Written by Amber Jenkins
Since I was young, I always knew I wanted to be a psychologist, but the pathway to becoming registered can seem very daunting on paper. With the GPA required for progression into Honours from a Bachelor of Psychology degree, I was honestly fearful that I might never achieve my dream… until I did!
There were many obstacles along the way, but I achieved the required Grade Point Average (GPA) to progress into Honours, which was a major milestone and achievement on my pathway to becoming a psychologist. If someone asked me how I did it, I would have no answer.
However, I believe a big part of this was putting all the assessment tasks for each session along with each subject’s study schedule into a spreadsheet and taking one week at a time, crossing them off as I completed them. This enabled me to view the GPA requirements as many achievable smaller tasks, rather than one massive overarching one. My strategy was to take every completed assignment as a win and a step closer to my dream career, paying great attention to the feedback to grow my skills.
Once I began Honours, the pressure increased again due to the requirement to achieve a certain mark to be able to proceed to a master’s degree to become registered as a psychologist. On top of all the subjects was the dissertation, which did not fit neatly into my previous strategy of mapping out each session. Instead, I had to take one day at a time, and I cannot stress how important communicating with my supervisor and asking as many questions as I needed was for me during Honours, especially as someone who struggles with statistics.
Even with the strong support of my supervisor and the teaching staff, Honours presented many barriers for me, including the financial and time commitments required to undertake it in one year. I was lucky enough to be a recipient of a Charles Sturt University Foundation Scholarship that allowed me to focus on my studies wholeheartedly and enabled me to complete my degree with a first-class Honours grade.
The university offers a wide range of financial support to students from every course and background, and I cannot express how grateful I still am for this support. I strongly encourage any student to look into the scholarships Charles Sturt University has to offer, as they can make a major difference in academic outcomes and well-being.
For anyone who is interested in studying psychology but is worried about the academic requirements, my best advice is to come with a genuine desire to learn and help people. Ask as many questions as you need, and Charles Sturt University will do everything in its power to help you get there.
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