Inside the Life of a Psychology Student – Brittany Stage (#9)
Interview Article – 8 (Brittany Stage)
This article we have an interview with one psychology student from the United States. She is called Brittany Stage, and is a senior beginning her 5th year. She is studying Psychology at Concordia in Moorhead and also pursuing a minor in Communications. We’re very excited to speak to her today, about her course, her interests, her aspirations and any useful advice she has for you guys!
Let’s begin with her course.
Us: How’s the program like and cost?
BS: To get a Psychology major at Concordia, you are also required to take a stats course and a research methods course (where you design and conduct your own experiment). Beyond that, you simply have to take courses that expose you to different sides of the field, such as the research side and the applied aspect. In that way, the classes you take to complete the major can be different depending on what you would like to do with your degree.
Concordia is a private institution, tuition is upwards of $35000 a year or so.
Us: How’s the education?
BS: Because of the flexible nature of the program, the education can be tailor made to fit the needs and goals of the student. The classes themselves involve lectures, several essays/research papers, and in several classes a lot of in class discussions.
Us: Who’s your favorite professor?
BS: My favorite professor would have to be my Psychotherapy prof, Dr. Sell. Her class helped validate my desire to be a therapist and helped me gain confidence that I would do well as one. She was also very supportive and always a joy to be around.
Next, we asked about her aspirations.
Us: What’s your goals in terms of career?
BS: My goal is to be a therapist. If I had to choose a specialty, I would choose either marriage and family therapy or preferably mental health. My dream specialty would be a couples therapist that deals with relationships where one or both parties have a severe mental illness.
Us: What do you look to do after your degree, further study or work, or something else?
BS: I would like to get straight to work. However, to be a therapist you need a minimum of a Master’s degree along with several licenses. Based on that, my current plan is to take some time to gain some experience and after a year apply to be a Mental Health Practitioner (which only requires a Bachelor’s degree and 2000+hours of experience). After some time in the field, I would then like to apply to a Master’s program for Counseling or Mental Health Counseling and go on to became a certified therapist.
We also thought it to be interesting to know Brittany’s interests within psychology.
Us: What is your favourite topic within psychology?
BS: My favorite topic would have to be either abnormal psych or therapeutic theories. If I could combine my abnormal psych class with my psychotherapy class, I would be one happy student.
Us: What, outside of your degree, have you done to further your interest or career in psychology?
BS: This spring, I will hopefully be involved in an internship with a local psychologist. Beyond that, a lot of my interest is recreational. Not only am I diagnosed with bipolar disorder but one of my best friends and roommates is also diagnosed with bipolar NOS. Because of this, I have done a significant amount of research on bipolar disorder, including how manage it on a person level and how to support a loved one how is diagnosed with it. I have even spoken at a mental health forum at my school, sharing my story. My personal experience has put me in the position my future clients may well be in. My psychotherapy class often talked about empathy, and I feel that being in the position of a mental health patient has allowed me to have a deeper understanding of my future patients. This will also ultimately help me as a practitioner.
And finally, we asked her for her advice for people considering studying, and especially considering studying psychology.
Us: What advice would you give to aspiring psych2go students?
BS: Take care of yourself first. In the heat of course work, it can be easy to forget to take care of yourself; that being said, self care is essential to maintaining both physical and mental well-being so try to set aside one hour everyday for some “me-time.” And, if you find yourself overwhelmed while studying or writing a paper, it’s ok to take 20mins to breathe and refocus.
Us: What would be something you would have liked to do differently?
BS: I was diagnosed with bipolar disorder II my freshman year. My second year in college, I was having trouble managing a depressive episode and my academic confidence plummeted; I
started to have doubts that I was even cut out to be a psychology major. Because of this, I changed my major 3 times in the course of a year as a means of finding a field that I felt I could manage. It was only a year or so after that when I decided to retry psychology and I fell in love with it all over again. Knowing what I know now, I wish I would have trusted my instincts in pursuing psychology and not let my mental and emotional difficulties sway my judgement.
Us: And whats one thing a student should know about studying at University?
BS: It’s a balancing act of staying focused without loosing yourself. Be social and take care of yourself, but don’t stop looking ahead and remembering why you are there (to pursue an education). And don’t worry, it’ll all be okay!
Tune in next time for some more wisdom from psychology students!
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