Admission Essay Sample

I got exposed to the world of psychology basically from the day I was born. My mother was in the process of acquiring her doctorate degree in psychology, so naturally we had a lot of books on the topic, and luckily for me all of them were of pretty good quality. I was trying to figure out how my mind, and the mind of people around me works, so even before I went to school I had a theory, that every human action is dictated by the pursuit of pleasure. Obviously, this, and many other thoughts I had were pretty childish, but they helped me build a foundation of a career pursuit, which I still follow. Nevertheless, I was unsure whether counseling is what I truly want. Final decision came to me during the time I was an exchange student. I was doing a long career test, and half-way through I realised, that I’m not answering the questions honestly, I’m just trying to have a particular result at the end. Subsequently I got it, and it recommended me a career of a mental health counselor. At that point I realised, that I can no longer run away from what has been grabbing my attention for so long.

I made a tough decision to switch degrees, and enrolled into a masters program focused on counseling psychology at HSE university in Russia, with a specialisation in Existential Analysis and Logotherapy. It was a joint program with GLE International, the main institution regarding Existential Analysis as a method as well as a training centre for psychotherapy and counseling. Unfortunately, I was not able to finish the masters program per se, due to political reasons. It became too dangerous to stay in Russia any longer, so I fled to another country, leaving my final thesis unfinished. Nevertheless, I did finish the GLE part of the program and all the other courses, which make up the bulk of the studies, and acquired the GLE certificate. It was a beautiful experience, which gave me a lot of insight into both myself, as a significant part of it were Self-Experience classes, and into counseling in general in the form of learning various therapeutic theories and techniques. I also had a chance to study under Alfred Längle’s guidance, the founder of Existential Analysis, as he was one of our teachers. Receiving information and insight firsthand from a master was a unique and valuable experience.

I also volunteered in one of the only psychiatric hospitals in the country, which operated specifically for adolescent population. The section my volunteer group was assigned to was mainly concentrated on cases of suicide, depression and self-harm, although occasionally we had an opportunity to visit the emergency room, where all the newcomers would reside regardless of their diagnosis. We were not allowed to do any kind of major psychotherapy related actions, so more often than not we would play various boardgames with them, conduct master classes or just simply talk. For more than two years I would go there almost every week, because for me time spent there was always time well spent. I could observe and reflect on my communication with those teenagers, and it sparked a huge interest in me towards adolescent clinical psychology, more precisely what could one do to prevent self-harm and potential suicidal ideations and behaviours in juvenile population, which factors contribute the most and what could be the most effective strategy to tackle this problem.

Another common illness I encountered there was addiction, which became another research interest of mine. I started to notice a significant correlation between suicidal tendencies and substance abuse disorders. That is not something new to the world of psychology, but unfortunately this issue is not well researched when it comes to teenagers. I was shocked hearing people’s stories there. I still remember a girl, who forgot how to read at the age of 15, due to her heavy addiction influencing her brain development. This interest stayed with me throughout my university years, and although I couldn’t really study underaged populations on such delicate matter, I tried to come up with a form of guidebook, incorporating techniques and methods from Existential Analysis into my own vision, to help people struggling with addiction in overcoming it. Unfortunately, as stated above, this work stays unfinished, but I surely plan to get back to it, when the time comes.

The M.A. Clinical Mental Health Counseling program attracts me because of its focus on practical training, which is very important for me, as my ultimate goal by the end of the studies would be to get a licence and realise myself as a mental health professional, equipped with enough theory and practice to work on their own and, obviously, help others. Ideally, at the end of this journey I would love to open my own practice, but I am also more than willing to work in different clinical setting, in a hospital, or a mental health agency. Because of that, CACREP accreditation is crucial for me, and one of the reasons I’m really looking forward to starting my studies at Chicago School, if given the chance. I also admire the holistic approach to counseling. One the classes I went to during my masters degree was called “Personology”, which was a theory a number of our highest ranking professors came up with, derived from G. Murray’s work and many other authors. It is an integral and highly holistic approach, which I resonated with both on a personal and academic level. I truly believe that in order to reach the truth, one has to acknowledge it from all the angles possible, preferably, also from a phenomenological standpoint. That is one of the reasons I chose this program over the others, its holism. Another important point for me in this program’s mission is multiculturalism. Having lived in already 3 countries taught me a lot, especially the fact that cultural differences are definitely a crucial thing to keep in mind and despite our uniqueness as individuals, those differences definitely should be addressed in a thoughtful way. The same could be said about social statuses, due immigration I had a chance to experience first-hand how big of an influence it could be, and how considerate a counselor should be of that matter when working with a client or a patient.