My major is Psychology, I know that my major is a very broad major. There are many different pathways to go. You can go into public services, therapy, children therapy, consoling, occupational therapy and many more. The curriculum goes a lot into the brain since psychology is how the brain functions and works with our body. I envision my major to help me find a better look on other’s situations and be a better listener. Also I want to work with children so definitely patience with people.
I discovered there is an increase of Jobs in the mental health field (19%), and that the classes I have to take for the curriculum all tie together since it is a brand spectrum and all the classes are small snippets of larger fields in psychology. They help students figure out a possible path for the future. I also did not realize there are a looootttt more paths in psychology than I listed before. There are a few more options that I would be interested in for my major, but I know I definitely still want to incorporate kids into the job.
My major is Psychology, I know that my major is a very broad major. There are many different pathways to go. You can go into public services, therapy, children therapy, consoling, occupational therapy and many more. The curriculum goes a lot into the brain since psychology is how the brain functions and works with our body. I envision my major to help me find a better look on other’s situations and be a better listener. Also I want to work with children so definitely patience with people.
I discovered there is an increase of Jobs in the mental health field (19%), and that the classes I have to take for the curriculum all tie together since it is a brand spectrum and all the classes are small snippets of larger fields in psychology. They help students figure out a possible path for the future. I also did not realize there are a looootttt more paths in psychology than I listed before. There are a few more options that I would be interested in for my major, but I know I definitely still want to incorporate kids into the job.
My intended major at the moment is Athletic Training. Here at UNE, athletic training is a master’s program (3+2). It was just recently changed to this from a bachelor’s program. Within this field, it is very hands on with helping and assisting athletes with pre and post rehabilitation techniques. Athletic trainers have a very tiresome job, and they do not run on a fixed schedule. They make themselves available all hours of the day for their athletes in order to help their immediate needs. The major of athletic training is very straight forward, and I do not have any questions that come to mind about this career. The only career you can get with this major is an athletic trainer as well. A dream job of mine would be to take this career to the D1 college level or even professionally. I personally could not see myself in an elementary or high school setting as an athletic trainer.
I am very fortunate enough to be able to do my work study on campus inside the athletic training room. I work three day a week in there, and I am able to observe this career for multiple hours a day. Like I said before, this job is very hands on with athletes, and the athletic trainers are always on their feet. The curriculum for this major is very science heavy, and it focuses in on the anatomy of the body. There are also rehab and medicine classes worked into the curriculum. There are many misconceptions associated with this major. Many people think that athletic trainers are water boys or strictly just tape ankles and what not. Their job is way more than that. When a player gets injured, they are the first people on the scene to examine the injury and further implement a rehab process. Without athletic trainers, the sports world would not be the same.
Before committing to UNE I decided that I wanted to become an Athletic Trainer. At UNE we are lucky enough to have the Athletic Training program be a 3+2 program where the student obtains a masters degree in just five years. UNE AT program schedules courses so that an undergraduate student can graduate level courses, while maintaining undergraduate scholarships. One of the main questions that I had was what is the benefit of being an athletic trainer? After looking into the major I learned that Athletic Training gets a more direct path than physical therapy. By this I mean there is a more direct connotation to sports the physical therapy. Growing up I was an athlete and one that got injured. I wanted to have the ability to connect with athletes and their injures. I envision myself working for a professional or a collegiate-level sports team. Preferable taking care of athletes in alpine skiing, hockey, or baseball.
What a lot of people don’t know about Athletic Training is the variety of locations that they can be in. Along with schools and professional athletes, athletic trainers can be in physician offices, health care administrations, law enforcement, theaters, industrial sites and the military. ATs abide by hippa laws along with other health care professionals, the main goal of an AT is to asses an athletes issues and help them to get better and the fastest and safest way possible. Majority of the role for athletic trainers is to asses and provide care, infact athletic trainers have the same level of care as other medical professionals. Roughly 70% of ATs obtain a masters or a doctorate degree. Some ATs can use a bachelors degree but most programs and even the exam require a masters degree.
My major is medical biology / pre-med. This major is a popular choice for students looking to pursue a career in the medical field, many of which attend medical or dental school for graduate school. UNE offers 3+4 and 4+4 tracts for this major and while I am not taking this path, a few of my friends are as it helps for future plans in graduate school. Some majors that med bio student pursue other than obtaining doctorates include PT, research, technicians, and drug development; these are interesting choices for a future career but I am interested in either becoming a doctor or dentist, I have been weighing both options as of late. UNE has a lot of support for this major due to their osteopathic school, so I don’t have a lot of unanswered questions; if anything comes up I ask my advisor or leaders of the pre-med club who are very helpful.
After doing more research regarding my major, i was able to learn more about different career options available to me. UNE offers various research and shadowing oppurtunities and finding out what I can potentially follow up on was very beneficial. For example, I am doing animal behavior research on campus at The Burman Collaborative which allows me to get a glimpse into what a career in research would look like if I decided not to pursue being a doctor or dentist. As well, I found out different paths to get my degree and various classes that i can take which could be more or less helpful for not only applying to a graduate school, but also for just understanding more about what my future career would look like. Some questions I have about my major after research mostly surround the different medical careers I could take, for example, there is a large selection of specialized doctors or dentists, so I have to find out what interests me the most.
I am a sophomore dental hygiene major at UNE. I came in as a Medical Biology major though. I switched to dental hygiene spring semester freshman year, so I have been studying it for about a year now. I feel very educated about dental hygiene and the opportunities and paths that I can take. I do know that dental hygiene is projected to be a high/medium demand career in the near future. It is also a very rewarding job which is one of the reasons why I chose this path. It is a very hands on major, with a lot of clinical work which is a very effective way to learn. Studying dental hygiene allows you to jump right into the career and guarantee’s you a job right after graduating. You are required to take a board exam, but once you pass, you are basically guaranteed a job.
After doing some research, I learned more about the clinical work in your Junior and Senior year at UNE. I am taking a histology class right now with one of the Portland dental hygiene professors. She gave me some really helpful insight into the curriculum and the daily life of a dental hygiene student in their last two years. A lot of time is spent in the dental hygiene clinic. Rather than taking your stereotypical class or lecture, you are working with live patients and practicing on your classmates. Although we are still taking classes, it feels more like a professional setting. I also learned that students that graduate from UNE dental hygiene have more opportunities. This is because we have more schooling experience compared to other hygienists who only go to school for 2 years. I also learned that dental hygienists can become educators, dental therapists and dentists.
I feel as though I know a decent amount about my major. I am a Marine Affairs major with a Global Studies minor, and I want to be a marine attorney or policy-maker someday. My major is the policy version of Marine Science majors, rather than being in a lab doing research, Marine Affairs takes this research and discusses how to it affects the political setting. I mainly only concern myself with the policy orientated side of my major, however I also know that there are other paths in this major such as marine engineering, advocacy, education, and etc. Since I was in middle school I had always said that I wanted to be a lawyer, but coming from such a small and rural area that profession seemed impossible since most people went into trade jobs. As soon as I switch to the Marine Affairs major here at UNE, that idea was reignited and seems more and more possible as I delve further into my major.
I knew Marine affairs was not a common major but it does take me by shock a bit that this program is only one of four in the entire U.S.. This comes as not only a shock but also a bit concerning that there are not more schools who feel as though it is a fruitful enough major(deep down though I do feel at an advantage for being in such a unique, yet currently important major). I do wish we had a greater variety of classes concerning Marine Affairs and ocean governance but I do understand why we do not currently since Susan Farady is really the only one holding the whole program together. Although I am not interested in an educators path for Marine Affairs, I imagine that there could be some upcoming since this major is still technically fairly new. Overall, there was not too much that stood out to me about my major that I did not already here.
I know a great deal about my major after studying it at this school for almost three full years. My major is communications, and it has a few major categories. In my time here, I have learned about the media side of communications as well as the more descriptive, analytical side. The media that I have investigated within this area of study has included operating cameras, different kinds of software, working with various technological apparatuses like microphones, computers and tablets, and much more. I have completed podcast projects from scratch as well as newscasts and other digital media productions. When I think about my area of study, I tend to immediately think about the digital mode of communicating ideas, which of course includes television, radio, and other forms of streaming. On the other hand, there is another focus that people use when they are studying communications and that is the analytical or the writing side. I will not get into this, but it is a separate, equally important aspect of the communications major.
An honest question that I still have about my major is this: what is the most typical job someone graduating with a communications degree will get after school? I have some potential answers in my head to this, but there is no exact answer that I have found as of now. The career that I think would match up well with my studies is something entrepreneurial, like what I am doing right now with my business.
After doing a small amount of research on Google about my studies, I am slightly more confident in my ability to find work after school that could apply my education. Media and communications jobs are projected to grow four percent in the next ten years, which means there will be a higher demand for those jobs over that period of time. Common jobs that come from this area of study have to do with public relations, media, writing articles/books/etcetera. Often, people will go after a communications degree while focusing on the public relations aspect as their concentration. None of this information, except for the aforementioned statistic, is news to me. I have a pretty good sense of what I am in for based on this chosen area of study.
I am glad that his prompt asked me to look into my future a bit. I benefited from looking at this information online and I will certainly continue my research to find something that works for me.
My major is pre-pharmacy. UNE offers a 2+4 program for pharmacy. It starts with pre-pharmacy, which is 2 years at the Biddeford campus, and requires an acceptance into the school of pharmacy. Once accepted, 4 more years follow into the professional years at Portland with the last year being rotations. Pharmacy as a career holds a lot of possibilities for which direction to head. And with that the question that was always reoccurring in my head was “Which path do I take?” Only recently do I believe I have answered this question and that is pediatric pharmacy. My love for pharmacy came from the experiences I had as a child (which I will be talking about more during speech 4) and being able to offer that same help I received to the younger population is important to me. If I continue in this path 2 additional years of paid residency is required to become specialized in this field. I hope to make an impact in many people’s lives and continue the study of medicine and the body.
After further research and speaking to my pharmacy professor Dr. Vincent, I found that throughout the professional years of pharmacy school there are a variety of internships, shadowing opportunities, and jobs relating to the different fields of pharmacy available for students. This can even be brought down to a more basic level which includes working in a retail pharmacy starting as soon as 18 years of age. These different opportunities allow for an insight into what diverse options there are in this career. On top of this, the last year of pharmacy school is all rotations. There are 6 different rotations that are of the students choosing each lasting 6 weeks. This is the most hands-on and interactive aspect of the schooling years as students are able to pick what they think will interest them most and see if it is in fact the right fit for them.
My major is currently environmental however it was a bit of a process to get here. I started off as undecided, then jumped to communications for a hot minute then finally landed as an environmental studies major. So far, I do enjoy it and think that I have made the right choice for my interests. Mixed with my writing minor my ideal job would probably be an environmental journalist, traveling the world and writing about what I see. However I’m not too sure what I would be before that works out, still figuring that out. I do know that there are two environmental programs at our school; studies and science. I went the studies route but a good chunk of people in my ENV classes are science. The difference remains in taking a few varying courses, I heard it was one less chemistry which is what made me personally take studies.
Quoted from the website: “Within a short walk or drive from UNE’s Biddeford Campus, you may explore a variety of unique habitats, including the University’s 363 acres of contiguous forest. The State of Maine Natural Areas Program has labeled the land a “habitat of significant value” due to its high density of pocket swamps and vernal pools. The area contains both uplands and wetlands, and is home to many species, including wild turkeys, deer, coyotes, and moose.” It is very interesting to explore this part of campus and we can find and do research on a lot of cool things.
My major is Athletic Training but it was not my major when I was accepted here. I started as Pre-med on the 4+4 track but ultimately switched to AT. Right now I enjoy learning about the different injuries and prevention care that can occur in athletes. I like that the AT track is a very hands on learning or in-person learning. What made me choose AT to PT was mostly the individuals I would be working with, being a competitive dancer for about 12 years I was an athlete myself. Before coming to UNE I had never heard of an Athletic Trainer before, I figured that they basically were PTs but worked on athletes. What I learned was that ATs are much more, they are the central communicators for an athletes, that also help with injury prevention and care for the individual. They talk to the athletes, parents, coaches, other doctors, and more. I do have questions about what other settings do ATs workin because you mostly hear/ see them working in colleges or professional sports but I have heard that some are working in a more clinical setting or ever helping in surgeries. For me I would love to work with a dance company, since that is what I grew up doing and loving, a clinical setting, or even in surgery. Following my one professor I think it would be cool to work for the olympics but personally I think the paralympics would be cool since my mother has a prosthetic.
I’m a sports management major. What I know is it leads you to many job opportunities all across the sports industry. The sports industry is tough, although. It’s not very high paying and it’s long hours, so you have to love what you do to be in this industry. Sports management majors usually go and get their masters after if they want to get into the administration side of the industry. For example, becoming an athletic director. I truly enjoy all aspects of sports and am excited to begin my internship with the Portland Sea Dogs to see if it’s something I really want to dive into. I have a few questions about the major, like can you become an athletic director without a master’s degree, and are there options to make a higher living and if so, what route has to be taken? In the future, a career path that excites me is becoming a part of the game-day operations for a baseball organization. I have many interests, which is why I also have a business minor, but my future aspirations tend to change from time to time.
After talking with my professor and Chris Cameron of the Portland Sea Dogs I’ve got my questions answered. Particularly, you need a master’s degree to become an athletic director said my professor, Professor Gordon. I asked Mr. Cameron about the higher living question, and he said it’s about gaining experience. As with many jobs, it comes with time and experience. Once you get your foot in the door and continue to gain more knowledge and build your network, that will lead to higher-paying jobs within the industry. There are many options for jobs outside of a sports management degree such as Game Day or Event Coordinator, Guest Relations Manager, Marketing Consultant, Marketing Coordinator, Operations Manager, Public Relations Manager, Sales Coordinator, Sports Agent, Sports Lawyer, and Sports Marketer. These are just a couple, but this degree can lead to many jobs that personally intrigue me. I’m excited to dive even more into the major during this project and find things I never knew before.
I’m a social work major with the intention of going into the 4+1 program. What I know about my major is that it goes in depth of my body and mind. Mostly focuses on the mental aspect of it. I work with tons of kids in the summer and on college breaks at schools. I watch and notice a bunch of children struggling in the mental department and no one seems to notice. I tend to try and stick with those kids and try and help them a little bit more before the teacher sees something wrong and deals with it the wrong way. I plan on going to be a therapist for children ages 10-14. I feel that when I work in the schools I get mentally drained just by seeing how the teacher treats kids knowing I got treated the same way. Nowadays children have so much going on around them that it makes it hard for them to understand their own mental stuff let alone school. I wanna be that person the kids can come talk to and get ahead starting on their mental problems before it gets worse when going into highschool. The question I have about my major is why are psychology classes so much harder?
When doing more research in my major which is social work I found out that there are a wide range of jobs and careers I could go into. At UNE there are fields and internships that have to be taken and the options for those I want to do them all. There is a high job acceptance rate and a lot of stress that can come from being a therapist. I’ve talked to mine about her job and she works with teenagers and adults. She says the best way to be a therapist is to cut out an hour of your work day just for yourself to decompress over what happened in some sessions.
I am a social work major, planning on going into the 4+1 program in order to get my master’s degree. I know that social work is a healthcare major, and can be very versatile depending on what population you choose to work with. Social work is essentially being able to advocate for those who struggle with advocating for themselves (due to external or internal circumstances) and providing resources to those who need them. For example, if you work as a social worker in a hospital, and you work on the maternity floor, you might be there to make sure new parents are ready to take care of their child. I envision social work helping me make my end goal of working in the pediatric intensive care unit possible. As stated in a previous speech, I was a premature baby and I have learned over the years how much that took a toll on my family. If there was a licensed clinical social worker that was there to help my parents, I believe that there would have been less uncertainty surrounding my care. I want to be able to provide that stability for those patients and families that don’t have much during that time.
As I am in my second semester of sophomore year, I took my first social work class this semester. The intro class is essentially teaching us what social work is as a profession. Dr. Lori Power teaches it, as well as other social work classes on campus. She believes that “social work is the ability to make people successful” and often focuses on empowerment based theories in her teaching. Next semester I will be taking classes such as policy, human behavior, intro to field practicum, groups and communities, and aging communities. These classes encompass different populations that we could be working with in our careers. I helped out at Accepted Students Day these past two weekends with the social work program, and have been able to expand social work thinking onto other majors. I do not think that I would have been able to do that before I took my intro class this semester.
Think
I like to think that I know a lot about social work. I know the field and what I want to do with my major which is work in a school setting. Social work is a lot about helping people and helping them accomplish what they want and need to. It is a hard field because you can work with kids who have been abused or you could work with older people who might have intellectual issues that need your help. Social work is a broad range of things that you can do. I don’t really have many questions about my major. I envision my major and degree helping me get a job or career in a school setting working with kids. I would like to be able to help people and help them figure out what they need.
Research
I did look at the curriculum for my major and what classes I need to take for degree requirements. I also talk a lot with my professors and advisor about the major as well. They help me with figuring out classes and figuring out what path I would like to take as a social worker. I think that I figure out new things about my major everyday. That is the learning that it comes with and the classes I am taking to fulfill my requirements. One particular course that I have is Grief and Loss. This is a hard course because it has a lot of mentally draining topics. Learning about these things will help me progress as a social worker and will prepare me for what I need to know when I apply and work in the field. There are a lot of career paths that I might take as a social worker such as working in schools or working in a clinical setting at hospitals. I could also decide to be a counselor if I choose to as well. There are a lot of options that I would have going into the social work field.
When I committed to the University of New England, I decided that I wanted to do Education as my major. The reasoning for this was because I really want to make connections when I am older and help kids learn. The reason I want to help kids learn is that I feel like I can help the kids that struggle because that was me when I was younger, I had trouble reading and writing and sometimes I still find it hard at times. And because of that reason, I want to do the same for those kids who struggle. I also had ADHD as a kid and I still do but, I did not know how to control it and I can also help kids with that and I can see trhough kids struggles and help them quicker becuase I went through the same struggles. In high school I made some very strong connection with some of my teachers and coaches and I felike like I could go to them about most things and I want to be that kind of teacher as well.
My major is Medical Biology on the Pre-Med track. This is essentially a course of study that sets you up for a higher level of education, whether it be graduate schools, a masters program, doctorate program or medical school. For me specifically I am heading towards medical school, I am currently finishing up my applications now. There aren’t many questions about my major that I have. The med kids at here have been shown every step up of way what we will be doing and where we will be going with our futures once we graduate. In terms of my future, I know that medical school next year is the plan and then heading on to residency and then securing a real physician position is the goal. My overall career goal is to be a pediatric doctor, I have always wanted to be a doctor and have always wanted to work with kids. When it comes to the type of pediatric physician I want to be, well that’s up in the air. I waffle back and forth about doing something clinical, like primary care, or working within a hospital as a pediatric oncologist. But either way, I know that the medical field is where I will spending my career days.
The curriculum in my major relies on the requirement course for a liberal arts education that we are provided at UNE as well as our extended list of science related courses. I think many of these classes have been helpful for my studies, especially for the MCAT that I will be taking this summer. But other classes have been used to further my knowledge in general fields of study, rather than something specialized. When digging into the medical biology relam of jobs, there are many options that you can take. Lab jobs are easily obtainable with a bachelors degree, but you can then move forward towards a job with higher levels of education. This major and career path is not for everyone, you really do have to want to create a higher level of learning and really be ready to immerse yourself for years into your work. There is such a variety within medical field that there will be something for everybody.
My major is Marine Affairs with business and climate change studies minors. I switched into the major at the beginning of my junior year. When I came to UNE, I was accepted into the environmental program, then switched to sustainability and business, and now finally marine affairs. There is not much that I don’t know about my major. Before switching, I did a lot of research and frequently met with Susan Farady, the head of the major and only professor for MAF classes, so currently I feel that I have no questions about my major. Marine Affairs is unique because it incorporates not only marine science but also maritime law, so there are a lot of different paths that MAR students can take. My current career plan is to work with renewable energy. Initially, I hope to work in policy and eventually go back to school for environmental engineering to do project planning for things like offshore wind development or restoration of abandoned oil reserves in the ocean.
When I research my major, I always am surprised to see the different career paths that people take. MAF is a very small major that very few schools have, so it gives students an advantage when they are going into the field or going back to school. You have almost 2 majors in one, with most students picking up minors. UNE has also just created a 3+3 pathways program for MAF to law school for students who are interested in that path. They have partnered with some law programs to help with the transition and process. All classes in the major are taught by Susan Farady, and there are about 60 kids who are MAF majors. This allows for a very strong relationship to be built between her and the students, which is an awesome experience and an ideal learning situation for any student.
My major here at UNE is pre-pharmacy. UNE offers the doctorate program for pharmacy which is 6 years total 2 years in Biddeford for pre-pharmacy and 4 years in Portland to get your Pharm D. Once you complete 2 years of pre-pharmacy, you have to be accepted into the school of pharmacy in order to continue working towards your Pharm D. The last year of pharmacy school is where students go through rotations. Pharmacy has many different fields you can specialize in. One question I’ve been thinking about is what field of pharmacy I want to specialize in. I currently don’t have the answer to that question yet. There are so many different ones that I feel that I would come to enjoy but in order to pick one I plan on doing more research and using the rotations to help me learn more about the specialized field. I currently love working as a pharmacy technician and I’m excited to eventually become a pharmacist. Becoming a pharmacist will allow me to help those in need, which is something I’ve always wanted to do.
After doing some research, going to my success in pharmacy class, and talking to my pharmacy professor Dr. Vincent, I have discovered what the different fields of pharmacy I could specialize in are, and that there are many great opportunities like internships, job shadowing, and jobs available to pharmacy students. Once we are in the school of pharmacy there are internships that are available for pharmacy students to take advantage of, which will help to expand our knowledge of pharmacy. Something I discovered from my professor is that the rotations portion of schooling is where many students discover the field that best interests them. Students go through 6 different rotations; they are able to pick what they feel will interest them and see if it is the right fit for them. I few pharmacy specialties I have found interesting to me include compounding, pediatrics, and critical care. Being able to pick rotations will help me decide which specialty is right for me.
Health Sciences is a major at UNE that students are only allowed to transfer into if they have over 90 credits. This major is typically used for those who need to take an extra year of school in order to achieve 120 credits or to boost their GPA before grad school or other professional programs. Most courses are flexible to be replaced with other courses, as long as the academic requirement is met; for example, BIO 404-Neuroscience can be replaced with PHY 110-General Physics, because they are both high level science courses. I’m interested to know who else is in my major and what career paths they are on. I’m unsure what jobs or careers one with a bachelors of science with a major in health sciences can get and/or if additional schooling or credentials are required. My academic pathway has been more than unconventional, as I’ve changed my major twice here at UNE and I do not plan on using my major in the future. Health Sciences has allowed me to take classes that are geared towards the military and skills that will benefit my future as a Field Artillery Officer in the U.S. Army. These courses that are not necessarily health related, but life-skill oriented include; public speaking, geospatial information systems, international relations, politics of evil, and theories and politics of war.
My first question that was answered upon research is that completion of this degree will not lead to licensure in any health discipline or field, but it will provide a foundation for advanced study in the health professions. With only the bachelors of health sciences, jobs include community health worker, biostatistician, pharmaceutical sales representative, cytotechnologist, and patient care advocate. Master’s degrees you may pursue include, social work, public health, and health care administration. Professional degrees you may pursue include, physical therapy, athletic training, optometry, veterinary, dentistry, physician assistant, and medicine. You have the ability to take a clinical or non-clinical route with this degree, which makes it very universal. A concern most students have about different majors is the job security that their degree will provide, because health sciences is very broad, you have the ability to choose the specific route you want to take with a high likelihood of demand for that job. Within the military, this major provides a strong foundation for the medical service corps on the administrative side and will make one eligible for clinical roles. Although I won’t directly be using my degree, all Soldiers especially those in combat arms specialties are required to remain at certain levels of physical fitness. As a leader, I need to be able to identify and assist those who struggle to reach the requirement. The knowledge I’ve gained from this major will allow me to do so and ensure combat readiness, which may not be taught in my field artillery basic officer leadership course.
Coming into UNE I had decided to go the social work route, after seeing my mom do it and love it I’ve always grasped to helping people and making a difference. What I do know about it is you have to be strong mentally and emotionally, because it’s not a major or career for just anyone. You are a person’s outlet when they are at the lowest points of life and that’s what you have to understand is everything you hear, good or bad, is a person’s life. You have to set your work life and home life aside from each other and be able to establish that your life can’t be controlled by feelings you feel in work. That’s why coming into it I was nervous because I didn’t know if I could take it, but that’s where self care and even finding yourself a person to talk to is necessary. Some questions I have about my major is what brings people to the point where they need a social worker to be involved? What’s the breaking point, and how do you know what to say in those certain situations where you don’t want to sound mean or defensive? The career that really makes my eyes open is the medical side of social work working in those facilities making a difference when the only news they hear is negative and being that person they can talk to and come to for help or advice not even for what they’re dealing with but in life in general.
When looking into the curriculum of social work you notice the different routes you can take for it. You’ll be able to go out and actually take action into the job itself by your junior year here which is very cool to me. There are a ton of internship opportunities where you don’t have to go right into your career path but explore other ones like school social work where working with kids could be the right fit for me. Working with different majors as well gives social work another step up and health professions can all use them as they affect them all like minoring in a subject public health which also covers some field in social work. Another interesting fact I didn’t know about the social work program here is they have a 4+1 program so your guaranteed a chance to get your masters at a credit based place.
21 thoughts on “JOURNAL # 12”
My major is Psychology, I know that my major is a very broad major. There are many different pathways to go. You can go into public services, therapy, children therapy, consoling, occupational therapy and many more. The curriculum goes a lot into the brain since psychology is how the brain functions and works with our body. I envision my major to help me find a better look on other’s situations and be a better listener. Also I want to work with children so definitely patience with people.
I discovered there is an increase of Jobs in the mental health field (19%), and that the classes I have to take for the curriculum all tie together since it is a brand spectrum and all the classes are small snippets of larger fields in psychology. They help students figure out a possible path for the future. I also did not realize there are a looootttt more paths in psychology than I listed before. There are a few more options that I would be interested in for my major, but I know I definitely still want to incorporate kids into the job.
My major is Psychology, I know that my major is a very broad major. There are many different pathways to go. You can go into public services, therapy, children therapy, consoling, occupational therapy and many more. The curriculum goes a lot into the brain since psychology is how the brain functions and works with our body. I envision my major to help me find a better look on other’s situations and be a better listener. Also I want to work with children so definitely patience with people.
I discovered there is an increase of Jobs in the mental health field (19%), and that the classes I have to take for the curriculum all tie together since it is a brand spectrum and all the classes are small snippets of larger fields in psychology. They help students figure out a possible path for the future. I also did not realize there are a looootttt more paths in psychology than I listed before. There are a few more options that I would be interested in for my major, but I know I definitely still want to incorporate kids into the job.
My intended major at the moment is Athletic Training. Here at UNE, athletic training is a master’s program (3+2). It was just recently changed to this from a bachelor’s program. Within this field, it is very hands on with helping and assisting athletes with pre and post rehabilitation techniques. Athletic trainers have a very tiresome job, and they do not run on a fixed schedule. They make themselves available all hours of the day for their athletes in order to help their immediate needs. The major of athletic training is very straight forward, and I do not have any questions that come to mind about this career. The only career you can get with this major is an athletic trainer as well. A dream job of mine would be to take this career to the D1 college level or even professionally. I personally could not see myself in an elementary or high school setting as an athletic trainer.
I am very fortunate enough to be able to do my work study on campus inside the athletic training room. I work three day a week in there, and I am able to observe this career for multiple hours a day. Like I said before, this job is very hands on with athletes, and the athletic trainers are always on their feet. The curriculum for this major is very science heavy, and it focuses in on the anatomy of the body. There are also rehab and medicine classes worked into the curriculum. There are many misconceptions associated with this major. Many people think that athletic trainers are water boys or strictly just tape ankles and what not. Their job is way more than that. When a player gets injured, they are the first people on the scene to examine the injury and further implement a rehab process. Without athletic trainers, the sports world would not be the same.
Before committing to UNE I decided that I wanted to become an Athletic Trainer. At UNE we are lucky enough to have the Athletic Training program be a 3+2 program where the student obtains a masters degree in just five years. UNE AT program schedules courses so that an undergraduate student can graduate level courses, while maintaining undergraduate scholarships. One of the main questions that I had was what is the benefit of being an athletic trainer? After looking into the major I learned that Athletic Training gets a more direct path than physical therapy. By this I mean there is a more direct connotation to sports the physical therapy. Growing up I was an athlete and one that got injured. I wanted to have the ability to connect with athletes and their injures. I envision myself working for a professional or a collegiate-level sports team. Preferable taking care of athletes in alpine skiing, hockey, or baseball.
What a lot of people don’t know about Athletic Training is the variety of locations that they can be in. Along with schools and professional athletes, athletic trainers can be in physician offices, health care administrations, law enforcement, theaters, industrial sites and the military. ATs abide by hippa laws along with other health care professionals, the main goal of an AT is to asses an athletes issues and help them to get better and the fastest and safest way possible. Majority of the role for athletic trainers is to asses and provide care, infact athletic trainers have the same level of care as other medical professionals. Roughly 70% of ATs obtain a masters or a doctorate degree. Some ATs can use a bachelors degree but most programs and even the exam require a masters degree.
My major is medical biology / pre-med. This major is a popular choice for students looking to pursue a career in the medical field, many of which attend medical or dental school for graduate school. UNE offers 3+4 and 4+4 tracts for this major and while I am not taking this path, a few of my friends are as it helps for future plans in graduate school. Some majors that med bio student pursue other than obtaining doctorates include PT, research, technicians, and drug development; these are interesting choices for a future career but I am interested in either becoming a doctor or dentist, I have been weighing both options as of late. UNE has a lot of support for this major due to their osteopathic school, so I don’t have a lot of unanswered questions; if anything comes up I ask my advisor or leaders of the pre-med club who are very helpful.
After doing more research regarding my major, i was able to learn more about different career options available to me. UNE offers various research and shadowing oppurtunities and finding out what I can potentially follow up on was very beneficial. For example, I am doing animal behavior research on campus at The Burman Collaborative which allows me to get a glimpse into what a career in research would look like if I decided not to pursue being a doctor or dentist. As well, I found out different paths to get my degree and various classes that i can take which could be more or less helpful for not only applying to a graduate school, but also for just understanding more about what my future career would look like. Some questions I have about my major after research mostly surround the different medical careers I could take, for example, there is a large selection of specialized doctors or dentists, so I have to find out what interests me the most.
I am a sophomore dental hygiene major at UNE. I came in as a Medical Biology major though. I switched to dental hygiene spring semester freshman year, so I have been studying it for about a year now. I feel very educated about dental hygiene and the opportunities and paths that I can take. I do know that dental hygiene is projected to be a high/medium demand career in the near future. It is also a very rewarding job which is one of the reasons why I chose this path. It is a very hands on major, with a lot of clinical work which is a very effective way to learn. Studying dental hygiene allows you to jump right into the career and guarantee’s you a job right after graduating. You are required to take a board exam, but once you pass, you are basically guaranteed a job.
After doing some research, I learned more about the clinical work in your Junior and Senior year at UNE. I am taking a histology class right now with one of the Portland dental hygiene professors. She gave me some really helpful insight into the curriculum and the daily life of a dental hygiene student in their last two years. A lot of time is spent in the dental hygiene clinic. Rather than taking your stereotypical class or lecture, you are working with live patients and practicing on your classmates. Although we are still taking classes, it feels more like a professional setting. I also learned that students that graduate from UNE dental hygiene have more opportunities. This is because we have more schooling experience compared to other hygienists who only go to school for 2 years. I also learned that dental hygienists can become educators, dental therapists and dentists.
I feel as though I know a decent amount about my major. I am a Marine Affairs major with a Global Studies minor, and I want to be a marine attorney or policy-maker someday. My major is the policy version of Marine Science majors, rather than being in a lab doing research, Marine Affairs takes this research and discusses how to it affects the political setting. I mainly only concern myself with the policy orientated side of my major, however I also know that there are other paths in this major such as marine engineering, advocacy, education, and etc. Since I was in middle school I had always said that I wanted to be a lawyer, but coming from such a small and rural area that profession seemed impossible since most people went into trade jobs. As soon as I switch to the Marine Affairs major here at UNE, that idea was reignited and seems more and more possible as I delve further into my major.
I knew Marine affairs was not a common major but it does take me by shock a bit that this program is only one of four in the entire U.S.. This comes as not only a shock but also a bit concerning that there are not more schools who feel as though it is a fruitful enough major(deep down though I do feel at an advantage for being in such a unique, yet currently important major). I do wish we had a greater variety of classes concerning Marine Affairs and ocean governance but I do understand why we do not currently since Susan Farady is really the only one holding the whole program together. Although I am not interested in an educators path for Marine Affairs, I imagine that there could be some upcoming since this major is still technically fairly new. Overall, there was not too much that stood out to me about my major that I did not already here.
I know a great deal about my major after studying it at this school for almost three full years. My major is communications, and it has a few major categories. In my time here, I have learned about the media side of communications as well as the more descriptive, analytical side. The media that I have investigated within this area of study has included operating cameras, different kinds of software, working with various technological apparatuses like microphones, computers and tablets, and much more. I have completed podcast projects from scratch as well as newscasts and other digital media productions. When I think about my area of study, I tend to immediately think about the digital mode of communicating ideas, which of course includes television, radio, and other forms of streaming. On the other hand, there is another focus that people use when they are studying communications and that is the analytical or the writing side. I will not get into this, but it is a separate, equally important aspect of the communications major.
An honest question that I still have about my major is this: what is the most typical job someone graduating with a communications degree will get after school? I have some potential answers in my head to this, but there is no exact answer that I have found as of now. The career that I think would match up well with my studies is something entrepreneurial, like what I am doing right now with my business.
After doing a small amount of research on Google about my studies, I am slightly more confident in my ability to find work after school that could apply my education. Media and communications jobs are projected to grow four percent in the next ten years, which means there will be a higher demand for those jobs over that period of time. Common jobs that come from this area of study have to do with public relations, media, writing articles/books/etcetera. Often, people will go after a communications degree while focusing on the public relations aspect as their concentration. None of this information, except for the aforementioned statistic, is news to me. I have a pretty good sense of what I am in for based on this chosen area of study.
I am glad that his prompt asked me to look into my future a bit. I benefited from looking at this information online and I will certainly continue my research to find something that works for me.
My major is pre-pharmacy. UNE offers a 2+4 program for pharmacy. It starts with pre-pharmacy, which is 2 years at the Biddeford campus, and requires an acceptance into the school of pharmacy. Once accepted, 4 more years follow into the professional years at Portland with the last year being rotations. Pharmacy as a career holds a lot of possibilities for which direction to head. And with that the question that was always reoccurring in my head was “Which path do I take?” Only recently do I believe I have answered this question and that is pediatric pharmacy. My love for pharmacy came from the experiences I had as a child (which I will be talking about more during speech 4) and being able to offer that same help I received to the younger population is important to me. If I continue in this path 2 additional years of paid residency is required to become specialized in this field. I hope to make an impact in many people’s lives and continue the study of medicine and the body.
After further research and speaking to my pharmacy professor Dr. Vincent, I found that throughout the professional years of pharmacy school there are a variety of internships, shadowing opportunities, and jobs relating to the different fields of pharmacy available for students. This can even be brought down to a more basic level which includes working in a retail pharmacy starting as soon as 18 years of age. These different opportunities allow for an insight into what diverse options there are in this career. On top of this, the last year of pharmacy school is all rotations. There are 6 different rotations that are of the students choosing each lasting 6 weeks. This is the most hands-on and interactive aspect of the schooling years as students are able to pick what they think will interest them most and see if it is in fact the right fit for them.
My major is currently environmental however it was a bit of a process to get here. I started off as undecided, then jumped to communications for a hot minute then finally landed as an environmental studies major. So far, I do enjoy it and think that I have made the right choice for my interests. Mixed with my writing minor my ideal job would probably be an environmental journalist, traveling the world and writing about what I see. However I’m not too sure what I would be before that works out, still figuring that out. I do know that there are two environmental programs at our school; studies and science. I went the studies route but a good chunk of people in my ENV classes are science. The difference remains in taking a few varying courses, I heard it was one less chemistry which is what made me personally take studies.
Quoted from the website: “Within a short walk or drive from UNE’s Biddeford Campus, you may explore a variety of unique habitats, including the University’s 363 acres of contiguous forest. The State of Maine Natural Areas Program has labeled the land a “habitat of significant value” due to its high density of pocket swamps and vernal pools. The area contains both uplands and wetlands, and is home to many species, including wild turkeys, deer, coyotes, and moose.” It is very interesting to explore this part of campus and we can find and do research on a lot of cool things.
My major is Athletic Training but it was not my major when I was accepted here. I started as Pre-med on the 4+4 track but ultimately switched to AT. Right now I enjoy learning about the different injuries and prevention care that can occur in athletes. I like that the AT track is a very hands on learning or in-person learning. What made me choose AT to PT was mostly the individuals I would be working with, being a competitive dancer for about 12 years I was an athlete myself. Before coming to UNE I had never heard of an Athletic Trainer before, I figured that they basically were PTs but worked on athletes. What I learned was that ATs are much more, they are the central communicators for an athletes, that also help with injury prevention and care for the individual. They talk to the athletes, parents, coaches, other doctors, and more. I do have questions about what other settings do ATs workin because you mostly hear/ see them working in colleges or professional sports but I have heard that some are working in a more clinical setting or ever helping in surgeries. For me I would love to work with a dance company, since that is what I grew up doing and loving, a clinical setting, or even in surgery. Following my one professor I think it would be cool to work for the olympics but personally I think the paralympics would be cool since my mother has a prosthetic.
I’m a sports management major. What I know is it leads you to many job opportunities all across the sports industry. The sports industry is tough, although. It’s not very high paying and it’s long hours, so you have to love what you do to be in this industry. Sports management majors usually go and get their masters after if they want to get into the administration side of the industry. For example, becoming an athletic director. I truly enjoy all aspects of sports and am excited to begin my internship with the Portland Sea Dogs to see if it’s something I really want to dive into. I have a few questions about the major, like can you become an athletic director without a master’s degree, and are there options to make a higher living and if so, what route has to be taken? In the future, a career path that excites me is becoming a part of the game-day operations for a baseball organization. I have many interests, which is why I also have a business minor, but my future aspirations tend to change from time to time.
After talking with my professor and Chris Cameron of the Portland Sea Dogs I’ve got my questions answered. Particularly, you need a master’s degree to become an athletic director said my professor, Professor Gordon. I asked Mr. Cameron about the higher living question, and he said it’s about gaining experience. As with many jobs, it comes with time and experience. Once you get your foot in the door and continue to gain more knowledge and build your network, that will lead to higher-paying jobs within the industry. There are many options for jobs outside of a sports management degree such as Game Day or Event Coordinator, Guest Relations Manager, Marketing Consultant, Marketing Coordinator, Operations Manager, Public Relations Manager, Sales Coordinator, Sports Agent, Sports Lawyer, and Sports Marketer. These are just a couple, but this degree can lead to many jobs that personally intrigue me. I’m excited to dive even more into the major during this project and find things I never knew before.
I’m a social work major with the intention of going into the 4+1 program. What I know about my major is that it goes in depth of my body and mind. Mostly focuses on the mental aspect of it. I work with tons of kids in the summer and on college breaks at schools. I watch and notice a bunch of children struggling in the mental department and no one seems to notice. I tend to try and stick with those kids and try and help them a little bit more before the teacher sees something wrong and deals with it the wrong way. I plan on going to be a therapist for children ages 10-14. I feel that when I work in the schools I get mentally drained just by seeing how the teacher treats kids knowing I got treated the same way. Nowadays children have so much going on around them that it makes it hard for them to understand their own mental stuff let alone school. I wanna be that person the kids can come talk to and get ahead starting on their mental problems before it gets worse when going into highschool. The question I have about my major is why are psychology classes so much harder?
When doing more research in my major which is social work I found out that there are a wide range of jobs and careers I could go into. At UNE there are fields and internships that have to be taken and the options for those I want to do them all. There is a high job acceptance rate and a lot of stress that can come from being a therapist. I’ve talked to mine about her job and she works with teenagers and adults. She says the best way to be a therapist is to cut out an hour of your work day just for yourself to decompress over what happened in some sessions.
I am a social work major, planning on going into the 4+1 program in order to get my master’s degree. I know that social work is a healthcare major, and can be very versatile depending on what population you choose to work with. Social work is essentially being able to advocate for those who struggle with advocating for themselves (due to external or internal circumstances) and providing resources to those who need them. For example, if you work as a social worker in a hospital, and you work on the maternity floor, you might be there to make sure new parents are ready to take care of their child. I envision social work helping me make my end goal of working in the pediatric intensive care unit possible. As stated in a previous speech, I was a premature baby and I have learned over the years how much that took a toll on my family. If there was a licensed clinical social worker that was there to help my parents, I believe that there would have been less uncertainty surrounding my care. I want to be able to provide that stability for those patients and families that don’t have much during that time.
As I am in my second semester of sophomore year, I took my first social work class this semester. The intro class is essentially teaching us what social work is as a profession. Dr. Lori Power teaches it, as well as other social work classes on campus. She believes that “social work is the ability to make people successful” and often focuses on empowerment based theories in her teaching. Next semester I will be taking classes such as policy, human behavior, intro to field practicum, groups and communities, and aging communities. These classes encompass different populations that we could be working with in our careers. I helped out at Accepted Students Day these past two weekends with the social work program, and have been able to expand social work thinking onto other majors. I do not think that I would have been able to do that before I took my intro class this semester.
Think
I like to think that I know a lot about social work. I know the field and what I want to do with my major which is work in a school setting. Social work is a lot about helping people and helping them accomplish what they want and need to. It is a hard field because you can work with kids who have been abused or you could work with older people who might have intellectual issues that need your help. Social work is a broad range of things that you can do. I don’t really have many questions about my major. I envision my major and degree helping me get a job or career in a school setting working with kids. I would like to be able to help people and help them figure out what they need.
Research
I did look at the curriculum for my major and what classes I need to take for degree requirements. I also talk a lot with my professors and advisor about the major as well. They help me with figuring out classes and figuring out what path I would like to take as a social worker. I think that I figure out new things about my major everyday. That is the learning that it comes with and the classes I am taking to fulfill my requirements. One particular course that I have is Grief and Loss. This is a hard course because it has a lot of mentally draining topics. Learning about these things will help me progress as a social worker and will prepare me for what I need to know when I apply and work in the field. There are a lot of career paths that I might take as a social worker such as working in schools or working in a clinical setting at hospitals. I could also decide to be a counselor if I choose to as well. There are a lot of options that I would have going into the social work field.
When I committed to the University of New England, I decided that I wanted to do Education as my major. The reasoning for this was because I really want to make connections when I am older and help kids learn. The reason I want to help kids learn is that I feel like I can help the kids that struggle because that was me when I was younger, I had trouble reading and writing and sometimes I still find it hard at times. And because of that reason, I want to do the same for those kids who struggle. I also had ADHD as a kid and I still do but, I did not know how to control it and I can also help kids with that and I can see trhough kids struggles and help them quicker becuase I went through the same struggles. In high school I made some very strong connection with some of my teachers and coaches and I felike like I could go to them about most things and I want to be that kind of teacher as well.
My major is Medical Biology on the Pre-Med track. This is essentially a course of study that sets you up for a higher level of education, whether it be graduate schools, a masters program, doctorate program or medical school. For me specifically I am heading towards medical school, I am currently finishing up my applications now. There aren’t many questions about my major that I have. The med kids at here have been shown every step up of way what we will be doing and where we will be going with our futures once we graduate. In terms of my future, I know that medical school next year is the plan and then heading on to residency and then securing a real physician position is the goal. My overall career goal is to be a pediatric doctor, I have always wanted to be a doctor and have always wanted to work with kids. When it comes to the type of pediatric physician I want to be, well that’s up in the air. I waffle back and forth about doing something clinical, like primary care, or working within a hospital as a pediatric oncologist. But either way, I know that the medical field is where I will spending my career days.
The curriculum in my major relies on the requirement course for a liberal arts education that we are provided at UNE as well as our extended list of science related courses. I think many of these classes have been helpful for my studies, especially for the MCAT that I will be taking this summer. But other classes have been used to further my knowledge in general fields of study, rather than something specialized. When digging into the medical biology relam of jobs, there are many options that you can take. Lab jobs are easily obtainable with a bachelors degree, but you can then move forward towards a job with higher levels of education. This major and career path is not for everyone, you really do have to want to create a higher level of learning and really be ready to immerse yourself for years into your work. There is such a variety within medical field that there will be something for everybody.
My major is Marine Affairs with business and climate change studies minors. I switched into the major at the beginning of my junior year. When I came to UNE, I was accepted into the environmental program, then switched to sustainability and business, and now finally marine affairs. There is not much that I don’t know about my major. Before switching, I did a lot of research and frequently met with Susan Farady, the head of the major and only professor for MAF classes, so currently I feel that I have no questions about my major. Marine Affairs is unique because it incorporates not only marine science but also maritime law, so there are a lot of different paths that MAR students can take. My current career plan is to work with renewable energy. Initially, I hope to work in policy and eventually go back to school for environmental engineering to do project planning for things like offshore wind development or restoration of abandoned oil reserves in the ocean.
When I research my major, I always am surprised to see the different career paths that people take. MAF is a very small major that very few schools have, so it gives students an advantage when they are going into the field or going back to school. You have almost 2 majors in one, with most students picking up minors. UNE has also just created a 3+3 pathways program for MAF to law school for students who are interested in that path. They have partnered with some law programs to help with the transition and process. All classes in the major are taught by Susan Farady, and there are about 60 kids who are MAF majors. This allows for a very strong relationship to be built between her and the students, which is an awesome experience and an ideal learning situation for any student.
My major here at UNE is pre-pharmacy. UNE offers the doctorate program for pharmacy which is 6 years total 2 years in Biddeford for pre-pharmacy and 4 years in Portland to get your Pharm D. Once you complete 2 years of pre-pharmacy, you have to be accepted into the school of pharmacy in order to continue working towards your Pharm D. The last year of pharmacy school is where students go through rotations. Pharmacy has many different fields you can specialize in. One question I’ve been thinking about is what field of pharmacy I want to specialize in. I currently don’t have the answer to that question yet. There are so many different ones that I feel that I would come to enjoy but in order to pick one I plan on doing more research and using the rotations to help me learn more about the specialized field. I currently love working as a pharmacy technician and I’m excited to eventually become a pharmacist. Becoming a pharmacist will allow me to help those in need, which is something I’ve always wanted to do.
After doing some research, going to my success in pharmacy class, and talking to my pharmacy professor Dr. Vincent, I have discovered what the different fields of pharmacy I could specialize in are, and that there are many great opportunities like internships, job shadowing, and jobs available to pharmacy students. Once we are in the school of pharmacy there are internships that are available for pharmacy students to take advantage of, which will help to expand our knowledge of pharmacy. Something I discovered from my professor is that the rotations portion of schooling is where many students discover the field that best interests them. Students go through 6 different rotations; they are able to pick what they feel will interest them and see if it is the right fit for them. I few pharmacy specialties I have found interesting to me include compounding, pediatrics, and critical care. Being able to pick rotations will help me decide which specialty is right for me.
Health Sciences is a major at UNE that students are only allowed to transfer into if they have over 90 credits. This major is typically used for those who need to take an extra year of school in order to achieve 120 credits or to boost their GPA before grad school or other professional programs. Most courses are flexible to be replaced with other courses, as long as the academic requirement is met; for example, BIO 404-Neuroscience can be replaced with PHY 110-General Physics, because they are both high level science courses. I’m interested to know who else is in my major and what career paths they are on. I’m unsure what jobs or careers one with a bachelors of science with a major in health sciences can get and/or if additional schooling or credentials are required. My academic pathway has been more than unconventional, as I’ve changed my major twice here at UNE and I do not plan on using my major in the future. Health Sciences has allowed me to take classes that are geared towards the military and skills that will benefit my future as a Field Artillery Officer in the U.S. Army. These courses that are not necessarily health related, but life-skill oriented include; public speaking, geospatial information systems, international relations, politics of evil, and theories and politics of war.
My first question that was answered upon research is that completion of this degree will not lead to licensure in any health discipline or field, but it will provide a foundation for advanced study in the health professions. With only the bachelors of health sciences, jobs include community health worker, biostatistician, pharmaceutical sales representative, cytotechnologist, and patient care advocate. Master’s degrees you may pursue include, social work, public health, and health care administration. Professional degrees you may pursue include, physical therapy, athletic training, optometry, veterinary, dentistry, physician assistant, and medicine. You have the ability to take a clinical or non-clinical route with this degree, which makes it very universal. A concern most students have about different majors is the job security that their degree will provide, because health sciences is very broad, you have the ability to choose the specific route you want to take with a high likelihood of demand for that job. Within the military, this major provides a strong foundation for the medical service corps on the administrative side and will make one eligible for clinical roles. Although I won’t directly be using my degree, all Soldiers especially those in combat arms specialties are required to remain at certain levels of physical fitness. As a leader, I need to be able to identify and assist those who struggle to reach the requirement. The knowledge I’ve gained from this major will allow me to do so and ensure combat readiness, which may not be taught in my field artillery basic officer leadership course.
Coming into UNE I had decided to go the social work route, after seeing my mom do it and love it I’ve always grasped to helping people and making a difference. What I do know about it is you have to be strong mentally and emotionally, because it’s not a major or career for just anyone. You are a person’s outlet when they are at the lowest points of life and that’s what you have to understand is everything you hear, good or bad, is a person’s life. You have to set your work life and home life aside from each other and be able to establish that your life can’t be controlled by feelings you feel in work. That’s why coming into it I was nervous because I didn’t know if I could take it, but that’s where self care and even finding yourself a person to talk to is necessary. Some questions I have about my major is what brings people to the point where they need a social worker to be involved? What’s the breaking point, and how do you know what to say in those certain situations where you don’t want to sound mean or defensive? The career that really makes my eyes open is the medical side of social work working in those facilities making a difference when the only news they hear is negative and being that person they can talk to and come to for help or advice not even for what they’re dealing with but in life in general.
When looking into the curriculum of social work you notice the different routes you can take for it. You’ll be able to go out and actually take action into the job itself by your junior year here which is very cool to me. There are a ton of internship opportunities where you don’t have to go right into your career path but explore other ones like school social work where working with kids could be the right fit for me. Working with different majors as well gives social work another step up and health professions can all use them as they affect them all like minoring in a subject public health which also covers some field in social work. Another interesting fact I didn’t know about the social work program here is they have a 4+1 program so your guaranteed a chance to get your masters at a credit based place.