Personal Statement

**UPDATE**-I recieved my acceptance letter to Texas Tech’s Master of Art’s in Sociology program on October 19th, 2012. So this personal statement/letter of intent worked for me! Good luck to any of you who are working to get into a program. If you have any questions I would be happy to answer them. Also note that there are some grammatical errors in my statement below, but I did one more revision before actually turning it in.

I will be submititng my application for a graduate program soon, and part of the required material is a personal statement or letter of intent. This is mine. I figured I would let some objective readers judge my letter so please let me know what you think. Even if you don’t know me, neither will some of the committe members who will be judging my application. Especially if you’ve been accepted to a graduate program before, please give me some constructive criticism! Thank you guys.

lovelove

kembra.

Respected Dr. Johnson and Sociology Graduate Committee:
I am submitting my application for enrollment in the Sociology graduate program at Texas Tech for the Spring 2012 semester. Having a sociology major in my undergraduate studies, a continued knowledge of theory and applications in the field would greatly benefit my future research and career goals. These objectives include studying criminology, violent crime, substance abuse, and socoiology of religion. Eventually, I would like to teach and continue to contribute research at a leading insitution of higher learning. The past four years of my life as a Red Raider have convinced me that Texas Tech is the ideal insitution for me to continue my education and recieve my master’s degree in sociology.

I entered my undergraduate degree program with a sociology major, criminology concentration, and forensic sciences minor hoping to find work in a field where I could help society reduce crime and rehabilitate criminals in a more efficient way than was standard at the time. I was extremely interested in violent crime and did most of my research on this topic. These papers, including “Social Disorganization and Violent Crime in America” and “Disastrous Duos: An Analysis of Violent Criminal Partnerships”, always received above average grades. To get hands-on experience with criminals and learn more about criminology, I interned under Assistant District Attorney Tray Payne at the Lubbock County Prosecutor’s office. During this time, I was able to attend various trials and see some inner workings of the judicial system. Mr. Payne exclusively tried cases involving violent crime, so this internship specifically brought to life the lecture hall lessons I had been most intrigued by through my first year of college. I would like to build on this experience by furthering my studies into the criminal mind and deterrence techniques for aggressive or especially vicious crimes.

I also found myself continually drawn to the assessment of criminals with substance abuse problems. Though I grew up in a strict no drug and alcohol tolerance family, I have worked for over 3 years in various bars around Texas Tech’s college community. To say the least, these bars make for a captivating, albeit unofficial, sociological laboratory. Because of my first hand experience with observing people under a wide range of effects of alcohol, my interest in society’s varying tolerance for harmful or illicit substances has increased. By studying how society responds to alcohol and drug use, I would like to determine a method for reducing substance abuse related crime and injury.

Additionally, I have resided in one of the most conservative parts of America for over 20 years and have witnessed many different consequences of the “Bible Belt” mentality. I have determined that high levels of religiosity sometimes have adverse effects on children and young adults. Issues like drug use, teen pregnancy, and domestic violence were common in religious households in the town I grew up in. I would like to find the relationship between these, and other, problems and parental religiosity.

These facets of my background have all contributed to and strengthened my commitment to pursuing continued education, specialized research and a career in sociology. After hearing about Texas Tech’s graduate program in sociology through my professors and advisors, I determined that it was a program who’s courses, intensive workload, and faculty and their research interests well suited my own learning style and goals. I believe it is an excellent program that will help me to help society by contributing new knowledge in the areas I have previously specified. Though my undergraduate GPA may be lower than some applicants, my grades in sociology classes were often much better than in other areas of study, and my sincerity and commitment to the sociology graduate program may be seen in my GRE scores and various letters of recommendation from my undergraduate sociology professors.

I have worked full-time continuously throughout my four years at Texas Tech in order to fully support myself and help pay for my degree. I also received various scholarships due to excellent grades and academic performance. As a freshman, I was a founding member and officer of the Texas Tech Criminology Club. I enjoyed promoting the sociology porgram through this organization, which brought in various guests from the criminal justice system and planned off campus trips that helped sparked the interest of students who might not have considered sociology or criminology as a subject of study before.
With some free moments between work and school, I find time to read many genres of literature and keep a public blog which allows me to subjectively comment on sociological issues like family and parenting, drug use, and sub-cultures. I currently have over 60 individual subscribers from all over the world and enjoy creating diverse conversation about topics that affect people universally.

Between my sincere interest in sociology, my extra curricular activities, and my complete commitment to success in Texas Tech’s sociology program, I feel that the graduate school is a perfect fit for me. Obtaining my master’s degree, and continuing my career as a Red Raider, would be a monumental experience and would also allow me to give back to my school, state, and society through important research. I hope that you find my qualifications commensurate with your standards and look forward to hearing from you soon.

Wreck ‘Em!
Kembra Gerner
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