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Master’s Counseling, 1st Generation Immigrant Latina

Now 27 years old, I am pleased that, while I was born in Chicago, my parents took me back to Mexico at the age of 2 and we stayed there until I turned 8, before moving back to Illinois. This not only facilitated my becoming completely bilingual but also completely bicultural, as Mexican as I am American, and this is central to my professional identity and aspirations.

Throughout my first two years of school in America, repeating the second grade and through the end of third grade, I had an ESL teacher who helped me to catch up with the rest of the class in English. This experience will always be with me and provides me with special empathy and understanding of the great challenges confronting immigrant children. Most recently, my little brother who is in the 5th grade has been the victim of bullying. The school counselor has been extremely helpful and I greatly admire her dedication and her passion for the well being of the children. She has inspired me as a role model.

A Latina, a first generation immigrant, Mexican-American woman, I am the only member of my family to graduate from college. Very passionate about social justice, I decided to major in Criminal Justice at the University of XXXX and graduated in 2010 and I had the special privilege of assisting Professor XXXX with the creation of a new class called “Latinos/as and the Law.” When I took the class during my last semester, we were split into groups and each group worked/volunteered with an organization that helped Latinos/as. My group worked with Voces de la Frontera (Voices from the Border) in XXXX Wisconsin. Twice a week we would go during class time to see what they need help with; we called people in the community to let them know about upcoming events and helped to distribute their newspaper around XXXX. We also helped Voces de la Frontera organize the local May 1st immigration marches.

I have spent the past few years working mostly in sales. This experience has enhanced my bilingual skills as I have worked at least as much if not more in Spanish than I in English, and I have also learned a great deal about the technology of the workplace, information systems, networking, etc. Now, however, I yearn to return to a career helping others, serving as their advocate, empowering them towards success. I look back fondly to my internship with the Probation Center of XXXX County and reflect on how much joy I found serving as an advocate for offenders, going to court with them and following up on their cases. This position served to open my eyes to the great need to protect youth not only from drugs and crime, but also from the justice system itself. I felt that my contribution was especially valuable in the case of those offenders who spoke very little English.

I spend my early years living in a small town in Mexico where I attended school through the second grade. My parents grew up very poor and were never able to finish school. Thus, they set out to make education possible for their children so that they could have a better life. Our journey back to America was not easy; it took them days to cross the border undocumented and they had to endure many challenges.  It is because of the great sacrifice and enormous effort made by my parents that I am so determined to succeed, and to attain not only the first college degree in the family but the first professional degree as well.

I am convinced that The XXXX School of Professional Psychology is the program for which I am the best fit and will be best able to excel. Your location is perfect, since your campus is in the heart of XXXX and XXXX stands at the center my heart.  I am ready to give my full time and attention to your Master’s Program in Counseling because I feel that this is the area in which I will be able to make the greatest contribution to my people, the immigrant Latino community.

I have been inspired to study counseling partly as a result of my volunteer work with immigrants, helping them to learn English and complete necessary paper work has convinced me that there is a great need for professional counselors to serve this group. I thank you for considering my application to your distinguished program.

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PHD I/O Minority Empowerment, Suriname

I seek to build an increasingly successful career as a psychology professional working in the area of minority empowerment. A young black American man with a Master’s Degree in Psychology, I was raised for most of the time growing up in my mother’s native Suriname, going on to attend high school in Holland and then college in Florida. I speak Dutch as a mother tongue and my father, a Jamaican-American, provided me with English as my second native language. I am also fluent in Sranan-Tongo, although it is difficult for me to write in this language. Probably what I am most proud of, however, are the language skills that I have acquired largely on my own, my German only slightly better than my Spanish and both improving. I look forward to contributing and sharing in the vast diversity of your especially distinguished program in I/O Psychology at XXXX University.

I am fully aware of how very competitive it is to gain acceptance to your distinguished program at XXXX. I do hope to be accepted however, both because of the priority that Harvard places on the importance of diversity as well as the long term goals that I have of giving my life to the empowerment of the underprivileged and underserved. I zeroed straight in on my central career interest when I wrote my Master’s Thesis at XXXX University’s Community Psychology Program on African-American male identity.

My international exposure has opened my eyes to the inordinate amount of work related stress minorities and/or underprivileged groups face on a daily basis. Many people’s economic success is not only stymied by the negative economic habits learned from their parents, but there are also few resources available to help young people from underprivileged households to deal successfully with the stressors of the workplace and the community in general. I hope to spend my life on the cutting edge of research of research concerning how to best assist minority youth from at-risk homes in learning and mastering effective techniques to deal with stress in the workplace.

Especially as a result of having the opportunity to serve as a facilitator, as part of a community stress management course, I have experienced first-hand the positive effects of stress management. Not only did participants lean how to cope with their daily stress in the workplace, but their work ethic improved and most made advancements in their current employment situations. After being introduced to many creative ideas from such sources as the book Rich Dad Poor Dad, The Next Door Millionaire, and Lynch Pin, participants in our course improved their decision making, increased their general productivity, and also began to contribute to positive change within their community.

I believe the work place should be a positive, motivating and relaxing environment that inspires people to not only do their best at their given profession but to also be inspired to serve their community. After pursuing a career in research, my long term dream is to start an international foundation that focuses on the empowerment of people from underprivileged backgrounds to better their individual lives at the same time that they in turn help to foster progressive advancement and greater levels of inclusive social justice in their communities. Participants in our program would receive extensive support in terms of developing money management skills, opportunities for entrepreneurship, and how to attain and retain gainful employment for themselves and their families.

Growing up in the poverty stricken country Suriname, I know all to well the limiting beliefs and circumstances that stymie upward mobility of entire communities and have a strong desire to help those in need. It is my unshakable belief that XXXX University is the only University that can provide me with the research foundation I need to enact the macro systemic positive change I so desire to do.  I hope to have the honor of rolling up my sleeves so to speak and to put in the immeasurable work to contribute to make a significant contribution to the body of research in Organizational Psychology. 

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Masters Psychology, Personality, Stress, Anxiety


A Russian woman who earned her Bachelor’s Degree in Psychology in her native Russia a decade ago, I now live in Canada and your prestigious program at XXXX University is my first choice for graduate study because I see your program as the ideal preparation for my central goal of building a private practice, helping patients who suffer from depression, stress, and anxiety. I follow the simple wisdom of Lao Tzu who suggested that people who suffer from depression need to distance themselves from their past, and those who suffer from anxiety need to spend less time thinking about the future, learning to enjoy and find fulfillment in the present. I hope to dedicate my professional life to research as well as practice and to focus on the areas of personality and personality change throughout our life stages; most specifically, the way in which a scientific exploration of these areas might be useful for the treatment of depression, stress, and anxiety.

I am also very much impressed with the research undertaken by your distinguished faculty at XXXX, particular that of Dr. XXXX and his creative investigations of perfectionism and cognition as well as personality and alcohol use. I also have read some of the work of Dr. XXXX and appreciate his contributions in the areas of psychological health, anxiety, and depression. I am very much day dreaming about meeting the entire faculty and having the privilege of studying under many of them. I also look forward to participating in the celebration of diversity in your program, as a Russian woman, and learning from my colleagues from all over the world as well as my mentors. 

I believe that I have a moral duty to give something back to those who have not attained the level of success that I enjoy in the management of my mental health and spiritual growth. From my perspective, success is not attained by acquiring wealth, status, or even honor; rather, I measure success in terms of the achievement of a holistic life balance that results in our service to community, to humanity, and to ourselves, the enrichment of our own lives as well as those of others. Thus, the flipside of my own upward mobility, at least in my own mind and heart, is the need to stretch down a helping hand to help pick up and empower those who are in most need of my support and solidarity, the toolkit that I can provide them with for their own survival and search for satisfaction and meaning. 

I am particularly fond of the study of personality and social psychology—the intersection or overlap between these two areas of our field. I would like to study the connections in-depth between personality traits and general health, the ways in which personality traits might serve as predictors of illness. While I am very much excited about the broad gambit of areas of psychology covered by the core material of your rigorous program, in terms of a special area, I hope to focus most specifically on the relationship between personality characteristics, on the one hand, and stress, cancer, and cardiovascular disease on the other.

I look forward to studying why people act the way they do even if they know that the way they act directly leads to cardiovascular diseases or other chronic health problems. I have some doubts or reservations concerning some of the conclusion drawn based on the researcher of investigators such as Costa, McCrae and other scientists that suggest that personalities change only very little after age 30.  From my point of view, personality is changes constantly throughout the life cycle depending on the unique nature of our interplay between cognition on the one hand, and life events on the other, the extent to which we are able to find a health balance of central importance to both our mental and  physical health. I feel that we need more studies in this area so as to come to better understand some of the numerous and often more subtle connections between particular personality traits and particular health issues. All of this research will be invaluable for the development of preventive psychological initiatives that work to identify individuals at risk for certain disorders or mental health challenges, thereby building a more healthy society. To achieve these goals I look forward to learning much more about current developments in psychology in your Masters Program at XXXX: history, theory, methods and methodology, techniques, practice, and research in all of the most prominent areas of our field.

I have also long cultivated a minor interest in linguistics and have always been very passionate about the study of how we acquire, use, and understand language--unanswered questions in psycholinguistics.  To cite just one example of the kinds of questions that I enjoy pondering: Is the human ability to use syntax based on innate mental structures or is syntactic speech the function of intelligence and social interaction? I like getting lost in theories of how language works in the human mind, how we associate meaning with the sounds of language and how we use syntax. It would be especially interesting to study psycholinguistics related issues with respect to second language speakers.

I look forward to having a private practice and devoting a lifetime to the noble cause of helping clients to overcome stress and anxiety and to deal successfully with problems of adjustment to new or unexpected, difficult life situations. I want to wrestle with all of the most complex issues that surround our need to control the disturbed, choppy mind that is the source of much of our suffering, and how to ‘see’ and, therefore, better understand, what happens to us in life through conscious perception.

I began my own journey to psychology from philosophy. Already in secondary school I was most fond of Plato and Aristotle. It was thrilling to understand Plato when he talked about our physical world and our perception, and I struggled authentically alongside Aristotle for some time in the search for truth. Eventually, I found my own truth in psychology, at least I found the questions that I want to ask; in search of the answers that I anticipate will be of the greatest interest as well as utility, at least from my perspective.

My own spiritual journey has been a search for self-awareness and understanding. I now look forward to going further and immerse myself most fully in the professional study of psychology. I have been inspired by my extensive experience as a social worker, working with abandoned children in orphanages. I enjoyed self-publishing a book about this experience, “XXXX” that now is selling successfully on Amazon.  My second book was about philosophical approaches to life and my own inner journey in spiritual psychology: “XXXX.” Both books are available in a limited number of book stores. I hope to spend my life writing and to get better all the time, eventually, I hope people will notice.

I want to thank you from the bottom of my heart for taking me into consideration for admission to your very special program at XXXX.

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M.S. Counseling, Statement of Career Goals


I am a hard worker and a very dedicated student. I am also an African-American woman with a passion for ethnic studies and a profound interest in American Indian History and Affairs, inspired primarily by the fact that I have grown up in XXXX, Oklahoma and I love my community dearly. I fully anticipate that I will realize my long term career goals of someday publishing books as well as research articles in the area of parenting styles and its association with at-risk children and adolescents, particularly minority youth. I dream of researching and writing about sibling envy, implications of parental favoritism on children’s academic and professional success, the truth behind stigmas of interracial adoption, cultural identity development and interracial adoption, self-esteem and ethnic identity in black children, and the effectiveness of current counseling services for members of ethnic minority groups.

I look forward to a lifetime of promoting healthy social and family relationships, positive behavior, and academic success as a teacher, especially improving social skills in children with Asperger’s Syndrome, learning disabilities, and Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder. I want to struggle against the high rates of black male incarceration by launching an organization geared specifically toward young African-American males where they can receive academic provision, mentoring, and life coaching. Many young black males feel abandoned by society and I want to help provide them with a support system so that they can grow and develop a healthy sense of self-esteem and sense of worth.

After I earn my Masters degree and become a Licensed Professional Counselor I plan to get a job at a hospital or a community mental health agency. Later, I intend to pursue a PhD in Clinical Psychology and to further develop my consultative, managerial, research, leadership, and teaching/training skills.  After I earn my doctorate I intend to get a job in a group practice or medical setting, providing counseling services to my clients and networking and organizing with my colleagues. I dream of starting my own NGO, along with partners who specialize in mental health law, as well as policy and ethics with a special focus on young children three to nine years old. I center my practice on the counseling and treating of children in this age group facing difficulties with psychological, social, emotional, or behavioral problems, particularly ethnic minority children who often have to deal with acute societal pressures as a result of poverty, parental unemployment, and discrimination and racism. I believe that earning a Master’s degree in Clinical Mental Health Counseling in your program will help me achieve these goals.

I feel that my real-world experiences working in a psychiatric facility will help me to excel in your program, especially in my efforts to apply counseling theories, methods, and techniques to real-life situations. I also feel I am a good fit for your program since I earned my undergraduate degree at your university and I love very much being an established part of your academic community and building upon the social networks and resources that I currently enjoy. I also very much appreciate what I see as the high standards and values of our university. I see your program as the perfect place to become a leader of therapeutic groups and to develop my leadership as well as managerial skills. I was raised in Broken Arrow and I love my community very much. My rootedness in the community will also help me to excel in your program and distinguish myself in the area of Clinical Mental Health Counseling

I am most excited about studying under the direction of your entire faculty, particularly Dr. XXXX since I am so engaged with the subject of ethnic identity and it would be a special honor to learn directly from someone with such an impressive track record with respect to indigenous affairs, along with the fact that he himself is a member of the Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma. I have been especially inspired by his work in the area of urban Indian health care as well as multicultural psychology with an emphasis on assessment and treatment in ways that are diversity appropriate and effective at providing diversity-sensitive health care in the U. S. 

I also look forward to studying under Dr. XXXX because of my personal devotion to the cause of child and adolescent psychology and my passion for family counseling. At-risk students in elementary school stand at the center of my own professional hopes and dreams, especially minority children at risk. I too very much identify with my own ethnic roots and I seek a full immersion experience in this area. I thank you for considering my application to your program.

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PsyD Clinical, ADHD, Asperger's Syndrome


XXXX University is my first choice to earn the PsyD for a variety of reasons in addition to my profound admiration of your advanced curriculum and the streamlined character of your program. My drive to earn the PsyD at XXXX is a direct result of my extensive experience with special needs children—beginning with my own 2 children. My daughter Ingrid will turn 15 in May; intellectually gifted, she has done outstandingly well given the fact that she was diagnosed with Asperger’s Syndrome in pre-school. My son Lars, who just turned 12, still struggles with learning disabilities and has many characteristics of ADHD.

As I continued to reflect on and learn from our experience, I became increasingly engaged with the subject of psychological assessment and the pivotal role that it plays in diagnosis and subsequently treatment. I think in terms of windows of opportunity, especially in the case of my daughter. I hope to publish in this area and give it my all for the balance of my professional life. Thus, it would be a great honor for me to have the privilege of studying under Dr. XXXX whose work on assessment I deeply admire, along with Dr. XXXX in the area of school-based consultation and Dr. XXXX in the areas of risk, resiliency, transition and diversity issues.

My goal of earning a Doctorate of Psychology at XXXX University is informed by my passion for helping others, a passion that grew out of my experiences with my own childhood medical trauma, teenage learning difficulties, raising children with special education needs and my struggle as a single parent as well—on top of two decades of professional experience as a school psychologist. I first became aware of the benefits of psychological intervention and counseling when I was a teenager. Following a childhood illness that required extended hospitalization, I struggled throughout my teens with my own learning challenges and behavioral concerns. These issues were greatly intensified by the economic problems my family faced and the fallout from moving no less than ten times by the time I turned seventeen. Recognizing the lack of structure in our life, and wanting me to acquire positive study habits and motivation, my mother enrolled me in Catholic School. As part of my high school journey, I was fortunate enough to receive psychological counseling.  The benefits of this experience helped me enormously to succeed socially and emotionally as well as academically. The feeling of hope and gratitude that I took with me from my counseling experience helped to empower me to establish a peer counseling organization at my high school, where none had existed before.

In my 20s and 30’s, the challenges of raising children, a divorce when they were still little, and the pressures of my continuing education and reintegration into the workforce led me to further psychological treatment as well as other modes of therapy, including trauma workshops which were something still quite novel at the time. I am convinced that the emotional growth and pragmatic skill set that I have nourished over the years will empower me to excel in your PsyD program and make creative contributions to your academic community. I profoundly enjoy gardening, long-distance running, and I am in the process of becoming a yoga instructor. These activities have further enhanced my sense of psychological wholeness along with my fervent determination to help others.

After earning my MA and beginning my practice as a school psychologist, I began working with students diagnosed with Aspergers Syndrome, since, as a result of my daughter Ingrid’s struggle, by this time I was recognized by my many of my peers as a specialist in the area of autism. My Master’s studies had only touched on Asperger’s Syndrome, however, as this diagnosis was still new at this time; thus, I found myself devoting countless hours to independent research, educating myself about the symptoms and behaviors related to ASD and the implications for school based interventions. In the years that followed, I continued my personal research in Autism along with ASD, ADHD, and a multitude of other learning disabilities, with the goal of helping individuals in a school setting.

I have been faced with the challenge of balancing my duty and loyalty to the school system on the one hand, and serving as an advocate for the student and their family on the other hand, which has probably been the most difficult aspect of my work so far. Dealing with this tension on a case-by-case basis for the last 20 years has left me fascinated by issues of professional ethics in child and school psychology, especially in the case of special needs children and this is one of the areas in which I would also like very much to publish in the future as I continue to cultivate my professional sensitivity and leadership abilities.

At this stage in my career, I have a well-developed understanding of the growing demands put on school systems due to governmental requirements and complex, ever-changing societal issues.  This has and will continue to increase the need for school psychologists with exceptional capacity to deal with numerous complex issues simultaneously. I have always had a strong sense of motivation and responsibility to stay current in my field and I believe that XXXX’s PsyD Program represents the ideal platform on which to continue to grow in every way, particularly as a professional psychologist. I feel strongly that, after earning the PsyD, I will be able to realize my fullest potential as a school psychologist based on my experience of almost 2 decades of discovery of my old children's need for involvement in special education, on top of my professional responsibilities and advocating for friends and family members on how to navigate their children's needs. I have developed great empathy for and an understanding of the day-to-day issues faced by special needs students and their families and I look forward to sharing some of my most memorable experiences in class discussions at XXXX.

My current job is an excellent fit for me while my children complete high school and I earn my PsyD. After we complete these hurdles, however, I hope to transition to a position of greater responsibility that will enable me to put my leadership skills to fuller use in the area of program development; and I hope to teach at some point in an institution of higher learning. In the same way that attending college is now a natural next step for many of the students with whom I work, becoming a professor of psychology on a college campus will be my natural next step forward, all of us snatching victory together from the jaws of defeat.

I thank you for considering my application to your distinguished program.

 

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Ph.D Degree in International Psychology and Trauma

I am writing to seek admission to study towards the Ph.D. in International Psychology at XXXX University.  During my MSW program, I fell in love with providing diagnostics and therapy to children and adults at an outpatient psychiatric clinic and stayed up almost until midnight every night during this period studying about interventions that might be appropriate for those whom I was trying to help.  I now hold the MSW Degree and have 11 years of direct social work practice experience in elementary schools, psychiatric settings (inpatient), and I currently work as an in-home counselor. I see your distinguished and unique Ph.D. Program in International Psychology at XXXX University as the optimal springboard upon which to advance my career.

While finishing my BSW (2004), I worked full time at a correctional facility group home for teenage boys as a counselor.  I obtained my Master’s in Clinical Social Work (2011) from the University of XXXX, in St. Paul, MN, traveling 500 miles round trip for three years in order to complete my clinical training. My clinical methods courses provided me with a learning experience that went beyond the theoretical and philosophical constructs, launching me on my way towards greatly increased self understanding and general psychological awareness—in addition to studying practical approaches and effective clinical applications.  During my clinical methods I completed a 640 hour clinical practicum providing outpatient psychiatric diagnostics and treatment to children, adolescences, and adults and I made the most of this opportunity to focus on the psychodynamics of trauma and how this is related to clinical intervention and treatment.  One class in particular stood out during the course of my graduate studies, Psychopathology and Human Behavior, which explored a broad range of human behaviors and pathologies from biological, psychological, sociological and spiritual perspectives--seamlessly integrating an agenda of social justice values and principles to our study of human behavior.

My clinical research project for the MSW examined secondary traumatic stress amongst caregivers of persons with Huntington’s disease.  This is a topic that was and still is very close to my heart since my wife Tania passed away from a decade long battle against Huntington’s. In fact, my wife’s disease progressed rapidly during my graduate studies, and it was a great struggle for me to juggle work, graduate school, and caring for her. During this time, I was also a volunteer support group leader for our Huntington’s disease chapter and saw firsthand the impact it was having on the families. Certain caregivers appeared to cope better than others; which I attributed mostly to a positive outlook and disposition which helped them to cultivate resiliency. I created an assessment tool based upon the Positive Affect Scale along with a Compassion Fatigue survey instrument and surveyed 30 caregivers.

I attach my curriculum vitae which illustrates the diversity of my professional and volunteer experience and training. The majority of my professional social work experience has been as an elementary school social worker, with two years spent working as a psychiatric social worker.  I have received special training in the areas of Teacher Child Interaction, Collaborative Problem Solving, and Child Welfare Training, and I have organized and presented workshops to teach members of the community about proactive solutions to challenging children. I also devoted countless hours as mentioned above to the HDSA (Huntington’s Disease Society of America) chapter in XXXX as a fundraiser, consultant, and volunteer.  

The core of my motivation to obtain a Ph.D. in International Psychology at XXXX University is to study towards the terminal degree in my chosen field from an implicitly international or global perspective. In order to become a highly effective advanced clinician and researcher working in the field of traumatic stress, it is essential in our diverse society to cultivate a trauma-informed perspective that is knowledgeable about and sensitive to the concrete issues faced by the victims of trauma—all in accordance with advanced understandings of human rights and their complex relationship to international politics, immigration law, and a variety of related areas.

I consider myself to be a follower of Dr. Farmer, a human rights advocate and physician working with Partners in Health, who declared that, “the idea that some lives matter less is the root of all that’s wrong with the world.”  I look forward to staying engaged with a variety of projects on the international level that help victims of trauma as a graduate student in your program. The opportunity to engage in international research associated with traumatic stress is something that I find extremely exciting and I have a few areas of special interest close to my heart in which I hope to do further research armed with the refractory power of a global lens. 

I would very much enjoy building upon my graduate research on secondary traumatic stress in caregivers by analyzing secondary traumatic stress affecting clinicians, caretakers, teachers especially those who care for children exposed to trauma in a variety of international areas, such as Rwanda (genocide) and Thailand (Tsunami). I also would like very much to do a qualitative research study, interviewing Vietnam Veterans that returned to Vietnam to live full time, in essence to heal their wounds, or to make amends.  I would assume that return to the scene of the trauma by living in Vietnam is helpful for mitigating the negative effects of PTSD and I would attempt to describe how and why this is the case.  I am currently investigating possibilities that exist for me to interview US veterans who have made their home in Vietnam as part of an internship in that country. The secondary influences of culture, issues of access to proper treatment, along with a variety of other international variables, all combine to put this avenue of research at the top of my wish list for a possible dissertation topic. 

After completing your program I would like to complete a traumatic stress fellowship with a global health agency like Partners in Health, the Trauma Center in Boston, or the Trauma Academy at Baylor University.  A fellowship would be an opportunity to weave together my Ph.D. training with my prior MSW clinical experience. Upon my completion of a fellowship, my dream job would be to serve as trauma clinician/trainer working for an international agency providing training to teachers, therapists, and other caregivers in traumatized areas of the world.

I believe my professional, personal and educational experiences have prepared me for the rigors of earning a Ph.D. in International Psychology XXXX University.  I bring a high level of dedication and an advanced work ethic to my professional duties. If given the opportunity I feel strongly that I would have much to contribute to your program and academic community. I look forward to hearing from you and if you have any questions, please feel free to contact me at any time.

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PHD Counseling Psychology, Education, UAE

I consider myself to be a cosmopolitan young woman from the UAE, especially since I have now lived in the USA 3-and-a-half years. I have also spent three months in Germany almost that long in Scotland and 3 weeks in London. I have a special passion for Thailand and have gone several times for two weeks each. In each place that I have passed through, I enjoy studying the customs of the people, especially in terms of their vocation and commerce, career, sense of professional identity and moral standards, etc. I have known for some time now that I wanted to become a professional career counselor in the UAE, and this has helped me to focus my studies of human behavior in the workplace from an international perspective, which is especially appropriate given the increasingly international character of my country. We have much to learn from the USA about the management of diversity.

I am especially excited about the prospect of studying cultural influences on the career choices of young individuals as well as how school counseling can be helpful for students in making wise choices concerning their majors and career paths. The University of XXXX, XU’s Ph.D. Program in Counseling Psychology through the School of Education is my first choice for graduate school for three principal reasons. First, I very much appreciate the way in which your program is explicitly devoted to the development of creative and innovative mentoring and apprenticeship models. I look forward to contributing to the diversity of your program as an Arab woman from Dubai.  Finally, my fiancé is already studying in your university and I would like very much to be near him.

My decision to study counseling psychology was greatly reinforced when I first learned years ago that there is a shortage of well-trained counselors in my home country. In fact, I have discovered that there is a general lack of understanding of a counselor’s role in a variety of important areas, including social work as well as education. After earning my BA in Human Services and Counseling, I continued to do a lot of reading in my spare time about counseling and its relationship to a variety of academic fields. I came to realize the importance, in particular, of the role of the school counselor, and the opportunity of making a positive impact on student attitudes and behaviors that will serve them well for a lifetime of growth, learning, and prosperity. In Arabic we speak of children as the seeds of society. I think it is also useful to think this way of adolescents, older children who are forming ideas, dreams, and visions concerning the professional or vocational identities that they will one day assume. As our young people grow, so will our society.

This is why I decided to get my M.E D in school counseling, which is a new profession in my country. It disturbs me that school counselors in the UAE are often foreigners, or simply any teacher with 6 years of experience and no training at all in counseling beyond a couple of short workshops. Throughout the course of my studies towards the Master’s Degree at Kent State University, I became increasingly sensitive to the importance of cultural issues and factors. I look forward to exploring these critically important issues further, with much greater intensity at the doctoral level at XU.

Completing your distinguished program will enable me to become a pioneer in the areas of school and vocational counseling in the UAE. I want to make increasingly creative contributions to the development of our counseling profession in general and school counseling in particular. I want to help students to become aware of their capabilities, abilities, strengths, weaknesses, and how to use all of this to become as productive as possible, finding fulfillment and joy as active contributors to society in general and humanity at large. My goal is helping students to be themselves and make choices for themselves, not as a result of peer pressure or exaggerated parental influence, especially when it involves a choice of career that will be with them for the rest of their lives. I want to foster self efficacy and self realization in students’ career choices.

After returning to my country upon graduation, I plan to teach at a university and to conduct and coordinate research in the areas of both school and career counseling. I intend to contribute everything that I can to the development of school counseling and career counseling as a new profession in my society, working closely with related or relevant organizations for the purpose of increasing their awareness of the importance of counseling as a profession in the UAE. I will labor to correct misconceptions regarding counseling as a profession and the roles of professional counselors. I look forward to decades to come working closely with school personnel and families in the promotion of effective and liberating counseling for their children, helping teachers to be able to accurately recognize and be aware of and sensitive to the needs of those students who are in special need of counseling. I hope to work with schools and educational zones to establish comprehensive school counseling and guidance programs that are culturally sensitive, thereby facilitating the maximization of students’ personal and vocational development.

I thank you for considering my application to your program.

 

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My Uncle, Dr. Edward F. Edinger (1922-1998)

I dedicate my service to my uncle, Dr. Edward F. Edinger, a leading Jungian analyst whose books on the interplay between symbols and psychology carried the concepts of Carl Jung to a new generation of American analysts. He died on July 17, 1998 at his home in Los Angeles. He was 75. Colleagues said he was the most influential Jungian analyst in the United States from the 1950's until his death. I am his only nephew.

My uncle Edward believed that many neuroses were associated with the decline of religion and the dominance of science. He thought it was important for the afflicted to grasp elements of religion, philosophy, literature and even alchemy to heal and thrive. Edward F. Edinger systematized and extended Jung's interpretation of the Hebrew - Christian god image, particularly in his book Ego and Archetype. Noteworthy are sections on "Christ as Paradigm of the Individuating Ego" and "The Trinity Archetype and the Dialectic of Development".

I have recently noted that there is a significant amount of audio text available thanks to the Friends of Jung in San Diego. I am grateful for this and anticipate spending as much time with him this way in the time that I have left, as I ever did in life. Both of us were born into and raised through the most formative years of our lives in a small mid-west town, into a family of Jehovah's Witnesses. They did more damage to me than they did to my uncle Edward, who was already reading higher criticism of Christianity and religion by the age of 13. It took me much longer, until my early twenties to even get interested in such things. On the final occasions in which I did get to spend some time with my Uncle Edward, I had become something of a guerrilla historian working in Central America in the late 1980s. He told me quite frankly that he feared that I might get shot. I didn't. 

The conversations that I had with him were few, but I am grateful for those few special moments that we were able to share. He was a wicked chess player and after I resigned the game at 13 he turned the board around and beat me. Older, in my twenties, he would tell me that Jesus' suggestion that the Kingdom of God is "among you" or "within you" was entirely ambiguous, a matter of interpretation. He would chide me that for me it was "among you" and that for him, of course, it was "within you." The older I get the more I tend to agree with him. I was wrong. It is within you! I miss you Uncle Edward.

Dr. Robert F Edinger, guerrilla historian of religion in Latin America

Dianne Cordic, I remember you well and would love to say hello if you are out there somewhere in cyberspace, a big hug!
 
 

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Master’s I/O, Workplace Mental Health


I wish to switch from a clinical track of study in psychology to industrial/organizational. I have invested a great deal of reflection in this move, especially since my academic mentor, a clinical psychologist, stressed the importance of thinking the issue through clearly in light of all available options. I am currently a first-year graduate student at XXXX College studying towards a Master’s Degree in clinical psychology. For the reasons outlined below, I would like very much to transfer to your highly esteemed program to continue my studies towards the Master’s Degree in Industrial/Organizational Psychology, which is where my passion lies.

The main reason that triggered my decision of changing the major is my 10-month experience at a consulting company. It is an educational consulting company and I worked there as an English teacher. It was my very first time working as a full-time employee and also as a member of a large group. Frankly, I had no such experience before I started working there, so I had no sense of what it is like to work as an employee and as a member of a large group. I admit that 10 months is not a sufficient time to experience all the major issues that could arise in an organization, but I have seen many problems and stresses from it, which often hindered employees from performing at their best. The major problem in the organization I noticed was conflicts between co-workers and between an employee and his or her employer either externally or internally.

As a psychology student myself, I am well aware of how conflicts and stresses affect a person’s mental health and eventually their physical health. Such distress would further hamper one from behaving effectively in variety of settings, including workplace. From then on, I began to wonder what could be done better for an organization to success, and realized that it all begins at the beginning of recruitment and placement to mediation to worker’s motivation that affects performance and job satisfaction.

My central interest is conflict resolution in organizational settings because it strongly affects one’s work performance and also one’s mental health. To discover more about organizational psychology, I started out by buying books about human resources and listening to live experiences by people who work in human resource fields and consultants. My ultimate goal is to develop my skills in resolving conflicts in the work place and organizations to become more lucrative in long term. Moreover, I want to be able to ripen my knowledge on assisting employees to perform more effectively through appropriate human resource management.

I believe that with my fundamental knowledge on psychology, it is now time for me to shift my concentration and learn organizational psychology systematically, and with excellent curriculum XXXX College encompasses, I would be able to learn organizational psychology more deeply and ultimately able to contribute my knowledge into the workplace to make more efficient and successful environment in this ever changing competitive and demanding world. Without these tens of thousands of workers, who could run our society? I am convinced that it is us the psychologists to help achieve the goal of prosperous and successful society. 

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MA Counseling Psychology, Mental Health Center


At 22, I feel that I am mature for my age. This has contributed to my dedication to the study of psychology. I feel that I am ready for graduate school and up to the rigorous challenge as a result of my intense motivation and dedication to my chosen field of study.

I hold the BA in Social Studies, with an overwhelming concentration in psychology, from XXXX State College. I want very much to continue my education and I am especially attracted to the curriculum and reputation of the XXXX University M.A. Program for Counseling Psychology. 10 years from now I would like to have a PhD and work either in private practice or for a state run facility as a mental health clinician working with all age groups.

 I took a year off of school after I graduated to gain some work experience. I currently work at XXXX Mental Health Center as a Therapeutic Mentor. I work closely with clinicians to develop appropriate treatment plans for me to implement during our secessions. I have been working there since August of 2011. Seeing first-hand the progress and frustrations that come in this field has only strengthened my desire to continue my education so that I will be able to increase what I have to offer to my profession and my community.

 My grades do not reflect the fact that I am a devoted student, as a result of not being able to decide until later in my college career what I really wanted to do with my life. Nevertheless, I am a hard worker and I do have work experience that is directly associated with my career goals. I have a good idea of what to expect in graduate school in psychology and I am certain that this will enable me help make society a better place by developing new ways to cope with depression and anxiety. I especially look forward to intensive research in these areas and I am especially keen about strategies for alternatives to lifelong medication.

 Most of all, it has been working at XXXX Mental Health Center that has opened my eyes to the challenges and opportunities for psychology professionals. Serving as a therapeutic Mentor has warmed my heart to the bounteous joys of giving, finding more in oneself as a result of giving more to others, particularly children. I especially enjoy working closely with other collaborators on each of my cases to assure that we provide the best treatment possible to the client. I take great pride in developing a treatment plans and goals for each client based on their needs and strengths.

Working with clients in the home, at school, or out in the community, I always make it a point to stick with the treatment plan to the extent to which it is possible to do so. Towards this end, I have long worked to perfect my communication skills, particularly with respect to conflict resolution, emotional expression, and/or behavior management. I work with parents to develop better ways for them to handle difficult situations with their child and set a positive example in the home and in the community.

I thank you for considering my application to your program.

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Master’s Degree in Clinical Psychology, European

I was born and raised in Cyprus. I was awarded my bachelor degree in Psychology by XXXX University in the UK and have recently completed a Master’s in ‘Psychological Approaches to Health’ at the University of XXXX, also in the UK. My goal now is to pursue a Master’s degree in Clinical Psychology and then to apply the skills and knowledge acquired in helping children who have suffered emotional or physical abuse as a Clinical Psychologist working in my home country. I regard this as more a vocation than a career choice, obviously I seek to ‘make a living’ but it is more important to me that I ‘make a difference’ during my working life. 

I was a sensitive child from a secure and loving home but became aware that some of my friends had not been as fortunate as I had been. I longed to be able to help them in some positive way to achieve the security, balance and happiness, with which I had been blessed, in their own lives. As I grew older, I recognized that Psychology offered a way to fulfill my life’s ambition to help unhappy children and young people. It was for this reason that I chose to study for a bachelor degree in Psychology and this provided me with an excellent theoretical foundation in the subject. I went on to obtain a Master’s degree in ‘Psychological Approaches to Health’ which included the study of the following modules: Understanding, Predicting and Changing Health Behaviors; Stress Coping and Health; Psychology and Patient Safety; Theory and Interventions in Health Psychology; and Food and Health. I believe that these studies have provided me with insights that will enhance my ability to benefit from the program for which I am applying.

Throughout my academic career, I have been privileged to have had the opportunity to undertake volunteer work relevant to my studies during the long vacations. This activity was undertaken in Cyprus and included assisting staff in the Child and Adolescent Department at the Mental Health Centre of a large general hospital and working in a Rehabilitation Centre. I gained experience of working with mentally ill patients, children, adolescents and liaising with the relatives of patients. All this activity was undertaken under the direct supervision of Clinical Psychologists several of whom recognized in me an ability to communicate well with young patients and suggested that I pursue a career that involved with children and adolescents.

I possess intuitive skills in ‘reading between the lines’ and especially in interpreting non-verbal signals provided by distressed children and I look forward to developing and applying this in my future work. All my voluntary work experiences were extremely rewarding in terms both of gaining practical experience and insights and in the enormous satisfaction when seeing patients make tangible progress in facing and overcoming the issues in their lives.

I am currently employed as a Mental Health Support Worker in Manchester in the north of England working in a low and medium secure mental health care facility. I work with a range of patient types and ages. This work is providing excellent practical foundation to complement my voluntary work and theoretical knowledge. I am involved in providing advocacy, practical help and support to patients and those who usually care for them.

I have carefully researched various programs in Clinical Psychology that are available and I am attracted to studying in the US because of the pioneering and innovative work being done there.  Your own program interests me in particular because of its emphasis on the review and analysis of the very latest advances and research findings in the field. Studying in the US would also expose me to an exceptionally varied population.

 I am aware of the research undertaken by several of your faculty members and have taken particular interest in the work of Dr. XXXX relating to depression and mood disorders and of Dr. XXXX in child psychology and developmental psychopathology. As I have already undertaken successful postgraduate studies, I do have some research experience and am aware of the skill set necessary to undertake successful research such as determination, an analytical approach, statistical interpretation and records maintenance which I have demonstrated during my earlier postgraduate work. I would hope to be involved in assisting with research into depression and mood disorders, schizophrenia and abuse as they affect children and adolescents.

I am aware that cultural sensitivity and awareness is extremely important in the provision of psychological services in order to properly understand the patient’s perspectives. I have happily studied, worked and socialized with people from a variety of cultural and social backgrounds and am exposed to a wide variety of patient types in my current work.

I know that the program will attract many well qualified applicants but I regard myself as being an excellent candidate. I have the firm theoretical and practical background in psychology that will enable me to profit from the program and to ‘add value’ to my class through the insights that I have gained. I have research experience and skills. However, my main recommendation is a passionate desire to help children and young people to face and overcome the issues and obstacles that may prevent them fulfilling their potential and in leading happy and productive lives. 

 

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Masters Counseling Psychology MFT, Saudi Arabia


I am a young woman from Saudi Arabia and I have come to the USA primarily to pursue my graduate studies. I am very dedicated to the field of Counseling Psychology and seek to give it my undivided attention. I am especially attracted by the prospect of studying at XXXX College because of the vast cultural resources on campus and in the surrounding area. I am especially impressed by the possibility of becoming involved with Institute for the Study and Promotion of Race and Culture, especially insofar as Saudi Arabia is rapidly becoming a multiracial society. I also hope to learn from lectures and association with the Center for Child, Family, and Community Partnerships, since children are central to my professional aspirations.

 There is often a great deal of tension in Saudi Arabia created by and surrounding divorce. I have watched now for many years as couples disintegrate and both continue to suffer for many years as a result of the broken home, in addition to the innocent children. I have come to the conclusion that divorce is often a result of a simple misunderstanding or failure to communicate. Your program will help me to develop increasingly sophisticated perspectives and tools of analysis to prepare me for life-long learning and research in the area of marital counseling in Saudi Arabia. While my long term goal is to earn a doctoral degree in my field at some point, I plan to return to the KSA to gain additional professional experience after completing your program. My central interest is in the area of divorce prevention, learning to explore the alternatives, options through enhanced communication, dialogue. Of course, while saving a marriage is often a noble goal, especially in my culture, there are some cases where divorce proves to be inevitable. In these cases, I look forward to developing creative strategies to minimize the pain and suffering of the children. And I also want to help women who have lost their children as a result of divorce.

Furthermore, I believe firmly that psychological counseling and support in a civilized society needs to be performed on a sliding scale so that help can be provided to everyone on the basis of their need, rather than just their ability to pay. At the same time that I plan to practice as a marriage counselor, I also intend to teach as an adjunct professor at a college or university, at least one or two classes in my area of specialization. I am also quite knowledgeable about the media and the Internet, and hope to move in this direction as well. I speak Uzbek as well as Turkish and for this reason I find myself very drawn to those cultures as well and stay close to them through the Internet.

 In 2007, I worked as tutor at an orphanage for 1 year.  Prior to that, from 2003-2006, I served as a volunteer translator for Turkish and Uzbek pilgrims coming to Mecca. I also taught High School English for 3 months in 2009. For so long that I have lost track, I have tutored elementary aged children. Especially in a culture like mine, where the mobility of women is restricted, one has little choice but to learn many things from one’s family and extended family; and I took advantage of the divorces of two of my siblings, in order to learn all that I could about the dynamics involved. I seek a rigorous education in counseling psychology that will provide me with both a theoretical and practical foundation for launching a career in marital counseling. I hope to e able to focus much of the research that I do in your program on the psychology of divorce, and the comparative effects of divorce on single parent vs. and two-parent households.

As a woman from Saudi Arabia, I look forward to contributing to the diversity of your program and learning from my peers from all over the world. I especially look forward to learning from other women about the experiences of love, romance, and childbearing in their cultures: and of course, divorce. Completing your program will inspire me with the confidence that I will need when I return to Saudi Arabia as an activist for the rights of women. In my culture, this takes a great deal of courage which I hope to accumulate over the course of your program. You will provide me with a tool kit so that I will be able to set reasonable goals that can be realized. I have a great deal of hope for progressive change and greater recognition of women’s rights in Saudi Arabia, at least in time. As a therapist and a scholar, I hope to be an avid participant in this change.

Saudi Arabia is a very family oriented society. Like most Saudis, women in particular, I place an extremely high value on the family. This is why it would be a great honor for me to attend your program and learn how to be a first rate family/marital therapist. My very presence in this field is itself making me a participant in social change, since most Saudi professionals in the area of psychology are still men. With your help, I will be able to become a participant in the shattering of barriers to women in my country. I will be able to struggle to protect them and to do so in efficacious ways. I want to change stereotypes. I want to help make a path for woman to become career oriented despite being young mothers. I want to teach others how to communicate more effectively. Most of all, I want to inspire the women of my country to defend their rights as wives and mothers, to fight for the custody of their children, and for those who fail, to recover from the loss and go on.

I thank you for your consideration of my application to your program.

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MA Counseling, Children & Violence, Middle East

When we moved from San Francisco to Dubai last year with our children, it was a permanent career move for my husband; nevertheless, I was soon horrified, angry, and heartbroken to witness how widespread was the use of corporal punishment by parents to discipline children in this culture. A rigid and cold violence against children is not at all uncommon in Dubai and it is to this issue which I have gravitated as my primary life interest on a professional level. I want to help parents by educating them concerning the effects of violence on their children. This is why I have chosen a career in family therapy. I want to empower families to strengthen their relationships and to build solid futures together that provide stable and loving homes for their children.

My original motivation for pursuing a career in family therapy is very much connected to my own complex family history. My childhood was enormously difficult in Iran, especially since we lived through the Islamic Revolution. Shortly afterwards, my parents got divorced and the family was effectively dissolved. At 16, I immigrated alone to the United States. Now, a quarter of a century later, I am still on a quest to rebuild dreams that in a sense I was not able to have. I want to make a profession of that dream and care for other families that suffer and are at risk.

 Now at 41, I have fulfilled my dream of having a family of my own. I have a wonderful and vibrant community here in Dubai and I want very much to give something back to my society. Most importantly, Dubai has a shortage of family therapists, and I am extremely excited about the prospect of helping to respond to this need. There are virtually no social services to protect children and educate their parents about parental responsibilities; and this in a country that condones corporal punishment in both public and private spheres. As a family therapist in Dubai, I want to be part of a profound cultural transformation, something of an Arab Spring between men and women, for the benefit of children.

I am an Iranian woman, yet born at the heart of the youth revolution in America in 1970, in Berkeley California. Perhaps a little of this revolution stuck with me, and is coming to fruition at this time, now that I am reaching full professional maturity. I want to struggle for progressive social change and openness where I live now, in Dubai; and by extension having a share in broader layers of social change throughout the Middle East. By living and working here in the UAE, I might also be able to exert some influence over Iran as well, my country of origin. This is because Iranian society is both isolated and insulated from the outside world. And in this situation, the UAE serves as a conduit of everything for Iran, from goods to information. It is a go-between, between Iran and the rest of the world. And from this vantage point, I want to work for Iranian liberation, especially that of Iranian women, in solidarity with her sisters in the UAE. We are already working together to strengthen our networks online, groups of women’s voices that are growing more powerful in unison.

My long term goal is to use my degree to become an advocate for children and educate families about the cumulative, detrimental effects of corporal punishment. I want to inspire and help them to use more effective techniques to communicate with their children and nurture healthier family dynamics. As an undergraduate student of business, I was not at all clear about my ambitions and was not at all engaged with my studies. My very poor grades were the result of more of a lack of interest than of ability and I believe that my grades from 20 years ago say very little about my ability to excel in your program. I see a dire need for helping the children of this country and I am extremely highly motivated and confident.  I hope to convince you that by admitting me to your program you will be helping to ameliorate the effects of cruelly oppressive social structures that foster violence against children.

After completing my education, I worked for many years in advertising, and then in sales and marketing for a pharmaceutical company. By 2000, I was married with children and settled in San Francisco for a lengthy stint as a stay-at-home mother. Of course, babies grow up; and by 2007 I was feeling the urge to again mobilize myself professionally. My own children had sparked a vast curiosity and concern with child rearing and well being, and I wanted to study their development and psychology. So I enrolled in a Child and Adolescent Psychology class in a community college. By 2010, my husband’s career brought us to Dubai, in the UAE, which we have made more or less our permanent home. So, I am an oddity, an Iranian woman from San Francisco living at the heart of Arab elegance, and, in fact, social change. The UAE does, for the Arab world, show some tendency towards greater moderation and toleration of diversity.

Since our arrival in the UAE, I have been keenly sensitive to very different standards and expectations concerning child rearing, especially with respect to the issue of corporal punishment. I have been moved very much, both emotionally and intellectually, by recent research that suggests that the corporal punishment of children often has devastating and lasting consequences that include lower levels of intelligence as well as emotional disorders such as ADHD. I want very much to work strenuously with all progressive international, non-governmental organizations in the UAE and throughout the Middle East, building networks of activists concerned with child safety, well being, and laws designed to protect them from physical and psychological brutality.

Not long after moving to Dubai, early last year, I was disappointed to discover that there are no universities here that offer a professional degree in counseling psychology; the closest thing is a General Psychology Degree at XXXX University, a British university with a campus in Dubai. At first, I had decided against earning my Master’s online, since I was concerned that my degree might not command the respect of a degree from a brick and mortar university, and I made the decision to enroll in the general psychology degree program here at XXXX U, beginning last September, 2011. I now realize, however, that their curriculum has little to nothing to do with what I most looked forward to studying, theories and methods of therapy. I simply cannot get that excited about experiments with rats and I want to learn how to be an excellent therapist. Now, I am trying to correct my mistake and I ask please for a special exception to enroll in your program despite the late date of my application. 

I am pleased to report that I have also enrolled in a short program which I think will be compatible with beginning my program at UXX Online. I have registered to study towards a Certificate with the Institute of Transpersonal Development in Spain, which begins in May. I have a solid track record so far of solid engagement with my community and your program will lay the foundation for me to make creative contributions in the art of family therapy in my new home, Dubai. My long term goal after completing your program at UXXX will be to practice in Dubai as a Family Therapist. Since spanking and beatings are an acceptable and common form of discipline in this country, my primary goal will be to educate families about the long term detrimental effects of corporal punishment on behavior and mental development. My ideal job would be to have a practice where I could help children with their issues and educate parents in communication strategies. I envision my practice as a center of progressive social change. I love children and I wish to dedicate my professional life to helping to protect and preserve their well being.

I also love families, the dynamic of families. As an intellectual and a professional researcher, I want to focus my energies on the area of the complex ways in which childhood experiences tend to determine, to some extent, what kind of success we have in the world as adults, our struggles, challenges, etc. 

I thank you for considering my application at this late date.

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MS Applied Psychology, Bipolarity, Addictions

XXXX University is my first choice for graduate school in applied psychology for a variety of reasons, most of which have to do with the fact that I live nearby and I love my home, being near my family. I have an 8 year old son who lost his father not long ago. His grandfather will be watching him while I attend your program. Fortunately, I am economically independent and I do not need to work; thus, I am in a position to give my all to your program. Furthermore, I very much appreciate XXXX’s singular emphasis on the importance of international education, getting a feel for another culture and its history. I also see this as an integral part of a well rounded education and I am most enthused about the prospect of studying psychological issues among the ex-patriot community of Costa Rica, a delightful nation that I am adopting as a second home.

Most of all, however, my desire to attend XXXX University springs from my experience as a volunteer facilitator at the XXXX Center for Group Counseling, since October of 2012; I began shortly after finishing my undergraduate studies in psychology. This experience has opened my eyes to the great power of group counseling and the extremely positive impact that it can have on those who suffer as a result of mental health issues. Here at the XXXX Center, I have had the privilege to be surrounded by several XXXX students and I have heard nothing but the highest praise from graduates of your program in Applied Psychology. I appreciate the way in which your program has rigorous standards and I feel confident that I now have the time, space and energy to excel in graduate school, as a result of my unique life circumstances.

32 years old, a widow, a mother, I have only loved one man, who committed suicide several years ago. My husband was bipolar; most of the time we laughed, sang, and danced. Unbearably handsome, witty, very successful professionally, I was not aware when I married my man how desperately ill he was. Especially after our son was born 8 years ago, and very much in love, I did everything that I could to save him, as I gradually become aware of his predicament. I began studying psychology in college, spending my free time reading about mental health challenges, treatments, strategies, etc. I feel strongly that, based on my research as well as professional experience, many if not most bipolar individuals are especially brilliant and that their unique creative energy needs to find positive outlets to serve as alternatives to negative behavior, especially addictions. I want to devote my life to the study and practice of group therapy because I see it as having such great potential for saving lives and preserving and protecting families, providing day-to-day and week-to-week survival strategies, coping tools, and emotional support.

I myself have been healing now for some time, channeling tragedy into rebirth, sorrow into fascination, and grief into determination to succeed. I look forward to working in the future with bipolar clients who are unique, just as my husband was, many of them will also be brilliant and creative. In fact, what most fascinates and concerns me is precisely the way in which that brilliance entails great risk. I was an undergraduate student majoring in psychology at the time that my husband committed suicide, and I went on to finish my degree. Both before and after, however, my grades suffered; first the stress of trying to save his life, followed by the utter sadness of it all. Watching my little son grieve the loss of his dad was especially debilitating. This is why I ask for special consideration with respect to the evaluation of my GPA.

From each passing springs new life, each tragedy includes the seeds of its own redemption, compensation, triumph. In my case, for example, I had the privilege of getting to know amazing psychologists over the years that treated my husband, including Dr. XXXX who once worked with Ted Bundy on death row. The greatest lesson that I have learned throughout my personal storm is the importance of being ‘mindful’ in everything I do. I would be especially honored to do research as a student at XXXX University in the area of "mindfulness." I look forward to learning many things at Lynn but I particularly hope to have the privilege of becoming a student of Dr. XXXX, whose work in the area of drug abuse prevention I especially admire. I have a deep intellectual passion for this subject and this how I want to make my mark on the world; and make my own life worth living.

My professor for an undergraduate course, Mind and Brain, was an avid investigator and specialist on America’s penal systems and all of the attendant issues that it generates in psychology. This sparked my enduring interest in the complex issue of mental health services in our penal system. A doctor that resides at the XXXX Center where I volunteer worked in prisons for 7 years. His explanation of how and why prisoners in America’s jails receive little to no mental health services further aroused my passion for study in this area.

I also feel strongly that XXU will serve as the optimal springboard for me to build a distinguished career helping my clients to mange stress. I want to study in depth the relationship between bipolar disorder and stress management. I have seen how stress literally kills people, as it did my husband. The stress of running his company controlled his life; consistently, for years, I pleaded with him to let it all go and move away from everything and everyone. I truly believe that if he could have found some positive ways to de-stress he would have survived, leaned how to manage. We both had counselors, together and apart, but we never tried group counseling.  I beat myself up for quite a long time thinking of ways I maybe could have saved him. Through this process, I have developed a great passion for group therapy, managing stress, preventing and surviving suicide, protecting children, learning to let go and heal by sharing similar experiences and strategies with others who suffer as well. I thank you for considering my application to your very special program.

 

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PHD Social Psychology, Gender, Stereotypes, Brazil

I was born in Brazil but raised mostly in Boston from the age of 8 years old. I graduated from the University of XXXX with a Degree in Psychology and a minor in Chemistry in the Fall of 2006. This year, 2010, I completed my MS Degree in Psychology from XXXX State University.

I now want very much to study towards PHD Degree in Social Psychology at the University of XXXX since I am especially interested in doing research in the areas of persuasion, gender, and stereotypical threats and prejudice. In fact, I am keenly looking forward to a rigorous immersion in the study of the broad gambit of social influence theory and group behavior as well as research methodologies. I am especially looking forward to having Drs. XXXX and XXXX as faculty mentors. 10 years from now I would like to be a university professor myself who is especially adept at publication. In addition to English and Portuguese, I am also proficient in Italian and have basic skills in French. I hope to take advantage of my language skills at some point in my research endeavors.

 I am cutting back my professional work load to a minimum so that I will be able to focus full time on my studies. My volunteer work has shown me how gratifying it is to help others in the community and I strive to make a positive impact in society.  I am a hard worker who is eager for knowledge. I am endowed with a great ability to understand experimental designs and improve them; I am a sensitive man who is especially adept at the identification of possible confounding variables and design flaws in the studies. I have done extensive work in the design and management of experiment involving stereotypical threats with respect to gender as well as classical conditioning with various reinforcement schedules (FR, FI, VR, VI, etc) and extinction with proxy subjects (i.e. pigeons). I have also conducted conditioning experiments involving the pairing of an unconditioned stimulus with a conditioned stimulus. I very much look forward to continuing to enhance my understanding of the the underlying mechanisms and intricacies of human behavior.

As a member of a family that has been blessed with economic resources, I am highly sensitive to the difficult realities of members of the working social classes for whom life is very much an economic struggle. I have friends from different economical backgrounds and neither side is alien to me. In Brazil, for example, I was long struck by the fact that, due to their low income, police officers are forced to live in the slums with the drug dealers and other criminals. They have to hide their identity in order to preserve their lives. They can't even leave their houses with their uniforms on. And this is just one of the social questions that I look forward to investigating as a social psychologist with a special interest in Brazil.

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PHD Social Psychology, Thailand, Children

I am a young woman from Bangkok, Thailand that profoundly adores studying the Communication Arts and very much wants to become a teacher. I want to make XXXX University my new home for several years and complete my MA Degree in Teaching and Learning. I am convinced that your program is the ideal program for learning how I can become the very finest teacher possible so that I can return to Thailand and make major contributions to education in my country.

 Perhaps my greatest love in life, my special passion, is small children. For this reason, I am especially interested in doing research in the areas of teaching children who range in age from kindergarten through the age of 10.  My short term goal, therefore, is to give my all to and excel in your program and my long term goal is to become a kindergarten teacher in an international school in Thailand.

 In 2007, I participated in the Bangkok University International College Fair and enjoyed a leading role in the preparation of the the fashion show to promote my university. In 2008, I served as a trainee for the Account Executive Department at Far East DDB, an Advertising Agency, for 3 months, assisting executive staff with research projects in advertising. And from July, 2009 through April, 2010, I worked at XXXX International Hospital in the Heart Center. Among all of my professional experiences so far, working for the hospital as a Clinic Officer was perhaps the most rewarding, because I felt that what I was doing something that was so very important not only for patients and their families but for the hospital as a whole. Furthermore, my position often thrust me in the middle of delicate circumstance because I worked with many people who suffered from heart disease and frequently did not survive. I also come from a big family and have worked hard to take good care of my grandparents and younger cousins. These experiences have helped to make me serious and highly responsible.

 Perhaps my greatest dream in life is to excel as a teacher with your help so that I will be selected by an NGO in Thailand that is dedicated to the promotion of popular education for children from families of scare economic resources, selected from among many of the humblest people of my society. Being able to make a profound difference in the lives of such children is the hope that I have for my future which brings me the greatest joy.

 I feel so very privileged to come from such a loving family and to have achieved an excellent education with the opportunity to travel and visit China, Singapore, Hong Kong, Macao, Japan, Italy, New Zealand, Australia, and United States and Canada, so far. My travels have also helped me to appreciate the importance of multiculturalism and diversity in education. In fact, I have already been to the United States many times because I have relatives here.

 I want to thank you for considering my application to your program and to thank you as well on behalf of the many children of humble origins that I wish to devote my life to helping by teaching them Language Arts, Drama, Literature, and especially learning how to excel and appreciate Reading. It is in this area more than any other that I wish to concentrate my efforts. Reading is a gift that lives forever.

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Postbaccalaureate Psychology Certificate Program

I was once present when a friend, who was a military veteran, suffered extreme stress symptoms in the face of an ‘everyday’ situation. Naturally, I sought to offer immediate comfort and help my friend in this situation but it was also a spur to seek ways to help in a more enduring way and to assist others who suffer post-traumatic stress disorder. A broad interest in psychology developed into a desire to study the effects of traumatic events on individuals and ways of relieving them.

My interest in studying the effects of psychological trauma is not limited to veterans. As a volunteer working with severely disadvantaged children and teenagers, I became aware of that some of them can also be considered to be damaged ‘veterans’ and ‘survivors’ of distressing experiences.  This work also prompted an interest in the ways in which early life events affect the propensity to criminality.  I hope to undertake research in one or more of these areas during my participation in the program.

 I cannot offer work experience in the area of psychology which is why I consider this specific program to be the ‘best fit’ for my situation. However I do hold a degree in a closely related discipline, Criminology, and during my studies I applied statistical techniques that will be relevant within this program.  I also consider that my volunteer work has provided me with a very useful basis on which to build, especially as I hope that helping children and young people will be the focus of my future studies and work. 

My work experience has been in the field of business but I have gained a working knowledge of various research techniques and applied them in financial, markets and sociological settings.  This knowledge and experience will also be relevant and applicable to work during the program. I have demonstrated qualities of diligence and discipline in my working life and learned how to cooperate successfully with others to achieve common ends within demanding timeframes.  The grades and honors obtained in my work towards my Bachelor’s degrees will, I hope, provide some assurance of my work ethic and my further academic potential.  

It is my intention, if accepted, to excel within the program, to obtain the certificate and to use this as a means of pursuing a Ph.D. or Psy.D.  in Clinical Psychology.  It would then be my goal to continue research whilst working in private practice and ultimately to undertake relevant work for a government agency.

I am aware that the program will attract many well qualified applicants. However I am confident that my academic, volunteer and working background, together with my personal qualities and passion for the subject, provide an unusually good ‘fit’ for the program.  I am sure that I shall be able profit significantly from participation and to ‘add value’ to the academic community if accepted. 

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Masters Forensic Psychology, Online


I want very much to enroll in and complete your graduate school program so that I will be able to advance professionally in my work in our criminal justice and corrections systems. With a Master’s Degree, for example, I would be able to qualify for a  case management position with my current employer, the XXXX Secure Center. I look forward to gaining a thorough going understanding of how juvenile delinquents think, especially with respect to the ways in which they justify both good and bad behaviors. My short term goal is to successfully complete the MS in Forensic Psychology and apply for the case management position. My long term goal is to continue to learn all that I can about the many challenges confronting our juvenile justice system in America so that I will be qualified to make the greatest contribution that I can to this area.

 I graduated from XXXX College with a BS on December 2010 with a major in Biology. Previously, I graduated in 1994 from the XXXX Business School with a Medical Assistant Certificate. I feel strongly that my undergraduate studies in Biology, building upon my studies as a medical assistant, have prepared me well to do graduate work in forensic psychology. I thoroughly enjoyed my classes in psychology and sociology and I believe that psychology is the right area for me to continue my studies. I have also matured a great deal as a result of meeting difficult challenges during my undergraduate years. In 2000, I had to discontinue my studies since I was a single mother and had to care for two terminally ill relatives/ In 2010, however, I returned to XXXXCollege and completed my degree. In my early years an undergraduate student, I worked on important research projects studying the effects of pesticides on fish. By the time that I returned in 2000, my interests had changed and I devoted myself to the study of juvenile delinquency. Since I had been working for a youth detention facility for 3 years already, I decided to write my principal research paper on “The Development of Violent Behaviors within Juvenile Delinquents.”  

 My work experience also helps to qualify me for graduate study. I work in a maximum secure juvenile detention facility which has exposed me to many of the critically important issues and questions faced by correctional facilities. I have worked primarily as a keyboard specialist in the business office where my job duties are to process purchase orders as well as medical & dental claims for residents. I have been employed at XXXX Secure Center since 2008 so I have had the opportunity to become quite familiar with secure facility policies and background information on youth detainees. My exposure to a secure environment has sparked a genuine interest to help juvenile delinquents become rehabilitated so that they will someday be ready to leave the system. During my undergraduate studies I took a class in Interpersonal Communication Skills which set me on the course of many years of hard work enhancing my communication skills. The greatest contribution that I might be able make to society would be to help juvenile offenders learn to embrace positive change in novel and creative ways. I hope to assist them to learn to think outside their box, persuading them to put aside negative attitudes and develop more positive ways of thinking. I also aspire to winning their trust by convincing them that they can turn their lives around.

 XXXX University is a perfect match for me because XXXX offers the MS in Forensic Psychology online. Since I work full time, I am attracted to the convenience of being able to do my classes at home on my own schedule. I especially like the fact that I won’t have to travel to night classes anymore which is very exhausting after working all day.

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MA Family Therapy, MFT, Community Counseling

I am an Egyptian, born and raised in Kuwait until the age of sixteen. I now live in California. I hold a Bachelor’s degree in Psychology and Social Behavior from the University of XXXX. I speak Arabic and English. My goal is to become a counselor specializing in the problems suffered by immigrant families especially as a result of being from a particular ethnic and/or religious background.

 I possess a naturally sympathetic personality together with a particular and strong interest in the education and welfare of children.  I have long sought voluntary and career outlets in which I can apply these aspects of my personality. My substantial volunteer work has included teaching and currently involves work with disabled pre-school infants, and their parents, to enable them to make the best possible start in life. I have also been a professional teacher for four years. I have found my work and voluntary activity extremely satisfying and I have learned much about children especially those subject to the added pressures of making difficult cultural adjustments.

 I undertook my Bachelor’s degree studies in psychology while working and raising my children but I found that the love of my subject enabled me to overcome all the barriers and problems involved, not only to succeed but to excel in the program. I now seek to advance my knowledge and skills through your program in order to assist families who struggle to adjust to a new and very different culture.

 My first experience of the application of psychology to family problems came when I undertook an internship with a child psychologist for six months. During this time I administered tests and questionnaires to children suffering various behavioral, learning and emotional problems and to their parents. This gave me an insight into the variety of problems involved in this work and the manner in which relevant information is collected and how therapy is designed and applied.

 As a teacher, I have been employed in both the public and private sectors teaching children at the crucial period early in their school careers. I have worked with children of all types including immigrant, gifted and disabled children. I have significant experience in liaising with parents to achieve the best educational outcomes for their children and have acquired some insights into family dynamics and the ways in which parents can help their children fulfill their educational and emotional potential.

 I believe that my volunteer and teaching experience, together with my bachelor degree studies have provided me with a firm base from which to pursue my ultimate goal of becoming a professional psychologist and counselor. My own experiences of being an Arab and Muslim immigrant, together with my voluntary and professional work, have provided me with a special awareness of the problems faced by immigrant families. The adjustment to a new culture is usually traumatic but can be especially so when there is a marked contrast in cultures and values.  I am aware of a great need for counseling and family therapy within my community and I wish to be involved in providing it.

 I have carefully considered this choice and regard it as less a choice of career than the pursuit of a vocation. I also believe that the skills acquired while learning to be a good wife and mother are also highly relevant to the program. I regard these skills to be significant additions to the other base of skills and knowledge that I shall be able to apply in the program. 

 Whilst I am particularly interested in assisting immigrants and especially those from my own cultural background, I should add that I have happily studied, worked and socialized with people from many cultural and social backgrounds. I am aware that course work will relate to problems met by people of a variety of cultures and social positions and look forward to these aspects of the program. I also look forward to exchanging cultural experiences and knowledge with my fellow students.

 I undertake to work diligently and to participate enthusiastically in the program, if my application is successful. I am aware that the program will attract many, well qualified applicants. However I consider myself to be an exceptional candidate by reason of my significant and relevant volunteer and professional experience, the success attained in my undergraduate studies, the relevance of those studies and, not least, because of my passionate desire to acquire the skills and knowledge necessary to help families through counseling. I believe that I shall be able to bring much that will ‘add value’ to the academic community and look forward eagerly to doing so.

 Thank you for considering my application.

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Internship Clinical, Geropsychology, Russian, Jewish

I am a young Jewish woman originally from Russia. My family immigrated and settled in Pennsylvania. I will be completing my PHD this year in Psychology at Yeshiva University and I feel that I am a strong candidate for your internship program. I look forward to a long and distinguished career as a clinical psychologist working in the areas of rehabilitation and neuropsychology.  I hope to work with immigrant and ethnic minority populations, especially the geriatric members of our Russian immigrant societies. This is how I feel I can provide the greatest service to my community as someone who is fluent in Russian. I can also read and write in both Hebrew and Spanish and I look forward to using these languages as well as a professional psychologist.

 My research interests stem from my ethnic background and personal experiences, coupled with my clinical interest in geropsychology. I look forward to life-long study in the area of cultural diversity, acculturation, and cultural factors as they apply to psychological and neuropsychological assessment, particularly with regard to elderly immigrants from the Former Soviet Union, one of the oldest immigrant groups in the United States.  Russian culture is notorious for attaching a stigma to mental health problems. Moreover, available literature indicates that Russian immigrants may be more likely to manifest somatic symptoms of psychological distress and seek mental health treatment from their primary care physician. Thus, this segment of our population has great potential for under-recognition or misidentification of psychological distress. 

 I have conducted extensive critical literature reviews on the prevalence and presentation of depression in older Russian immigrants.  In order to understand how this population group differs from the general elderly population, my analysis included an overview of the current understanding of depression among community dwelling older adults compared to older adults in primary care settings.  I have also examined our current understandings of the manifestations of depression among older Asian and Hispanic groups.

 My dissertation research continues to emphasize the potential under-detection of depression among elderly immigrants from the former Soviet Union.  My study reports findings from a subset of data collected as part of a larger study of physical and mood symptoms among Russian immigrant older adults. My central research goal is to contribute to a determination of the factors that influence accurate detection and diagnosis of depression among older, immigrant patients in primary care.  Preliminary analyses indicate a high rate of depression reported in our sample that appears to go undetected in many cases. There was a tendency to report more severe levels of somatic symptoms than syndromal symptoms and physical functioning was thought to be more impaired than emotional functioning.  These findings indicate that the central keys to understanding how to improve the care of elderly Russians in primary care facilities would be to increase our sensitivity to the presence of psychological distress, thus facilitating a more accurate assessment of mood symptoms.

 I have a solid foundation for culturally competent therapeutic work.  I look forward to giving my all to this internship so as to further broaden my knowledge and experience with diverse patient populations.

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All of the Statement samples on this web site were written more than 2 years ago and all are anonymous.

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