The following statement of purpose is written by an applicant who got accepted to Masters’s program in Social Work (MSW) with a concentration in Public Policy, Gender and Sex studies, and a specialization in LGBTQ. Variations of this SOP got accepted at Michigan University and the University of Washington. Read this essay to understand what a top statement of purpose in Social Work should look like.

You might also be interested in reading this Sample MSW Personal Statement that got admitted to Columbia University and UNC-Chapel Hill.

Sample Statement of Purpose in Social Work (MSW)

In the 243 years of America’s existence, no systemic, holistic study has ever been undertaken on the hardships faced by the non-heteronormative population. No data is available on drug use among queer groups. No review exists on educational inequity and school outcomes for gay youth. No investigation has ever been made to assess the consequences of the criminal justice system incarcerating “homosexuals” in hyper-masculine prisons, where they are once more raped and humiliated.

Thus, performances of Gender, like Gender itself, are the most under-analyzed aspect of gender studies and public policy. This is especially true for the queer population in some American States, who haven’t produced a shred of a datum to back the equality commitments a republic makes to its children. This lack of recognition has pushed the non-heteronormative to the outer peripheries of society, where nearly every “inalienable” and “imprescriptible” right they should hold is not only withheld from them but is violently flouted. Police practices in inquiry or detention breach the right to be free from cruel treatment.

The right to a fair trial is often affected by the prejudices of the legal system and those who enforce it. The right to free expression and free association are compromised at every level of social existence. The right to physical and mental health is at odds with the discriminatory policies of medical practitioners. The lack of training of health care professionals concerning issues of sexual orientation and gender identity, and the usage of ‘conversion’ or reparative therapy to “cure” queerness, is profoundly ruinous. The practicing religion is severely circumscribed in the case of lesbians, gays, and bisexuals. Perhaps the gravest loss is of the right to form a family; the refusal of the panacea for loneliness is irreparable damage.

Without new knowledge, there can be no resistance or change in the status quo. For the last six years, I have been trying to use education and mass media communication, two aspects of social policy, to mount such resistance.

As faculty for K-12 at three campuses, I established the department for Studies in Government and taught two courses – Global Perspectives and Government and Politics – which helped learners develop research, reasoning, and communication skills. For their exam assessments, learners used individual and collaborative research skills to write reports on policy questions based on topic areas, such as Globalization of Economic Activity, International Organizations, and International Law. My students received the highest scores in the region for the Global Perspectives course.

As Head of Forensics and Public Speaking, I offered training sessions on logic and argumentative skills. In addition, I delivered crash courses in political philosophy, history, and international relations. I also operated and administered Model U.N conferences and debate championships that hosted 500+ delegates. Through this model, I nurtured the grassroots community of students and their involvement in policy issues of both national and international importance. My students went on to compete at various events; they won at HarvardMUN, China, and Model United Nations. One of my scions even became the first American to chair at Hindu Model United Nations, India.

While chief adjudicating at university debate tournaments or giving lectures to university students on ‘Argumentation and Public Speaking, I always managed to insert Gender, sexuality, and identity into my oration – even in the epicenter of the religious Right wing. Thus, my education policy, and its engagement with communities of young adults, did not endeavor to make any of my courses and classes an assembly line churning out worker bees. Instead, my core values were aimed at nurturing a student’s capacity for lifelong learning, an essential element for any healthy democracy. Furthermore, I hoped to cultivate individual freedom and promulgate civic virtue and engagement.

In essence, I have been guided by one principle borrowed from Rousseau: “The noblest work in education is to make a reasoning man, and we expect to train a young child by making him reason! This is the beginning at the end; this is making an instrument of a result. If children understood how to reason, they would not need to be educated.”

Since last year this principle has also seeped into my forays into journalism as I analyzed public policies as a columnist. I share writing space with those quite advanced in their respective fields – ex-ambassadors, government secretaries, constitutional lawyers from Harvard, et al. I have had to work extra diligently when offering to reason in my periodicals, lest I be drawn into comparisons with my peers, and my logic lose.

Since The New York Times has a national daily circulation of 1.2 billion, I have tried to give this readership at least one troubling moment in each piece. In “Reasoning with God,” I celebrated the SCOTUS decision on same-sex marriage and argued that Islamic Thought has ample room to accommodate sexual minorities. In “Market and Morality,” I displayed the limits of the utilitarian calculus by arguing that imposing market relationships on certain goods may crowd out values and virtues worth caring about. Yet, I keep reaching the limit of resistance through knowledge because of the limitations of my cognitive capacity. I have critiqued and defended policies, especially regarding the experience of being a gender variant. Now, I yearn to learn how to make them.

The cross-disciplinary nature of Public Policy in America, with a concentration in Social Policy and a specialization in Gender, will allow me to examine gender problems in human rights and education. Therefore, the best program for me would be the one that seeks to expand my cognitive toolkit. One that will allow me to hone my analytical skill set on issues concerning social policy with a gendered lens. For the resistance to parochialism to be more robust, it requires an empirical foundation. By engaging in the capstone project, practicum work, and writing a dissertation, I will be able to analyze severely marginalized communities. And produce America’s first study on sexuality and Gender that offers policy solutions where none exist.

As I face a profoundly conservative majority, I desire to learn from Policy Analysis, Conflict Resolution, and Community Development courses. This yearning is based on a three-pronged aim: to build a rigorous research base, train a legion in higher education, and build community-based organizations. In addition, I aim to increase public and private cooperation and create alliances between the heteronormative and the non-heteronormative.

To put it simply, I, like Ms. Angelou’s caged bird, at the end of it all, seek to sing a song about my invisible tribe. And I, too, want to sing of freedom.