My friends and I often say "that's too crazy" when we have no other words to describe a situation. Last week the graduate school I applied to called me and told me that I was approved for Interview Day. Not everyone who applies gets APPROVED to interview with a member of the faculty from the school. So that was a pretty big deal and all I'm thinking is...oh my goodness, that's too crazy.
So yesterday I went on the interview and of all the days for me to be sick as a dog.. yesterday was the day. I felt absolutely terrible and honestly didn't think I would make it. I was really nervous and had no idea what to expect. I would ask my mother certain things and she couldn't help me because she hadn't gone to grad school and none of her children have. So again, this is a pretty big deal. I'm the first of my mother's children to even apply to grad school. I arrived super early but its better to be early than late in my opinion and it finally started. We had a little breakfast and I chit chatted with 3 girls named Rachel, Megan and Ward (yes, Ward). They were pretty cool and nice so that was good. We found out that we would all be in different groups except two of us. So out of all the students there were three groups. The first group went on the one-on-one interviews with a member of the faculty, the second group (which I was in) went to another room for Student Panels where we got a chance to ask students any questions that we had. I didn't really have questions, so I was ready to get out of there. The third group went on a tour of the campus.
We all met back up after each of these things were over. So Ward comes back (from interviewing) and we're just like how was it, how'd it go and she was like it went well. Don't be nervous blah blah blah. She also told us about a question they asked her. It was : What book have you read lately that has helped you or something like that. So i was like cool.. if I get that question I can talk about the Parenting book I read for my internship and how it is helping me with that. So next was the tour for me and then it was interview time for Rachel. The tour was a bore for me because I had visited the campus already so I was just focusing on the interview.
Rachel came back and again we heard.. don't be nervous, it was so chill. It was just like a regular conversation. She said "If I could have, I would still be in there talking". At this point my nerves are slowly but surely calming down and I'm just trying to not look sick and pull myself together because now it's our turn to interview.
The woman called my name and my heart sank. But basically I was like here goes nothing. I can only be myself and if I don't get accepted because of that then I don't want to go. I am, who I am. So her name was Dr. Christina Bailey and she was nice. We go to the room which was her office and she just began with the questions. There were some questions where I was like yep, nailed it. Then others were just like.. I have no idea what I just said but hopefully she understood me.
Now something I've been thinking about since the interview is the possible role I'll play on this campus and in that community. This school is located in downtown Chicago and their mission statement is centered around social justice. They believe in equipping students to become social change agents and socially responsible practitioners. With this in mind, at one point in the interview she asked me what I thought about that coming from a Christian perspective. Now I believe that when it comes to counseling, there won't be anyone I turn away whether it be because of race, background, finance, sexual orientation, religious beliefs etc. My duty as a Christian is to SERVE. All of those who may be different than I are still human beings and I believe that the way in which I serve God is through serving His people and the way in which I want to do that is through psychology.
I may also be entering into a point in my life where I boldly stand up for Christ in the face of anything. No matter what, just boldly being a Christian in every light and if that's what God wants me to do at Adler and is placing me at Adler for that reason, then I will do it. To both serve Him and glorify Him.
So yesterday I went on the interview and of all the days for me to be sick as a dog.. yesterday was the day. I felt absolutely terrible and honestly didn't think I would make it. I was really nervous and had no idea what to expect. I would ask my mother certain things and she couldn't help me because she hadn't gone to grad school and none of her children have. So again, this is a pretty big deal. I'm the first of my mother's children to even apply to grad school. I arrived super early but its better to be early than late in my opinion and it finally started. We had a little breakfast and I chit chatted with 3 girls named Rachel, Megan and Ward (yes, Ward). They were pretty cool and nice so that was good. We found out that we would all be in different groups except two of us. So out of all the students there were three groups. The first group went on the one-on-one interviews with a member of the faculty, the second group (which I was in) went to another room for Student Panels where we got a chance to ask students any questions that we had. I didn't really have questions, so I was ready to get out of there. The third group went on a tour of the campus.
We all met back up after each of these things were over. So Ward comes back (from interviewing) and we're just like how was it, how'd it go and she was like it went well. Don't be nervous blah blah blah. She also told us about a question they asked her. It was : What book have you read lately that has helped you or something like that. So i was like cool.. if I get that question I can talk about the Parenting book I read for my internship and how it is helping me with that. So next was the tour for me and then it was interview time for Rachel. The tour was a bore for me because I had visited the campus already so I was just focusing on the interview.
Rachel came back and again we heard.. don't be nervous, it was so chill. It was just like a regular conversation. She said "If I could have, I would still be in there talking". At this point my nerves are slowly but surely calming down and I'm just trying to not look sick and pull myself together because now it's our turn to interview.
The woman called my name and my heart sank. But basically I was like here goes nothing. I can only be myself and if I don't get accepted because of that then I don't want to go. I am, who I am. So her name was Dr. Christina Bailey and she was nice. We go to the room which was her office and she just began with the questions. There were some questions where I was like yep, nailed it. Then others were just like.. I have no idea what I just said but hopefully she understood me.
Now something I've been thinking about since the interview is the possible role I'll play on this campus and in that community. This school is located in downtown Chicago and their mission statement is centered around social justice. They believe in equipping students to become social change agents and socially responsible practitioners. With this in mind, at one point in the interview she asked me what I thought about that coming from a Christian perspective. Now I believe that when it comes to counseling, there won't be anyone I turn away whether it be because of race, background, finance, sexual orientation, religious beliefs etc. My duty as a Christian is to SERVE. All of those who may be different than I are still human beings and I believe that the way in which I serve God is through serving His people and the way in which I want to do that is through psychology.
I may also be entering into a point in my life where I boldly stand up for Christ in the face of anything. No matter what, just boldly being a Christian in every light and if that's what God wants me to do at Adler and is placing me at Adler for that reason, then I will do it. To both serve Him and glorify Him.