Personal Statement: My Interest In Social Work

My interest in social work could date back to senior middle school. When seeing the news reporting primary school students’ life in Guizhou, I organized a donation in my grade to collect clothes and books for children living in the remote area of China. I tried hard to persuade all my classmates and teachers to join in, though everyone was busy with preparing for the University Entrance Examination. With satisfaction of helping others, I made up my mind to work on it and call for more help. Only when I specialized in Social Work in my undergraduate, did I understand how it could realize my expectations.

During this period, I have mastered knowledge about social work, psychology, law and so on. Besides theoretical learning, I volunteered at

With a concentration on leadership and social change, I can better equip myself for future battle in advocating for better policies. I believe this is a good place for me to broaden my horizon, and expose myself to more advanced theories and practices of social work, and it would also offer me a profound insight into social work in America where the development in this field is much more advanced than in China. Given the specialized focus on youth work and social work with children and family, I will be able to learn more applicable and practical theories in these areas and better equip myself for policy making relating to the welfare of child and young people of all kind. I am looking forward to gaining the following from my professional education. First of all, I could acquire many new ideas from courses and literature, and have discussions with my classmates and brew brand-new ideas by brainstorming. Secondly, I wish to be involved in more fieldwork experience so as to improve my social work skills. Besides, I hope to get more guidance during my social work practice because only reflection can make practice more valuable. Afterwards, participating in research work is another wish of me. I hope to get a chance to do research by conducting surveys or interviews, rather than mere literature research. Last but not least, I would like to deepen my commitment to my values. I believe UIUC

After graduation, I would like to join in social work first in the USA or in China, to accumulate my experience, improve myself, and help those in need. I expect to be a professional social worker or take on policy making for disadvantaged group in China in the future. Specifically speaking, I would like to take on social work with children, in which I have experiences mentioned above. As for me, it is undesired to see children grow in an unhealthy condition. Especially for vulnerable children, such as children with autism, disability or in poverty, they need a better way to lead them to keep physical and mental health, and validate their self-worth. Most importantly, I believe it is necessary to respect and protect Children 's rights, promote service level of social work of Children development, in order to better cultivate talents with sound personality for the future. To some extent, minors are the future and hope of a nation, and their physical conditions directly determine the country 's development and