panicked plea for help!
I'm applying to Master's programs in Clinical psychology, and I need feedback/critiquing on my SOP. I will take any help I can get, even scathing ripping apart of it is fine! None of my go-to essay readers are around and I need to get this in asap. Trade you? I'll critique yours if you critique mine?
Thanks in advance!!!!
When I was 16, I served coffee to people with schizophrenia. Throughout high school and college, I worked as a barista in the historic district near my home, which was a popular hangout for patients of the nearby mental hospital and group homes. I spent my breaks listening to stories of implanted listening devices and magical powers, or more somber medicated accounts of the psychotic breaks that lead them into treatment. I was amazed at how varied, strange, and detailed these stories were, and even more so that they were unable to tell the difference between these delusions and hallucinations and the real world. I became fascinated with how the human brain could veer off course so dramatically, how the mind could suddenly shift from normalcy to its own independent world for seemingly no reason. This experience stands out retrospectively as the first concrete beginnings of my interest in psychology; as a direct result of my interaction with these customers, I went to the local library and found a copy of the DSM-IV. It was because of these relationships that I took advanced placement psychology, and later went on to major in Human Services Psychology at *school name*.
I got off to a slow start in college; my mother, a professor with a PhD herself, likes to say that I 'caught fire' later on in my academic career. In my junior year, I realized that I wanted to go on to graduate study in clinical psychology. This discovery fueled my scholastic drive, and I quickly threw myself into my studies, eventually earning a 4.0 GPA in my last three semesters in college. In addition to improving in my classes, I spent my free time reading journal articles, hoping to find a field within clinical psychology I had a passion for, to focus my graduate study interests. The articles I found myself drawn to were, oddly enough, those regarding schizophrenia and related psychotic disorders. Many of these articles originated at a research center near my school, the *research center's name*, and I determined that the best way to learn more in the field was to approach the clinical director of the Schizophrenia program for an internship. I spent my final semester of college working 15 hours a week in addition to my classes; when I graduated, I was offered a position as a clinical research assistant, which I eagerly accepted.
I've gained a wide variety of experience in my work, in the clinical interviewing and treatment aspects of the center as well as in research, administering experimental measures in the *name of* Laboratory. At *research center's name*, I have access to a wealth of research data, as well as opportunities to conduct independent research. I have helped design and coordinate a new project which includes measures I would like to use in a Master's thesis. My work at *research center's name* has been invaluable as a learning opportunity, but in order to go further in the field, I want to earn a Master's degree in clinical psychology. A Master's program will teach me many things I can't learn as a research assistant, and will push me further intellectually and academically. I hope to learn and grow as a student in this program, and go on to pursue a doctoral degree after my Master's education.
The *school name* Clinical Psychology program is the best fit for me out of the programs I have looked into, for many reasons. It is important to me to attend a Master's program that allows me to focus on clinical psychology; there are few programs that can offer this, and *school name*'s is one of the finest. I have read the course descriptions for the program, and am very excited at the prospect of taking them. A coworker of mine currently attends the Clinical Psychology program, and hearing her experience, I have become very impressed with how much she is learning, the quality of the classes, and the strength of the cohort design. *School name*'s strong psychology department is another reason I want to attend the program; the department has an excellent reputation in the field, and a large and knowledgeable faculty, including professors with clinical interests similar to my own, who I feel I can learn a great deal from. I am especially looking forward to working with Dr. *professors name*, having met with him already to discuss my ideas for thesis work; he has agreed to advise me should I be accepted into the program, and I am excited at the prospect of working with him.
** I know its missing an ending, still working on that
Thanks!!!!!
Thanks in advance!!!!
When I was 16, I served coffee to people with schizophrenia. Throughout high school and college, I worked as a barista in the historic district near my home, which was a popular hangout for patients of the nearby mental hospital and group homes. I spent my breaks listening to stories of implanted listening devices and magical powers, or more somber medicated accounts of the psychotic breaks that lead them into treatment. I was amazed at how varied, strange, and detailed these stories were, and even more so that they were unable to tell the difference between these delusions and hallucinations and the real world. I became fascinated with how the human brain could veer off course so dramatically, how the mind could suddenly shift from normalcy to its own independent world for seemingly no reason. This experience stands out retrospectively as the first concrete beginnings of my interest in psychology; as a direct result of my interaction with these customers, I went to the local library and found a copy of the DSM-IV. It was because of these relationships that I took advanced placement psychology, and later went on to major in Human Services Psychology at *school name*.
I got off to a slow start in college; my mother, a professor with a PhD herself, likes to say that I 'caught fire' later on in my academic career. In my junior year, I realized that I wanted to go on to graduate study in clinical psychology. This discovery fueled my scholastic drive, and I quickly threw myself into my studies, eventually earning a 4.0 GPA in my last three semesters in college. In addition to improving in my classes, I spent my free time reading journal articles, hoping to find a field within clinical psychology I had a passion for, to focus my graduate study interests. The articles I found myself drawn to were, oddly enough, those regarding schizophrenia and related psychotic disorders. Many of these articles originated at a research center near my school, the *research center's name*, and I determined that the best way to learn more in the field was to approach the clinical director of the Schizophrenia program for an internship. I spent my final semester of college working 15 hours a week in addition to my classes; when I graduated, I was offered a position as a clinical research assistant, which I eagerly accepted.
I've gained a wide variety of experience in my work, in the clinical interviewing and treatment aspects of the center as well as in research, administering experimental measures in the *name of* Laboratory. At *research center's name*, I have access to a wealth of research data, as well as opportunities to conduct independent research. I have helped design and coordinate a new project which includes measures I would like to use in a Master's thesis. My work at *research center's name* has been invaluable as a learning opportunity, but in order to go further in the field, I want to earn a Master's degree in clinical psychology. A Master's program will teach me many things I can't learn as a research assistant, and will push me further intellectually and academically. I hope to learn and grow as a student in this program, and go on to pursue a doctoral degree after my Master's education.
The *school name* Clinical Psychology program is the best fit for me out of the programs I have looked into, for many reasons. It is important to me to attend a Master's program that allows me to focus on clinical psychology; there are few programs that can offer this, and *school name*'s is one of the finest. I have read the course descriptions for the program, and am very excited at the prospect of taking them. A coworker of mine currently attends the Clinical Psychology program, and hearing her experience, I have become very impressed with how much she is learning, the quality of the classes, and the strength of the cohort design. *School name*'s strong psychology department is another reason I want to attend the program; the department has an excellent reputation in the field, and a large and knowledgeable faculty, including professors with clinical interests similar to my own, who I feel I can learn a great deal from. I am especially looking forward to working with Dr. *professors name*, having met with him already to discuss my ideas for thesis work; he has agreed to advise me should I be accepted into the program, and I am excited at the prospect of working with him.
** I know its missing an ending, still working on that
Thanks!!!!!