worriedinnc

Hey there, I am applying for a substance abuse counseling graduate certificate program with the goal of getting an MSW after. I am most interested in the interaction between substance abuse and domestic violence but I'm not sure if that's too specific to bring up in a SOP to a substance abuse counseling program? My hope would be to eventually work with domestic violence victims and abusers dealing with addiction but I'm not sure if this is TOO focused for a general substance abuse program.

Thanks for responding! You've given me a lot to think about and you were not too harsh at all. The very short and blunt surface answer is that because my parents are now both deceased I literally can't foresee circumstances like the ones that arose when they both got sick at the same time. It literally can't happen again. But I also don't think that the confluence of events in my case comes close to "unforeseen circumstances". It was a pretty extreme situation. If missing class and turning in assignments late to spend time with and care for my dying parent is what keeps me out of graduate school then I'll have peace knowing that if I had to do it all over again I still would have chosen that time with them. I think that failing to balance school with the extreme personal circumstances actually puts me in a better position to fully understand where so many of those who are overwhelmed by life are coming from when they seek or require the help of a social worker. I've been there. I know how hard it is and I know how hard it was to pull myself out of that. I should have sought therapy to help me better process what was going on and I didn't, so I can speak from experience about how leaning on others and seeking help has been an integral part of coming back from a really tough place. It has fostered in me a much greater appreciation for mental health services and organizations focused on caring for people in crisis. I remember feeling at the time that it was really too soon for me to be dealing with this in my life (losing parents to illness in my early 20s and being their sole caretakers). Most people don't deal with this until their 40s or 50s. But I know that so many of the people I want to work with are also people who have experienced abuse and grief and death prematurely. I've seen it through to the other side and I want the chance to see others through it too. Social work was a strong interest during undergrad (hence the minor in social and economic justice) but after everything I've been through I know now that it's the only thing I'm suppose to be doing with my life. In terms of a personal statement, I worry about how much detail is too much detail when it comes to this sort of thing. I worry that delving into mental health issues and the way that they impacted my life and the ways I overcame them might just end up scaring admissions folks! It has a lot to do with my passion for social work but I don't know how to address it without making people think I'm crazy. Any thoughts on this?

Thank you so much for your feedback! You make really good points about not blaming the program on being challenging. I think really it boils down to the fact that it wasn't the right field for me and the program itself was heavily project based. If I had been in a major that was heavy on reading/paper writing I don't think my life circumstances would have shown up as much in my final grades as they do in the project-based classes because I could have done those things from two hours away. Quite challenging to do semester-long local reporting and multimedia projects when you have to drive back and forth from your home town 2 hours away 3 times a week to take care of things there. Thank you for your encouragement - this makes me feel like maybe there is a path to an MSW despite all of it.

Hi everyone! Forgive me if I'm posting in the wrong place but I would really love to hear from those who may be applying/accepted/in an MSW program. I am 26 and hoping to apply for admission in fall 2014. I was a public service scholar in college, very involved (disaster relief post-Katrina, volunteered abroad, etc), but majored in something unrelated to SW (journalism). This major at my school is incredibly difficult (a top program in the country) and most of the classes are concentrated in junior and senior year so it tanked my GPA in the last 60 credit hours. Overall I have a 3.1 and my minor was sociology. If you were to look at only the psychology and sociology classes on my transcript I'd have a 4.0 - obviously I should have stuck with what I was good at. But my GPA for the last 60 credit hours is probably closer to a 2.8. Aside from grades, I'm concerned because the last 4 years of my life have really prevented me from volunteering/working in public service as I had planned. One parent became chronically ill in my last year of college and the other terminally ill in my last semester, so as soon as I graduated I moved home to care for both of them (no other family in the US) and understandably battled a lot of mental illness during this time. Despite all that was going on I started my own business (related to my journalism degree) and that's how I've been sustaining in the chaos since graduation. There was no way I could work a 9-5, take an internship, or commit to volunteer regularly. The issues of those past 4 years have finally resolved and I am SO READY to get back to what I know I was made to do, and I feel even more capable of it after going through what I've been through. I just don't know that I'll get a chance to explain that, or even if I do that it won't matter because of grades and lack of post-grad experience. My questions: - I'm looking at taking one or two upper level sociology classes online this summer and fall through UNC (for academic credit) to re-introduce myself to academics and perhaps show MSW admissions that when my life isn't collapsing around me I am capable of high academic achievement since my grades in the last few years of college were much worse than the first few because of what was going on in my life. Do you think this would be worth the money and time to do considering the circumstances? Or is that sort of thing a waste of time after you already have your bachelors degree in something completely unrelated? - I am looking to do domestic violence advocate training/be a regular volunteer in my area this year. I just worry they'll look at the 4 year gap in volunteer/public service and laugh at me. Do you think I need to put things off even longer and volunteer for another year before applying? If I apply in Feb 2014 I'd be starting the program at 28 (fall 2014) so I really don't want to push it off any longer, but I also don't want to invest in classes/GRE/applications etc if getting into a program is going to be a pipe-dream for someone like me. Any guidance you might have would be so appreciated (as well as brutal honesty!) What can I be doing between now and application time to show admissions folks that I'm capable and ready to pursue this degree?