I've always been in tune with other people's emotions, so I studied psychology, hoping to be a clinician or a therapist.
I earned a bachelor's and then master's degree in clinical psychology, but at the end of my final internship, I became ill and was hospitalized for a few days. I still graduated from the program, but because I had not finished my internship, I was unable to get a license to practice as a psychologist.
I was told I could return in a year to re-start the internship process. In the meantime, I hoped I could still get a job, applying the degree to other fields that don't require a license. I sent out more than 300 applications.
It's been almost a year and I have not been able to apply my degree to any jobs in human resources, psychology consultation or even restaurant management. I am just starting school again, now for a master's degree in human resources. I've been living off credit cards essentially, acquiring about $25,000 in debt. And that's in addition to the $60,000 in student loans I acquired in grad school.
I had to sell my car. It got so bad that some points, my phone or power would be shut off.
Not only was my first master's not worth the debt, it wasn't worth the emotional journey of going through a program that requires such introspection and self reflection. If I had to do this all over again, I probably would have just gotten an HR degree instead of a social science degree.
