Personal statement advice

[smilie2131]

Hi All,

I want to thank you in advance for your suggestions. I am applying for Master's program in counseling, and am working on my personal statement. However, I'm grappling with how "personal" I should be. I need to answer the question, why I want to be a counselor and explain my career objectives.

So the reason I want to be a counselor is that I am a member of a minority group who is in desparate need of mental health professionals (and b/c I think the field is extremely interesting and rewarding). However, I'm afraid that this may come off in a bad way, that I only want to help people in my own culture (which isn't true). I guess my main motivation is to serve this underserved population, but I wouldn't limit myself to only this group.

I was also curious as to how specific my career objective should be? I know generally what I would like to be doing. I would like to counsel kids, parent education, and working with trauma victims. However, I'm not sure where I would like to work after graduation (e.g., hospital, community organization, school based mental health center).

Any thoughts/suggestions would be greatly appreciated!

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[lizzo76]

I am currently pursuing an MS in Occupational Therapy, not counseling, but I have written many many personal statements and been accepted to many grad programs (and attended two.) I also worked in higher education for many years and have generally been really interested in issues related to higher education (used to regularly read The Chronicle of Higher Education, etc..) So, I think my advice is at least somewhat well-informed.

I think it would be perfectly appropriate for you to mention the fact that you are a member of a minority group which is in need of mental health professionals. It gives you a "compelling reason" for wanting to pursue counseling as a career, and I think it's a much better answer than just saying that you find it "interesting and rewarding." It also shows that you know a little something about the state of the field today, and particularly what's going on with certain underserved populations. To be honest, I think an admissions committee would eat that up. And I don't want to sound obnoxious and offensive, but the "diversity" movement is still alive and well in academia. All I mean to suggest with that is that I think just about any program would be happy to be able to have a qualified minority student who says she wants to become a counselor so she can meet a need which is not currently being met. It's funny that you're worried about saying that, because I think other people would love to be able to genuinely make that statement.

My approach to personal statements has been to be as personal as I can be without being inappropriate or appearing to try to turn a sob story into an acceptance letter. But, for example, my father suffered a severe head injury when I was very little, and has been disabled ever since, and I plan to write about this experience in my personal statements for OT programs.

At the same time, I think it's fine to be somewhat vague about your ultimate goals. Programs want to know that you've done your research and understand a bit about the field, but at the same time, they can't expect you to know exactly where you want to work - you haven't been through the program yet, so you really can't know your preferences.

 

[smilie2131]

Thanks for your response lizzo76. It was really helpful. But I'm wondering if your advice would still be the same if you knew I was a member of a religious minority instead of an ethnic minority?

Thanks!

 

[smilie2131]

other suggestions would be greatly appreciated!!

 

[jessalynne]

I've worked in admissions offices and I also was admitted to every MSW program to which I applied.

Here are my thoughts:

There is a difference between addressing a service gap and wanting to only serve yourself.

When you speak about wanting to work with a minority population based on your experiences, you are addressing a service gap. That is, you are identifying a need in a population and wanting to fill that need. This is exactly what social work school is about and you should not be worried about discussing this in a personal statement. As others have said, you will appear in step with the profession's goals and attuned to a specific issue. This is far preferred over standard essays.

We had a joke in our office that there are three types of essays:

1. I want to go to school because I like to help people.
2. I want to got to school because my friends come to me with their problems.
3. The sob story.

There is absolutely nothing inherently bad about those topics, however, admissions offices are looking for essays demonstrating the ability to think critically, the ability to write professionally, a sensitivity for issues of diversity, etc. It can be harder to do this when your focus is one of the three types listed above -- the school I attend actually tells applicants flat-out to NOT write in this manner.

Do not worry about being vague with your personal goals. You haven't gone to a master's program yet -- how would you know exactly what you want? You're going to learn so much in the first few months of school alone that it's perfectly acceptable to want to keep your options open. Having a relatively open mind is important to demonstrate. Tell them what you just told us -- you have areas of interest but you don't yet know specifically what you want.

As a religious minority, I am sure there has been an event or several that has prompted your interest in the field. I would start there.

And yes, religious minorities are just the same as any other kind. There are many communities where services are extremely limited because the services cannot be delivered by a 'outsider', or groups were mental health issues are taboo. There are quite a few students in my class who come from these backgrounds and intend to go back 'home' to practice.

I wrote my essay about spending a year alone in another country and learning how to communicate with others when you don't know the language well, I specifically focused on one person I befriended who flat-out hated Americans. My clinical interests are completely different, but I wanted to show self-awareness and growth to the school, and felt writing about this experience was the best vehicle for this.

 

[MNGradToBe12]

I've worked in admissions offices and I also was admitted to every MSW program to which I applied.

Here are my thoughts:

There is a difference between addressing a service gap and wanting to only serve yourself.

When you speak about wanting to work with a minority population based on your experiences, you are addressing a service gap. That is, you are identifying a need in a population and wanting to fill that need. This is exactly what social work school is about and you should not be worried about discussing this in a personal statement. As others have said, you will appear in step with the profession's goals and attuned to a specific issue. This is far preferred over standard essays.

We had a joke in our office that there are three types of essays:

1. I want to go to school because I like to help people.
2. I want to got to school because my friends come to me with their problems.
3. The sob story.

There is absolutely nothing inherently bad about those topics, however, admissions offices are looking for essays demonstrating the ability to think critically, the ability to write professionally, a sensitivity for issues of diversity, etc. It can be harder to do this when your focus is one of the three types listed above -- the school I attend actually tells applicants flat-out to NOT write in this manner.

Do not worry about being vague with your personal goals. You haven't gone to a master's program yet -- how would you know exactly what you want? You're going to learn so much in the first few months of school alone that it's perfectly acceptable to want to keep your options open. Having a relatively open mind is important to demonstrate. Tell them what you just told us -- you have areas of interest but you don't yet know specifically what you want.

As a religious minority, I am sure there has been an event or several that has prompted your interest in the field. I would start there.

And yes, religious minorities are just the same as any other kind. There are many communities where services are extremely limited because the services cannot be delivered by a 'outsider', or groups were mental health issues are taboo. There are quite a few students in my class who come from these backgrounds and intend to go back 'home' to practice.

I wrote my essay about spending a year alone in another country and learning how to communicate with others when you don't know the language well, I specifically focused on one person I befriended who flat-out hated Americans. My clinical interests are completely different, but I wanted to show self-awareness and growth to the school, and felt writing about this experience was the best vehicle for this.

I thought I would express how helpful I found this post. Thank you!

 

[jessalynne]

I just want to add here -- the reason there's an issue with the "I want to help people" essay is because it's SW school. Of COURSE you want to help people.

You've got to show more than that. Going deeper and getting specific are the keys to taking the essay to a higher level. Describe a situation that led you to wanting to enter this field. Think outside the box. Show, don't tell -- use descriptions and imagery instead of direct words.

Regarding the "sob story" essay, there are cases where this can be used well. Again, the focus needs to be less on the story and more on how it makes you who you are and how it has spurred you into this field. EVERYONE comes to SW school with "stuff" in their lives. Is this what drives you to the field? Is this your strongest asset to include in an essay?

For example, I work with a woman who aged out of foster care at age 18 and had nowhere to go. She wrote about her experiences in college and how she wanted to work with foster children and develop programs for those approaching age 18 to help them survive in college. Her story is rather horrific, but she managed to balance emphasizing her background with how she wanted to change it for other kids. Her situation made total sense. But if you're not that convicted about your interests or aren't able to closely tie your experiences to your interest in the profession, proceed with caution.

The admissions essay is one of my favourite topics -- so I apologize for the rambling.

 

[smilie2131]

Please don't apologize for rambling...you've been very helpful!! Actually what got me into psychology has nothing to do with religion. And I've had a rather convoluted path to applying for a MA in counseling psychology. I was a resident assistant in the dorms in my undergraduate years, and not suprisingly a handful of my residents had some emotional and psychological problems. One of them even attempted suicide through an overdose. This job experience is what motivated me to major in psychology, and want to do clinical work. However, I had always wanted to get my Ph.D and do both clinical work and research. After my BA, I completed my MA in experimental psychology fully intentending to continue onto a PhD. program. However, I find with my young children I'm not ready to do that right now. I had thought about getting an RA job and working part-time until going on to a Ph.D program, after my kids are older. This way I would be preparing myself by getting more research experience and publications. However, the need for counselors in my community is so great that I feel compelled to help out. Also, I don't know if I would be very happy only doing research.

So where I'm stuck is tying all of this together. Should I just go with my story as I told you (of course in more detail), or just focus on a certain part. I think what I'm also stuck on is that I have to explain why I am changing paths (research to clinical work) and sound convincing. Any pointers would be appreciated. And thanks for listening to my rambling

 

[MaryD]

Hello everyone,
I am applying to multiple schools for a clinical psychology doctorate. I have a question regarding the admissions essay. Everywhere I look on the internet the advice I see is to be honest but one of the sections of the admissions essay requires a autobiography section. I had a really bad childhood which included sexual abuse should I include that or just lie.

 

[AcronymAllergy]

You don't ever want to outright lie in an admissions essays...or pretty much at any other time in graduate school. However, it's also important to understand and know about appropriate amounts of disclosure. There's nothing that says an autobiographical statement must include all life experiences; if you don't want to discuss the history of abuse (for any reason) or don't feel that you can do so in a professional and appropriate manner, you can leave it out.

At least in my experience, folks typically use the autobiographical statement to give a cursory introduction to themselves, how they've become interested in psychology, and perhaps what they hope to do with it down the road (e.g., personal goals).

If you search these forums, you should find all sorts of posts regarding appropriate disclosure, as well as a journal article discussing the graduate application "kisses of death," of which overdisclosure is one.

 

[erg923]

Hello everyone,
I am applying to multiple schools for a clinical psychology doctorate. I have a question regarding the admissions essay. Everywhere I look on the internet the advice I see is to be honest but one of the sections of the admissions essay requires a autobiography section. I had a really bad childhood which included sexual abuse should I include that or just lie.

You shouldn't fabricate, but that doesnt mean you have to explictly disclose and/or discuss specific events.