Resume and Narrative Instructions for MSW and MPH Application
Resume
Create a resume in the structure of your choosing.
Include in your resume:
- Dates and information related to your undergraduate and any graduate level education.
- Your professional work history. Include social work, public health, and other work, and any unpaid service.
- Experiences such as field placements, internships, volunteer work, community engagement, social justice activities, or research.
Narrative Statement
The total length of your narrative statement should not exceed four pages, double-spaced. The narrative statement must include the following sections and points (except where noted otherwise).
Service Experience
What have you done to make the world a better place? Please consider any of the following areas in your response to this section:
- Community engagement
- Professional experience
- Human/social service experience
- Volunteer experience
- Internships
- Public health
- Social and environmental justice
- Advocacy
Personal Narrative
- Describe an experience experience you have had in working across lines of diversity or in overcoming adversity. How has this experience informed your interest in pursuing a coordinated degree in public health and social work?
- What social, public health or societal problem do you care most about and what would you propose the social work and public health fields do to address this problem?
- Why and how do you think the coordinated MPH/MSW degree program best suits your career and professional goals?
- Optional – What else would you like for us to know about you? In this section, other students have talked about speaking a second language, when they first came to the U.S., being a first generation college student, international experiences (e.g. study abroad, travel in other countries), and/or life experiences that have influenced their choice of social work and/or public health as a career.
Education
Respond to the points in this section only as applicable to your situation.
- If you are not providing a reference that is from an academic, college-level instructor, please explain.
- If your GPA is below 3.0 or you do not feel that your academic record accurately reflects your ability, please explain.
- If your GPA is below 3.0 what plans/safeguards have you/could you put in place to help you excel and meet the rigorous demands of graduate school?