Kopp: There is no Yellow Brick Road
I thought of my first dream job when I was 10 year old. I wanted to be a professional ballerina, because my teacher told me I had the potential and I really enjoyed dancing. My parents were very supportive, they sent me overseas to famous art schools, such as Alvin Ailey and Juilliard in New York during summer breaks and I have learnt a lot there. I realized there are so many different kind of dances. Since I began with ballet, my fundamental dance skill has always been very strong, but my movement was too stiff and square. In order to become a true performer, I had to really push myself to adopt and explore a lot of different things that I did not know would matter.
Unfortunately my ballerina dream did not come true since I injured one of my ankle while practicing and it forever leaves behind a lot of discomfort and sometimes even acute pain in my ankle when I dance. I was not sure what I want to do next for living until junior year of high school. I took an introductory psychology class and I found myself relating a lot of things I learnt in that class into real life situations. Not long later till my parents found this new interest of mine, and they suggested me to consider becoming a clinical psychiatrist. I was not sure what exactly do clinical psychiatrists do or even how to become one, but sitting in office with patients come in and pay $100/ hour sounded good to me.
In college, I got to interact with people, such as alumnis who are working in the psychology field and found out there is a huge range of jobs related to psychology. I started to explore what I like about psychology and how far am I willing to go (Master or PhD). I have came to conclusion that I want to go to graduate school and obtain a master’s degree in psychology that certisfies me to work as a psychologist. I do not know if I want to obtain a PhD degree yet, but I am sure once I get into graduate school everything will be more clear.
It is not guaranteed that I will become a psychologist after obtaining a master’s degree due to a lot of factors, but I am open to different opportunities. Just like what Sacha Kopp, Dean of CAS in Stony Brook University wrote in his article -“There is no Yellow Bricks Road”, “No one I know would say they’re doing exactly what they imagined 20 years ago, but each of us are happiest when we remain open to new opportunities all along the way. I tell students today to try not to stress quite so much if they are on the right path”. In other word, we can all dream of becoming a ballerina and dream of becoming a psychologist the next second. Nothing is set, and with the different experiences and skills we have, different opportunities are open to us.
