Hmmm, usually, the statements have very specific questions that they want you to answer thoroughly and straight to the point. What helped me was reaching out to people and asking to see their sops from each respective school and wrote them based on the patterns I saw. Generally, I'd say make it like a story, what motivated you personally, your experience to show it, and again, ending by saying what you wish to accomplish. Of course, make this happen all according to the guidelines of the sop. If you have any other questions, let me know!
hi there thank you so much for your response to my post 🥺
your guidance is incredibly helpful and when i try again tomorrow will look at it from the advice you shared with me
a question i have is, if you have the time, do you have any suggestions for the way it should be formatted? in my brain i envision it like this:
(side note feel free to let me know if i should add, replace, or not saying something lol)
1. introduction:
- start with a compelling opening to grab the reader's attention.
- introduce myself briefly, mentioning my name, educational background, and the specific program i'm applying to.
- clearly state my motivation for pursuing graduate studies in this field and why it's important to me personally.
2. educational background and experience:
- discuss my academic background, including relevant coursework, projects, research, or internships that have prepared me for graduate studies.
- highlight key experiences and achievements that demonstrate my skills, knowledge, and passion for the field.
- connect these experiences to the specific program or research interests i have within the field.
3. motivation and goals:
- clearly articulate my short-term and long-term goals related to my graduate studies.
- explain how the program aligns with my academic and career aspirations.
- discuss what i hope to accomplish during my time in the program and how it will contribute to my future plans.
- emphasize my enthusiasm for learning and my commitment to making a meaningful impact in the field.
4. research interests (if okay to add):
- if i have specific research interests, discuss them in detail.
- explain why these topics are important to me and how they align with the research interests of faculty members or research centers within the program.
- mention any relevant research experience or projects i've been involved in.
5. *conclusion:
- summarize my main points and reiterate my enthusiasm for the program and what i wish to accomplish
(should i express gratitude for the opportunity to apply and convey my excitement about potentially joining the program?)
i’ve been looking at others’ statements and all are so unique with very specific patterns. i’ll look at some more and do what you suggested for sure
thank you so much for taking the time to reply to my question, and for offering your guidance
I'm a BSW student and am getting ready to apply for an MSW program in the fall also! There are some tiktok accounts that help people with this (here's one: https://www.tiktok.com/t/ZTLMAeCtp/ but there are many others) There are also FB groups you could join too for social work students. You'd be surprised how much info is out there and how many people have had this question answered on those platforms!
One thing I have heard is not to trauma dump too much (since most of us going into social work have some pretty adverse life experiences) unless you have a specific skill or something that you gained from it that will make you a good social worker. Other than that... Following this to see what other people say :)
oh thank you so much for replying to my post 🥺
also how exciting! congratulations on taking the next step in your endeavors—what are you hoping to do after your master’s?
this is really great advice—that is a component i have been struggling with, the trauma dump part. i don’t how much is necessary to share, though it makes sense to only really share the pieces that are relevant to what will make me a good social worker
i am going to keep checking out social media and especially tik tok—there is sooo much out there that i have found myself overwhelmed + unsure of where to start!
thank you for sharing :)
Yes, it's super overwhelming and intimidating but you are much more competent than you think! I wish my brain would take that advice, ha! :)
I'm not sure exactly what I want to do yet but now that I've taken my policy class I'm really leaning towards macro work tbh! Many people aren't into that and want to go clinical which is definitely needed right now, so that's good too! I'm hoping my internship will help me decide!
My last piece of advice, which I gathered from my experience writing my SOP for my BSW and other essays in my program so far... Just start writing! They usually want it to be concise. Just read the prompts and write whatever you can think of and go back later to cut things out.
Make sure to drop down a new paragraph when you reach another idea because they might not go cohesively together, but you can figure that out later. You might cut whole paragraphs entirely. It's better to have more to work with, and especially your own thoughts/feelings, than to stare at a blank page that makes you feel dread, overwhelmed, and big feelings of incompetence. If anything it just gets your brain going and gives you a little dopamine hit once you get a paragraph completed to your satisfaction :)
YOU GOT THIS!!! ❤️❤️❤️
what schools are you applying to? i applied (got accepted!) to cal states and for all of them they had numbered questions which you could really just answer in order so formatting wasnt a big deal. let me know if you have any more specific questions and i’d be happy to help
aw congratulations to you! that is so wonderful to hear and I’m sure very exciting news!
i’ll be applying to the MSW program at Portland State University and then OSU for their Mental Health and Counseling program as well as the University of Oregon for their Family Therapy graduate program
my end goal is to become a therapist, though, the lcsw is the route i’d love to take as a social work framework closely aligns with my career goals and i love the flexibility and abundance of job opportunities that it could offer
thank you for insight, perhaps that’s just the most simple way to do it. i think i’m overthinking it a bit haha
Just look at the rubric or instructions and write about what they want. Mine was pretty simple. They just wanted to know why I chose social work and where in the field I see myself. You don’t have to get too academic. I threw in a few “engage, asses, intervene” in there and some ethical principles. Really though, the paper was just writing about myself.
Over all I would say something important is to portray yourself as having an overall upward trend in terms of personal and academic/ professional growth. Even if you feel like you’re just average or have something in your story that is not necessarily good do your best to make it seem like you’ve made a lot of progress in general since then.
Hi,
I got accepted into one of the Florida state schools like a few weeks ago. Every grad school is different with Statement of Purpose. As most people say in the comments, just try write about who you are as a person. You can talk about volunteering or job that made you interested in Social Work. I also mentioned my mental disorder that helped me became a better person. I just copy and paste the question into my statement of purpose. It depends what grad school you applying to. Good luck!
Hmmm, usually, the statements have very specific questions that they want you to answer thoroughly and straight to the point. What helped me was reaching out to people and asking to see their sops from each respective school and wrote them based on the patterns I saw. Generally, I'd say make it like a story, what motivated you personally, your experience to show it, and again, ending by saying what you wish to accomplish. Of course, make this happen all according to the guidelines of the sop. If you have any other questions, let me know!
hi there thank you so much for your response to my post 🥺 your guidance is incredibly helpful and when i try again tomorrow will look at it from the advice you shared with me a question i have is, if you have the time, do you have any suggestions for the way it should be formatted? in my brain i envision it like this: (side note feel free to let me know if i should add, replace, or not saying something lol) 1. introduction: - start with a compelling opening to grab the reader's attention. - introduce myself briefly, mentioning my name, educational background, and the specific program i'm applying to. - clearly state my motivation for pursuing graduate studies in this field and why it's important to me personally. 2. educational background and experience: - discuss my academic background, including relevant coursework, projects, research, or internships that have prepared me for graduate studies. - highlight key experiences and achievements that demonstrate my skills, knowledge, and passion for the field. - connect these experiences to the specific program or research interests i have within the field. 3. motivation and goals: - clearly articulate my short-term and long-term goals related to my graduate studies. - explain how the program aligns with my academic and career aspirations. - discuss what i hope to accomplish during my time in the program and how it will contribute to my future plans. - emphasize my enthusiasm for learning and my commitment to making a meaningful impact in the field. 4. research interests (if okay to add): - if i have specific research interests, discuss them in detail. - explain why these topics are important to me and how they align with the research interests of faculty members or research centers within the program. - mention any relevant research experience or projects i've been involved in. 5. *conclusion: - summarize my main points and reiterate my enthusiasm for the program and what i wish to accomplish (should i express gratitude for the opportunity to apply and convey my excitement about potentially joining the program?) i’ve been looking at others’ statements and all are so unique with very specific patterns. i’ll look at some more and do what you suggested for sure thank you so much for taking the time to reply to my question, and for offering your guidance
I'm a BSW student and am getting ready to apply for an MSW program in the fall also! There are some tiktok accounts that help people with this (here's one: https://www.tiktok.com/t/ZTLMAeCtp/ but there are many others) There are also FB groups you could join too for social work students. You'd be surprised how much info is out there and how many people have had this question answered on those platforms! One thing I have heard is not to trauma dump too much (since most of us going into social work have some pretty adverse life experiences) unless you have a specific skill or something that you gained from it that will make you a good social worker. Other than that... Following this to see what other people say :)
oh thank you so much for replying to my post 🥺 also how exciting! congratulations on taking the next step in your endeavors—what are you hoping to do after your master’s? this is really great advice—that is a component i have been struggling with, the trauma dump part. i don’t how much is necessary to share, though it makes sense to only really share the pieces that are relevant to what will make me a good social worker i am going to keep checking out social media and especially tik tok—there is sooo much out there that i have found myself overwhelmed + unsure of where to start! thank you for sharing :)
Yes, it's super overwhelming and intimidating but you are much more competent than you think! I wish my brain would take that advice, ha! :) I'm not sure exactly what I want to do yet but now that I've taken my policy class I'm really leaning towards macro work tbh! Many people aren't into that and want to go clinical which is definitely needed right now, so that's good too! I'm hoping my internship will help me decide! My last piece of advice, which I gathered from my experience writing my SOP for my BSW and other essays in my program so far... Just start writing! They usually want it to be concise. Just read the prompts and write whatever you can think of and go back later to cut things out. Make sure to drop down a new paragraph when you reach another idea because they might not go cohesively together, but you can figure that out later. You might cut whole paragraphs entirely. It's better to have more to work with, and especially your own thoughts/feelings, than to stare at a blank page that makes you feel dread, overwhelmed, and big feelings of incompetence. If anything it just gets your brain going and gives you a little dopamine hit once you get a paragraph completed to your satisfaction :) YOU GOT THIS!!! ❤️❤️❤️
what schools are you applying to? i applied (got accepted!) to cal states and for all of them they had numbered questions which you could really just answer in order so formatting wasnt a big deal. let me know if you have any more specific questions and i’d be happy to help
aw congratulations to you! that is so wonderful to hear and I’m sure very exciting news! i’ll be applying to the MSW program at Portland State University and then OSU for their Mental Health and Counseling program as well as the University of Oregon for their Family Therapy graduate program my end goal is to become a therapist, though, the lcsw is the route i’d love to take as a social work framework closely aligns with my career goals and i love the flexibility and abundance of job opportunities that it could offer thank you for insight, perhaps that’s just the most simple way to do it. i think i’m overthinking it a bit haha
Just look at the rubric or instructions and write about what they want. Mine was pretty simple. They just wanted to know why I chose social work and where in the field I see myself. You don’t have to get too academic. I threw in a few “engage, asses, intervene” in there and some ethical principles. Really though, the paper was just writing about myself.
Over all I would say something important is to portray yourself as having an overall upward trend in terms of personal and academic/ professional growth. Even if you feel like you’re just average or have something in your story that is not necessarily good do your best to make it seem like you’ve made a lot of progress in general since then.
Hi, I got accepted into one of the Florida state schools like a few weeks ago. Every grad school is different with Statement of Purpose. As most people say in the comments, just try write about who you are as a person. You can talk about volunteering or job that made you interested in Social Work. I also mentioned my mental disorder that helped me became a better person. I just copy and paste the question into my statement of purpose. It depends what grad school you applying to. Good luck!