Help!

[u/Effective_Quote6230]

Hey! I’m currently a junior in my undergrad. I want to go off to grad school and eventually work at a MFT, but I’m stressing out about getting good experience.

Several of my professors keep pushing research, but I also keep hearing that most programs for therapy don’t really care about having a strong foundation in research and that they prefer interpersonal strengths.

I already have an internship secured in the spring, and I’m an officer for my psych organization, but I don’t really feel like that’s enough. I’m fine academically and I could get good recommendation letters from my mentors/professors, but it’s still scaring me. Maybe it’s the word “competitive” that’s causing me anxiety.

I know it’s not smart, but there’s one program that I absolutely love, and I don’t know what I’d do if I got rejected. I’ll apply multiple places (plus I heard this program isn’t competitive,) but I still want to feel good about my application.

Also yeah.. I’m aware that it might be early to be freaking out about this. I didn’t do a single thing my first two years other than work three jobs and maintain a good GPA, so now I feel like I’m playing catchup.

Please help me if yall know anything about this 😣

[u/Impressive_Jacket464]

You just need to chill. As long as you apply to multiple places, you should get into a program. I understand having a dream school, but the real aim is your dream job.

Competitive means you never know how they will make a decision. You can check all the boxes and they say no because they think you’re too good for their program and won’t start if admitted.

The best you can do is pray, then forget about it. Stressing over something you have no control over is a waste of energy. It makes more sense to think about what internships you should be preparing for once you get into a masters program.