Resume and Narrative Statement Instructions for MSW Application

Submit your resume and narrative statement as Microsoft Word or Adobe PDF files. Submit them as two separate documents.

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 (both social work and non-social work related).
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
Social justice activity

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 social work?
What societal problem or social issue do you care most about and what would you propose the social work field does to address this problem?
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 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?