Psychologist in the Making

My name is Raya Tous and I am a student at New York City College of Technology (City Tech) the purpose of this paper is that I am reflecting on my major. As of now, I am a Liberal Arts and Arts major. In the future, I plan to transfer from City Tech to attend Brooklyn College where I will major in psychology. Psychology is the study of the human mind and behavior. My goal is to become a counseling psychologist. This is the best career for me, because I want to try and help as many people as I can and advise them on how to deal with their problems. Additionally, this is the best career for me, because I would love to reach out to as many people as I can and help them overcome any disorder. I want to be there for people who think there is no way out of life except for death. Furthermore, this is the best career for me because I love being there for people and showing people that sometimes regardless of what they go through there is always a positive side towards life. In this essay I will explain the career life of a psychologist.

The Next step of my Journey after leaving City Tech

The City Tech Course Catalog of 2013-2014 explains exactly what classes I need and what my learning outcomes will be in the Liberal Arts and Arts major. The Course Catalog explains that the learning outcomes will be “Effective oral and written communication skills, Team work and problem solving skills Foundations in computer and information literacy, with critical thinking skills, for lifelong learning, Improved ability to communicate in a foreign language and fundamental knowledge of the culture of native speakers, Fundamental knowledge of history and Fundamental knowledge of the behavioral and social sciences” (City Tech, 92). While being in the Liberal Arts and Arts at City Tech it introduced me to college. Also, it gave me an option to transfer credits for other schools and other programs. What I wish to do with my education at City Tech is continue it in Brooklyn College. I will enter a bachelor’s degree program for psychology at Brooklyn College since City Tech Doesn’t offer a bachelor’s degree in psychology.

 The Liberal Arts and Arts department

Counseling psychologist is the best career for me, because I want to try and help as many people as I can and advise them on how to deal with problems. The Bureau of Labor Statistics Occupational Outlook Handbook explains that “counseling psychology advise people on how to deal with their problems” (Bureau of Labor Statistics, 1). Therapists advise people on how to deal with problems. They help patients understand problems, including issues at home, at the workplace, or in their community. Through counseling, they work with patients to identify their strengths or resources they can use to manage problems. Psychologists must be able to demonstrate patience, because research or treatment of patients may take a long time. They must also be patient when dealing with people who have mental or behavioral disorders. This is also a good career for me because I have a lot of patience.

Next, counseling psychologist is the best career for me because I want to reach out to many people and help them overcome any disorder they are going through. In the journal article “Outcomes of Introduction to the Psychology Major: Careers and Opportunities Course’ by Roscoe, Lauren J. says that “when becoming a psychologist the outcome of it is to know how to deal with patients with many behavioral or personality disorders” (Lauren J, 2). The journal article also mentions that “you must keep patients’ problems in confidence as a psychologist, and patients must be able to trust a psychologists’ expertise in treating sensitive problems” (Lauren J, 4). It also explains that “in order for the psychologist to be able to see an outcome, the psychologist have to treat their patients as their friends and sometimes as their own family members” (Lauren J, 5). These quotes explain that upon becoming a psychologist you will have to be prepared to reach out to your patients and become a friend to them.

Finally, counseling psychology is the best career for me because I love being there for people and showing people that sometimes regardless of what they go through there is always a positive side towards life. In the magazine article “Your journey into Psychology” by Ella Rhodes, she explains that “studying psychology isn’t only for the purpose of a degree and end up sitting on a couch, talking to people all day”. This quote explains that when you become a psychologist it’s going to be hard and complicated because there are some people that are going to come to you and want to commit suicide. This quote also means that becoming a psychologist means that you might be saving many peoples lives. In the New York Times article “Where Mentally Ill Turn” by Charles A. Kroloff, he explains in this article that Psychologists must have strong communication skills because they spend much of their time listening to and speaking with patients. He also states that the mentally ill turn to the psychologists or therapists so they can get some help.

I talked to my advisor in the Liberal Arts and Arts Department of City Tech in room P616 to learn and prepare more about my career. My advisor Dr. Barlow Helped me out to realize when I would be done with my educational life and go onto my career life. Dr. Barlow advised me to go onto my master’s degree. He told me “although it might be hard work it will be all worth it in the end” (Barlow, Interview). He also advised me to finish my bachelor’s degree. When I finish my bachelor’s degree I will have completed 120 credits. Dr.Barlow explained that I will graduate with a degree of psychology by fall semester of 2017 if stay on track with my credits. Dr.Barlow also stated that to graduate in fall semester 2017 I have to at least take 4-5 classes a semester. Dr. Barlow said that I have to maintain a 3.0 gpa or 3.3 gpa. I can finally say that Dr.Barlow helped me a lot in knowing what I should do with my educational life and career life.

Discussing my future with Dr. Barlow

If you are interested in psychology and want to become a psychologist, I say go for it! Always go for what you want to do and not focus on the money. While, The Bureau of Labor Statistics Occupational Outlook Handbook states that psychologists with a master’s degree earn around $69,280 per year, but the reward comes from savings someone’s life. Being there for people who need it the most is the best feeling in the world. Just knowing that you can be the reason someone doesn’t commit suicide is heartwarming and beautiful. Regardless of the money if you love being there for people and you want to help people who have psychological disorders then psychology is the major for you. Psychology might not be interesting to many people but to me I find psychology a very interesting and attention grabbing topic because sometimes when we read these articles of how someone pushed another person in front of the train we see them as “wow they’re crazy” but sometimes it’s more than that, what if the person is mentally ill? Wouldn’t you want to help them? Psychology to me is saving a life. I chose my life journey, chose yours.

Work cited

Barlow, Aaron. Personal Interview. 27 Nov. 2014

Kroloff, Charles A. “Where Mentally Ill Turn”. New York Times. 29 Nov 2014. Web. 5 Dec 2014

Lauren J, Roscoe. ”Outcomes of Introduction to the Psychology Major: Careers and opportunities course.” Web. 30 Nov 2014

New York City College of Technology. (City Tech). Course Catalog 2013-2014.2014. PDF. 30 Nov 2014

Rhodes, Ella. “Your Journey Into Psychology”. British Psychological Society. 9 Sept 2009.Web. 30 Nov 2014

United States, Bureau of Labor Statistics. Dept of Labor. 8 Jan 2014. Web. 30 Nov 2014

Tous, Raya “Discussing my future with Dr. Barlow”. Flickr. 5 Dec 2014

Tous, Raya “The Liberal Arts and Arts department”. Flickr. 5 Dec 2014

Tous, Raya “The Next step of my Journey after leaving City Tech”. Flickr. 5 Dec 2014

Introduction

This project opened my eyes to knowing what I want to do with my life and the future education wise. In this project I really felt like I had the opportunity to reflect on my thoughts and understand what I want to look forward to in the future. In this project I argue that my in my day of thoughts I am going to become successful. While writing out my thoughts in this project made me really think “what do I want in life?” , “ Am I just coming to college to get my degrees and put it up on a wall ad call it a day or is it more than that ?” . While writing this paper I answered all of those questions.

Thinking in Writing

Wednesday, September 24, 2014

9:00 am – Time to wake up, brush my teeth, wash my face, and get ready to start my day.

10:00 am – finally done getting ready now let me make my daily cup of coffee so I can be  mentally awake and not get hit by a car on my way to school.

10:30 am – oh great I missed the train now I have to wait another 10-15 minutes for another train to come.

11:00 am – Just another few stops and I get off the  D train to transfer to the R train, then I will finally arrive at school

11:30 am – Thank god I arrived to class before the professor did now let me sit in my seat next to the outlet

12:30 pm- Uggh already the first draft of project 1 is due Monday , where did summer go ? the last thing I remember was being at the beach in July and now I am in school getting ready to hand in project 1.

1:00 pm – Oh great psychology class, when can it be 2:15 so I can eat already I am starving!!

2:00 pm – the joy of having another project due on Monday for psychology, did my English professor and psychology professor have a talk and decide to torture me and make both projects due the same day?

2:30 pm- Finally time to go get me some food and worry about Spanish class at 6

3:30 pm- this 4 hour break is killing me ….. time is running by so slowly

4:30 pm – let me go hang out with my friends so I can waste time

5:30 pm – time to head to class although I am 30 minutes early

6:30 pm- I am exhausted all I want to do right now is be in my bed sleeping.

7:00 pm – can we leave already I cant wait another 15 minutes this is exhausting and trains come so late during the evening times.

8:15 pm – home sweet home , coming home to a meal made by mama has to be the best after such a long day.

9:00 pm – Time to do the dishes , I hate having to do dishes on days I come home late

10:00 pm – dishes are done  now time to take off make up and go to sleep.

11:00 pm – I have been in my bed for the past half hour

12:00 pm – I am going to close my eyes and try to sleep.

Thinking visually

Waiting for the train to go to school. (Tous, Raya ” The D train”)

An office that some day I can have one of my own but bigger ad more prettier.( Tous, Raya ” The office of success”)

Studying for my exams and midterms . (Tous, Raya ” Hard work and dedication”)

An A on my psychology paper that I worked on for days. (Tous, Raya ” On the road to success” )

Thinking Rhetorically and effectively

The day I chose was last Wednesday the 24^th of September. During this day from the time I woke up till the time I fell asleep I had a lot of thoughts going through my head. When I woke up I said to myself “I’m blessed to be awake and see another day but to be spending it at New York City College of Technology is not exactly how I would like to spend my day”. So I got up, got dressed and was ready to head out to start my “wonderful” day at school. I mean you can sense the sarcasm of my meaning of wonderful because when is it really wonderful to wake up 9 in the morning and go learn? While heading to school that day I missed my first train and I thought to myself “wow what a great day to start this wonderful day, hope I don’t arrive late to class’’. Thank god I arrived to school early that day. While sitting in class and my English professor started talking about project 1 and other projects that were going to do in class it hit me the thought of “wow time goes by so fast it was just a week ago I was enjoying my time overseas in Palestine”. It came to my realization that there’s a time to be serious and there’s a time for games. Then right after that moment I had the thought of the day that was stuck in my head. That thought was that I don’t come here to play around I come here to become a successful human being and make my parents proud of me. I didn’t only come for a degree to put up on my wall I came to be that person that everyone remembers her name.

Later on in that day when I had Psychology and my professor also gave us a page paper that was due next class and I had to get 3 journals for it. Oh and did I mention that I was the team leader of my team which means that I had so much responsibility to do. I had to make sure that not only I got my paper done I had to make sure that everyone that’s in my Team knows what to do and that they actually do their paper. At that point I was determined to not only get my work done but aim for that A. At that point of the day I was determined to be successful with everything I do. I wanted to become a therapist and I am going to major in Psychology. When I become a therapist I want to become an amazing therapist I want to help out my clients and be there for them not only as a therapist as their best friend. I have always been the most helpful friend to all of my friends. When my friends would be in such a bad mood and they’ll be in need of advice I will be the first person they come to. From that moment on I have always been determined to be there for everyone.

In The beginning of my paper I explain how sometimes I go through struggles when coming to school. The picture of the train at the 18^th ave train station in Bensonhurst Brooklyn symbolizes that no matter what struggles come in my way or come at my face that doesn’t stop me from doing what I want and heading to success. When I’m determined to do something or get it I will put all my effort into what I want because I was always born to strive for what I want. I was always taught that when you want something so badly it’s not going to come easy you’re going to go through hardships to get what you want. I was always told that in the end it will be worth it and I hope so.

In the picture of me with all the book next to me in New York City College of technology in the library symbolizes all the studying and work I will do to get a step closer to success. The picture symbolizes me because in college that’s how I am, surrounded by textbooks, my notebooks and just work. It’s stressing and overwhelming because I don’t have only one class to worry about but I have four classes. As long as I’m determined to get all A’s in my classes then I know that these stressing and overwhelming times I will eventually overcome. The picture of the A symbolizes that I’m willing to put all my effort into all of my class to be the best, to be successful and most importantly to reach my goal.

In my last picture of the office in the Muslim American society youth center in Bensohurst Brooklyn symbolizes my future goals. That picture symbolizes future me and how I become successful. This picture also symbolizes the fact that if you’re really to determined to get what you want you will get what you want no matter what you face. In that picture I can imagine myself as a future therapist and a busy one. It also symbolizes that instead of just putting my degree in a frame and hanging it up on my wall I’m doing something with it. Successful to me is not becoming a millionaire it’s doing something you love and putting your all into it. In other words, not letting anything stop me from doing what I love to do and just striving for it. Being successful to me means that I can help as many people as I can becoming therapist.

In conclusion, my thoughts lead me to think about the future and I how I want to become successful. I didn’t think that one day of thoughts can lead me to think about the future and change my perspective on my education. It also changed the way I view having struggles in life. In life everyone’s going to come across some struggles but it should stop someone from doing what they want to do. To become successful it takes determination and effort. I can truly say that this project has opened my eyes to thinking ahead of my future and trying to perfect as possible as I can. I always knew what I wanted to do with my life but education wise was a struggle for me because I always had these negative thoughts in my head such as “why am I waking up this early for an education that I don’t know where it will take me ?” I realized that its more than just getting a degree and putting it up on my wall it’s about knowing what I want to do with that degree. This project really opened my eyes to what I will be looking forward to in the future. Maybe my day of thoughts can affect you in a way that will have you thinking of your future and will have you questioning yourself.

Work Cited

Raya Tous [Raya Tous] “Re: Project 1: Thinking in Writing” Openlab. Eng1101 D346 English Composition 1, FA2014 1Oct.2014. Web 14 Oct.2014

Tous, Raya ” Hard work and dedication” Flickr. 9 Oct. 2014 Web 14 Oct.2014

Tous, Raya ” On the road to success” Flickr. 7 Oct.2014 Web 14 Oct.2014

Tous, Raya ” The D train” Flickr. 8 Oct.2014 Web 14 Oct.2014

Tous, Raya ” The office of success” Flickr. 10 Oct.2014 Web 14 Oct. 2014