Planning Post-Mercyhurst

So, as I have said in my previous blogs I am applying to graduate school. My strongest desire is to attend a Clinical Psychology program, especially either The University of Notre Dame or Case Western Reserve University! These are just 2 of the 14 schools I am applying to (10 Ph.D. and 4 M.A. in Counseling). After completing my Ph.D. I plan on staying involved with research and teaching as a professor of psychology at a university. When I came to Mercyhurst, I had no idea what I wanted to do in the world. But after progressing in my psychology degree, I've realized I want to stay in the world of academia. After all, that is all I really know anyway (18 years of school)!

Clinical Psychology is one of the most competitive programs in the world, and I'm doing everything I can to make myself stand out. This Thursday I will be taking the GRE (Graduate Record Examination) for the second time. It's basically like the SAT/ACT, but much harder. Here is a picture of the book that I've been using to study. 

There are 3 main sections on the exam: Quantitative, Verbal, and Analytical Writing. The quantitative is all about math, the verbal is all about vocabulary, sentence completion, and analyzing an article. The analytical writing is all about supporting or arguing against a statement and explaining the position of an argument. 

It's been extremely difficult to balance studying for this test, homework, all my other exams, meetings, and my classes. You definitely have to be a well organized and timely person in order to do it all! 

The Opportunities Are Endless!

Hi Everyone! I want to share with you my absolute lovely/awesome day! 

First, I'd like to mention that I proposed one of the senior class gifts today to Dr. Gamble (president of the college), Dr. Tobin (vice president of student life), Dr. Livingston (vice president for advancement) and some of the alumni staff. I cannot reveal what we proposed, but it went very well and I'm very excited to be able to reveal it to you later in the year. Meghan K., and our friend Alexa also helped propose with me one of the gifts and I definitely think they agree we were absolutely great! I strongly encourage everyone to get involved with the senior class gift wherever you decide to attend college. First, it is an absolute honor to be apart of and school faculty and administrators know you are the best of the best. Second, you have left a legacy of your own and you have always something to come back to when you visit!

The second part of my day involved the Dean's List Reception! For me, it has always been a goal to get in the dean's list and I finally completed my goal. There was amazing food, amazing people, and amazing pieces of artwork that we got to look at by a featured artist. Here is a picture of the Potato Bar we got to experience! We got to pick our own ingredients (shredded cheese, chives, sour cream) to mix in with mashed potatoes. I've never experienced such amazing mashed potatoes! 

Anyway, that's all for now! Carpe Diem :) 

Senior Year=No Fun

If any of you are interested in pursing a masters, or doctorate degree after you get out of your undergraduate years, then this might be the blog for you! Being a psychology major doesn't open many doors for me with just a bachelor's degree and I've made the decision to apply to Clinical Psychology Ph.D programs. And honestly I'm scared to death of the outcome.

I have always thought of senior year as the BEST year of my undergraduate years, but it's turning into quite the opposite! Never ending stress and anxiety, never ending homework, and never ending graduate school things to do. To be honest, it's probably one of the hardest years of my life. Even if you are not planning on a graduate degree in psychology, but something else, believe me it is still going to get you.

In other news, I am apart of the senior class gift committee, and next Tuesday I will be biting my nails as I prepare to give a proposal to the president of the college Dr. Gamble, and Vice President for Advancement, Dr. Livingston. I am not alone though! Fellow blogger Meghan, and friend Alexa will be biting their nails along with me! I cannot reveal what we will be proposing, but I will say that it will open up many student traditions that are to come at the 'Hurst!

I apologize for the neglect of my blog! But when your busy, busy, busy ALL the time it gets hard to balance everything!! Be involved, but not TOO involved! Take that as a lesson for today :)

Here We Go!!

Hello everyone!! I've finally been given the approval to start blogging for all of you again, and I must say it's been entirely too long. So let's make this year a great one!

I am still in disbelief that this is my SENIOR YEAR!! If you think that high school has gone by fast, then wait until you get to college and it's like BAM in your face faster. So, since not much has happened just yet at the 'Hurst I'll give you the lowdown on how my summer went.

In early June I started my internship with the Veteran Affairs Medical Center at a Behavioral Health Clinic in my hometown of Ashtabula, Ohio. Everyday I went to work to shadow my supervisor, Karen Woodard, from 8am-4:30pm. I have learned so much in just a small period of time from Karen and the rest of the Behavioral Health staff. It definitely reassured me that I want to go on in my education and that I am in this world to help the Veteran community.


The highlight of my summer was going to see Katy Perry in Cleveland!! I can't even begin to tell you how AMAZING it was to see her!

Here is what I call "the excited faces" picture of me and my sister. Also this is the best picture I could get of Katy because she was literally 100 feet away from us while she sang Thinking of You!

I also got to see a lot of my family this summer that came up from South Florida. Unfortunately my grandma passed away at the end of July so that was really hard for all of us to get through. And now that I don't have any more grandparents it's hard to not have anyone there to talk to you when you want some words of wisdom. But then again everyone dies eventually and I know they had their time.

I'm very happy to be back at school and kick off the year right since this is my last and final year at Mercyhurst. Once some events start happening I will keep everyone up to date!! 

It's the End of the Year! It's Crunch Time!

Hello everyone! I hope that you are getting better weather wherever you are, because Erie just doesn't seem to want to warm up. We've had a few nice days with the sun out, but it looks like it's going to start raining again :/ Mercyhurst sure has seen it's share of celebrities through past Springfest's, but we really were blown away last week when we all found out that Frankie Muniz was going to be playing for us! He was so nice enough to take a picture with me and my two friends Meghan (which also has a blog as you probably know) and Faith. It was so nice to be able to have a nice conversation with someone that I've always seen on TV and is really famous! I literally jumped for joy and I have no shame in saying that :) I will go ahead and post the many other photos that I have from Springfest just so you guys can see how much fun it is! 

My friend Faith and I did the obstacle race! 

                                                     Climbing the rope was the hardest                
                                                             part!! We fell a few times!


                                                                                

 


There is officially 1 more day left of classes and on Monday I will be taking 2 finals and I'm finished with my junior year! I cannot stress enough about how nervous I am about next year. Senior year cannot be here yet, I only just started college! You always hear how much people say that college goes by so so fast, but you never really believe them because it's 4 years. They really are not lying when they tell you this, because it feels like yesterday I was a freshman and was just finishing up my 1st year. Now I'm finishing my 3rd and I know that next year is going to go by just as fast as this one. So my advice to you is to live up every single moment that you have while in school. Because the years are going to pass you right by, and you'll never get that time back.

So for all of you that are getting ready to start college next Fall, be ready and live it up!!! I hope to be able to blog about all my experiences to those of you that read these next year. I am sure there will be plenty of things to blog about! Enjoy the summer and be safe!

1 Month Left!!

Happy Easter!! I hope everyone has nice plans with their families today! I am visiting with my family and heading off to work for 8 hours. This post is going to be all about how to keep a job when your still in school. I've been going home to work since I was a freshman and it really is a great way to make money when you're home. College students never really get to make a lot of money during college years because of the inability to have a car and without a car comes with the inability to find a job. And there really aren't many jobs around Mercyhurst unless you'd like to work at Arby's, CVS, or the Cornerstone (if you're old enough!). Work study is also a great opportunity to make money as well if you are given the opportunity to have one!
So, if you have a steady part-time/full-time job right now and you will be getting ready to head off to school soon in the Fall, don't quit your job! The best decision is to talk with your boss about staying on as a seasonal employee. I think that we always get at least some good time off when we're home for breaks and it is a great opportunity to get some fast cash to buy your books, groceries for your dorm, or just to save up!  I've never had a lot to do when I go home for breaks, so its a good way of filling in some downtime.

By the way, here is a picture of myself at the Western Pennsylvania Undergraduate Psychology Conference presenting my research! It was a very exciting day and I was thrilled to finally finish everything I've been working on since the beginning of the year. This year it was held at Westminster College and they did a fantastic job at hosting the events. This is a BIG DEAL for Junior Psychology majors, it is best to start preparing the start of Fall Term for this day!

It's FRIDAY!

Hello Everyone!
I hope everyone is having a FABULOUS Friday! I sure am because I got to go home and spend some time with my family. It was really much needed:)
This week's topic is all about internships. Since I am hard at work trying to find myself one, I thought that there has to be future students out there wanting to know all about how you can gain experience while in college as well. Depending on the major that your in, there are a number of options that students can get their hands on, literally. I also know that certain majors, such as Intelligence Studies, can do more than one internship as well. But since I'm so familiar with Psychology I'm going to share my information with you about it. So, I'm required as a student to complete a 200 hour internship in the Summer between my Junior and Senior year. So, I'm getting pretty anxious as of right now trying to find one, luckily I think that I finally have. You are not required to go to a certain place to complete the hours, you have the many options of finding one that fits you best and in the area of study that you want to get experience in. I have been working very hard to find my way into the Veteran Affairs Medical Center, which is right down the street from MC! Unfortunately, no one has been willing to take me on as an intern, but I did get a call from the VA Outpatient Clinic in Ashtabula, OH, which is exactly where I'm from! I am very happy that someone has found an interest in me and this is why I am home this weekend so I can meet with the Psychiatric Nurse who I've been in touch with. I'm really hoping for the best. If anyone has any questions about finding internships or being placed please leave me a question and I'll answer them!

This past weekend was Major Day and there were tons and tons of students and their families that attended. I was fortunate enough to be able to speak to the perspective Psychology students about what our program is all about! There's one thing with only speaking with faculty, but it's another when you get to speak to students who are actually doing everything that the professors are telling that you get to do. I think that it feels great getting to be able to tell my story and how I ended up at Mercyhurst. I hope that I'll be able to get to know a lot of the students that I got to meet that day in the future. It was great getting to talk to all of you!