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Graduate (MS/MA)

What Reviewers Look For in the Communication Strategy Master’s Statement

This review looks at whether your statement explains why communication work matters to you, what you learned from your experience, how you think about audiences, and how graduate training supports your next step. It also checks whether your writing is clear, organized, complete, and focused on the instructions actually supplied by the program.

4 scored dimensionsScore range: 0–5

What We Check

1
Why Communication Work Matters to You

Whether the writer's interest identifies communication work worth learning to do.

2
What Your Experience Taught You

How the writer's own action or study produced learning they can bring to graduate work.

3
Audience Reasoning

Why an approach to communication fits the people and situation it concerns.

4
How the Training Serves Your Next Step

Whether graduate training has an identifiable educational use in the writer's account.

Mistakes We Flag

Using broad claims instead of a reason
Saying you have always been a people person or that communication is important does not explain the communication work you want to learn to do.
Listing experience without explaining your learning
Platform names, employer names, or a general campaign description do not show what you did or what your experience taught you.
Leaving your role unclear
If you describe a group project or campaign, readers need to understand your own contribution rather than only what “we” accomplished.
Choosing a channel because it is popular
A strong explanation connects an approach to what a particular audience needs to understand, decide, access, or trust.
Naming courses or prestige instead of a learning purpose
Faculty praise, rankings, or a course title alone do not explain what you would learn and how that learning serves your next step.

How this rubric reads your essay

  • Built from published reader guidance — the sources are listed below.
  • Scored per section against defined criteria, not general impressions.
  • Calibrated for consistent scoring, so a better draft shows up in the score.
How the scoring works →

Frequently Asked Questions

Do I need a communication major or professional communication job to write this statement?

No such background is required for this writing review. Coursework, employment, volunteering, community participation, and informed future learning aims can all provide material; admissions prerequisites are set separately by each program.

Do I need to describe a successful campaign with measurable results?

No. An ordinary task, class assignment, community activity, mistake, inconclusive response, or changed understanding can support your statement. Do not treat views alone as proof that an audience understood, trusted, or acted.

Do I need to name specific faculty or have management experience?

No such credential is required for this writing review. A curriculum area, course, supervised project, or other educational feature can explain how training would help you learn; admissions prerequisites are set separately by each program.

How long should my statement be?

Follow the receiving program’s supplied instructions. This review does not set one shared length: if no numeric limit is supplied, length alone is not treated as a problem.

Get AI feedback on your draft with a free Quick Review. Full Reviews add rubric scores and revision suggestions. Follow your program’s current writing instructions and assistance policies.

See how statement of purpose review works