Let’s face it: writing a personal statement for MFA applications is hard.
You know your writing is strong, but distilling your creativity, passion, and potential into 2–3 pages that persuade a committee to choose you over hundreds of applicants is a whole different skill.
New York Times bestselling author and essayist Jasmin Darznik has been on both sides of this process—as an applicant and now as the person making admissions decisions. In this intimate workshop, Jasmin will share what works (and what absolutely doesn’t) when crafting a personal statement that gets noticed.
By the end, you’ll walk away with concrete tools and strategies to write a personal statement that highlights not just your writing ability, but your unique perspective and potential as a graduate student.
What you’ll learn:
- What makes committees pay attention
- How to write about your “why”
- Effective structures for your statement
- How to approach the “why this program” section
Instructor Bio:
Jasmin Darznik is a New York Times bestselling author and Chair of the MFA Writing Program at California College of the Arts. She is the author of three acclaimed books, including the memoir The Good Daughter and the novels Song of a Captive Bird and The Bohemians, with a forthcoming novel about Rita Hayworth. As an accomplished essayist and program director, she reads hundreds of MFA applications each year and knows exactly what makes committees say yes. Darznik holds an MFA in Fiction from Bennington and a PhD in English from Princeton.
