School starts next week – Hitting the books again

I am 36 and back in school. Some may ask, why? The reasons are simple. I have been working in an industry that is so far outside of my natural giftings that it is time to make a switch. I’ve been an Internet developer for almost 15 years and early on the web has been good to me. I had a pretty comfortable life and there was plenty of work. However, things can and did change.

When change happens, one can either roll with it or fight it. My wife and I moved to Hawaii over a year ago and for the first six months of living here I fought change with everything that I had in me. Needless to say, the writing was on the wall and it was time to either remain unemployed or enhance my skill set to provide another alternative for job options when programing jobs were not flowing.

Ultimately, we (the wife and I) made the decision to send me back to school. And, one of the great things about where we live is that there is a University here. It is the second largest state university and has some graduate level programs. So, I set a new goal. I’ll try to get my masters degree in something that is better suited for my brain. However, there is a catch. Isn’t there always? I don’t have the required undergraduate courses for consideration to the program.

So here are the consideration keys for the program I am trying to get into:
– Have to take the GRE (was told to get at least a 1000 on it)
– Have to have at least 15 hours of undergraduate psychology classes including research methods and statistics and six hours of which must be 300 level or higher
– A baccalaureate degree
– A minimum of a 3.0 GPA

I started this journey in January and in January I was still not considered in-state as far as tuition goes, so we ended up having to pay full price to get going. The first class, Psychology 100. Yep, I had to start at the bottom. I had put so much pressure on myself to get an A in that class that I ended up setting the curve. Why do I have to get an A? Because, the more A’s that I get the better looking candidate I will be. What I didn’t know is that I would have to relearn how to study all over again. That was one rough semester.

Then came the summer. I decided to take two summer school courses. Developmental Psychology and Psychology of Personality. Doing so would put me over the halfway point with regard to the minimum course requirements. The summer school courses were very compressed. I don’t think I could have done more than one each term. We (the other students too) managed to cram a lot of information into a short amount of time. However, I did well. I managed to pull an A in each of those classes as well.

A quick look at the check list and I find that a lot of progress has been made since the beginning of the year. I took the GRE and got an acceptable score. A total of 9 hours of psychology classes has been taken with two 300 level courses knocked out of the way. And, I already had the BA and GPA requirements from the first time around.

On Monday I start my fall semester. This one is going to be a serious challenge. I have five classes totaling 17 semester hours. All of the classes save one are on the list the Chair of the masters program gave me. My wife is due at the end of September and I have to get my application together to submit in January. Whew, no rest for the weary.

This may be the hardest semester yet, but it will be worth it in the end. You see, there is only going to be an increased need for mental health workers. The masters program here is also a great stepping stone for a PhD program later.

Now, what happens if I don’t get accepted into the program? Well, first I will be very disappointed with myself. Then, after a sufficient amount of sulking, I will continue on with plan B. Plan B is to complete my undergraduate degree in Psychology. I will already have 26 of the 41 required hours and another year to complete the rest. Once the undergrad degree is complete a plethora of doors open up for continuing my education. I can apply for the masters program again and this time I will be a much stronger candidate. Additionally, I can apply to PhD programs on the mainland and get the masters on the way to a PhD. So there are more options that can be considered.

Where there is a will there is a way. In this economy, having another skill set is invaluable. I can’t see just sulking, collecting unemployment and waiting for a job to come to me. It is my decision to take personal responsibility for myself and family, take the bull by the horns and do something to make life happen.