MSW Statement of Purpose

[kuhori_rei]

Hello, applyingtograd! I am in the process of doing my applications for MSW programs, and I am hardcore freaking out. I haven't written a "please love me" essay since high school, and I'm a little out of practice!

My first-choice school is the George Warren Brown School of Social Work at Washington University in St. Louis. This is my first draft of my statement

Comments

[indicolite]

Your first few paragraphs are superfluous; they retell what the adcom can read off your transcript, and it isn't relevant. Lots of people start with one major and end up in a different one for grad school. Sorry to be brutal but: no one cares that you're a late bloomer; many people apply to graduate school in their thirties or forties, or even later. No one cares, either, what other careers you may have considered, or who told you about doing an MSW

[hlh5f9]

I don't really have any comments about the SOP, but I wanted to chime in as a former GWB MSW student as Wash U-I would think very strongly about why this is your #1 choice. Your background sounds fine-I was accepted with a much lower undergrad GPA from a large state school as a history and Spanish major. It's a very, very, very expensive school for a job that typically doesn't have a huge starting salary, and a lot of people I know are stuck working BSW level jobs even though they have an MSW, because most MSW jobs require experience, which most people don't have straight out of school

[sumrndmgrl]

First few paragraphs - Can be condensed. I don't think they need the whole story of how you got to where you are in terms of the field you chose. But then again, social work may be different because they may want more personal touches on essays since you deal directly with people (versus math or science applicants, they may want more academic based essays). Check with other people applying to be sure