College Admissions Essay: How Psychology Has Changed My Life

I am passionate about keeping black youth out of the justice system, and I believe school psychologists are perfectly situated to disrupt the system. This is why I’m applying to school psychology program. Furthermore, that passion informs my desire to study alternatives to suspension and expulsion with Dr. Pamela Fenning and addressing trauma in schools with Dr. Rosario Pesce. I think that finding alternatives to suspension and expulsion would help prevent students from dropping out of school by ensuring that they do not unnecessarily miss any in-class time. And addressing trauma in schools continues to be important as mass shootings continue to become more commonplace, especially in Chicago.

I am now entering my final year of high school. Most things have changed. I have a completely different group of friends than I did at the start. I no longer even go to the lunchroom, and I hate parties. But some things never change.

It was not until I was in my senior year of college and went through some challenging events in my life that I realized I wanted to be a counselor. The life changing experience I went through was when my beloved childhood friend, Michael, died of Leukemia. He responded very well to a bone marrow transplant, but while recovering he contracted an infection and passed away within a few days. It was inconceivable that someone we loved was taken so early on in life and my family was distraught with grief. During that difficult time, I was taking Abnormal Psychology and learning about death, grieving, and coping. I was very engaged in this topic as I was searching for a way to cope with this major loss and to help my sister work through her grief. My sister and I had many heartfelt discussions on this subject which greatly helped ease our sorrow. Many people feel hopelessness and are struggling everyday with issues both big and small. My life experiences have taught me that not only do I have a strong desire to help others with their struggles; I am capable of making a difference in their lives. This is when I wanted to aspire to become a Mental Health Counselor.

“You know Kwesi, I only came to this country with forty bucks in my pocket and the clothes on my back and look where I am today.” -- words from my father I thought to myself the first time I saw a rifle plummet down to my head.

"Opportunity is missed by most people because it is dressed in overalls, and looks like work." - Thomas Edison. An opportunity can change your life, but your attitude towards the opportunity will determine whether it will make your life better. I believe you should take the opportunity when you see it.

I can fairly say that sophomore year of high school changed who I am completely. This was the year I decided to take on miscellaneous challenges, which have helped me gain valuable work ethic that will help me to persist in college. These include enrolling myself in sports, deciding to start junior year in a different high school and my acceptance into a three year paid internship in which helps me work on my leadership skills, and prepares me for college.

I would like to be a mental health counselor because I am deeply empathetic; to me, it is rewarding to connect with others on a personal level in my work, and I see that relationship as the essence of counseling. I want to make a positive lasting impact on the lives of others, by listening to, valuing, working with, and teaching them. “People” has always been my answer to “what do you want to do when you grow up?” As a child, I saw teachers as role models who taught me about morality, friendship, and responsibility; as a college student, I admired counseling staff who, despite the counseling center being understaffed and facing rising rates of mental illness on campus, never failed to listen to their patients; as a young adult, I recognize that empathy is my strongest personality trait, and that it is important to me that I use it in my professional life. Although the professions that I have considered in my life varied over the years, the core truth

Freshman Year and Senior Year are both very stressful years of high school. Freshman year I made new friends because I was at a new school with some new people. I also tried to make sure my grades stayed up because now that I’m in high school I have to start thinking what I want to do when I graduate, what college I want to go. I’ll have to keep my grades up now because I want to be able to get into a good college and I will be stressing out because I still don’t know what I want to do when I graduate from high school or where, as most of the other will be too.

I think that I was not excited to be a senior at first because of how overwhelming applying to college is and also applying for scholarships. I actually feel less stressed as deadlines are becoming more of a reality now because I realized there is no reason to stress out and everything will work out. I definitely know that my mom is not excited that I am a senior especially since my sister and I will be her first to graduate and go off to college. Looking back on high school so far, there is not a lot I would change. Most would think that I would say all the AP classes that I took, especially last year, but I am glad that I challenged myself because I feel like I will be more prepared for college. If there was one thing I could change I would be not going to AAST my freshman year. I had a really great experience at the school but I feel like attending AAST made it really difficult to be involved at NMB and I also missed all of my friends that I had always gone to school

When life gives you the opportunity to be successful, you take it. So, out of every let down or every time you ever ask yourself, “was it worth it?”…, you say “definitely”, persevere, and continue seeking greatness. When I got that opportunity, I hit the ground running. I was hungry to become successful, hungry to graduate from college, hungry to even hear my dad say, “I’m proud of you”. Maybe I could have taken a different route but hey, growing up in a small town like Mullins SC with a high unemployment rate, don’t get you too far. I couldn’t find myself falling into that statistic. Working temp jobs, wondering how I would pay for college…, it was rough, definitely some humble beginnings. This by no means is a message for sympathy.

I was always told that things would change in highschool. You would meet new people, find new friends, and even discover a new class that amazes you. No one prepared me for what was going to happen Sophomore year though; no one saw it coming.

Psychology is the study of the mind, its biology, and behavior if the individual. The father of psychology, Wilhelm Wundt, used objective measurement and controlled analyzing to find and emphasize separation between psychology and philosophy (McLeod). Wundt opened the Institute for Experimental Psychology at the University of Leipzig in Germany in 1879, using his background in physiology to study reactions and sensations (McLeod). There is no doubt that he, along with the later help of Sigmund Freud, launched what is now modern psychology. Psychology and its research helped the world understand the inner workings of the mind and how it affects everyone around us.

I have always been intrigued by the mental processes of humans and animals. As a young child and into adolescence, as a student and teacher and as a caregiver, I have always been interested in psychology in one form or another. This essay will reflect not only the development of my interest in psychology, but the development of myself as a person.

Another thing that never changed was the level of stress I had each year. Between homework, work, school, family, friends, and a boyfriend life was not the easiest sometimes. I have been super happy, anger, and I have cried at least accouple times in the past three years from being here. I'm not going to lie I had come to the point accouple times where I wanted to just give up and drop out, but I knew that would not be a very smart thing to do. The amount of stress coming into high school was there and coming out it’s still going to be there.

To some, four years seems like a long time, but for me the past four years have flown by. In these quick four years, so much has changed and yet so much is exactly the same. You still go to school with most of the same people. You walk into the same familiar building and say hello to most of the same teachers. During these four years I have lost some friends, but I have gained real ones, which is one of the most important things to me. My outlook on life has changed. I have become a more open and understanding person and I have learned many valuable life lessons. I have made many great memories and I have learned to appreciate everything I have because nothing is permanent. My journey through high school is like a plane ride. It takes off freshman year and I go on a long, and sometimes bumpy, journey to get to my final destination. Even though in many ways I am still the same person as the one that walked through those school doors as a freshman, I have also changed in order to try to become the best version of myself and get to my final destination.