Ducky
Feb 28, 2010
Graduate / New Requirement = Odd Twist on the Personal Statement [3]
Hello,
I am applying to MSW programs. I have a BA in psych, and so am not overly familiar with the terms and constructs used in social work studies.
It seems that, since all of the "getting into grad school" advice I've read was written, many schools of social work have begun asking the prospective student to incorporate an analysis of a social problem and their recommendations for solutions into their entrance essays. This is not always presented as a separate essay, but is to be incorporated into the personal statement, and therein lies my confusion.
Here are the instructions for the one I'm working on:
"A supplementary statement that addresses all four of the following topics (follows four topics of which the first two are copied):
1. Describe a social problem. Assuming you have the power and resources at your disposal, what would you recommend for intervention and/or social change to address the social problem? 2. Describe how your personal and intellectual qualifications, past human service experience and/or future goals are relevant to assisting the" ....
... and so on with the usual personal essay stuff.
Here is my question:
It is clear that these are to be woven together into the same essay. My professional goals are focused on interpersonal practice at the micro level. When one discusses a "social problem", one is generally referring to a larger issue (granted, larger issues have expressions at the micro level, but since my interests are in addressing the varied psychosocial issues experienced by a certain population and not in systematically addressing large societal issues, this seems like a real stretch). I would prefer to describe the type of issue I am interested in aiming my studies and practice toward over picking a larger social issue to discuss and then attempting to tie it into something I would be likely to experience in my (hopefully) upcoming career, since the latter approach seems bound to feel faked. However, I think that so doing might run afoul of the instructions. Do you have any suggestions for how I can break this block?
Thank you.
Hello,
I am applying to MSW programs. I have a BA in psych, and so am not overly familiar with the terms and constructs used in social work studies.
It seems that, since all of the "getting into grad school" advice I've read was written, many schools of social work have begun asking the prospective student to incorporate an analysis of a social problem and their recommendations for solutions into their entrance essays. This is not always presented as a separate essay, but is to be incorporated into the personal statement, and therein lies my confusion.
Here are the instructions for the one I'm working on:
"A supplementary statement that addresses all four of the following topics (follows four topics of which the first two are copied):
1. Describe a social problem. Assuming you have the power and resources at your disposal, what would you recommend for intervention and/or social change to address the social problem? 2. Describe how your personal and intellectual qualifications, past human service experience and/or future goals are relevant to assisting the" ....
... and so on with the usual personal essay stuff.
Here is my question:
It is clear that these are to be woven together into the same essay. My professional goals are focused on interpersonal practice at the micro level. When one discusses a "social problem", one is generally referring to a larger issue (granted, larger issues have expressions at the micro level, but since my interests are in addressing the varied psychosocial issues experienced by a certain population and not in systematically addressing large societal issues, this seems like a real stretch). I would prefer to describe the type of issue I am interested in aiming my studies and practice toward over picking a larger social issue to discuss and then attempting to tie it into something I would be likely to experience in my (hopefully) upcoming career, since the latter approach seems bound to feel faked. However, I think that so doing might run afoul of the instructions. Do you have any suggestions for how I can break this block?
Thank you.