If you are applying for social work, you must write a personal social work statementWhy do you want to study social work?.
In this article, I have included my own personal statement below. This was my personal statement that ultimately helped me get a place at the University of Nottingham (UK). I hope it serves as an example for you to learn from.
Also, I wanted to add some tips that helped me to write a personal statement.
1. Set a deadline for your personal statement.
No job will be perfect. However, we often fall into the error of writing and rewriting, editing and re-editing. We believe we can make the perfect personal statement that guides us into social work.
We can't make it perfect. Before you start writing, you need to know when to stop and send. There is a Chinese proverb that goes 画蛇添足 (paint snake legs). It tells the story of an art competition. During this competition, an artist, striving for perfection, added legs to his painting of a snake. Of course he lost.
The moral of the story is that there will never be a perfect picture or personal statement. What matters is that you tried.
2. Start writing your personal statement.
Often our pursuit of perfection or simply procrastination prevents us from writing. We often try to plan in detail without actually writing. In my experience I was pressed for time. They had awarded me a scholarship but not offered me a place on the course. Due to the urgency of the matter, I had to write quickly. I had to submit.
There was no time to think.
Instead of spending too much time thinking, just start writing. Writing has a magical way of organizing your thoughts. You can always come back later to edit it.
3. Include real-life examples of why you want to study social work.
As you can see below I have included examples of my own experiences of helping a social worker and supporting others as a volunteer. The truth is: facts count, stories sell. Stories bring a different side of you to the app panel. they make you real
Be clear about your role as you write your stories. What did you contribute? What did you do? What was your effect? did someone praise you
Second, connect it to the broader motivation for social work. What has your experience taught you? What made you decide to pursue a career in social work?
Finally, some clarification is needed.Why is social work important to you?
4. Edit your personal declaration.
Grammar and spelling mistakes are taboo. They show that you haven't put as much effort into your personal testimony as you should. As you work, print a copy of your personal statement, then read it out loud.
Second, reading aloud will help you understand the arguments. This allows you to see if the arguments make sense, flow well, and connect in a compelling way.
This advice from the book by Cal Newporthow to be a straight studentIt helped me a lot, you can read it if you like.Get your first too!
5. Give your personal statement to someone else to read.
Luckily I had a friend who was a social worker. She agreed to read my personal statement. From this reading he gave me valuable feedback on what I could improve.
Having someone else to read eliminates our blind spots. After interacting so much with your personal statement, you may be too emotionally invested in it to cut out bits that aren't that great. So if you have someone else your essay will be so much better.
I hope the tips here will help you craft a better personal statement on why study social work.
Sample identity card
This was the personal statement I wrote that finally allowed me to be included in theBachelor of Social Work von der University of Nottingham.
Winston Churchill once said, "We live by what we get, we live by what we give." In fact, I have come to see how a life well lived is one by which we live from the generosity of our hearts give. With a desire to bring about positive change in the society that surrounds me and to contribute to the community that has nurtured me, studying social work develops the necessary experience to help the communities that surround me.
My desire to study social work stems from a desire to help people deal with life's bewildering complexities, for which there is often no right problem-solving method, let alone right answer. What sparked my interest in social work was a direct encounter with social workers who inspired me to do social work.
I remember in college seeing my mother bending over the toilet bowl and throwing up the remains of her previous meal. Days later, she was stripped of her beautiful, once lustrous hair. Seeing my mother buried under the covers trying to keep warm, I felt helpless. My mother was diagnosed with breast cancer in June. The months that followed were a harrowing experience.
I had so often been accustomed to the pillar of strength my mother represented and seeing her reduced to such a state, shattered by the destruction caused by cancer, frightened and frightened me. As the eldest in the family, I had to take on additional chores at home in addition to my academic work. It was difficult to juggle the different commitments. There were times when exhaustion got the better of me, so I fell asleep in my uniform and only woke up to fight another day.
However, I was fortunate to have the guidance of a social worker who helped me regain my emotional balance. It allowed me to stand on my own two feet again and anchored me amidst the changes that were happening around me. Because they have helped me so much, I want to offer lifelines of help to others, helping them find greater emotional stability and ultimately ascend to a more fulfilling life.
Fascinated by the complexities of social work, I joined YGOS, a charity that cares for young people from disadvantaged backgrounds, as an intern. There I worked with young people who had underachievement in school and had behavioral problems. I have enjoyed the opportunity to mentor these young people personally and to work closely with them to improve their academic qualifications and attitude towards learning. Helping to shape it positively revealed the potential that social work offered to bring about real change in the community around me.
I am enthusiastic about the many opportunities that an apprenticeship abroad offers me. Exposure to another welfare system will improve my perspectives on the different welfare models in the world and broaden my horizons on the advantages and disadvantages that each welfare system inherently possesses. Studying abroad will take me out of my comfort zone and force me to live independently. Experiencing a different culture, environment and country will open my eyes to the diversity in the world and I will begin to see the world through a different lens.
Outside of school, I regularly volunteer with the Singapore Movement for the Intellectually Disabled. In one of my first volunteer experiences, I was teaching a child to write the alphabet "A". After struggling for thirty minutes, he raised his arms and exclaimed, "I don't know how to write that!" Writing such a simple alphabet had given him many difficulties.
It was a reminder that when searching for that academic “A” in our lives, having the opportunity to search is a great blessing. Regular volunteering has equipped me with empathy that will help me better understand my clients' needs and find sustainable solutions for them.
Through social work, I hope to impact the world by shaping it one person at a time, community by community, guiding my clients through some of their darkest emotional tunnels and helping them find the light again.