that we can learn more about your interest in becoming a teacher, we would like you to discuss the following question in a coherent; well-organized essay of three to four, typewritten, double-spaced pages. What is your motivation to become a middle or high school teacher and what do you think will make you a successful student in this program? Your essay might include some of the following points: Your interest in changing careers and pursuing a teaching certificate; Your understanding of the challenges of teaching; Any expertise you have acquired on the job that might transfer to a teaching situation; Any experiences that have helped you develop your insights and expertise in working with middle and/or adolescent youth; and The personal attributes and characteristics which enable teachers to work effectively with students between the ages of 12 and 17. 8
Criteria for Admission in Graduate Application Essay You must write and submit the required essay. The application review committee weighs the quality of your essays very heavily in their decision about whether you will be admitted to the program. The criteria considered in their review include: 1. whether the program is appropriate, given your interests, needs and background; 2. whether your basic writing skills (grammar, spelling, sentence structure, etc.) are sufficient for graduate-level study; 3. whether you are able to write a coherent, well organized essay in a style appropriate for graduate-level work in your academic field. The assigned essay must be original to this application and responsive to the specific questions (it is not intended to be a writing sample drawn from previous undergraduate or professional writing assignments). If you use any material from other sources/ authors, you must include appropriate academic documentation and citation. The essay should be two- to three-pages long (doublespaced). Aside from considering the quality of your essay in the decision about your admission to the program, your essay may be used in the process of advisement in your degree program. Decisions about requisite courses of study or other necessary remedial actions may be based on the quality of your essay, so you should make sure that it represents your best effort. Required Essay Master of Education in Teaching and Learning Why are you interested in the M.Ed. in Teaching and Learning, how can you contribute to the learning among your peers in the program, and what do you hope to achieve as a result of earning this degree? Rev. 7/13; 6/14 9