A Graduate Degree

This is actually an assignement I turned in today. I thought it would make a good post.

When I first decided to go back to school and get my degree, my most immediate and urgent goal was to just get my bachelors degree. I had been employed with the Twin Falls School District for 13 years, and still held a job at the bottom of the ladder with no opportunity for advancement (no degree-no advancement). I knew a bachelor’s degree would be the only path to growth opportunities.

Once I actually started attending classes, my ambitions began to gravitate toward a more prestigious goal. Few members of my family graduated from high school, let alone earned a PhD in anything. More than that, however, I feel that I have been led down a path that has opened my eyes to things most people don’t even think about. I have more to offer than just therapy. I would love to be a part of a team that makes positive changes for the people I have loved working with.

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With every day that passes, my desire to get into and finish graduate school gets stronger. I know I already possess many of the qualities necessary to excel in a graduate program. Learning about statistics and tests and measurements is one area I need to work on. I have read scientific studies, and tried to make sense out of them, but without the necessary mathematical background, it can be difficult, and I usually have to rely on someone else’s interpretation of the data. I look forward to making my own interpretations.

I have never participated in any formal studies, and I will need to learn as much as I can about how to do them successfully and meaningfully. I have already learned a great deal about what makes a study meaningful, and whether the study is one that causal inferences can be made and whether the study was done is such a way that the findings can be generalized from the sample to the population. It is a subject I find extremely intriguing and I really look forward to learning as much as I possibly can.

I will also need to find a way to become more familiar with the faculty in the Psychology department. Time constraints seem to be a serious factor, and I will have to find a way to get around them if I am going to be successful. I am still trying to find my way around the ISU campus as well. Traveling from Twin Falls is another obstacle that I will have to overcome. I do feel a little lost right now, but I know I will find my way. I just need to figure out who can help me get where I want to go, then actually ask them for help.

It all seems a little overwhelming when taken as a whole. I have accomplished a lot of great things in my life, and I know this is just on more challenge that I will successfully meet. I am just taking this one day at a time, but I am trying to make sure I am covering all of my bases so that any and all opportunities can be explored.