I've spent maybe a week at each of my psych internships this summer, but somehow the experience has managed to considerably narrow down where I want to go in life. First off, I get bored easily. There isn't a lot that I'll find consistently challenging or interesting, and still enjoy. Now it seems the rule PhD's in psychology is that one can become a practitioner, a researcher, a teacher, or some combination of the three. Now I like academics, but that's not where I would jump to right out of grad school. And I definitely enjoy research, but the problem with research is that it can get repetitive. The excitement is slowly sucked from it the longer you're stuck on one topic, one task. And for the most part, you never get to see the results. So the first thing I've figured out is that I definitely want to work with people, no matter what the setting. A human being is the only thing that could constantly challenge me, never get repetitive (even with those stubborn patients who refuse to abandon their self-destructive ways). So it looks like I'm getting a clinical degree!
And the second thing I've figured out over the last few weeks is that I hate being underestimated. I hate taking jobs where I have to do work that's below me. And I hate being treated like I can't do work above what any person fluent in English could do. And this probably means that whatever I end up doing, if I'm not my own boss or working at a high level with lots of chances to be promoted, then i won't be happy. Let's see what else I can figure out this year.
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