Statement of Professional Goals – Required for Application to Counselor Education Program
College is more than just getting good grades. When I first came to the University of Virginia as an undergraduate I felt that my grade point average would be the best measure of my college experience. In high school, grades came first, and everything else after. When I graduated valedictorian my self-image was based on people looking up to me because of my academic accomplishments.
Therefore, when I came to college I continued to put academics first. In my first two years of college I maintained a 3.65 grade point average while taking a year of the following classes: Physics for majors, Biology for majors, Inorganic Chemistry and Lab, and Organic Chemistry and Lab. I was on the Dean’s List every semester and was awarded Intermediate Honors. I was well on my way to getting into Medical School. One look at my transcript would tell you that I was a student that had successfully made the adjustment to college.
However, I was not as pleased with my first two years as many people might have thought. Although I was doing well in college, I was no longer getting the attention and respect I had received in high school. No one seemed to care that I spent my weekends studying instead of going out to enjoy the college life. I had very few friends and was lonely and confused.
Near the end of my second year I began attending a group meeting at the University’s Counseling Center for people who just wanted to talk. Listening to the problems of the group members I began to realize how thankful I should be. By helping the other group members confront and conquer their problems, I began to regain my self-confidence. I finally realized what had been keeping me from enjoying my college years. I was too self-centered. My life had been spent trying to be better than everyone else, while all I had to do was realize how important other people were to me.
When I returned for my third year in college I joined two organizations that made my college life much more enjoyable by allowing me to help other students. Besides teaching me a lot about volleyball, the University of Virginia Men’s Volleyball Team has provided me with the opportunity to talk to many freshman students. I was happy to be called upon by several of the freshman players and asked to help them make decisions regarding balancing the team’s time commitments with studying. By asking questions about them and taking the time to listen, I was able to form many new friendships.
In addition, I have invited many of the players to become involved in the Fellowship of Christian Athletes (FCA). In FCA I found a group of students that showed me how to attain joy in life by loving and caring for one another. This year I took over the role of intramural sports coordinator for FCA. The greatest benefit I received from this position was to be given the chance to talk with students drawn together by sports, but still experiencing the problems of adjusting to college.
Besides joining the volleyball team and FCA my third year, I continued to complete my Biology major in order to prepare for Medical School. Although I earned only one B my third year and was awarded membership into Phi Beta Kappa, once again something bothered me. I no longer wanted to become a doctor. Because I felt that many people’s problems could be solved without medicine, I decided to become a counselor.
This decision was finalized when I decided to complete the research on Alzheimer’s disease I had been conducting for seven months at the Medical School, in order to serve as a day camp counselor for Charlottesville Parks and Recreation. The children at the park, ages 6 to 14 years old, were mostly poor minorities. After finally earning their trust, I talked to many of the children about their morals and their futures, and ended up making some friends that taught me a lot about discipline, patience, compassion, and having fun playing children’s games all day.
Because my decision to become a counselor had not been reached until the summer of my third year, it was not until last fall that I enrolled in Psychology classes. In two of these classes, Statistics and Experimental Psychology, I earned the grade of an A and an A-, respectively. The third class, Research, focused on studying the academic self-competence of children from their parents by comparing parents’ expectations of their children and parents’ prototype of a fifth grade child to their childrens’ expectations of themselves and the expectations that children believe their parents have of them. This semester I will be continuing the research while taking classes in Abnormal Psychology, Social Psychology, and Health Psychology.
Due to the changes that I have experienced in college, I want to pursue a Master’s degree in counseling in higher education. My motivation for becoming a college counselor originated in my belief that most college students go through significant changes in college that they are not always prepared to deal with. Faced with problems such as academic stress, peer pressure, homesickness, parental control and alcohol, many college students struggle to survive. It is my goal to become part of a process that looks to help students in need. With this Master’s degree I will be better prepared to provide a service that is essential to many students going through one of the most rewarding, yet unfamiliar experiences of their lives.
Deep Thoughts on Higher Ed and Life 