writing sample woes

[cheff]

Hey folks, so I am having a bit of a crisis of faith with regard to my writing sample. So I am applying to programs strong in science and technology studies, medical sociology, sociology of the body. I have a MSW, which is relevant to my research interests, which are on mental illness, technology, and governance more or less.

 

I'm at a little bit of a loss with what to use as a writing sample. A MSW program does not require a thesis and is focused on being a clinician not a researcher so I don't necessarily have a no brainer writing sample from this program altho it feels pressing to have a sample from a recent masters program. So my options are thus:

 

1) Re-work a not great but not terrible essay on the biopolitics of homelessness from my history of social work class. This piece is partially a rip of a friend of mine's work, which might be apparent to one or two programs but I have a bunch of thoughts on how to work more interesting and relevant stuff into it.

 

2) Write an entirely new writing sample. I am doing a panel with some media studies folks on psychiatric surveillance technologies in May so it might be worth it now to just write that now and use that. However, I work full time as a social worker so it seems like it may be too much on my plate to write something from scratch.

 

3)I have a fantastic undergraduate thesis that I re-worked 2 years back and remains, if a little dated, still really excellent. Only problem is- its from undergrad and is, while still within science and technology studies, not particularly relevant to what I want to do in the future- its more animal studies, environmental soc kind of stuff than anything resembling medical sociology. I feel like animal studies is a bit out of vogue and may be a liability.

 

What say you, internet? Thanks everyone! Also can we use this thread as a general forum for writing sample discussion?

[strategicallyessential]

I'm just applying now as well, so don't take my advice too seriously, but I would say go with 2 or 3. Given how competitive admissions are, I wouldn't want to submit anything other than my best work. If you think you can produce a really solid paper right now, go for it--if not, I think your undergraduate thesis is probably a solid choice. From what I've seen, your writing sample doesn't have to be in line with future projects; your statement of purpose will allow you to outline those and, if you think it's relevant, talk about the connection between your undergrad thesis and future work. 

[trogdorburninator]

Ugh- I'm so in your boat right now! Just finished my MSW in june, applying to medical/psychological anthro programs with emphasis on science/technology studies and feeling VERY SOL re: writing sample options. The longer papers I wrote last spring with the hopes of using for applications are not quite topically aligned or as good as they need to be, and one other option is only 8 pages, and from my first year. 

 

I don't have a lot of feed back except to say, I feel you, and if its any consolation, unlike my partner in philosophy who got into programs I think mostly on the base of his writing sample, I've had faculty tell me (somewhat sheepishly) that no one is "really" going to read that much of it, and they are much more concerned with the research project outlined in your personal statement.

 

So, I've been trying not to forget that.