Personal statement for admission into an MSW Online program
I am writing this goal statement to apply for the Master of Social Work. My concentration is Applied Clinical Practice.
Personal/professional goals
I intend to work with juvenile delinquents. Having grown in a neighborhood where I observed many of these children, I feel I can relate to them quite well. This course will allow me to assist these troubled children in leading a better lifestyle; to make a new sense of their lives. I believe that the program will equip me with research and problem-solving skills that will boost my capabilities of intervening in these children’s lives. I also think that the knowledge I get from this program will improve my advocacy skills.
Academic experience
I do not have a background in social work. Instead, I earned a degree in legal studies, after which I did an internship at an immigration office. I believe, however, that my legal studies education awards me an ample foundation for social work. For example, many juvenile delinquents do not choose to be in that state. It is their socio-economic and legal statuses that prescribe that living for them. Many of them are victims of domestic violence, poverty, drug abuse, and child labor. Working to address these challenges will, therefore, be valuable to children whose problems society neglects in different ways. With my experience in the law, I can help these children and their families to get the legal interventions that will ultimately change their statuses and improve their integration into the community.
Work/other experience
I have no work experience in social work. Back in high school, I used to coach cheerleading in my old elementary school. My encounters with families at the immigration office, however, raised my concern for children who enter crime because they cannot get the opportunity enjoyed by others. I have realized that some people do not have the chance to live up to their dreams. Many of the children I observed while growing up were foreign-born, unable to secure decent housing and education. While working at the immigration office, I revisited these challenges, only this time from a different perspective. Some of the clients I have served cannot get their children to school because they did not have the proper documentation as citizens. Others complained of racially-perpetrated discrimination in employment and housing. Most of these encounters were not official, only my initiatives in trying to understand why some people lack opportunities and others have them. From these encounters, I discovered that our legal system does not adequately represent the needs of all people. I determine to resolve these challenges from a social work perspective.
Personal Qualities
I am a concerned, determined, and compassionate person. I am also diligent and can work through a problem until I can resolve it. I am good at negotiation, mediation, and advocacy. Back in my cheerleading job, I learned to work in and lead teams. I am also resourceful with the right experience to be able to intervene in legal matters.
Why Walden?
Many of my high school friends have undertaken a social work graduate program in Walden and are presently successful in their careers. The university has a fully-fledged social work faculty. Most of the alumni of which I am aware have graduated there and developed beautiful professions. I prefer the online program because it will allow me unrestricted access to instruction, especially during this time when schools do not offer in-class sessions.