As such, please complete this form by addressing Section #1 and Section #2 below. Ensure that your writing sample includes the following:
Between 500 to 1000 words, for each of the two sections.
Accurate spelling, grammar, and punctuation.
Ideas are well organized and adequately address the topic posed. This writing sample should represent your best writing efforts and will be evaluated, along with your other application materials, by faculty interviewers. As such, it is strongly recommended that you have someone proofread your work prior to submitting this form.
If utilized, support from the professional literature is formatted in correct and current APA style.
1. Describe your interest in becoming a professional psychologist.
Include in your answer your goals, objectives, and plans as they pertain to obtaining a doctoral degree and the way in which you intend to utilize that degree after graduation. Additionally, your answer should specify how additional education, beyond your current credentials, will help you to meet those goals.
2. SECTION #2
Please address one additional topic from the six listed below.
1. Discuss the importance of ethics in the profession of psychology. Additionally, share one ethical dilemma that you have faced in your professional life (do not include any identifying information) and how you went about resolving it.
2. The American Psychological Association (APA) has mandated that all psychologists should become culturally competent. Explain your understanding of this concept and how you might work toward achieving that in your graduate education and beyond.
3. It has been argued that most mental health illnesses are biopsychosocial in nature. Explain what this means and give an example of one major mental illness or psychological disorder and how its etiology is biopsychosocial.
4. There are several schools of thought regarding how and why psychotherapy is effective. Share your ideas and beliefs about how psychotherapy can be “curative”. What are the most salient elements of psychotherapy which make it effective in treating psychological disorders?
5. Professional psychologists have many interests in addition to counseling and psychotherapy. This includes planning, conducting, and evaluating scholarly research. Briefly describe a research project that you might consider conducting as a psychologist. Outline succinctly the research question, the methodology you would use to answer the question, and how the results could be applied clinically.
6. The preamble of the APA Ethical Principles of Psychologists and Code of Conduct states that psychologists use their professional knowledge, “…to improve the condition of individuals, organizations, and society”. Discuss your understanding of this statement and briefly describe examples of how you might accomplish this professional mission in your work as a future psychologist.
