Well now that I am all graduated the question of the hour is what is next?! First of all for those who don't know I graduated with a Bachelors of the Arts (psychology) from Lourdes University. Huge achievement but just a stepping stone in my career path. For the next year I am going to be taking some time off from school. It has been go, go, go since my accident and I figured why not give myself a break before I HAVE to join the "real world". The plan is to travel, sunbathe, read (books, not textbooks), and begin the grad school application process. Now this dang process will most likely take all year, but i can pretend like this year will be relaxing right? Word to the wise who are planning to apply to grad school make sure you take the GRE your junior year. Anyways, I have a couple of vacation planned for the next couple of months. The most important one would be our trip to Maui. I couldn't be more pumped about this 7 whole days in paradise. Once I come home I will begin to take a class for the GRE, my GPA isn't what I had hoped it would be, so I need a killer GRE score. I'll take the GRE sometime in early/mid October and all of November I will spend filling out applications, putting the finishing touches on research papers, and doing lots of praying. All of my applications are due beginning of December and then the waiting game begins. I should hear back before February and find out in April. Long time to wait but hopefully it will be all worth it.
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| isn't it pretty?! |
Now what the heck kind of program am I applying for?! Well I will be applying to 6 different schools for their Ph.D programs. Two will be a Ph.D in Clinical Psychology and four Ph.D in Counseling Psychology. The schools are Bowling Green, Ohio State, Western Michigan, Arizona State, University of Texas, and University of Florida. My number one school is Arizona State, obviously! But we will see what happens. I am honestly hoping that I only get into one school and that is the school I am meant to go to because if I have to decide it will be brutal. I am excited and nervous all at the same time because if I do leave the state for school it will most likely be a permanent relocation. The programs are 6 years long and will probably have set down roots in whatever city this process takes me.
Oh, I forgot to add my "career goals" are to become a psychologist (different from psychiatrist because they don't prescribe medication) and do private practice counseling. I hope to work mostly with teenagers who have been through a traumatic event and also family counseling. I could do this will just a master but I would also like to eventually become a professor and a Ph.D is needed. Not to mention I have always wanted people to have to refer to me as Dr. Stevie. So that is all of it in a nut shell. I am so excited to embark on this new journey and cannot wait to see where it takes me because I know I never could have predicted the last 5.
