31. How to Write a Strong MSW Personal Statement with Michelle Bruxer, MSW

Taylor Gilbert (00:00)
Welcome back to the Social Work to Wealth podcast. I'm Taylor here with Faith, as always. This is our first recording of 2026, yay. Year two of the podcast. Thanks for everyone. We did it. Thanks for everyone. ⁓ Happy New Year.
Faith (00:07)
Yes. ⁓
Yay! Year two! We did it!
Taylor Gilbert (00:22)
you know, thanks for your support and all the things. So
Today we're gonna be talking with Michelle, owner of MSW Helper. I feel like this is a little bit of a different episode for us just because this is a podcast typically geared towards social workers, but we're gonna be talking about applications into grad programs and tips and all the things. ⁓ So yeah, super excited to have Michelle here if you just wanna introduce yourself for everyone who doesn't know you
Michelle Bruxer (00:57)
Hey everyone, yeah, thank you so much for having me. I'm very excited to be here and thanks for the introduction. Yeah, so I am the founder of MSW Helper, which is a platform dedicated to helping social work students apply to Master of Social Work programs.
Taylor Gilbert (01:17)
I feel like you're the only person that's doing this. Is this true?
Faith (01:20)
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Michelle Bruxer (01:20)
That's the way. Yeah.
For sure.
And that's actually part of why I started MSW Helper. ⁓ After I went through the process of applying to social work programs, I found that I had a lot of questions that I couldn't find answers to. ⁓ A lot of the advice that I saw online was very generic to other programs, but social work is very different. There's a lot of nuanced things specifically about the application process. And even though I always felt that I was a
Faith (01:38)
Hmm.
Michelle Bruxer (01:54)
strong student, I really felt lost in the application process because of that. And so after I got accepted, I started helping people with their applications, just, you know, seeing that there was a need for people in my own life who needed support. And it was just something I kind of did very part time, very informally for a long time. And over the years, it kind of grew and grew. yeah, as of now, I'm still the that's really my area of specialty is social work.
applications and I'm really proud that now a lot of the answers to those questions that I had you can actually go find them now because of the work that we're doing.
Taylor Gilbert (02:33)
Yes, that is so awesome. I want to just go back to, before we kind of get into the application stuff, just talking about you as a social worker and your experience and kind of, you know, your journey. Would love to hear a little bit more about that.
Michelle Bruxer (02:49)
For sure. I mean, my journey in social work started probably a little over a decade ago with, you know, my bachelor of social work. And then I went on to do my MSW. And yeah, I worked in the field for a couple of years as ⁓ someone who worked with families who had a child with a disability. And then I have a bit of clinical experience as well.
Taylor Gilbert (03:14)
Okay.
And when was your transition from being a social worker and then opening up, you know, MSW helper and maybe going that full time?
Faith (03:15)
Peace.
Michelle Bruxer (03:26)
So like a lot of people, COVID was a huge catalyst for me to make it to. Yes. So yeah. So ⁓ like I said, I was doing the personal statement, grad school help as a bit of a side hustle for a long time. I've always been someone who has, who had a lot of different side hustles and things that I was doing. ⁓ And during COVID, I was able to work from home full time and I really loved it.
Faith (03:31)
Yes. Nice.
Michelle Bruxer (03:56)
And that made me realize that, you know, I really am someone that likes to have control over my schedule. So after I got sent back to the office full time, I was like, this is not going to work for me. So I quit my job and I knew I wanted to start a business. I actually thought I was going to go into private practice, but I kind of had this MSW helper thing and I was like, you know, I've never really actually put any effort into growing this.
Taylor Gilbert (04:09)
you
Michelle Bruxer (04:26)
happen if I spent a few months just leveraging this thing that I already have instead of building something new. So that's exactly what I did. I kind of treated it like an experiment and it took off from there and I never ended up starting that private practice.
Taylor Gilbert (04:42)
Yes,
Faith (04:42)
That is so
cool! I love hearing that. Wow.
Taylor Gilbert (04:43)
I know.
I know, we're
gonna have Michelle on for another conversation to talk about specifically your personal journey with this pivot and entrepreneurship and all those things. I think that would be a really great conversation. ⁓ But yeah, so I'm curious your experience navigating the MSW application process, like what was there that was difficult or what kind of questions were you not getting answered?
Michelle Bruxer (04:53)
Yeah.
Faith (04:58)
Yeah, that's awesome.
Michelle Bruxer (05:13)
I think the biggest piece for me was the personal statement. ⁓
And for anybody listening who doesn't know what the personal statement is, it's a document that you have to write typically where you tell the admissions committee why you're interested in becoming a social worker and like what you're hoping to do with your degree. And I really didn't, it's very different from any other form of writing that you have to do because you are often talking about your personal experiences that led you to social work or like trying to blend
a lot of different experiences into a really short statement. ⁓ know, often they're asking what experiences led you to social work and you only have 500 to 1,000 words to answer that. That's a lot to try to stick in and show the admissions committee like why you would be a good fit for the program. ⁓ And you know, I think even the idea of talking about personal experiences, I couldn't really find any information about that online, but I
think a lot of us who pursue social work do enter the field because of personal things that we've been through and how do we talk about that in a way that is appropriate and effective.
Faith (06:30)
Hmm, that's so good to hear. feel like I when I think back to my time trying to apply to grad school I do feel like the personal statement was the hardest part. You're like what am I supposed to put in this? Yeah, I know I was literally just like I think this is what I should be saying. You have no idea. So this is super cool that you help people navigate that. So I'd love to know more about you know
Taylor Gilbert (06:41)
my gosh, I was just floundering.
Michelle Bruxer (06:49)
Yeah.
Faith (06:55)
what makes a really strong application. So what do you feel like actually makes an MSW application stand out to an admissions committee in your perspective?
Michelle Bruxer (07:04)
Yeah, for sure. So that's what we spend a lot of time doing is helping people write personal statements that stand out. I always say the admissions committee is looking for two big things. They're looking for evidence of your critical thinking skills, as well as your ability to contribute to the field of social work in a meaningful way. So when it comes to writing the personal statement, you really want to keep those two things in mind, making sure that you are
a high level of critical thinking and showing the admissions committee how you can fill a gap as a social worker. So a lot of times it's not about, you know, trying to talk about too much and everything that you could possibly know, but choosing one to two key experiences that made you realize, hey, there's a gap in this area and this is something that I'm interested in pursuing. ⁓ And so I can blend those things together and
with an MSW degree, fill that gap.
Faith (08:10)
That's really good advice. I would have never, yeah, I don't think I did that in my personal statement. Yeah.
Taylor Gilbert (08:15)
Right, right, and that piece about critical thinking skills. Can you
Michelle Bruxer (08:15)
Thank
Yeah.
Taylor Gilbert (08:19)
talk a little bit more about that and how do you show that? Or, you know, example.
Michelle Bruxer (08:25)
For sure.
So we kind of have a bit of a formula or a process that we use when we work with applicants about how to really figure out what to talk about in the personal statement. So where I like to start is by thinking about your insights. So from your different experiences, what did that make you realize and how did it, how did it contribute to your desire to become a social worker? So
Taylor Gilbert (08:31)
Yeah.
Michelle Bruxer (08:57)
you know, a lot of schools are going to ask about like a social justice issue and then your motivation for pursuing social work. So instead of just saying something like, I'm interested in becoming a clinical social worker and you know, that that in itself is a little bit broad. You want to dive a little bit deeper into that. think about, well, where did that motivation come from? An example that comes to mind is ⁓ sometimes applicants will come from a,
belong to a culture where mental health discussions might be more stigmatized. So they have a personal experience with mental health challenges that is compounded by cultural factors and societal factors. that is something that they, and that maybe was like their initial interest into pursuing ⁓ like a helping profession or maybe their undergraduate degree. Then they did a placement or got into a work
Taylor Gilbert (09:42)
Yeah.
Michelle Bruxer (09:57)
where they saw similar patterns. They were working with clients and they realized, you know, my community or other communities are not talking about this and they're not getting the support that they need. Maybe they're not getting ⁓ culturally, like the culturally relevant support. So when they are seeking support, it's not helpful for them. So that applicant is kind of seeing all these patterns and saying, hey, there's ⁓ a huge gap and we need more social workers in the field who can address that gap.
Faith (10:07)
Hmm. Mm-hmm.
Michelle Bruxer (10:27)
And then, you know, they kind of tie that all together by saying, as somebody who can connect with that culture, I can fill that gap and provide a more ⁓ diverse social work field who can support diverse communities.
Faith (10:42)
⁓ that makes lot of sense. of like showing how your personal experience helped you gain insight into where there's a need that's going unmet in the community. And that's showing your critical thinking skills of connecting all of that and showing how you could, by getting your masters, help meet that need, which that makes a lot of sense. I love that. ⁓
Michelle Bruxer (10:52)
Yes.
Taylor Gilbert (10:56)
Right.
Michelle Bruxer (11:01)
For sure, it's kind of like showing
like what patterns are you seeing and how can you uniquely fill the gaps that you're seeing?
Faith (11:06)
Yeah
Very cool. Very cool. What do you think applicants misunderstand most about the purpose of the personal statement? Like, where do you feel like they kind of misread things or get it wrong?
Michelle Bruxer (11:23)
For sure. There's a couple ⁓ kind of big mistakes that I see when we edit personal statements. The first one is ⁓ regurgitating the resume. So a lot of times when schools ask, why do you want to be a social worker? There's an impulse to kind of talk about every work experience that you've had that connects to social work practice. And the problem with that is because the word counts are so short, if you're trying to fit everything
into your personal statement, you're probably not getting deep enough on that analysis. And they're not just looking for you to talk about what you did and what your roles and responsibilities are. They're looking for why those experiences have motivated you to pursue social work. And I think that's kind what we see in that example I gave, right? They're not really talking about anything about what they actually did. They're focused solely on how that experience contributes to their desire to pursue social work.
and the gaps that they are seeing and what they're hoping to fill. ⁓ Another mistake that I see is not being intentional about what you're sharing and why you're sharing it. ⁓ And then also not answering the prompts fully. know, sometimes when we get writing drafts, you kind of get on a tangent and you lose the original prompt that the school is asking for. And then with like sharing,
with intention. think this is an important topic as well. ⁓ Sometimes, like for example, sometimes applicants will share personal experiences because they feel like they should reflect that somewhere in their application, even if it doesn't actually connect to their desire to become a social worker. So even though I, you know, in the example, I mentioned how that person had personal experiences, it's not something
that you need to have in your application. So you have to share it with a lot of intention.
Taylor Gilbert (13:29)
I did pull up my personal statement and I will put this in the show notes. Michelle edited it and gave lots of feedback because this is one that I didn't get admitted to, Portland State University. ⁓ remembering, just kind of reviewing it real quick and reading it, I felt a lot of pressure to share something personal, which is just so, I don't know why. I don't know, it was so long ago, I don't remember.
Faith (13:55)
Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.
Taylor Gilbert (13:59)
I don't know where that came from, but just why is there this feeling that we need to show like, I experienced something really hard, like I'm gonna be a great social worker, you know? I don't know.
Faith (14:11)
I remember
feeling that too. I totally remember feeling that. And I did do something similar where I shared something personal. But thinking back, I did connect my personal experience to what I wanted to do. And I don't think I knew I was doing what you're suggesting you should do. I think it just kind of happened. And I had family read it through and make sure it made sense. Of course, I had people edit it. But like,
Taylor Gilbert (14:26)
Yeah. Yeah.
Michelle Bruxer (14:29)
Thank
Taylor Gilbert (14:32)
Yeah.
Faith (14:35)
There is this pressure to share something, like personal. I agree.
Taylor Gilbert (14:37)
Yeah.
Yeah, and what's interesting,
think also when I think back to when I was applying, I actually didn't know what I wanted to do. I was excited about social work because there were so many different pathways and things I could do because I was getting my bachelor's in psychology and then I was like, I'm not gonna be able to get a job, know? And then I found social work and thought, oh wow, this is absolutely what I wanna do, but I don't know specifically
Faith (14:45)
you
Taylor Gilbert (15:08)
what angle or what niche. So it felt a little bit hard to write too because I mean, I don't remember if I really went into detail like this is what I wanna do but if I did, I'm not gonna really read through it but if I did I'm like I was lying because I didn't know. You know? Anyways.
Faith (15:27)
Yeah.
Michelle Bruxer (15:28)
Yeah. Yeah.
And it's so great, yeah, it was so great that I was able to review your personal statement. And I think that is such a great resource for anybody listening as well, just to kind of see what it looks like in action. And yeah, I think going back to like personal experiences, I agree. I think it's a common thing where we feel like we need to reflect that because it is an important part of our journey. And if you don't put it in the personal statement, then it's not reflected anywhere.
⁓ But it does kind of go back to the personal statement isn't about sharing your entire life story and your entire career history, but just showing the school again, what are those two important things? Critical thinking skills and how you can fill a gap. And I think if you keep coming back to those two things, that's going to make it a lot easier for you to figure out what you actually need to say in your personal statement. And Taylor, that actually brings up a good point about one of the
common mistakes that I see in the personal statement is often applicants are not specific about why they're choosing social work and what they want to do with their degree. ⁓ So you don't necessarily have to know exactly like what job you want to do as a social worker, but it is important to understand why you're choosing social work. ⁓ One example I often or one mistake I often see is someone who's applying from the field of psychology.
They often pursue social work because they have interests in becoming a therapist. so clinical social work is a path to doing that. It's really, really important that you show why social work is the right path compared to another path that would allow you to become a therapist. So it's okay to say that you want to be a clinical social worker. You just have to bring in those philosophical pieces about social work as well.
Faith (17:30)
I
love that. That is such good advice. Do you have any advice for listeners maybe in Canada, ⁓ you know, in terms of like key differences between a Canadian MSW program or a US program?
Michelle Bruxer (17:43)
So interestingly,
the application process is almost identical. It's, ⁓ so I would say I'm 50-50 between Canada and the US in terms of the applicants that we support. And I actually applied to mostly Canadian MSW programs, but one in the US as well. And yeah, the prompts were identical and ⁓ the application process was very, very similar.
Faith (17:48)
Okay.
Michelle Bruxer (18:13)
There are some differences in terms of being like Canadian MSW programs I think as a whole are more competitive than MSW programs in the US so there is an added pressure for our Canadian listeners who are who are listening today to really make sure that you are putting your best foot forward in those applications.
Taylor Gilbert (18:40)
Interesting. So for the Canadian programs, them being more competitive, is it because there's less of them? More application, you know, than in the US? Okay. Okay.
Michelle Bruxer (18:48)
So yeah, yeah, there's
in Canada, there are maybe 20 MSW programs across the country, maybe a bit more than that, 20 or 30. And in the US, I think there's, you know, like 500 at least if you look at the accreditation directory. Yeah.
Taylor Gilbert (18:59)
Mm-hmm.
Wow,
Faith (19:09)
Wow.
Taylor Gilbert (19:10)
interesting.
That's true.
Michelle Bruxer (19:11)
big population differences between Canada. But yeah,
Faith (19:13)
Yeah.
Michelle Bruxer (19:15)
it's definitely, there are a lot less schools and then ⁓ most people are bound by their geography and where they actually live and where they can get to. yeah.
Taylor Gilbert (19:26)
Yeah, that's true. ⁓
Faith (19:27)
makes a lot of sense.
Taylor Gilbert (19:29)
I feel like
you were talking about mistakes, know, biggest mistakes you see. Are there any others that you can think of that you want to talk about?
Michelle Bruxer (19:38)
what else are some big mistakes?
Not listening to the prompts, that's a big one. ⁓ Especially if you're applying to multiple programs, which is something I do recommend doing. ⁓ And oftentimes the prompts will be very similar, but they'll be different enough that you can't just copy and paste. You really do have to like really look at the prompt and what they're asking and adjust it accordingly.
Taylor Gilbert (19:45)
Yeah.
Yeah.
Yeah.
How many programs do you recommend people apply to?
Michelle Bruxer (20:12)
I think three to five is a really nice balance where you're not putting all your eggs in one basket, ⁓ but you're also not stretching yourself too thin. I find once people get above five, it's difficult to see, I find they often either don't finish beyond that just because it's so much work to apply to each school.
Taylor Gilbert (20:35)
Yeah,
yeah, I applied, what'd
Faith (20:36)
Don't do what I did. I only applied to
UW Medicine one school. And I was like, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. But that's where I lived. That's where I lived so that I was kind of geographically bound to like, right? I wasn't going to move state. So yeah, but.
Michelle Bruxer (20:40)
Did you get accepted? Wow, that's amazing.
Taylor Gilbert (20:41)
Faith applied to one, got into one, and it worked out.
Michelle Bruxer (20:51)
Yeah,
for sure.
Taylor Gilbert (20:53)
my gosh,
I applied to three and.
I was living in Oregon. my gosh, this is a little story. So I was living in Oregon. My husband's in Oregon and I was in Eugene and I applied to Portland State University. It's like two hours away. And then I applied to Arizona State and then I applied to University of Wisconsin Madison. And I was only going to apply to Arizona State and Portland State. And then ⁓ Brett was like, you should apply to one more, you know, so that like if you get into
you have kind of like, you know, you can weigh some options. And so I was like, OK, and I'm, you know, searching online and I'm doing like camp virtual campus tours because I can't fly to all these places. I don't have money to, you know, explore and see, you know, what school do I want to go to? So anyways, UW Madison, I'm like, I don't know, never been in Wisconsin. Seems like a good program from what I see online. I apply. I didn't get into
Michelle Bruxer (21:31)
Yeah.
Faith (21:43)
you
Michelle Bruxer (21:52)
Yeah.
Taylor Gilbert (21:57)
Portland State I was so devastated because I wanted to stay in Oregon so bad because Brett was gonna stay and so I got it but I did get into Arizona State and ⁓
UW Madison and then just, you know, through process of eliminations, saw that UW Madison was a seemed like a better program. so anyways, here we are. Went to Wisconsin all as well. But I was really I was really sad. But it was nice to be able to apply to three so I could have like, you know, some options between the two that I got into. ⁓ So anyways, my little admission story.
Michelle Bruxer (22:19)
Yeah.
Yes.
Faith (22:37)
Yeah.
Michelle Bruxer (22:37)
Yeah,
and it's, you know, it's...
both of those stories are very common. think sometimes we have like a dream school and so if you are like that's where I want to go or that's where I can go that's amazing and then in your case Taylor it's great that you applied to three schools because even though you kind of had a top choice there ⁓ ultimately you didn't get accepted to that one so it's a good thing you had the backup options ⁓ and the other thing too is getting rejected from MSW
Taylor Gilbert (23:05)
Yeah.
Michelle Bruxer (23:09)
is extremely common and I always emphasize to people that it really doesn't mean much about your capacity for the program. Every year I meet new people who went through the rejection and they reach out to me and oftentimes I find that when they work on their personal statement and make some adjustments to their application they do see success the following year.
Taylor Gilbert (23:37)
That's awesome. That's encouraging. ⁓ Any common themes you immediately flag when editing personal statements?
Michelle Bruxer (23:51)
common flags, I would say, I mean, something that we are navigating more and more now is AI in the personal statement. ⁓
Taylor Gilbert (24:02)
Mm-hmm.
Yeah, we were going to ask you about that later, but let's let's just talk about right now. So, yeah, what are your thoughts on using AI when writing your personal statement?
Michelle Bruxer (24:14)
don't really know exactly how I feel about it yet.
You know, it's like AI is here and it's a tool. And I think there are definitely effectively effective ways to use AI to supplement your learning or help you brainstorm and do all of that. At the same time, sometimes I see applications where it's very clearly been generated by chat GPT. There's very clear markers and ⁓ phrases or
even sentences that stick out where it's like, ⁓ that doesn't feel like the rest of what you've written. ⁓
Taylor Gilbert (24:49)
Yeah.
Michelle Bruxer (24:58)
And you lose a lot of personal voice when you are leaning too heavily on AI tools. And the whole purpose of the personal statement is for the school to get a picture of who you are as a potential social worker. I honestly think they would rather see something that maybe isn't as formally worded, but they can get a sense of who you are and your thought processes. ⁓
And you know, like an example that I can think of is I recently edited a personal statement where somebody was using AI to formulate their response to a personal experience. And it really, like it felt very off because it's like they're talking about their personal experience, but it was very clearly not written by them. And so it wasn't actually their own analysis. It was what chat GPT thought that
they would want it to say. And that's kind of the problem with AI is that it works by writing what it thinks you want to hear and so it can sound really good, but if you don't really know exactly what you're saying, it really misses the mark.
Taylor Gilbert (26:14)
Yeah.
Faith (26:15)
So would
you recommend not using AI to write your personal statement? Or how would you recommend incorporating that or not incorporating that? How would you navigate AI?
Michelle Bruxer (26:25)
I actually saw, so
I have been, we have a Facebook group and I started a conversation about AI ⁓ to our members. Someone had a really good idea where they said they used ChatGPT to give them critical advice and to ask them questions, but not to actually write anything. So, you know, they would feed their content to ChatGPT and say, ask me questions, pick, like, give me prompts to like keep thinking, but don't actually,
write sentences for me and I think that's a really good way to use chat GPT because you're still doing the thinking you're just using chat GPT as an assistant to help you brainstorm and maybe think of things that without it you might not have thought of but at end of the day that's still your work I definitely would not recommend using chat GPT to write your personal statement for you
Taylor Gilbert (27:22)
I love that. I love that advice because I think if I, when I was writing it my own, I probably would have used Chat GPT because I was someone that felt like, I felt like I'm not a good writer. I don't know what to say. Like, what do you say? You know, but I love that framing of don't use it to write, you know, your thoughts, but just help have it help you kind of think of what you want to say. And I think that's what takes me so long when I'm writing, even in grad school
Faith (27:24)
you
Hmm.
Taylor Gilbert (27:51)
writing papers, like I would need to spend a week or even two weeks on one paper just because it takes me so long to just like kind of think of what I want to say. So yeah, I love that idea.
Michelle Bruxer (27:56)
Yeah.
Faith (28:06)
Yeah, I really like that too. And there's so much pressure around applications and writing this personal statement. You just are anxious. People are just anxious doing it. And so if you know how to use AI in an ethical way, that is going to help you but not create this odd thing where it's not your own words or your own real personal experience. I think that's a really smart idea and technique to implement for sure. Yeah.
Michelle Bruxer (28:15)
We're sorry.
Taylor Gilbert (28:32)
And what would
you say, you know, because I felt like I'm not a good writer, you know, so, so what do you say to people when they're like, well, I'm not a good writer. What is your advice there?
Michelle Bruxer (28:44)
sure
and like you know that actually is kind of one of the
things that makes it me kind of for chat GPT and AI is not everybody is a strong writer, especially somebody who maybe speaks English as a second language. And as social workers, we know that that's exactly who we need to be promoting in the field. So there's something to be said about the barriers that exist when in graduate school applications with the writing process. ⁓ I would say like, I don't really think that chat
Faith (29:12)
Mm-hmm.
Michelle Bruxer (29:20)
GPT is there yet in terms of being able to provide that support and I worry that somebody who does need that support is using it thinking that you know their message is being shared effectively when it's not so There are other resources that are available ⁓ You know even just like a like spell check like that's not AI right like just making sure that you're using that ⁓ and then even if most universities offer a free
academic writing center. So that can be a really good resource for like grammar and writing mechanics and then at least you know when you're using that that you have a person who is backing their work. You're not just relying on a language model to hopefully put it together for you and use it correctly.
Taylor Gilbert (30:14)
Mm-hmm. Yeah, that's interesting. And I also wonder, you know, like you were saying, like, chat GPT is not there yet, or these, you know, language models. Like, could we really get a critical analysis from chat GPT about systems of racial inequalities and all of those things, you know, or things that you've witnessed in your own? Like, I mean, it's maybe a rhetorical question, but I'm just, you know, wondering, like, I don't, I don't think it can go there. Maybe it can. I don't know.
Michelle Bruxer (30:36)
Yeah.
Faith (30:40)
Right,
Michelle Bruxer (30:43)
Yeah,
I don't think so. I think at the end of the day, the, you know, using it to brainstorm your own critical thinking, that's amazing. But I don't think you can outsource that to an AI model. And that's where that, like, I don't think that that human touch will ever replace.
Taylor Gilbert (30:57)
Right.
Michelle Bruxer (31:04)
the ability to critically analyze large social issues. I mean, I'm not an expert in, but just in the work that I'm doing and what I'm seeing, I'm like, can't imagine how that could ever be replaced.
Taylor Gilbert (31:11)
Yeah.
Faith (31:11)
Haha, yeah. Me either.
Taylor Gilbert (31:18)
Yeah.
Faith (31:19)
Yeah,
and also, as AI gets more advanced, schools are going to use AI to scan personal statements, probably to look for false personal statements. So you have to just lean into your abilities and your experiences, for sure.
Michelle Bruxer (31:28)
For sure.
Yeah.
Taylor Gilbert (31:37)
So
I know people worry about low GPAs. How do admissions committee typically view low GPAs in the application process?
Michelle Bruxer (31:47)
For sure. So that's a common concern that a lot of applicants come to me with is they're saying, you know, I want to be a social worker. I want to apply to my masters, but I have a low GPA. What I always say is that, you know, schools assess applications holistically. They're not just looking at one thing and making a decision based off of that. They really want to see a mix of, yes, your GPA, but also your experiences and ⁓ what you can bring to the
table as a future social worker. So for someone who has a lower GPA, there might be a reason behind that. Maybe they went through something difficult when they were in their undergrad. And so that led to a lower GPA. But the difficult period that they went through is deeply connected to their desire to be a social worker. And that's something that they talk about in their personal statement. So that is something that's that is something that schools would look at and say,
you know, I can see how this person has a lower GPA, but here's why, and here's how that experience is actually a strength, and it's going to contribute positively to their social work career. With that as well, you know, there are often minimum GPA requirements for schools, and so you really want to make sure that you are looking at that and the language surrounding that as well. Sometimes they'll have like a hard cutoff where they say, is the minimum cutoff.
sometimes they're a bit more flexible and they'll say, you know, we generally look for applicants with a GPA around here, but we look at the application process holistically. So you kind of want to factor that in as well.
Taylor Gilbert (33:30)
That's
encouraging, because I mean, we as social workers, that's what we're taught to do is looking at people holistically, right? So good to know that they will do the same with applicants. Do you think that people should focus on talking about their low GPA in a personal statement? do you address it? Or it's just like, I'm not even going to talk about it. You see it, I'm talking about something else in my personal statement.
Michelle Bruxer (33:56)
So it depends and that's exactly the kind of thing that we help applicants with is figuring out strategically like should I talk about this or should I focus on something else? If it's a case where, like I said, where it was something that contributes to their desire to be a social worker, like they went through something, it led to a low GPA, yeah, it probably makes sense to touch on that in the personal statement. ⁓ An example of someone who might not want to talk about it is,
someone who's like a seasoned professional, they've been working for 10 or 15 years, they have social service experience, they're getting their masters because they're kind of on the track of being a social worker in an informal way, it might not make sense for them to talk about it because they went to school 15 years ago and they have such great experience. So for them to waste time, like waste space in a limited personal statement to that, I think it would
be better in that case to talk about their their strengths which is their decades of experience.
Taylor Gilbert (35:01)
Mm-hmm.
That makes a lot of sense. Yeah.
Faith (35:02)
Yeah, that makes a lot of sense.
Yeah. We've talked a lot about experience and tying your personal experience into your personal statement. But what advice would you give for somebody who just feels like they don't have enough experience?
Michelle Bruxer (35:15)
Yeah, that's a great question. And what I always say is that if you're applying to grad school, you have experience. ⁓ There is something that you can leverage or talk about in your personal statement. And really, you can't get to grad school without having some kind of experience. So ⁓ it's really just a matter of like how you frame the experiences that you do have. I actually applied to my MSW with really no experience at all.
I had a placement experience that I did in my Bachelor of Social Work. And then normal university jobs, like working as a camp counselor, working in fast food, working in customer service, those kinds of roles. But somebody who is working in customer service, you develop a lot of social work skills through those kinds of roles. ⁓ You're thinking quickly on your feet. You're developing interpersonal
personal skills, you're making decisions, often there's like leadership, communication, all of those things are transferable to social work. ⁓ I often draw from an example of somebody who worked in a coffee shop and at first glance you're like, that's not social work experience, but some of the patrons who attended that coffee shop were people who were houseless. so through that experience, they were often supported
the patrons through different crises and difficult moments and often providing just like a warm place for them to have some respite for a little while. And you know through those conversations, through those experiences, that's what made them realize the gaps that exist for those patrons and that's part of their desire for becoming a social worker.
Faith (36:50)
Hmm, mm-hmm. ⁓
Michelle Bruxer (37:15)
coffee shop is not social work experience. They have developed social work skills like communication, teamwork, ⁓ like all those different things. And they've also developed an insight that contributes to their desire to pursue social work. And if they talk about that in their personal statement, that goes back to those two things, critical thinking skills and potential to a gap. So yeah, if you are applying, you have experience. We just have to figure out how to show that.
Faith (37:37)
Mm-hmm.
Michelle Bruxer (37:45)
Thank
Faith (37:46)
I appreciate you kind of walking through that because I think sometimes we also, at least in my experience, it was thinking of personal experience in terms of like a personal struggle I had or a personal like, you know, hardship I went through where it's like, no, like personal experience could also be like, hey, I worked this job and I was exposed to, you know, these inequities or these inequalities. And this is something that I want to be able to, you know, help support people in. And I think social work is a great way to do that versus like, I have this mental health condition and I've experienced
mental health difficulties in my life, you know, before. So it's kind of nice to hear you talk about you can use a personal experience or you could use like a personal work experience. It doesn't have to be, yeah, it can look different for, you know, everybody. That's really, interesting.
Michelle Bruxer (38:25)
Yeah.
Absolutely.
Taylor Gilbert (38:32)
Any other advice you want to give to people? I'm actually I'm curious about what you've seen in terms of, you know, the rejection kind of process and and people, you know, coming back a second time and.
Faith (38:34)
Yeah.
Taylor Gilbert (38:49)
Yeah, just maybe some advice or encouragement for people who are just feeling deflated through their, yeah, application process. hard.
Michelle Bruxer (38:59)
For sure, it is hard and...
You know, I think the important thing to remember is that getting rejected is very common, especially the first time that you apply. Especially if you're listening to this and kind of thinking, maybe I didn't do some of those things in my personal statement. So, you know, I think it's important not to internalize what getting rejected means about you and your capacity. ⁓ And even if you have areas of concern in your application,
like a low GPA or lack of experience. Sometimes it's not so much that, but maybe how you framed your experiences in the personal statement. And I do find that when applicants do decide to reapply and, ⁓ know, I really commend people when they do that because it can be hard to like put yourself in a position where you could experience a rejection again. Oftentimes they come back with a new energy and
like they put a lot of effort into those application materials. And yeah, from the clients that we work with, most of them do see success after making a few changes. So really it wasn't them and their lack of, like the lack of a strong application, it was just putting everything together in a way that showed the admissions committee how you would be a great fit for the program.
Taylor Gilbert (40:31)
Yeah. Do
⁓ you have a structure or I don't know, a framework of, you know, of laying out your personal statement of like, first paragraph, we talk about this, then this, then this. Is that a thing or it's just kind of different for everyone?
Michelle Bruxer (40:45)
Absolutely. So we do have ⁓ like a framework for
more so developing the story that you want to share in your personal statement. think that's where you need to start is figuring out, what do I want to focus on and what area am I going to touch on and what's my goal as a social worker? You need to kind of figure out those key pieces and then how you actually write it is going to depend very much on the prompts that the school is asking. So, you know, there's not like a set structure, but there is like, this is how you
brainstorm effectively and come out come up with an overall message for your personal statements. Another big thing that I highly recommend applicants do is make sure that they have a strong introduction and conclusion and that's something that we work on heavily in our like services and in the course that we have that teaches people how to write a personal statement. You want to make sure that you are capturing the reader's attention in the first couple of sentences and really
showing them like what your background is and what your goal is as a social worker.
Faith (41:58)
That's really good advice. I have a quick question, too, about talking with your experience in talking with grad programs or universities. Do you find that when you speak with these programs that they've ever changed their approach in terms of what they're looking for and like, OK, now universities are looking for this thing versus this thing, you know how that can just change in the application process? Do you find that it's been pretty consistent over time, or does it change in terms of what they're looking for?
Michelle Bruxer (42:20)
Yeah.
It's been mostly consistent. I've been doing this for, yeah, I've been doing this for seven years and the prompts for each school has been mostly the same. ⁓ Sometimes a school will throw a curve ball and it's like, ⁓ they changed it, it's different. But yeah, the vast majority of schools, they're asking the same prompts, the ⁓ exact same requirements and the same things that they're looking for.
Taylor Gilbert (42:28)
That's interesting.
Faith (42:29)
Mm-hmm.
fascinating.
Taylor Gilbert (42:50)
Hmm,
that is interesting. Okay, so tell us about how you help people services, like get into the details about, yeah, how people can get support from you and your team.
Michelle Bruxer (43:04)
For sure. So our core service is personal statement editing. So we help applicants by critiquing and editing their personal statement. With that, we also have different packages and different ways to work with people who might need more support. For example, some applicants are like, I actually need to sit down and talk to somebody before I start writing to figure out, you know, what am I going to say and what should I focus on?
So we offer those kinds of services as well. As well as like I mentioned, we have a course on how to write the personal statement. So with those pieces, we really can help applicants each step of the way. And a great place, we also offer a lot of free resources. I think that's something that is very important to me as somebody who went through that experience and couldn't find the answers that I needed. So a great place to start would be with our free webinar.
that teaches you how to write an effective personal statement. And then if you are interested or you have questions, we also offer free 15-minute consultations where I'd be happy to sit down with anybody and talk about their applications and how we might be able to help them or just any other questions that they have.
Faith (44:24)
That's so great.
Taylor Gilbert (44:25)
Such great resources. ⁓ my gosh. Man, man, Michelle. What would you recommend for people, applicants who are English as a second language? ⁓ Yeah, what kind of support do you offer those individuals?
Faith (44:28)
Yes.
Michelle Bruxer (44:30)
Thank
Faith (44:32)
I know.
Mm-hmm.
Michelle Bruxer (44:42)
So our ⁓ personal statement editing service, we do support with writing and grammar, ⁓ with the regular critiquing, where we're also looking at the content and like, did you actually answer the prompts? it's difficult because we can't write a personal statement for you, right? It really has to, because we wanna maintain academic integrity.
and make sure that it's, ⁓ you know, ethically written. so, you know, I think with the personal statement editing services, we can provide that support and make sure that, you know, it's well written and, but also still in your own words as much as possible.
Faith (45:29)
I just have one more question about how, if you can, and I don't even know if you have this number, but how many students do you think you've helped in your time ⁓ providing this service? Yeah. yeah. Mm-hmm. Yeah, let's hear it. Let's hear it.
Taylor Gilbert (45:42)
and your success rate because it is pretty high, isn't it? Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. To your horn, Michelle. Let's hear it.
Michelle Bruxer (45:42)
So, yes. Okay.
For sure.
So yeah, before last year, we were at about 2000 students that we've supported. In the last year, we're at a little over 1000. So we're a little over 3000 students that we've supported directly. And then yeah, we have an 89 % acceptance rate based on those who answer our surveys, right? I want to put that disclaimer a little bit, but
Faith (46:04)
That's awesome.
Taylor Gilbert (46:11)
the survey. Yeah.
Faith (46:11)
Right.
Michelle Bruxer (46:16)
Yeah, and of the people who don't get accepted, typically they're the ones who applied to one program. Maybe they got like one round of personal statement editing. But for those who, you know, they applied to multiple programs and they got quite a bit of support, the acceptance rate is very likely even higher than 89%. Yeah.
Faith (46:26)
Hmm.
That's so cool. I love hearing
Taylor Gilbert (46:36)
Amazing.
Faith (46:38)
that. Yay!
Taylor Gilbert (46:39)
Yeah, I know. All right, so where can people find you and all the things?
Michelle Bruxer (46:44)
Yeah, so the
best place to go would probably be MSWHelper.com. That's kind of where everything is. You can find our free templates and ⁓ resources and sign up for our webinars and ⁓ services if you're interested. ⁓ We're also on TikTok and Instagram at MSW.Helper. ⁓ And then if you go to the website, we also have a Facebook group. You'll see it under free resources. That's a great place to get connected with other students who are also applying to programs.
Taylor Gilbert (47:15)
Awesome. And Michelle has given our listeners community a 15 % off coupon. I'll put it in the show notes. Yeah. So thank you so much, Michelle. This was amazing. Thanks, everyone, for listening. And we'll be back in two weeks.
Faith (47:26)
Amazing.
Michelle Bruxer (47:27)
Yes.
Faith (47:29)
Thank you.
Michelle Bruxer (47:35)
Awesome, thank you so much.