My name is Lorena Batista, I am currently a student at the New York City College of Technology (City Tech), enrolled in the major Liberal Arts and Sciences. Obtaining an associate in Liberal Arts and Sciences is just the starting point of the goals that I have setted out to achieve in life. Later on, I will transfer to another college to continue my career path, which is becoming a successful Psychologist. As soon as I get accepted to course this major, I will have multiple choices of career subfields related with Psychology, which are specified below. This career offers me countless options to choose as my selected subfield, however, I am specifically interested on becoming a Clinical Psychologist. There are several reasons that led me to choose this major, nevertheless, some were powerful enough to make me put them into words in this research project and be able to give a better explanation about them to my audience. This is the best major for me because I have the skills required to succeed at this career and be an excellent professional, I will have the opportunity to study people’s mind and behavior, which is something that I feel passion to. Furthermore, this major is the best platform to touch people’s hearts and help them to understand their lives. In this essay, I will do a broad explanation about my major and career choice, you will understand better what are a LAS and a Psychology degree about, the career options after graduating and how City Tech is preparing me to get there. Furthermore, I will broadly describe the reasons why this is the best major for me.
According to the New York City College of Technology Catalog, “An associate degree in Liberal Arts and Sciences is a solid stepping stone to further education. It provides strong academic preparation emphasizing communication, analytical, and critical thinking skills. The LAS degree may lead to careers in traditional areas such as biological sciences, chemistry, physics, mathematics and education. A Liberal Arts and Sciences degree is a good starting point to transfer to bachelor’s programs at City Tech or other colleges.” I chose this major because it will give me the opportunity to take several courses that will lay the groundwork for me to continue my path to success at my dream major, Psychology, at the college I am planning to transfer in the future. A college option to transfer in the future to a Psychology major is Hunter College, because it offers an excellent undergraduate Psychology program. According to the Hunter College Catalog, “Psychology is concerned with all aspects of the study of behavioral, developmental and cognitive processes, and employs a broad spectrum of approaches, from the social to the biological, to understand them.” Psychology encompasses many subfields and includes different approaches to the study of mental processes and behavior, such as, Experimental, Industrial/Organizational, Neuropsychology and Behavioral Neuropsychology, Social, Counseling and Clinical Psychology. This has fascinated me in ways that made me choose the field of Psychology as my future career.
There are many jobs opportunities with this major, however, I am specifically interested on Clinical Psychology, which treats mental, emotional, and behavioral disorders. According to the Cabrini College website, “These range from short-term crises, such as difficulties resulting from adolescent rebellion, to more severe, chronic conditions such as schizophrenia. Some clinical psychologists treat specific problems exclusively, such as phobias or clinical depression. Others focus on specific populations: youngsters, ethnic minority groups, gays and lesbians, and the elderly, for instance.”
It has been a journey over the years to discover my passion. I used to think that I had the vocation for something besides than Psychology. I had to go through many things to achieve my goals of becoming someone that would succeed and make a difference in the Psychology career. Nowadays, I am very thankful that I discovered something that can lead me to be an amazing professional. I am sure that this is the best major for me because I have the skills required to succeed at Psychology, which is the career I have chosen to work every day of my life. I am a trustworthy person, I would inspire patients to confide in me and trust me their problems. I also consider myself patient, which is an important skill to be a great psychologist. Open- mindedness, emotional stability, interpersonal, analytical, critical, scientific, and strong communication skills are essential to be a great psychologist as well. Ever since I was a little girl, I always dreamt about becoming a successful person in the future, and I think I am doing the right things to get there.
Another reason why I consider that this is the best major for me is because I am in love with the fact that I am going to study people’s mind and behavior. I want to devote my whole life to this major, be a respectable professional and be able to create my own path, which people would be happy to follow. As I expressed in the previous project ‘Writing the brain”, devote my life to a career that I would love and enjoy is essential to complete my happiness. I am convinced that I am on the right track to accomplish my goals because I am doing everything possible to better my performance at college and in life too.
Last, but not least, I believe that this career path is the best for me because it will give the opportunity to help other people and change their lives. I feel capable of treating with people that need someone else to help them find a better way of understanding life, by establishing general principles and researching every person’s situation as an individual and specific case. Since science has advanced so much this century, many alternatives of treating people’s problems have been discovered. Consequently, the society requires capable professionals who are willing to give their hearts to their careers and thus achieve better results to get “real world” solutions. Thanks to this, I want to dedicate my life to support other people and be a Psychologist able to understand them and somehow touch their hearts. Achieve this goal makes me so excited that has motivated me to fight tirelessly to accomplish it. I have no doubt that Psychology will be the perfect platform to touch the lives of thousands of people.
City Tech is an institution that is providing me countless and unimaginable opportunities for my future because I am taking advantage of all the offerings and services available. Besides giving me an excellent education transmitted by a well-prepared and dedicated faculty, I am getting other benefits for being part of an unique college as City Tech. This college is helping me to be part of many extracurricular activities, student groups, workshops and internships, which are very important and considered to help me get better jobs in the future. According to the City Tech’s website, “Education and the development of character and maturity occur both inside the classroom and out. City Tech students have access to a wide range of clubs and activities, reflecting both academic and social interests. Student Life and Development works to provide opportunities for the development of leadership and for the creation of community, both bringing us together and recognizing our diversity.” I made a good decision by choosing City Tech as the place to develop my education for the reason that it is helping me like no other to build up all the requirements to succeed in the workplace. As I mentioned before, I am planning to transfer to another college, not because City Tech is not good for me, but because it does not offer a Psychology major. However, it will lay the groundwork for me to be a capable student and get accepted to a college where they do offer a Psychology major.
After having a conversation with the Liberal Arts and Science’s Dean at his office, Dr. Karl Botchway, these words stayed in my mind forever; “Whatever career you choose to work in the future, and no matter what your dreams are, do not give up, spend all your time and energy doing your best to achieve them and become a good professional.” Botchway’s words inspired me to continue working hard in college, and even though my target is very hard to accomplish because a lot of work to get accepted to Psychology programs is required, I am sure I am going to achieve my goal because City Tech has been the best education platform I could ever wish. According to the “Psychology as a Profession” article, “Only 6 % of applicants to clinical psychology programs are accepted.”
As soon as I realized that it was time to choose my major and set up clear goals about my future career, I started to define countless reasons why Psychology would be the best for me. Consequently, I decided to choose the field of Psychology as my major. Besides having the skills required to succeed at this career, getting the opportunity to study people’s mind and behavior, and help them to understand their lives, this major also offers me several opportunities to become a better person and be a role model for future generations. Besides to attend to a graduate school and be able to choose a Masters degree in any of the Psychology subfields, I can also choose either a Psy.D. or a ph.D. program, therefore it would give me the professional stability I want to have in the future. According to the Long Island University website, “Psy.D. graduates receive a Doctorate of Psychology upon graduating, while Ph.D. graduates receive a Doctorate of Philosophy in Clinical Psychology. On one hand, Psy.D. programs tend to emphasize the practitioner-scholar model, while on the other hand, Ph.D. programs tend to emphasize the scientist-practitioner model. Furthermore, I want to recommend to all of you to always look ahead and never settle because life is only one, and there is no second opportunities to success and do what makes you happy.
Works Cited
Botchway, Karl. Personal Interview. 2 April 2015.
Cabrini College. “Psychology.” Careers in Psychology. Web. 22 April 2015.
Cohen, Stanley. “Psychology as a Profession.” Career Development Quarterly, 54.4 (June 2006): 367-371. Academic search complete. Web. 20 April 2015.
Hunter College. “Psychology.” Hunter College Catalog 2014-2015. Web. 20 April 2015.
Long Island University. “Psychology.” Doctor of Psychology. Web. 28 April 2015.
New York City College of Technology (City Tech). “Liberal Arts and Sciences.” New York City College of Technology Catalog 2014-2015. Web. 20 April 2015.
New York City College of Technology (City Tech). “Extracurricular Activities.” Student Life and Development. Web. 2 May 2015.
