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.

Introduction

In this project are reflected all my thoughts and feelings. I collected and wrote them down to express in words what is in my mind every hour of the day. In addition, I expressed them visually in photos, to represent them even better. I used all the thoughts that I focus the most in my present and the ones I want to keep thinking in the future to be a better person. My audience will be able to understand my way of viewing life. Also, I imagined myself five years from now, and wrote about  the things that I would recommend to my present self to think about and focus on to be able to acquire the things I have always wanted. I imagined the things I consider that I will capable of understand in my future and recommended them to my present self. This project helped me to analyze myself and observe deeper the things I should keep thinking and the ones I have to focus on to get all the goals I want to achieve in life.

Thinking in Writing

After writing about my thoughts I have noticed that since I wake until I go to sleep I have different thoughts on my day that  sometimes do not have nothing on common, but they have their own reason and objective in my life. I think about everything, I am the kind of person that analyzes everything around me.

It is Saturday morning, right now all that comes to my mind is the importance of being happy in life because it does not matter the things you have or what you want to have is what you feel and the people that surround you every day that matters. I am not trying to consider myself a philosopher but I think too much about life and why do things happen. Also, my days are based on thinking what I need to do every hour of the day, I am trying to be more organized than I was yesterday, I do my best to keep in mind a “to do list” for the day. Having a moment on your day to do nothing and think about everything is one of the best therapies ever.

Last week, my grandmother had a big surgery and my youngest nephew was born in the same day, so these days I have been thinking a lot about them. I just think that is ironic that some people are very sick and trying not to die while others were born just a second ago with thousands of opportunities to make a difference in this world, trying to adapt and do the things right. Who wouldn’t like to go back in time and do the things better? Well, I do, but those things that I have been through in life made me what I am and I do not want to change the experience I got.

It is my first semester in college, at this moment most of my thoughts are about studying, doing homework and organizing everything for the next day. Every day, I think a lot about school because I want to do my best to be the person I visualize in my mind; someone that enjoys and possesses good knowledge of what is doing to have the ability to help the people.

As many of the New Yorkers, most of the times I have to take the public transportation, I hate it and love it at the same time because it is the only place you can see all kind of people from different countries, religion and personality and it gives you the opportunity to indirectly interact with everybody. It is funny how everybody has their own world and because life is so stressful and busy, nowadays, we do not even smile to each other or say hello and bye. Other thing I do not stop thinking about is my country because I miss a lot my family and friends, I am homesick and knowing that I will see them soon is what gives me strength to keep going and do not give up.

I could sum up my thoughts in one sentence; “Try to be happy every day of your life”. What I recommend people to do is that when they go to bed at night, analyzes everything they like and dislike of their lives, and if there is something they do not like or is not making them happy, try to change it because life is too short and there is no second opportunities. That is what I try to keep as my “everyday goal”.

Thinking Visually

http://instagram.com/p/zOow_BPPJw/
In this picture, I want to represent one of the most important things in life, “Happiness”. It does not matter the things you have in life, is what you have inside of you and the people that surround you that matters.

http://instagram.com/p/zOqAPyPPLp/
I think that is ironic that some people are very sick and trying not to die while others were born just a second ago with thousands of opportunities to make a difference in this world and try to do the things right. That is what I wanted to represent in this picture because I use to think a lot about it.

http://instagram.com/p/zOtcXivPPy/
At this moment most of my thoughts are about studying, doing homework and organizing everything for the next day. As many of you, I think a lot about school because I want to do the things right.

http://instagram.com/p/zOu5YEvPBh/
I always recommend people that when they go to bed at night, analyze everything they like and dislike of their lives, and if there is something they do not like or is not making them happy, try to change it because life is too short and there is no second opportunities. This is something I want to keep thinking in the future.

http://instagram.com/p/zOwdKUPPDH/
God is above everything in my life, I learned to love him when I was just a little girl and I want to focus my thinking in the future in the blessing of having this feeling inside of me.

http://instagram.com/p/zOyQwhvPE9/
In this picture I want to represent my biggest goal right know, improve my English more and more every day. It is going to be hard but I will get it because I am doing my best to get it.

Thinking Reflectively

It is amazing to see that I have become a new person. I have changed for better because I am older now, I am also more mature and I have a better capacity to choose my decisions and be able to have my own personality.  I owe all those things to all the experience I have because exactly 5 years ago my life changed forever, but that is a long story. At this moment I prefer to introduce myself. My name is Lorena Batista and this is my life in 2020. I have always wished to be successful, be able to do what I want and be next to the people that I love the most. As most people, I have worked very hard to become a good professional. Right now, I am a very good psychologist and I just started my Masters in Psychotherapy. I think that choosing this major 5 years ago was a great decision because at this moment, I am able to help the people and I have the privilege of doing what I enjoy in life. I will not feel bored at work the rest of my life. I always thank the people that have worried about me and for sharing this inner happiness with me because even though I have been through a lot the last years of my life, I have obtained this blessing with the people that surround me every day.

To obtain all this in my life I had to change the way I used to see the things. I understood that in order to achieve my goals I would have to work harder and walk away from the things and people that do not bring anything good to my life. We have to work hard for the things we want in life because that is the only way to change the things that do not make us happy. Nowadays, being a successful person might be the dream for most of the people in this world. Regardless of the nationality, religion or social status, everybody wants to do something different and succeed. Our society is becoming very competitive and the youth is receiving more pressure every day. As a young person, it is my responsibility to have clear goals and run all the way to them because without effort I will not get anything g good in life. I have kept this as my everyday philosophy “You better work hard to get the things you want to achieve in your life”. Believe it or not, having that in mind has helped me to succeed in life and never give up. Nobody said that it would be easy but it will be worth it.  I consider myself a warrior because I always fight to get what I want, and by that, I mean that I always do everything I can to get what I want. Good things are not always easy to get. What kept me strong those hard days, when I used to be at college with my family far away from me, was to see my goals come true and be the person I have always visualized in my dreams.

Sometimes I remember the things I have done and the decisions I have made and try not to regret for the things I did not do. You have to do what your heart tells you to do because life is too short to do not do something because you are afraid of taking risks. I am very proud of myself but sometimes I think that if I would have taken more risks when I was younger, now I would be stronger now. That is something I cannot forget because it has guided me to become a better person. I wish I could go back in time, tell this to my past self, and change the way I used to see life. Unfortunately, that is not possible so I prefer to practice that new knowledge from now on because it is never too late.

I am satisfied with the things I have achieved and the fact that I learned to be happy. I used to feel very alone but now I am able to say “I am happy”. I want to keep going and be more successful and I am going to work hard to get it. If I had all this wisdom a few years ago, my life maybe would have been easier but lessons are hard to learn and from now on I want to be different,  and make better decisions so I will not regret anything in my future. Everyone has its own way of learning the things in life; also, every person has its own specific time in life to understand the key of happiness or success.