The Game of Getting Ahead

From time to time I have to step back and ask myself....Why do I make the career choices that I do? Coming from a low-income family, I've found myself very driven to do the best that I can to ensure that I have a prosperous future. Like many college students I have a deep competitiveness inside of me when it comes to academics. After a while I have to wonder, is all of this so that I can receive the highest paycheck? Is that what will truly make my life fulfilling? Regardless, I'm in the majority when I say, I'm not just in college, I'm in the game of getting ahead. Ahead of what? Getting into the best college, earning the best grades, getting the best jobs and internships, having a strong resume and grad school application--ahead of the other brilliant people in the world who are working to take one of those coveted middle class to upper middle class distinctions.

Looking around in my 400-level Psychopathology of Childhood class, I see nothing but competitors. We all want the same thing--to be a child-therapist. We're all applying to the same graduate schools, the same internships, and eventually the same jobs. With that said, Psychology is tame compared to other concentrations where it really seems like professors are pairing students up against each other, like classes that have (actual) curves with very few at the top of the class. Starting at a younger and younger age, parents are doing whatever they can to make ensure their child eventually wins at the game of getting ahead--by one day being rich and successful.

This clip shows how important ensuring a prosperous future for children is to parents. Many parents go to great lengths to provide a preschool education, that will eventually lead to impressive higher education, that will eventually lead to financially successful adults.

But as I alluded to, I don't think being financially successful is the equivalent to being happy and fulfilled. Too many times have a heard neighbors in my dorm saying "I'm going to the B-School/medical school/law school so that I can get rich, but what I'd really like to do is [fill in the blank]." Hearing such a statement once isn't enough to make me go on a rampage, but this kind of thing is said all the time! Entering University of Michigan as Freshman year, I knew exactly what I wanted--to be a clinical psychologist. This means graduating with a gpa of 3.5 or above (preferably above), having extensive extracurriculars, being deeply involved in research, and presenting an honors research project to be competitive. After this, you may get into a clinical psych doctorate program if you're lucky. Usually, 200-300 students apply to a given school and 5-10 are accepted, making a program extremely competitive. That's right, more competition. Once in, you're committed to 5-8 years of intensive research and studies. This year, I began my research endeavor and realized that...I really am not a research fan. But I want to be successful and make money...so I have to be a doctorate, right? Well, I found that pursuing a social work degree as a therapist would allow me to accomplish my dream--however there's a significant pay decrease.  Eventually I decided that social work would be the better option for me, because that's what would make me happiest--not the richest.

After a while, everyone has to ask themselves: What does "getting ahead" mean to me? And, is this a game I want to play?