Future Career Goals

Short-term career goals (2-5 years):

My plan within the next 5 years includes several parts. The first part would be to graduate from Eastern Michigan University with my B.S. in Psychology and a minor in Interdisciplinary Leadership and Human Sexuality next April with all three types of honors (university, departmental, highest).

The problem with writing the rest of my career goals is that I don't know exactly yet what type of graduate program I want to go into. I know for sure that I want to help individuals with the challenges in life through the mental health field. I have three options in mind, Clinical Psychology, Counseling or Social Work.

If I was to go with a Masters program, such as most Counseling or Social Work, in the next five years I would graduate from that program and enter the work field and be able to practice therapy.

If I was to go the Doctorate route, with a Ph.D or Psy.D program then I would still possibly be a student during this time period working on a dissertation as well as courses and possibly be teaching during that time.

Action Plan:

This summer I am going to spend some time doing GRE prep and sign-up to take that test which may impact my decision. I also plan to start researching different programs, their accreditation, courses and requirements. Once I start narrowing down programs, I want to look at different schools and decide where to go out of state or if I should stay in Michigan.

During the next year starting in the Fall, I would like to write my senior thesis within Psychology and be a part of collecting research as well as continue working my three jobs to gain more experience and use these as references to get into a graduate program, get letters of recommendation, etc.

Once I get into a program, I want to make that a huge priority in my life to graduate in a timely manner.

Long-term career goals (7-10 years): 

My plan for the long term is very dependent on what I decide to do in the near future.

If I decide to go with just a Masters, during this time I would plan to add certificates to add to my degree that would help me be more marketable as well as be able to be a part of a bigger variety of tasks. Something that I would be very interested in would be Academic Advising  or things like that to possible work in Higher Education and help people with career counseling as well as just generally.

If I went with the Ph.D., then I would be mostly likely fully licensed by this point and published and I think I would like to practice in Michigan. I would be doing diagnosis and treatment without a supervisor through theory. I would probably still be involved with research and possibly be thinking about becoming a professor part time.

There's a chance that I could get a Masters, go into the work field for a time period for a break from schooling and decide to go back and get a Ph.D.

Action Plan:

To get to this point, I plan to start reading more academic/scholarly articles and get more familiar with wording within the discipline. I also would need to do a lot of research and be extremely focused to accomplish these things. It would need for very deliberate choices in course selection and program selection to be able to enter the work-field. I would need to be determined and pick an interesting project to work on to keep myself engaged and to be successful. I would plan to have a good support system to help me with whatever I decide to do, including at some point hopefully getting married and starting a family. This would call for a balance between personal and professional life and probably some hard decisions I cannot plan for currently.

Supporting evidence:

 I have talked to several people about my plans and gotten their feedback and advice on what they think about it. This includes John Feldkamp, Caitlin Baumer and Janine Driver from Honors. Also Peggy Liggit from the Faculty Development Center, Dar Mayweather from the Center for Multicultural Affairs and Dr. Francis from the Counseling department. They basically said that to make sure that my motivation for doing certain things is coming from the heart and not from external things like money or prestige. Make sure it is something that I am truly passionate about and can see myself doing. Dr. Francis explained the differences between the theory behind the fields which was helpful as well. On the other hand, they said don't not do something out of nervousness or fear of failure. Another piece I heard is that only to do the Ph.D. if it is absolutely necessary for what I want to do. This is all very important for me to consider because I respect these individuals and their knowledge.

They all stated that they know that I will get into programs due to my high GPA and my experience, as well as what type of student I am and that it is choosing a program that matches my personal values and priorities. They stated that I understand things easily and have good writing skills as well as I exhibit a passion for learning new things and learning about others and their lives. All pointed to my dedicated to being on time and being able to accomplish tasks timely even when other things are going on in my life (as some of my StrengthsFinder strengths were learner, discipline and individualization, and achiever). They also all state that sometimes I need to be more willing to speak up and have some controversy with civility. I want to continue getting feedback to help steer my development, especially in the things that are essential to be effective in the future.

Click here for a letter from my current Graduate Assistant in The Honors College.