Statement of Purpose and Outline of Proposed Course of Study

The two-page Statement of Purpose should elaborate, clearly and precisely, your purpose for entering the MSAED program, your proposed area of study, and describe any particular interest(s) and preparation in the field. It should delineate your intellectual and practical background for graduate school. As well as your perspective on how the College of Architecture and Environmental Design at Kent State University and its resources would enable you to find an intellectual platform for your scholarly and research output. You should give the committee a sense of who you are and why you feel that the MSAED degree will help you reach your research and career goals. In general, you need to describe your accomplishments, and practical experiences in such a way that makes you an interesting candidate. Thus enabling the committee to match you with a faculty advisor with similar research interest.

Suggested Content

1. The document usually starts with a brief introduction about yourself, your background, and your general interests.
2. Summarize your relevant undergraduate experience and describe how it prepared you for a research-based graduate degree program. Please describe any significant research work you conducted by yourself or with a faculty or research advisor.
3. Indicate current activities. These include, but are not limited to extra-curricular activities, summer internships, teaching or research assistantships. Try to direct the write-up to indicate how this experience was supportive of your decision to embark on your graduate research focus.
4. Elaborate on the topic on which you will concentrate during your graduate program of study. In this section, you need to indicate you desired research area and state some of the questions and concerns associated with the topic based on your previous experiences and investigations.
5. To support your statement, look on the website and research the program, the College of Architecture and Environmental Design, Kent State University, and the region; its faculty, resources, and opportunities. Please indicate if there are professors or current research projects in which you may engage.
6. Finally, end your statement in a positive and exciting manner that clearly demonstrates your readiness for the challenges of the a new program

Letters of Recommendation

Submit letters of recommendation completed by persons who are familiar with your academic record, accomplishments, your character, your educational goals and ability to achieve them. A (minimum of three recommendations required at least two of which are from professors who have taught or supervised the applicant in an academic setting. The format is the Recommendation Form, which can be downloaded from the Graduate College Forms Library.

Portfolio of Research and Design Work

This portfolio represents a record of the applicants’ experiences in conducting research in any form. It contains examples of academic or professional product in a written, an orally presented, or in graphical design formats. In any of these formats, the presented examples should clearly demonstrate applicant’s aptitude for research and inquiry. Submitting research papers or reports, presentations, or design work is not sufficient by itself. The committee needs to see a description of the projects, types of research conducted, facilities, and the role of the applicant in a multi-author projects or papers. The portfolio may be submitted as a single PDF formatted 8 1/2x11 or A4 file not exceeding 5 MB in size. The suggested document structure is as follows:

1. Title page: This page includes the applicant’s name, program of interest, and a title of the portfolio
2. Table of Contents: It is preferred if the items are linked to the referred document
3. A page in front of every submitted document describing the context of research and the role of the applicant
4. The document itself (papers, reports, design projects, grants, etc.)

Submitting Application Materials

Please submit all application materials electronically via the application portal. Select "Finish or check the status of your application" and log in with credentials you used to start your application.

If electronic submission is not possible, a hardcopy may be sent to:
Division of Graduate Studies
116 Cartwright Hall
650 Hilltop Drive
Kent State University
Kent, OH 44242-0001

Assistantships

Those applying for Graduate, Teaching or Research Assistantship must complete the Application for Graduate Assistantship form, which is downloadable from the Graduate Studies Forms Library. Completed assistantship applications may uploaded to your application portal along with other required documents such as current vita/resume.

Program Coordinator

Reid Coffman, MLA, Ph.D.
Associate Professor
rcoffma4@kent.edu 
216.337.5934 

Academic Recruitment and Retention Coordinator

Deb Lamm
dlamm@kent.edu
330.672.0351

Academic Advisor II

Federica Gardner
fgardne1@kent.edu 
330.672.2917