i am so stumped

foxyforce

on what to do with my life!

i have way too many options in front of me, and i have always been a person to just decide, no thought, knowing what i want.

but all options are hard routes, and may not lead me to my desired dream.

i am currently a BA (honours student) in psychology

masters psychology programs are intense and hard to get into- A- average! i have never received an A in my life (and i wont humble myself, the professors just are really ****ed, i know the material in and out, i can't write trick tests!!! i'm not an expert of my field, considering i am still a student!)

but yesterday i was in class...and some students were discussing doing their masters in social work! while i don't have a BA in SW i think i have a good shot, as I have my social service worker diploma from an accredited college with a 3.985 GPA! their reasoning was that schools don't demand so much, they demand a B- AVERAGE! wtf!!!

so those already are two options

one is giving in to defeat on psych however...so that is a subthird option

however, i don't know if it is worthwhile to do a phd in sw. i specifically want to specialize in the area of schizophrenia. so i could always do the social factors, which i think i am more interested in anyway.

also. pay cut! holy crap do social workers get underpaid. psychologists are guaranteed OVER 40G's often over 60! SW's can see as little as 30G's. that is really disappointing for me.

i also want to move out after this year, and will only be able to do it on an intensive line of credit depending on how much the masters programs are.

for a while i was giving up on my masters idea, so that is the third option. it is just so stressful. i just received a possible fail yesterday in a course, that i swear, i know the info, so that is a good thing, but the bad thing is my transcript is screwed possibly for psych unless i find a loophole.

so lost, so confused, it is soooo depressing!!

pettmybunny

Can't really help you... But here's my story.

My 15 year old went to see a counselor when he was in 3rd and 4th grade. Counselor was wonderful. My son loved going to see him, and I could see an improvement in his emotional state (was being bullied in school, had reading disabilities, and just normal preteen angst). Counselor told me we didn't have to go anymore, just to come back as needed. Went back for a few times when DH and I got married 4 years ago, just wanting to make the transition as smooth as possible. Went back in 8th (again with the bullies, only this time it had gotten physical--but tested out of reading issues with a 12th grade reading level). Went for 4 visits with counselor before finding out my ex's insurance didn't cover it any more.

DH's insurance does cover it, but it has to be a licensed psychologist. Or a licensed person on staff. The place where I took my son, only has social workers. So we had to stop with the guy we knew, liked, and did a great job, and switch. Now... We live in a small town so there aren't a lot of choices. Add to that, my 3 stepsons all go to different (licensed) psychologists because of DH's divorce (was in one of their latest custody agreements that we had to send them). So those 3 psychologists are out of the picture, because of conflict issues. I called one that I had heard wonderful things about, but she had my son's girlfriend, and thought it would be a conflict of interest. So, I called the last one on the list, got my son in. And I don't think he helped at all.

So I don't think that the degree matters, other than the fact you can charge more. It's who you are as a counselor that is going to be the most important thing. Good luck with deciding though.

foxyforce

Can't really help you... But here's my story.

My 15 year old went to see a counselor when he was in 3rd and 4th grade. Counselor was wonderful. My son loved going to see him, and I could see an improvement in his emotional state (was being bullied in school, had reading disabilities, and just normal preteen angst). Counselor told me we didn't have to go anymore, just to come back as needed. Went back for a few times when DH and I got married 4 years ago, just wanting to make the transition as smooth as possible. Went back in 8th (again with the bullies, only this time it had gotten physical--but tested out of reading issues with a 12th grade reading level). Went for 4 visits with counselor before finding out my ex's insurance didn't cover it any more.

DH's insurance does cover it, but it has to be a licensed psychologist. Or a licensed person on staff. The place where I took my son, only has social workers. So we had to stop with the guy we knew, liked, and did a great job, and switch. Now... We live in a small town so there aren't a lot of choices. Add to that, my 3 stepsons all go to different (licensed) psychologists because of DH's divorce (was in one of their latest custody agreements that we had to send them). So those 3 psychologists are out of the picture, because of conflict issues. I called one that I had heard wonderful things about, but she had my son's girlfriend, and thought it would be a conflict of interest. So, I called the last one on the list, got my son in. And I don't think he helped at all.

So I don't think that the degree matters, other than the fact you can charge more. It's who you are as a counselor that is going to be the most important thing. Good luck with deciding though.

thank you for all of that. that sounds like the states! im in canada and our system is different, i don't know how much because i don't know a lot about the accredation and registrational processes for these two degrees in the states. but, i do know that i don't want my own practice. i know that some people get looped into it, but there are so many services paid for by the government that it might be more tricky...i wonder what the degree requirements are for the graduate studies in the US! i am gonna go check now...maybe i could live in the US for two years! :happy: another deciison greeeat !:grumble:

thanks for your feedback. itr keeps my main goal in mind, which is to work with individuals, and not to earn money...but it is such a sad reality of the process