Question about personal statement

[calder]

It may seem like a silly question, but I am looking for thoughts/opinions on how to make an interest in therapy animals sound respectable in my personal statement. I do know that this should just be part of m statement, not the majority of the text. Additionally, it is not just an interest on a whim: I began my undergraduate career as a biology major, so I have interned with the Audubon Society, the Bureau of Land Management, a local world-renowned zoological museum, and a therapeutic ranch for children with disabilities in my area. I am also currently raising a puppy for Guide Dogs for the Blind, so I know how to train a dog for a service/therapeutic setting. I am trying to pinpoint how to use this interest in my statement to set me apart without appearing juvenile. 

 

Thank you!

[uebersetzen]

Cool! I think they key to this is including all of your experience, as you've listed above. Especially the ranch for kids with disabilities -- you could talk about a particular instance where you saw animals play a key role in a child's life (or therapy?). Really, making sure it doesn't read "Wow I just love animals!" is all you need to do to keep it from sounding juvenile, and the fact that you have a lot of legitimate experience does that.

[litesneeze]

I had a similar conundrum; I had experiences, some not entirely related to SLP and quite unique. However, it is still relevant to the field and collectively garnered my interest in SLP. I tried mentioning some of these unique qualities in my personal statement, even briefly in a paragraph but it did sound like I was reiterating my resume for a job. I instead told the truth about how I came across my interest, but I did not make it like the ultimate factor which drove me to SLP.

You could start with a hook which shows a bit of your personality in a particular scenario (a flashback) which you can tie into your interest in therapy animals. It will make the reader question, "hmm, what does this person do and how does it relate to speech?"

Then, you can start talking about how you got into that position i.e. You are a bio major, you have had an early interest in zoology, etc. but try to stay with that experience whether it took place in the Audobon Society or the therapeutic ranch.

Later on, as you explain that topic, you can squeeze in some details about your credentials. Use that experience and find a skill which you also continually use in another facility or you have learned in the past. Try to find parallels from one general experience and tie your other experiences. They could just be one or two sentences at most. For example, I too was a bio undergrad and I used my lab research experience as the foundation. Then, here and there I tied in other aspects, such as my linguistics minor courses or my participation in volunteer teaching activities at an NPO.

Pretend you were talking in an interview or even a friend you have not seen in a while about how you became interested in animal therapy. It may help see how you organize your thoughts into a narrative verbally. Many schools like to see how well you write and showing a bit of creativity demonstrates your thinking abilities and flexibility in your writing skills.

[Crimson Wife]

I had an informational interview with the head of the CSD department at one of my target schools and she said to make sure I mention hobbies or interests that would demonstrate I am a "well-rounded" person on my application. Animal therapy would definitely fall into that category.

 

If you wanted to make animal therapy more language-related, check to see if your local animal shelter participates in the "Paws to Read" or "All Ears Reading" programs and volunteer your expertise. Here's an example: https://www.arflife.org/all-ears-reading

 

One of the early intervention preschool programs for the deaf & hard-of-hearing in my area has a "facility dog" who helps with the kids. http://ceid.org/our-programs/facility-dog/

 

I think you could make a great argument for your expertise with animal therapy being relevant and interesting.

[calder]

Thank you all - I so appreciate your responses! Very insightful on how to tie things together in general. And CrimsonWife, those sound like great programs! Trust me, I've scoured my area for anything directly related to no avail. My city's Read to a Dog program takes place via volunteers with their personally trained therapy animals at our libraries, and to my knowledge neither our town's speech preschool nor school for the deaf and blind have specific therapy animals. Volunteering to raise a puppy myself for Guide Dogs for the Blind was the best way I found to get my foot in the door in the world of therapy animals - they taught me how to do all the training for free, and I am in love with the puppy raising community and the puppies, of course. It is knowledge I hope to transfer into training a therapy animal to work with me in a SLP practice. 

Edited August 5, 2015 by calder

[jpiccolo]

I think it's really important to explain what you learned from your experiences working with animals. What kind of skills did you develop. How will this make a difference in your future career. Schools are going to be less concerned about your interests or hobbies and more focused on what things set you apart and why they should pick you. And make sure however you phrase it that it really answers the prompt. If it doesn't don't include it