Wanting to become a manager for health care initiatives and institutions is very much a product of my multi-cultural experience and the people's desperate need for health care that I was so very aware of growing up in my native Morocco. As a young Amazigh woman raised in Casablanca, I was in an excellent position to appreciate the vast need in Africa for improved health administration services, especially at fees that are accessible to the poor majority, women in particular. As a cosmopolitan person who has also lived in France for 2 years and now the United States, I find hope for my native Africa through international development organizations that have developed missions dedicated to the improvement of health care administration in the Developing World, Africa in particular. I am a natural for health care promotion on an international level because of my prominent level of motivation, dedication to my studies, and my multi-lingual ability. I speak and write French very well and I am also a strong speaker and average writer in Arabic in addition to English and the tongue of my native heritage, Tamazight. My long-term professional goal in life is to someday be able to harness my passion for a more just and humane world to the practical skills that will enable me to make a significant contribution, especially to the medically underserved members of our global human society. I look forward to working on an international level for a government agency or global non-profit organization dedicated to the promotion of health care in Africa. XXXX is my first choice for study towards the MHA because I so deeply respect the ideals of the program and appreciate the diversity of the XXXX campus, with one of the highest percentages of international students of all U.S. institutions of higher learning. I look forward to a rigorous and in-depth exposure to a range of health-care issues, policy, ethics, organizational behavior in public, private and nonprofit institutions, and their interactions. I feel strongly that XXXX is the best place to prepare myself to be a truly creative and visionary health care administrator who can lead and inspire effectively, operating upon the firm foundation that I will attain in your distinguished program. Personal Statement MHA Health Administration

I came to the USA at age eleven, in 1997; now, I am twenty-six and completing my BS Degree in Chemistry, with a Chinese American heart that is dedicated to healing as my life’s work. Finding the missing link between pain and healing is my daily quest. I want to someday open my own pharmaceutical chain in China and join the battle to bring a broader range of pharmaceutical products to bear on the suffering of the Chinese people. My own self-definition will result from the way that I honor my homeland, China. And I see pharmacy as the key central issue to which I might be able to make creative contributions to our debates over what is or is not ‘Chinese’. I am now prepared for full immersion in my studies for the next several years, having decided with my family and my economic responsibilities, so that I can devote myself entirely to my studies for the PharmD. Following graduation from your program, I would pursue further experience in my field, preferably with a company that could use my services as a representative of their interests in China. In this way, I would learn the additional hands-on kind of things, day to day challenges, barriers, and opportunities as well, that exist for new pharmaceutical directions in China. At some point, I would become independent, marking out my own niche in the Chinese pharmaceutical system. I am confident in my ability to excel in your program, especially since I have the support of a highly resourceful extended family. I gravitated towards chemistry from the very beginning of my exposure to science. Despite a few stumbles, I made steady progress improving my grades. I feel like I have a natural predilection for the prediction of results, it appeals to my competitive nature, the way that I profoundly enjoy producing a physical impact. What I like most, simply put, is how reactions can be modified to obtain different results. Finally, far from some abstract or theoretical entity, chemistry is for me the foundation of both life and how to best prolong it, most specifically through medicine. For me to suggest, therefore, that ‘pharmacy is life’, would be to express a cornerstone of my world view, especially as it relates to science. It will be at the level of organic chemistry that I will make my greatest contribution to pharmacy. The greatest professional honor that I have had so far has been volunteering under Dr. XXXX at the Department of Pharmacology and Pharmaceutical Sciences at the University of XXXX. I am assisting in the design of a small peptide that inhibits CRXC 4. synthesis by folding the receptor in such a way as to inhibit its response. We are using peptide synthesizers, small molecules, to produce chemical reactions that result in cyclic responses of amino acids attached to resins. First, we activated and then synthesize the compounds; next, we induce a process of cyclic compounds and native compound ligation that enables us to learn how to optimize conditions that result in higher yields and greater purification by modifying the condition in which we fold and purify the Pepetide. I was sent away to live with a relative the moment that I was born because by law my family could have only one child and I already had an older brother. I was constantly shuttled back and forth between family, friends, and my own parents until I was three years old and was even cared for by a housekeeper at one point. Thus, when we came to the US and my parents enrolled me in a boarding school in San Mario, CA, this was a step up for me, despite the language difficulties that I encountered. I became an adult at about the age of thirteen, and soon began high school while living with my fifteen-year-old brother in an apartment close to our high school, with my parents back in China attending to the family business and supporting us. I grew up quickly and learned how to manage our financial situation, billing statements, writing checks added to my sense of responsibility, in line with the expectations of parents. After high school graduation I moved to Santa Barbara, and then later found myself near LA, attending XXXX City College.  I find a sense of security in studying chemistry. I have struggled throughout my life to prepare for graduate work as a scientist and a broad variety of life experiences have converged in this application to your PharmD Program. It would be a great honor for me and my family if I were to be selected to study in your program.  The strongest part of my application is my sheer love for research, long hours, and the fact that I am a hard worker. As a volunteer at our laboratory, I find myself to be gaining increasing determination to succeed in life. Most of all, I am convinced that I would be an exceptionally good pharmacist, especially considerate and dedicated to patient education, someone who understands the emotional struggles that all too often accompany the illness itself. I have now bragged for years of the A that I received in a sociology class in the Fall of 2007 at XXXX City College. Part of the requirement was to work as a volunteer at a local organization and I chose the KidsPeace Children’s Museum in Pasadena. I especially enjoyed the staff and the tourists as well as the responsibility of, among other things, making sure that our playground for children was safe and not overcrowded. I have a way with children because of my gentle nature. The Psychology class that I took in 2008 was of formative importance for undertaking graduate study, since it is of vital importance to pharmacy professionals to understand the range of human emotion and how it is critical to the patient getting the treatment that is indicated. The greatest contribution that I might be able to make to society would be to help provide solutions to cure illness. I want to dedicate my life to serving as a link between the illness and the solutions that cure that illness. As someone from China, and someone who regularly goes home to China for long visits, I hope to have much to share with those who are interested in things Chinese in your program. Thank you for considering my application. PharmD Personal Statement Chinese Immigrant

I am a young Hispanic woman and bilingual educator. I grew up in Chicago until I was eight and then moved with my GM-employed dad to Owosso Michigan to begin the sixth grade. In many ways, I am a typical American girl, but I have always treasured my identity as a Latina and, as I matured, I realized that I wanted to become a bilingual teacher, soon bilingual and I encourage my students to excel in both languages. I graduated from the University of XXXX with a B.S. in Education and three minors: Early Childhood Education Endorsement, Science, and Spanish. I want very much to do my job teaching Spanish to grade-school children. Teaching children is my greatest passion in life and my professional dream is to someday be a grade school principal. When I was in grade school, I especially looked up to my principal, thought of him as my protector; he was a very important role model for me and I want very much to give my all to children as he did, laboring daily to look out for their interests and to improve their educational experience. I look forward to learning how to become an excellent principal at the XXXX School where I have full confidence that I will receive a broad based, critical education in the theory and methodology of K-12 educational administration: politics, policy, evaluation, leadership, curriculum development, and clinical experience. I am extremely excited about the prospect of becoming highly familiar with state and county educational laws and issues that will prepare me to be a first-rate educational leader working with teachers and students who are proud to have me as their representative, mentor, and advocate. My special dream is to help my community to better understand and take advantage of the enormous possibilities presented by multi-language programs. English and Spanish are both native languages for me and I read and write them with equal proficiency. I am also learning German since I have many friends in Germany and visit them frequently. I have explored much of the rest of Europe as well. In addition to teaching Spanish on the Elementary School level, my most relevant experience includes being a volunteer teacher in Mexico from April through the beginning of July of this year at a middle school in Mexico City and a rural school in a small town called Valle de Guadalupe in Jalisco. I advocate for a multilingual society and feel that learning different languages is of immense importance, especially for children who have such language-learning facilities. Upon returning from Mexico, I was hired, along with one other person, to spearhead a new elementary Spanish program in Owosso. We wrote, re-wrote, and have a sense of humor that I treasure as my single greatest, natural gift. I deeply care about people and have a sense of humor that I treasure as my single greatest, natural gift. I deeply care about people, especially children, and very rarely meet anybody who I do not like. I have an open mind and hate conflict, personally training myself in conflict-resolution and principles of negotiation. I am deeply committed to life-long learning and look forward to training successful leaders for our community's future. I love to learn new things and do so very quickly, and I look forward to the challenge of your fast-paced program with keen anticipation. I worked my way through college, and I am quite accustomed to long hours and extremely limited leisure time. The MPA Program at the XXXX School is my first and only choice for graduate study and I want to thank you sincerely for your consideration of my application. MPA Educational Administration Personal Purpose Statement

Doing graduate work in Social Work is for me a long culmination of service to the Lord and my fellowman. I am a strong candidate for your program because of the many valuable experiences and privileges of social service that I have had. I want very much to become a more skilled counselor and caregiver, well prepared for working with children and old people alike. In fact, it would be commensurate with my ideal dreams to help to bring children and old people together, as this relationship is mutually beneficial. If I had to choose between the two, then my interest in Geriatrics would take precedence. I look forward to my own golden age over the next twenty years or so and I want to spend that precious time of my life very actively professionally. Completing a master's degree in social work will help me to achieve my professional goal of being an adept community organizer for the benefit of the weaker and less fortunate members of my community. Achieving the master's degree in your distinguished program will be the centerpiece or foundation of my professional achievements in the future. I want to help numerous members of my community by helping us all to become more socially sensitive and responsible to those who depend on our support. My long-term professional positions have been in the dental profession. What I have learned about helping, human psychology, professional ethics, etc. I have learned much of it at work in the dental office, dealing with doctors, nurses, and especially patients, the smallest ones have always been both a special challenge and a delight. Working as a dental assistant has afforded me the opportunity to develop an impressive knowledge base, especially in social services. And I am so incredibly grateful for this privilege that I have had working with so many diverse types of people and learning how to better understand their problems. Throughout my many years of labor in several dental offices, I have had a long time to reflect on the dreams that are most important to me. Thankfully, now I have come to a point in my life where my concerns are not so for me to go to graduate school, and, most importantly, to devote my undivided attention to my studies, unencumbered by a job and children in the home. Most of all it has been my volunteer community activity that has most inspired me towards a career in social work, volunteering with organizations such as girl scouts, boy scouts, and programs that my church has developed for the community and our youth and seniors in the church and the community. I also volunteered as an activity assistant at a nursing home and helped plan the daily activities for the residents. I made sure that each residence that wanted to participate in the daily activities had a chance to do so. I am passionately dedicated to the study of the shifting age composition in America with the percentage of American citizens who are over 65 increasing rapidly. And there are numerous social challenges that must be confronted by America's social workers that have been with us all along. But now, we are becoming more aware of older people, and I am so happy to be part of the creative energy that is going into our appreciation of America's senior citizens. I stay current on this issue at all levels from government policy both state and federal and the nursing homes of small-town America, especially where I live here in Maiden North Carolina. My life is my community, and I am a community organizer. Working with both younger adults and especially our seniors have shown me that all people need respect and love no matter their age, color, or religions background; and especially those in nursing homes. We have a long way to go in making nursing institutions more like home and I look forward to being part of the new, creative impulses that are driving policy discussions. I now see new hope for bringing nursing home residence into relations of creative, greater interaction with the community. I want to push for solutions to the problems confronting older Americans. I want to work towards assuring our elderly a secure and comfortable environment that includes human enrichment and interactions with the community. Our local churches have the responsibility to bring the community to our nursing homes. I look forward to several more decades of active engagement with these issues and labors of love for the elderly. I hope to address the most relevant and current problems in the field of aging from a variety of different viewpoints on the appropriate solutions to these problems. I want to thank you for your consideration of my application. MSW Social Work Geriatrics Personal Purpose Statement

I am a woman of Hispanic heritage, born in the Dominican Republic and have been resident in the United States since the age of ten. I speak English and Spanish. I hold a BS degree in Industrial Engineering Technology and a BA degree in Modern Languages (Spanish) with a minor in Business Management. I am the first person in my family to graduate from college and am proud to have done so and to have taken advantage of the opportunities that have been available to me. I am a practicing Catholic and positively seeking a Catholic educational environment. I would endeavor to further the Church’s teachings in relation to social and economic justice as a trained social worker. I also believe that my ethnic and economic background and life experiences to date provide an excellent ‘fit’ with the specific aims expressed in the School’s Mission Statement which I share and would enthusiastically seek to advance. I have never formally studied Social Work and it may be unusual for someone with my academic and professional background to apply for this program. My interest in Social Work was initially fired by my experiences in the Army. During my service, which included time in Kosovo, I witnessed distress among soldiers arising from post-traumatic stress, anxiety, and depression. Two military colleagues required help whilst we served in Kosovo, both suffered bereavements of close relatives whilst far from home and suffered depression and stress as a result. I witnessed successful interventions in these cases to provide these soldiers with ways of coping and regaining their former confidence and joy in living. It was then that I became aware of the value of the work of professional social workers, and it occurred to me then that this was a wonderful way to spend a working life. The seed was planted. When I left the army, I decided that I would help others, if not professionally, then as a volunteer. I resumed my career but have spent a significant amount of my spare time in volunteer activities. I have worked in a Women’s Shelter, helping in practical ways, with listening and in doing anything that was useful for the clients. I have worked in a homeless shelter providing general help to residents. Currently I act as a volunteer with an organization that represents the interests of abused and neglected children in court. I have been trained by a non-profit organization called CASA (Court Appointed Special Advocates) to act as an advocate for children in the courts. The children concerned have suffered abuse or neglect and the courts seek to have them safely and permanently homed. I act as a friend to the child and as a factfinder reporting directly to the judge. I am required to thoroughly research the child’s background, to speak for the child in court and to assist the court and child towards a swift and appropriate conclusion. My voluntary work has been another, and incredibly significant, formative experience in my life and has provided me with great satisfaction, indeed joy. A successful outcome is life-changing for an underprivileged and deserving child. The other successes in my life have been dwarfed by those obtained in doing this work that positively changes the lives of others. The children have acted as examples of resilience, patience, and humor in the face of always difficult, and sometimes extremely distressing, situations that have been inspirational to me. I have interacted with family Social Workers during this voluntary activity and have acquired an understanding of their role and an admiration for their work. It has also demonstrated to me how different providers and organizations interact efficiently to reach early and desirable conclusions. My volunteer activity re-fired my interest in becoming a professional Social Worker. Indeed, I have become passionately committed to doing so. I have thought about this application very carefully. I am aware that it is possible for an ‘outsider’ to sentimentalize caring professions and to imagine that instant solutions exist to serious situations. I know that situations calling for professional intervention are often extraordinarily complex and that the complexities may not be immediately apparent, that careful and sensitive investigation is required to define a problem and identify practical solutions. I believe that my military service, voluntary work and even my recent management experience has given me opportunities to appreciate some of the realities of Social Work. I know that along with a mature, genuinely caring, and positive attitude it is also necessary to be realistic in terms of people and outcomes. I possess these characteristics and can be a highly effective Social Worker. Not least, I have a sense of humor and know the value of a smile. My management experience is also, I believe, relevant to this application. I have five years of management experience and related training. It seems to me that a good manager has some of the characteristics necessary to succeed in Social Work. Successful management calls for maturity, a realistic attitude about people, good planning skills, flexibility and an interested and caring attitude to staff and their personal welfare and progress. Being a manager also requires good observational skills and the consequent ability to recognize a potential problem at an early stage and to intervene decisively to prevent it becoming more serious. I can bring these skills and training to the program and would regard them as highly relevant to it. As a trained scientist, I am used to compiling and interpreting statistical information, I also understand the importance of maintaining detailed and accurate records. I believe that the combination of the discipline I learned in my scientific studies combined with a natural compassion for others provides a further reason for anticipating successful participation in the program. My military experience is also highly relevant to my application. Military life teaches, indeed demands, successful teamwork. I was regarded as a good ‘team player’ with a readiness to share and to assist. In addition to my experience of being initially raised in another cultural environment and subsequently adjusting to a new one, I have worked with people of many diverse backgrounds and cultures in the Army and in subsequent employment. I have also travelled widely in Europe and in the Caribbean. I have no difficulty in relating well to others whatever their heritage or background. My own background was financially modest, and this provides me with insights which would be useful for a Social Worker. I would hope to be an example to others who share my background of what can be achieved, in the course of my future work. The program’s emphasis on the needs of Hispanic children and families fits well with my own background, volunteer activities and life experiences. As I understand Social Work, it is ‘all about people’ and involves forming positive relationships with people as an advisor, advocate, counselor, or listener with the end of helping them to live their lives more successfully and by helping them to find practical and successful solutions to their problems. I also understand, especially from my current volunteer work, that non-verbal communication is especially important, especially in understanding the emotions and problems faced by children. I am also aware that reaching successful conclusions may involve interaction with families, friends and other relevant organizations and parties. I have carefully considered the characteristics required of an excellent social worker and I am confident that I possess them. I am compassionate, committed, caring, realistic, academically able, disciplined, enthusiastic, and a good ‘team player’. My voluntary activities, military background and management training and experience enable me to offer truly relevant skills and knowledge to the master's program and I look forward to sharing these with my class. Most importantly, I will bring a genuine and fervent desire to help others by obtaining the necessary training and knowledge to do so. I know that I can benefit from the program and share those benefits with others in my future career as a Social Worker. Social Work MSW Personal Statement of Purpose Samples

My father died of colon cancer in a hospice. I didn’t quite know what to expect in such an environment and was surprised to see patients suffering from terminal illness who were peaceful, cheerful, and even joyful. I witnessed heroic levels of care provided and I also became aware of the vital role of social workers in providing practical and emotional support to patients and their families. Later, I returned to the hospice as a volunteer for a brief time out of gratitude for the care given to my father and to our family and learned a little more about the vital role of social workers in that environment. Since that time, my thoughts have frequently turned to those experiences and, over the years since then, I have increasingly been drawn to the idea of becoming a social worker myself and working specifically with the elderly and in a hospice environment. My mother was a dedicated nurse and, as I wanted to join a caring profession, I looked no further than nursing as a future career. Although I enjoyed the nursing program I joined and though I excelled within it, fate intervened. I suffered a severe injury in the final semester and was unable to complete the program on schedule. This gave me some time to think about my future and decided that I did not have a vocation for nursing and that my future lay in some other unidentified field. Because of an interest in language and literature, I took a BA in English Literature and subsequently an MBA in with concentrations in Marketing and Healthcare Management. Having gained this qualification and having worked in medical administration, I decided that the world has plenty of excellent administrators but not enough people who want to provide care to others and the memory of those social workers in the hospice returned to me once again. When I began to consider a career in social work, I wanted to be certain that the appeal was prompted by more than sentimentality. I very carefully considered what characteristics and skills are required to be an excellent social worker, especially in working with the elderly and I have genuinely concluded that I possess them or can acquire them. I have also considered the core values of social work and entirely support them and would seek to always uphold them in my studies and future career. In my own culture affection and respect, even reverence, is accorded to the elderly and I share this attitude. When I was a nurse, I always particularly enjoyed working with elderly patients, hearing their life stories, and receiving the benefit of their wisdom and experiences. In this time when the population is aging, many people will be required to provide care in various forms specifically to this age group. My cultural background, family, volunteer work, and professional experiences - and my high esteem for the elderly - have convinced me that I should be part of those aiding this rapidly growing part of the community. During my days as a student nurse, I was involved in the care of an old man who suffered from testicular cancer. He was awkward and permitted only a few nursing visits and none from social workers. I took his vital signs and gave him his medication each day. He was silent, even surly, and received no visitors. I would talk, he would remain silent, and this one-way communication continued over several weeks. I knew that behind the façade there was a sad and lonely man who had unspoken needs. Finally, he asked me to read the newspaper to him when I went to see him. This human contact developed into discussions about the plot of his favorite TV show and shared jokes. Finally, he confided that he was estranged from his former wife and family but wanted to re-establish contact, he was afraid of rejection but was also afraid that he might die alone. The care team was informed, and contact was eventually re-established. I witnessed and was impressed by the quiet yet vital role of social workers in the resolution of this situation. My own role in seeing bitterness and fear replaced by a measure of optimism and family reconciliation was one of the most satisfying of my life. I also learned an especially important lesson which was that difficult people are unhappy people and that at some stage, they will always respond to a determinedly friendly and genuinely caring attitude. It also taught me the value of non-verbal communication. I could sense by an occasional look that there was emotional pain behind the awkward shell of my patient. I hope to develop the skill of reading non-verbal signals in future. This experience also prompted me to undertake an informal study of the psychology of the extremely ill and specifically to an understanding of the five stages of grief (the Kubler-Ross model). I am aware that caring professions sometimes attract the sentimental and unrealistic. I know that achievable outcomes are not always perfect and that a realistic but determined attitude is necessary to a successful social worker. I know that I possess the necessary attributes to identify and pursue achievable resolutions to problems. Cultural sensitivity is extremely important in the provision of healthcare. I have experience of two distinct cultures and have happily studied, worked, and socialized with people of many different social and cultural backgrounds. I look forward to extending my knowledge of other cultures during my studies and sharing knowledge of my own. I have been learning Spanish and have achieved the ability to communicate on a basic level. It is my intention to advance this knowledge in future. It may also be relevant to my application to point out that I have been employed in the communications industry as Marketing Manager for an Asian magazine published in English. I have authored published articles and consider this to confirm my ability to communicate at an excellent level in the language. My last measured TOEFL score was 567 but this score was recorded in 2008 and prior to my move to the US to study for my MBA degree during which I attained a GPA of 3.71. In view of this, I request a waiver of the minimum TOEFL score to join the program. I hope that this statement will also confirm my facility for communication in English. The aging of the world’s population is a new phenomenon that presents many challenges to society in general including specific impacts on social work. The authors of the 2008 report of the Institute of Medicine confirm that there exists an increasing need for gerontological social work and the need to enhance specialized social work education, training, and research. This is the area that interests me very much and is the area in which I hope to contribute as a social worker. Obviously, aging involves detrimental changes in health and physical ability together sometimes with loss of memory and mental acuity. It can also involve loss of income and consequent difficulties in accessing the personal and health-related care that become increasingly necessary over an elderly person’s lifetime. Clearly social workers will be faced with problems that, while not new, will take up an increasing amount of their time and expertise and will require much innovative and original research. I hope to assist in providing such research. The first challenge is to provide preventative information and services on a universal basis. It is well established that mental acuity and physical ability can be extended significantly by regular and appropriate mental and physical exercise and other activities. To enable the elderly to lead a fulfilling life for as many years as possible should be the priority. Measures to encourage the retired to regard their freedom as a wonderful opportunity to do new things should be extended to all affected. The opportunity to learn, to contribute as volunteers, to use their skills in hobbies, pastimes, or even part-time work and to undertake regular exercise to a challenging degree should be made as widely available as possible and the beneficial effects of such activity, widely publicized. I understand that the very elderly sometimes have had little say in the US about their lives but placing them in the unfamiliar environment of a nursing or care home is often a cause of great distress to them and is not the usual way of dealing with the problem in other parts of the world. Ways must be sought to enable the elderly to make their own decisions about where they are to reside and to enable them to live at home with appropriate support, if that is their wish, for as long as is possible. They should also be involved in the design of care delivery whether at home or in a community or nursing environment. The most successful retirement communities might be identified, and their methods replicated. Families who accept responsibility for the care of their elders should be encouraged and supported as far as possible. The family’s role in encouraging beneficial activities by the elderly should also be made widely known. The vulnerability of the elderly is also a cause for concern, and it is important that ways to strengthen and extend the protection of the aged against mistreatment of any kind should be strengthened and rigorously applied. Measuring physical and mental ability is easy but accurately measuring personal contentment and well-being is a more difficult exercise. It may be that new measures will need to be researched, identified, and applied so that the effectiveness of remedial actions can be established and adjusted, as necessary. Educating people to value and respect age may be a difficult and a long-term exercise but determined attempts should be made. The need to deal with the challenges presented by this situation is not limited to the US. Most nations will be affected and will all have social workers concerned in this area of concern. It may be that research into the methods being considered or adopted in other countries may yield useful insights that can be usefully applied in the US. International collaboration could prove to be invaluable. I realize that this is a very prestigious program and will attract many professionally qualified applicants. However, I do consider myself to be an exceptional candidate. I have a great interest in, and affection for, the elderly and am very keen to work directly with them to provide real and highly effective assistance. I am academically able. I have worked in the provision of care and the experiences gained will be of direct application to my work the program, it will also enable me to ‘add value’ to my class. I undertake to apply all my natural diligence and intelligence to the program and to excelling within it. MSW, Hospice, Gerontology, Chinese

After completing my Honours B.Sc. in Biochemistry (major) with a minor in Statistics at the University of XXXX in 2012, I was accepted into the Graduate Certificate Program in Population Health Risk Assessment and Management, which I am currently completing at the University of XXXX. Thus, I have a solid academic foundation upon which to begin building a career in epidemiology. This is why I very much hope to continue my studies towards the master's degree in Epidemiology at the University of XXXX. In addition to my regular coursework, my electives and my CO-OP placements have also helped me to develop advanced time-management, organizational, communication, and general people skills. The combination of my academic and professional experience provides me with an excellent background that will allow me to excel in your program. I have long been intrigued with the topic of epidemiology even though it was not an area of study included in my undergraduate major or minor programs. I was ineligible to take the undergraduate epidemiology class, so I sought other avenues and enrolled in a distance education course in Epidemiology offered through Athabasca University, which I completed in December of 2011. This past fall, I faithfully attended the weekly Epidemiology seminars held by the department, enhancing my exposure to the broad gambit of applications for research in epidemiology. I have also received a grade of ‘A’ in Introductory Epidemiology (EPI 5240) which I took as an elective course. Although I have not yet fully decided in which area of Epidemiology I want to build a specialization, I have a particular passion for both health economics and infectious diseases. I see biochemistry and statistics as the two central pillars upon which my career is built. I chose to do a minor in statistics because I saw early on how important this area of study is to the physical scientist dedicated to quantitative research and analysis. I also took an Applied Biostatistics class where I became familiar with issues and challenges for statistics that are related to various biological questions. I received all 'A' in my statistics classes, and I now have hands on experience with specialized software such as SAS and R. I also feel quite competent in the interpretation of advanced statistical techniques such as regression analysis, ANOVA, ANCOVA and time series analysis. I am particularly pleased to have twice earned a spot on the Dean’s List and to have been awarded three exceptional and one excellent evaluation on my CO-OP placements. The CO-OP program provided me with new research horizons born from real world experiences, including the opportunity to do laboratory research at the National Research Council in addition to three CO-OP placements with Health Canada in various pharmaceutical regulatory groups. I have continued to work at Health Canada on a part-time basis, gaining further invaluable experience in the regulatory pharmaceutical world. I particularly appreciate the interdisciplinary character of the research taking place and given priority in your program. I keenly look forward to authoring a thesis and I could not feel more confident in the ability of your renowned faculty to guide me in the choice of a subject and its execution. Continuing my studies at the University of XXXX will also enable me to continue to cultivate professional contacts with the many health-related resources of the greater XXXX area, including federal and municipal governments, local hospitals, and a most vibrant academic environment. My long-term plans include continuing my studies at the doctoral level. I would like to pursue a career as a researcher and/or policy analyst so that I will be able to maximize my contribution to the health and wellness of Canadians. I thank you for considering my application to your program. MSC Epidemiology Personal Purpose Statement

At the central core of my wanting to become a social worker is God. It is my Christianity that speaks to me to live a life of service for the poor and underprivileged. While studying towards the MSW is not exactly like taking a vow of poverty, material riches are way down the page on my list of priorities. I am a compassionate man, sensitive, a good listener; and I receive my greatest joy in life by working for others. Being Latino is also an integral part of my professional self-understanding. I look forward to doing research and working professionally in areas with large Latino populations, thus using my Latinness as a special professional asset. It is because going to church is such a crucial factor in my life that I have such a pronounced love for old people. This is why I am incredibly determined to pursue a special interest in Gerontology. But I am also very much engaged with young people and the need for preventative social services that can help young men, mostly minority and disproportionately Latino who are at risk for juvenile delinquency and later serious infringements of the law, typically resulting in jail time that all too often turns out to be the best part of one's life. I want to work to keep people out of the prison system. I am young and I will have the special privilege of working with both important target populations throughout my career. Frankly, I think that my two major concerns, elderly people on the one hand, and young people at risk for drugs and legal problems on the other, are quite compatible. I even have professional daydreams of someday bringing these two target groups together. Children benefit from being exposed to older people. I grew up loving elderly members of my Christian congregation and this is especially healthy. I would someday like to see more interest taken in bringing young and elderly people together, especially at-risk teens. XXXX University because I want to do everything that is within my power to enhance human wellbeing. My Mexican grandfather was a hardworking man and a dedicated father and husband, so I have always looked up to him very much. Service is what I most admire in people and my grandfather was the kind of person who went out of his way to help others. Finally, my daughter is also a motivating factor in why I want to go to graduate school and study social work. She is the single most intense source of motivation in my life, the light at the end of my tunnel. She has taught me so much about loving, teaching, and the special joys of raising a young child. She has motivated me to reach out and embrace higher education in social work to secure a more humane future for her and make our world a better place for her and all her neighbors to share. I understand that the Social Work profession is determined by scientific inquiry into how those in need of particular care in our society might best be dealt with. I see the social work profession as especially bound by codes of honor and professional ethics that stress fidelity to principle and the utmost professionalism in all aspects of one's position as a social worker. The social worker, from this perspective, is the one who is designated to apply the conclusions of scientific inquiry to concrete community institutions and policies. As a professional social worker with an MSW from XXXX, I will see myself as an advocate for the target populations with which I am concerned and working on their behalf. My dedication to social work is very much bound up with my love for the target populations to which I am drawn, or better said, my love for old people, on the one hand, and the chronic sense of urgency that I see with at risk teens. My family is incredibly supportive of my going to graduate school and they are willing to help me in any way that they can. I would also be incredibly grateful for any financial aid that I might receive from XXXX. As a Latino man with an Asian wife, our little family is emblematic of diversity and my great appreciation of diversity is one of my strengths as a candidate for your program. My psychology major was an excellent choice as far as it has prepared me well for facing many of the psychological challenges that I will confront in graduate school and as a professional social worker. I am an extremely hard worker and a loyal collaborator. In fact, I have been with the same employer now for the last 10 years where I have a lot of supervisory experience. I have learned about human psychology on the job as well. I also assisted one of my professors in doing mentor work at Compton CC. Being Latino is important to me as an example to the community, communicating professionally in Spanish as well as English. We Latinos are hardworking people that need a chance in society. XXXX has the best MSW program in the area and I feel that they will provide me with the optimum credentials to be successful in the future as a social worker, by setting a positive role model for other young Latinos to follow. I want to thank you for your consideration of my application. MSW Christian Service Personal Purpose God, Latino

My career in social work is the culmination of a long life of personal and professional preparation. I have so enjoyed working with people, helping them with their problems. At 40, I have the necessary maturity to perform at my absolute best level, again, as a student. I now also have an especially elevated level of motivation that accompanies my current position working with at risk young men, mostly minority. Frankly, I am deeply saddened by the explosive incarceration rates in America, and the way that Black boys lead the way going to jail, rather than college, working, etc. This sense of urgency makes me an excellent candidate for your master's program because I am so fully engaged with my place of employment; it is my mission, and an excellent place to complete my internship. It is my sincere hope to be able to make some modest contribution to discussions of how to best counsel and care for at risk youths, in my case my research interest is in boys, especially those at risk of spending their young adulthood behind bars. My inspiration, zeal, level of motivation, it all indicates that graduate school is the place where I belong. My family is now able to give me the necessary space as well. I come from a long history of concern for women's issues, and being a woman is equally if not more important to my application to your program than being black. I am still a volunteer at a shelter for women who have substance abuse as well as mental health issues. It would be more convenient for me, however, to do my research where I go to work every day. And these boys are stealing my heart. They can be just enormously difficult. I am glad that as a woman at least, I am now an older woman, and thus avoid many of the problems that are exacerbated by male hormones. I work with those who are chronically afflicted with the worst of life's problems, and it is here that I find my greatest joy. I follow what Jesus said about helping the poorest, showing them love. I rise in the morning thinking about my clients because their hope is my hope, and I am always excited to share. My work thrills me, and it is here that I find my deepest spiritual fulfillment, in my service. I also work with women who have children in the custody of the Department of Children and Family Services (DCFS). For the last 13 years, I have been a volunteer and have also help professional positions in this area women, children, and Family Services. MSW African American Personal Purpose

I hope to be selected for your program to prepare myself to continue my career as a mental health and substance abuse specialist in the greater Washington D.C. area. This will also help me to achieve my long-term goal of someday founding and operating my own community based mental health care organization with group homes for the mentally ill and mildly mentally retarded persons. I assist my mentally retarded clients by organizing their servicing and strengthening families through outreach. I assist them with finding housing, employment, developing parenting skills and coping in creative ways with their mental health related issues, especially substance abuse. I do home visits and I also work with youth who are aging out of the foster care system, helping them to successfully integrate into the community and find and keep employment and affordable housing. I have also worked as a case manager for seniors, helping them to attain the services that they need to be able to remain at home and avoid nursing home placement. Throughout my many years as a social worker, I have always struggled mightily to do all I can for my clients and to always make ethical decisions. I have also worked as a therapist in youth detention facilities, conducted anger management groups, and provided substance abuse education for incarcerated youths both male and female. I have worked as a probation officer preparing sentence investigation reports to assist the courts in sentencing dispositions, and as a parole officer. At 56, I am far from a traditional student, yet I feel strongly that my vast experience will enable me to make a valuable contribution to your program and to enhance our celebration of diversity. I am a Black person currently employed as a family support worker in Washington D.C. for a community woman and this is important to my identity as a social worker. My gifts include serving as a role model, especially for Black women, and an example of how we as Black people need to take responsibility for our own and help each other out as a minority community. I often feel most effective as a social worker when I am assigned to work with Black clients, especially women. Contribution to my community is my primary concern in life. I see a tremendous need for new and improved social service programs and access to information in the community, so that people are not lost in the system and failed by our society. I see people slip through the cracks of our system every day and this pains me, especially in the case of young people. I ask for the opportunity to spend the balance of my professional life helping to improve our interconnected system of community service, making it more effective for those most in need of our services. I admire the University of XXXX and will feel enormously privileged and grateful if you help me to fulfill my lifelong dream of obtaining a graduate degree in my field. I look forward to using the knowledge and skills that I will develop in your program to help individuals and families better navigate the system. I look forward to learning how to better help people thrive and contribute to our community through participation in specialized educational programs and job skill development. I want to learn how to best assist my clients in the referral process and obtaining needed services based on the unique needs of each individual and family, especially affordable housing. Of singular importance in this regard will be helping youth avoid the criminal justice system, wasting their lives in jail, and being a burden rather than a contribution to our society. MSW Personal Purpose Probation Officer Non-Traditional

I am applying to XXXX University for the Master of Social Work program. My career goal is to work with underprivileged adolescents, especially those with a history of a full-time position with a recruitment firm, I am a relief counselor for a target group in a residential treatment setting. I want to complement this practical experience with specialized training to best serve those individuals who most need our support as a society. As with many social workers, I have chosen this profession because of troubles in my own childhood as a foster child of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. Both of my birth parents abused me physically and emotionally, prompting the courts to permanently remove me from their power. I subsequently moved through a succession of foster homes and adolescent shelters. My high school years were, therefore, highly traumatic. I could not have survived them without the aid of the counselors and social workers that were so kind to me. And my problems were not all on an emotional level. I constantly battled financial difficulties to graduate from high school and embark on college. I paid all my way through college working a minimum wage job. This made my first two years especially difficult. But I persevered and achieved an overall G.P.A. of 3.5 for my final two years in school. I also dedicated much of my time to campus activities and have held several leadership positions. Today, I work with an international recruitment firm that allows me to travel throughout the United States and Europe. This has given me a sense of accomplishment and maturity, yet I feel a deep void in my life. I need to give back to the community that helped me so much. I know what it is like to be on the receiving end of social work. I am thus in a unique position to understand the conflicts within the hearts of troubled adolescents. I comprehend, for instance, the importance of such issues as trust. I believe that a child in foster care would be naturally more inclined to trust someone who had also experienced the system firsthand. I believe that my background, my ambition, and my resourcefulness will enable me to make a valuable contribution to your social work program. MSW Statement of Purpose Samples

I am a young Indian woman; born in Frankfurt, Germany, I was raised in India for the first 10 years of my life. I have lived in Long Island, New York for the last 16 years. One of the reasons why I wish to enter the program at XXXX is that it is near my home, and I would feel honored to study at such a distinguished institution with such a long historical tradition of preparing people to learn how to best help others. I hold a B.S. in Psychology and look forward to earning a MSW Degree because this is the professional track that is the best match for my high degree of determination to make a constructive difference in the lives of mentally ill clients. The MSW will prepare me for service to a broad spectrum of people: with mental disabilities, physical disabilities, social problems, family problems, through rehabilitation counseling and helping people develop the necessary skills for dealing successfully with their personal problems. I look forward to being introduced to the full gambit of theory, models, and research tools that will enable me to become an effective researcher in the field of social work as well as a thoughtful and highly dedicated practitioner. I want to work with the mentally ill population, as a social worker, helping them develop the skills and knowledge that can help them to deal with the special social difficulties that result from their illness. For the last two-and-a-half years, I have been employed with XXXX, Inc. I began working there as a mental health counselor and now I am a case manager. We also provide various counseling services for the individuals families, to encourage them to develop workable strategies, optimistic attitudes, and the confidence that is required to successfully assist their mentally ill family member to become a more independent and even productive member of society. I meet with numerous clients daily working towards the development and implementation of these highly individualized, strategic plans developed by myself and my colleagues. My experience at Options has helped me to develop a much more sophisticated understanding of mental illness. I genuinely enjoy helping my clients, making a difference in their lives, even if it is something small such as teaching them how to take public transportation on their own. I feel a profound sense of accomplishment when they become able to do even trivial things on their own that they never expected. My job description includes rehabilitation counseling, symptom management, and assertiveness/self-advocacy training, etc. I take special pride in and feel great satisfaction seeing my clients successfully developing new skills that make their lives much more manageable and independent. I find it extremely rewarding to be a part of these momentous changes that so drastically improve the lives of my clients wrestling with mental health issues and their families. Unfortunately, however, I am deeply troubled by the fact that there are many people in need of these services but for whom these services are unavailable due to a lack of sufficient funding within the community mental health system. My long term goals for the future, therefore, include attaining an excellent graduate education, such as that afforded by the MSW Program at XXXX, and I am confident that this will provide me with the necessary tools to not only become a much better social worker in the future, but also be able to work at promoting and effectively advocating for more funding and better training programs for those who are interested in working in the field of mental and family health, helping others to learn how to be the most effective servants possible for the neediest members of our society those struggling with profound mental health issues. I am also genuinely concerned with the issue of domestic violence and hope to have the opportunity at some point to work in this area. Domestic violence is extremely common in India and even among Americans of Indian origin; thus, I may be an excellent candidate to work in this area. I think that my greatest personal gift to contribute to the program at XXXX and later my community in general is a huge heart. And in addition to being a caring compassionate person, I am also very patient, extremely highly motivated, and a very dedicated learner. I am deeply immersed in the theories and models that offer those of us in the helping professions great hope for the future. I know that graduate school will be incredibly challenging, thus, if I am accepted into the program at XXXX, I plan to quit my job to concentrate full time on my studies. My family is incredibly supportive of my going to graduate school, especially since I will be the first female from either side of my family to attain a graduate degree. The only difficulty that I envision is a slight readjustment to getting back into the habit of spending most of my time studying; but I look forward to it very much. I want to thank you for your consideration of my application. MSW Mental Health Counseling Personal Purpose Statement