Personal Statement For Social Work

My intended major is Sociology. Once I earn my degree I intend to find a career in either social work or teaching. In choosing social work my focus will be low income families and programs that decrease social inequality. As a child I yearned for the ability to help people, to change someone’s life for the better and give them back the strength and hope they have lost through life’s battles. I gained this eagerness to provide assistance when my parents brought me to their homeland of Guatemala. Guatemala is a very poor country and I saw the despair and hopelessness of many while others still strived every day to elevate the lives of their family amidst poverty.

I began my social work studies over twenty-five years ago at Utah State University in Logan, Utah. I never questioned my decision to pursue a career in social work; I loved my classes and worked hard to learn as much as possible. But the information I gained in undergraduate school simply opened the doors of my education. Most of my learning has come through constant questioning, personal research, and especially through work and life experience. Through these experiences I have encountered the challenges faced by individuals, families, and society and have been able to further access and develop the innate personality traits and abilities that originally led me to study social work as well as learn and practice the many skills necessary to be a successful mental health counselor.

My main reason for applying to the Simmons School of Social Work is that it is an accredited university with an excellent reputation as an educational institution and offers an MSW program that is predominantly online. I attended Thomas Edison State University online and earned my bachelor’s degree with a GPA of 3.9. Once I made the decision to continue my education, I searched for MSW programs that were available online with CSWE accreditation in compliance with New Jersey State social work licensure. I found that Simmons’s specialized program in clinical social work is well suited for my educational needs.

The decision to take the clinical route as a second year MSW graduate student, was one that took no hesitation to make. My passion for children and the preservation of families have been a propelling factor in my Social Work career; both academically and professionally. These two entities have motivated me to remain steadfast on the journey to obtaining my MSW so I can continue to be a vessel for children and families who are in need of support and empowerment. The clinical spectrum of social work practice has strengthened my ability to work proficiently with multiple clients and perform well when assisting families in different realms of social work practice. The knowledge gained during my four years as an undergraduate BSW student and

Indian nationalist leader Mahatma Gandhi once stated, “The best way to find yourself is to lose yourself in the service of others”. This simple yet powerful quote motivates me to remain steadfast in the mission of aiding others. I’m pursing a Masters in social work because by working in this field, I can educate, advocate, motivate, understand, and encourage resilience to clients from every walk of life. It is a profession that will allow me to practice both on a micro and macro level simultaneously. Lastly, working in social work gives me the capacity to challenge policies affecting disadvantaged communities.

One thing that I have always been certain of when it comes to my future is that I want to inspire, help, and have a positive impact on as much people as possible. I want to fight for those that have no voice and create any necessary social change in my community. The field of social work would help me accomplish that. Social work is a broad field where I would be able to work with various populations of people throughout the community ranging from children to the elderly. I believe that by pursuing a master’s degree in social work I will have a sense of deep satisfaction knowing that I will be prepared to face any obstacle in my future as a social worker. I am aware that social work can be challenging but knowing that I will be able to advocate for others that are helpless and fight for social justice will be very rewarding. I first became interested in social work seven years ago, after my aunt and her husband decided to become foster parents, I would help my aunt take care of the children, and they were all very sweet kids that I will never forget. My aunt and her husband were given the opportunity to adopt a 5-year-old girl and shortly after were able to adopt her newborn sister. It was a very joyous day for our family when the adoption was finalized. During that time I met their social worker, she was a very kind and knowledgeable woman that inspired me to pursue a career in social work. I admired how passionate she was about her job and how much she enjoyed making an

As a woman diagnosed with social anxiety,I was entrusted to be under the care of a social worker so as to help me manage my disorder. Personally, I have gone through so many experiences which collectively made me develop a deeper insight into the roles of social workers as compared to other health caregivers. Besides that, I have seen a lot of transformative supports to people who have various social problems provided through the selfless care of the social workers. Subsequently, this further fueled my ambition to study and support the most disadvantaged and vulnerable persons in the society. I firmly believe that my motivation towards helping

The pursuit of a doctoral degree is both exciting and humbling for me. It is exciting that I have a clear vision of the career I want to pursue as an academic, and humbling to think of the great opportunity I could have to teach future social workers. Early motivation to enter the field of social work was in response to adverse childhood experiences with domestic violence, parental substance abuse, poverty, and homelessness —further complicated by foster care intervention. My foster care experience included five foster placements, enrollment in countless schools, countless lost relationships, and a failed adoption. Though these experiences created much hardship, they have certainly promoted resilience and helped lead me to my current ambition of seeking a Ph.D. As a recipient of foster care intervention, I exited state custody through legal permanence. Through education, advocacy, and direct social work practice with youth in residential treatment, I acquired new skills and insight to addressing social and child welfare problems. I am excited for the opportunity to promote the field of social work in the classroom and improve the lives of youth in the foster care system through my research.

I am pursuing a graduate degree in social work at this time because there is a great need for social workers to enhance the social well-being of disenfranchised persons. When I was growing up educational, environmental, and economic inequalities in my neighborhood meant hardship and uncertainty for youth and families. Witnessing the unaddressed trauma from these hardships in the community became a growing concern for me. Social workers are needed to assist with remedying the plight of the poor and disenfranchised.

I am writing to express interest in appointment as a Core Faculty Member in Social Work at Walden University. Attached is my vita for your review.

I value my education and I take my studies very seriously. To be given the opportunity to study Social Work further is highly significant to me and I intend to work for my master’s degree after graduating with my Bachelor’s in social work from Bennett College for Women. I am passionate about social work and I look forward to getting my MSW and making a difference in the community as well as people’s lives. I know that with a social work my goals can be accomplished and I will enjoy my career. I have gained some insight into Sexual Assault while being at an all women institution and seeing my peers take care of their own situations. My Bennett sisters who were victims of sexual assault suffer from depression, left the school and or wanted to commit suicide because of multiple reasons that made them feel unsafe. The difficulties they faced on a daily basis while suffering because the person that assaulted them did not receive any penalty and was allowed to still be on our campus. Another experience was a family member who was a victim and was told to keep it a family secret and could not rely on anyone to protect them. I also have a heart for working with Domestic Violence. During my adolescent years, I both witnessed and experienced Domestic Violence. This had a profound effect on me and after a process of soul searching as to the best use of my skills whilst at the same time satisfying a need to give something back, These personal experiences instilled in me further the

Social work is a career that finds and chooses you, rather than you selecting it. Social work has always been an immense portion of my life even when I had no recollection of what social work entailed. My life revolved around so many situations that had a social worker stepped in, my life would be totally different than it is today. Many individuals and agencies lack the compassion and empathy for oppressed people. Having been in many circumstances, has given me the experience and background that influenced me to go into social work, as well as the understanding of my role and responsibilities that I will assume as a professional social worker, and my reasons for selecting the program at ASU School of Social Work and thoughts on how the Mission Statement addresses my career goals.

Throughout my life, I have always loved helping people and enhancing them to be the best person they can be. My purpose for choosing to pursue social work as a degree is through the burning desire I have upheld to support individuals achieve their goals. I consider myself as someone who is keen on acquiring new skills and knowledge of understanding on a daily basis. This is due to my motivation and determination as those two things are essential to sustain as an individual. From previous experience obtained by working in a Care home & Nursery, I have always had a passion to guide individuals who are less able to do so.

Personal and Professional Statement My work and volunteer experience where aspects that encouraged my pursuit of a profession in social work I was a full-time volunteering at the YMCA Youth Institute. Much like a social worker, I held the responsibility of evaluating the weekly progress of each student, while accessing his or her individual needs. In addition to volunteering at YMCA, I also worked as a Senior Peer Advisor in the Educational Outreach Program through UC Santa Barbara. There, I gained experience working one-on-one with the students, dealing with numerous hardships.

I am a 19 year old college student who grew up in Aurora, Illinois. Right now I’m going to college at Northern Illinois University to pursue a degree in family and child studies. By achieving this degree, I hope to become a social worker, and eventually work with children in the foster system. Over the past 19 years many things have grown me into the person I am today. This last sentence is what I will examine through sociological imagination throughout this paper.