What Are My Options?

[TAS]

Hello Everyone,

Not sure if this is the right thread but I am an Senior in a online psych undergraduate program. My GPA is currently 3.2. I work fulltime as a Pre K Instructional Assistant. I live in NC and I have been looking into graduate programs for  School Psychology. I have been doing extensive research on this career and I have decided that this is what I truly want to pursue. The programs I have come across so far have no online options. There is one that I am very interested in because of the tuition but it’s 2hrs away from where I live. I don’t mind the drive because I feel it will be worth it but I am concerned about it being too far. When I read the handbook for the program, it states that they don’t recommend that students work fulltime. The least amount of hours they would allow a student to take are 9 credit hours. I would like to still work my job but I am afraid I won’t be able to. Or that I wouldnt even be able to get in due to my circumstances. I was considering taking out personal loans to cover my half of the bills but I don’t want to owe a lot of debt. 

I am unsure of what I should do. I really want to pursue this career but I need to work. I don’t want to put all of the bills on my fiancé. Should I become a teacher first then save up the money? (I would still be putting more money into becoming a teacher so I am not sure if that would make sense) Should I take out a personal loan and stop working for 3 years and apply to this program? 

 

Edited January 15, 2018 by TAS

[PsychBoy]

I am a bit concerned that you are only looking at one program for grad school in psychology, because it is one of the most competitive programs. People usually apply to a bunch of schools and have outstanding GPAs/research experience. Grad school is a lot of work and 2 hours to go + 2 hours to come back + work + grad school sounds like A LOT. 

Grad students usually apply for scholarships or get funding from their supervisor/department/university/TAship; have you looked into that?

[TAS]

Thanks for your reply and I do understand what you are saying. I know East Carolina University may be competitive to get into but I think NC State is alot more competitive. I do admit that I should apply to more schools but my options are quite limited to the ones that are the closest to where I currently live. NC STATE (1hr) UNC (1hr) & ECU (2hrs). The NC STATE and East Carolina Programs are Masters programs and the UNC program is a Ph.D program. Since, I dont have any research experience I dont plan to apply to any masters programs. I will apply to both NC STATE and East Carolina. I do agree that it is a lot to commute that far and work and I will look into funding. Other than that is there anything else that I could do?

[PsychBoy]

8 hours ago, TAS said:

Thanks for your reply and I do understand what you are saying. I know East Carolina University may be competitive to get into but I think NC State is alot more competitive. I do admit that I should apply to more schools but my options are quite limited to the ones that are the closest to where I currently live. NC STATE (1hr) UNC (1hr) & ECU (2hrs). The NC STATE and East Carolina Programs are Masters programs and the UNC program is a Ph.D program. Since, I dont have any research experience I dont plan to apply to any masters programs. I will apply to both NC STATE and East Carolina. I do agree that it is a lot to commute that far and work and I will look into funding. Other than that is there anything else that I could do?

" I dont have any research experience I dont plan to apply to any masters programs"

I didn't really get that part...you want to go straight to PhD because you don't have research experience? I think for both masters and especially PhD they will look for a lot of research experience... 

[TAS]

I meant that I dont plan to apply to Ph.D Programs.

[TAS]

But either way basically I would need research experience.