personal statement
My whole life has been a highway. It’s had its twists and turns, and even a few sharp turns where I’ve felt my tires losing grip, but I’ve always known where the road was headed. At this point in my life, I’ve come to a stop sign, or at best a yield sign, and I have to turn to the right or the left (I suppose I could keep going straight, but there’s no paved road on that course of direction). I feel my undergraduate college career coming to an end. I’m unsure of where I want to go, but I know either direction will lead me to happiness, just like this road always has.

One direction leads me to graduate school for several years and onto my Ph.D. in Psychology. Once I get my degree it is my aspiration to open my own total wellness facility. I’ll be a licensed therapist/counselor, maybe a friend I meet in grad school will become a partner in the venture and offer Psychiatric services, while others will be dieticians and personal trainers. I love analyzing people, listening to them, helping them out in any way I can. I think it would be incredibly rewarding and always offer change in my life and keep things interesting.

Should I turn the other direction, I don’t go to graduate school. I don’t get to call myself doctor. I don’t get paid to analyze people. I just get to help them out by fixing their car. I become a blue-collar mechanic. Not quite as prestigious as a Psychologist, but you know what? I love working on cars! Perhaps my desire to be a mechanic is one of the reasons I fit into Guilford. People at Guilford don’t fit a traditional mold. A mechanic with a college degree is rather unusual, but I feel that my experiences so far have been nothing short of positive. I feel as though my work as a mechanic keeps my life balanced; I teeter on a divide that most people are only firmly on one side or the other. Another reason being a mechanic appeals to me is the compensation is quite substantial. It requires fairly little financial investment in education, unlike graduate school. The best mechanics are rewarded with other benefits besides a large salary, which would be equal to what I’d make as a psychologist after ten years or more of job experience.

My indecision troubles me. My hope is that as the decision time comes nearer, I’ll see a little further down both roads. I’m confident that I will choose the best path, and maybe even possibly I’ll find a way to link the two together. One suggestion I’ve received that I really like was being a psychologist who teaches automotive engineering to at risk or disadvantaged teens at a youth center.