Here's an essay I wrote recently for an application to a graduate program. Since I am diligently working on the Sara B. Titanic interview this week (hopefully up tomorrow), I figured I can throw this essay up to at the very least kill some time. It's cheesy but mostly the truth.
Prompt: Why you want to pursue a graduate social work degree?
I believe that Philadelphia is the greatest city in the world, and I try to think of my participation in the social work field to be a love letter to this city.
Yes, I am talking about this Philadelphia. I acknowledge that it is a city riddled with a myriad of flaws; open up any edition of the Inquirer to see what I mean. There is a rhetorical question that I hear often, which some might apply to such a situation: “If you think there’s something wrong with it, then why don’t you just leave?” That question has never made sense to me. When you love something, you don’t abandon it. You stick around, and you do everything you possibly can to make it better.
For me personally, acting through social work is the only act that makes any sense to me. It is the only way I can fathom personally doing my best to make this city a better place. You see, I acknowledge that Philadelphia may have its flaws, but the inhabitants themselves are not flaws. They are this city’s strengths. Any modicum of assistance we can pass along to the citizens of Philadelphia could only serve to strengthen Philadelphia itself. Social work is the pathway to our brighter future.
Ironically, this unassailable truth is only something I discovered after I became a social worker. I’ve always been interested in the idea of “people,” how we coexist and interact and behave, and by the time I entered college, I thought that the best way to educate myself regarding this interest was to study the field of psychology. I earned my bachelor's in psychology from La Salle University in 2011 (with a minor in Religious Studies, which is basically the study of the history of people, if you think about it).
Career-wise, nothing in the realm of psychology seemed like a good fit for me. After odd jobs for a few years, I ended up applying for a position within the [current employment], and was hired in 2014. Honestly, at first, I only applied because it was a job for which I was technically qualified. I didn’t know anything about social work.
But after five and three-quarters years in the department, I have come to believe that I am meant to be a social worker. I am still interested in the idea of “people,” but social work allows me to take that interest and apply it in practical ways for the greater good. It’s one thing to be able to understand on a psychological level why a child behaves in a certain way in a certain context, but it’s another to be able to address that behavior and to connect a child with the resources he or she may desperately need.
Many people would describe social work as “challenging” (one college mentor, when I told him my career plans, gave me this pithy advice: “Don’t do that.”). On some days, I find it hard to disagree with that notion. Social work is challenging. We all know that. However, over the past half-decade I’ve also found that nothing is too challenging when there exists a strong motivation behind it.
My motivation is my great desire to improve my favorite city in both measurable and immeasurable ways. If Philadelphia exists as a large group of people, and I am able to slightly improve the lives of some of those people, then I am by extension improving my city.
My motivation is also a deep unshakeable belief that every person in this city is deserving of help if they need it. Often, we come across a client who pushes back, who denies, who lashes out. I don’t have a problem helping such clients, because they live in Philadelphia, and so they deserve the best.
A few years ago, the patriarch of a family I was investigating for truancy threatened to shoot and kill me if I tried to contact his family again. I think about that father sometimes. Now that I am a father myself, I’ve come to understand that he was, in his mind, protecting his family to the best of his ability. The anger was certainly misplaced, but I can empathize with the motivation.
As a social worker, you come to understand some deep-seeded truths like this. You understand that we are all people who are doing our best. All of us. There are just some people who need a little bit of help to achieve their best.
I concede that much of what I have said so far may come off as empty platitudes, but I promise you that I am speaking from the heart, and I mean every word. If any of it does indeed seem “empty,” then it is because I don’t have the experience to back it up. I have so much room to grow as a social worker, and so much potential to achieve more than I have so far. I want to fulfill the promise I have made to my city and its residents; the best way I can think to do that is to continue on the social work path.
This is why I believe that I would make a good [...] candidate. I have the two things that every great social worker requires: a love for my fellow man and the motivation to put that love into action. Now all I need are the tools to make it happen, and I believe I can acquire those tools through higher education.
I truly do love the city I live in, and I cannot wait to help it achieve its full potential.
Yes, I am talking about this Philadelphia. I acknowledge that it is a city riddled with a myriad of flaws; open up any edition of the Inquirer to see what I mean. There is a rhetorical question that I hear often, which some might apply to such a situation: “If you think there’s something wrong with it, then why don’t you just leave?” That question has never made sense to me. When you love something, you don’t abandon it. You stick around, and you do everything you possibly can to make it better.
For me personally, acting through social work is the only act that makes any sense to me. It is the only way I can fathom personally doing my best to make this city a better place. You see, I acknowledge that Philadelphia may have its flaws, but the inhabitants themselves are not flaws. They are this city’s strengths. Any modicum of assistance we can pass along to the citizens of Philadelphia could only serve to strengthen Philadelphia itself. Social work is the pathway to our brighter future.
Ironically, this unassailable truth is only something I discovered after I became a social worker. I’ve always been interested in the idea of “people,” how we coexist and interact and behave, and by the time I entered college, I thought that the best way to educate myself regarding this interest was to study the field of psychology. I earned my bachelor's in psychology from La Salle University in 2011 (with a minor in Religious Studies, which is basically the study of the history of people, if you think about it).
Career-wise, nothing in the realm of psychology seemed like a good fit for me. After odd jobs for a few years, I ended up applying for a position within the [current employment], and was hired in 2014. Honestly, at first, I only applied because it was a job for which I was technically qualified. I didn’t know anything about social work.
But after five and three-quarters years in the department, I have come to believe that I am meant to be a social worker. I am still interested in the idea of “people,” but social work allows me to take that interest and apply it in practical ways for the greater good. It’s one thing to be able to understand on a psychological level why a child behaves in a certain way in a certain context, but it’s another to be able to address that behavior and to connect a child with the resources he or she may desperately need.
Many people would describe social work as “challenging” (one college mentor, when I told him my career plans, gave me this pithy advice: “Don’t do that.”). On some days, I find it hard to disagree with that notion. Social work is challenging. We all know that. However, over the past half-decade I’ve also found that nothing is too challenging when there exists a strong motivation behind it.
My motivation is my great desire to improve my favorite city in both measurable and immeasurable ways. If Philadelphia exists as a large group of people, and I am able to slightly improve the lives of some of those people, then I am by extension improving my city.
My motivation is also a deep unshakeable belief that every person in this city is deserving of help if they need it. Often, we come across a client who pushes back, who denies, who lashes out. I don’t have a problem helping such clients, because they live in Philadelphia, and so they deserve the best.
A few years ago, the patriarch of a family I was investigating for truancy threatened to shoot and kill me if I tried to contact his family again. I think about that father sometimes. Now that I am a father myself, I’ve come to understand that he was, in his mind, protecting his family to the best of his ability. The anger was certainly misplaced, but I can empathize with the motivation.
As a social worker, you come to understand some deep-seeded truths like this. You understand that we are all people who are doing our best. All of us. There are just some people who need a little bit of help to achieve their best.
I concede that much of what I have said so far may come off as empty platitudes, but I promise you that I am speaking from the heart, and I mean every word. If any of it does indeed seem “empty,” then it is because I don’t have the experience to back it up. I have so much room to grow as a social worker, and so much potential to achieve more than I have so far. I want to fulfill the promise I have made to my city and its residents; the best way I can think to do that is to continue on the social work path.
This is why I believe that I would make a good [...] candidate. I have the two things that every great social worker requires: a love for my fellow man and the motivation to put that love into action. Now all I need are the tools to make it happen, and I believe I can acquire those tools through higher education.
I truly do love the city I live in, and I cannot wait to help it achieve its full potential.
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