Statement of Purpose

Students must submit a personal statement of no more than five typed, double-spaced pages which addresses the applicant’s:

1. Interest in pursuing the profession of social work
2. Volunteer work and paid work experiences,
3. Future career plans,
4. Community involvement
5. Personal quality that the applicant brings to the social work profession

I. What is your understanding of the social work profession?
II. Career Goals
A. What interested you in pursuing social work as a profession?
B. How did this interest develop?
C. In what special fields of social work do you have an interest?
D. If you trained for or worked in another field, why are you proposing to get a social work
degree?
III. Life Experiences Related to Social Work
A. Social work requires working with people of diversified backgrounds with varied problems and
the capacity for understanding and helping people. What experiences have you had in
working with people of diversified backgrounds and how would these experiences help you
work with people of diversified backgrounds?
B. In what other ways have your experiences contributed to your interest in social work?
Describe experiences in family relationships, group relationships, work, volunteer, recreational
activities, etc., which you think affect your potential for social work.
C. What are your strengths, as you perceive them, which you think will stand you in good stead
as a social worker?
D. What professional areas do you target for growth as you engage in social work?
IV. Graduate School Readiness
A. Graduate School is time consuming and academically challenging. How do you plan to
balance the demands of your personal life with the academic demands of graduate school ?
B. All MSW programs require experiential learning though field education courses that take place
in an agency setting as an integral part of social work education. Due to the experiential
nature and supervision requirements, field education courses will be completed in an agency
setting during normal business hours to provide an opportunity to develop competencies in
areas prescribed by the Council on Social Work Education educational standards (evenings
and weekends are the exception). This is often challenging for part-time, online students or
students trying to work full-time. Please describe your plan to be available to intern in the
agency during normal business hours to ensure field is a successful part of your educational
experience.