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icechai
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25 May 2017, 7:48 am

Hi everyone! Hope something good is happening to each and every one of you today.
I can't afford to get an autism diagnosis, I have some mental illnesses (depression, general anxiety, C-ptsd, psychotic episodes, paranoia, etc.) and I was interested in the process of getting a master's degree. When I ask for help, I get general answers such as "just apply" and some variation of "you're smart, you'll figure it out". I am 28 now, and I'm no closer to figuring it out than when I was 22. I am also concerned that I will receive no support or flexibility when needed, just like I experienced when getting my bachelor's degree. I did graduate in 4.5 years, but it was a truly miserable experience from start to finish.

When it comes to important life events, I need the process to be explained to me step by step so that I can understand. I don't have useful intuition or common sense to help me out. My parents are also not helpful, my father hasn't been in my life for more than 10 years, and my mother puts me down against my younger siblings who are already working on/completing their masters.

Currently, I have a job that I enjoy that pays really well compared to other companies in my industry, and I am learning tech skills from online courses, which I am very happy with. I have trouble with focusing on and understanding long lectures, so I would need to bring a tablet or device for text to speech, as well as noise cancelling headphones wherever I go on campus. I studied English for bachelors and am kind of interested in a Masters in Psychology, so that I can understand the majority population who is in control of everything practically. Specific step by step instructions on how to apply, get into, and attend a master's program would be more than appreciated. :)))



Lockeye
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05 Jun 2017, 6:50 pm

Just saw this post now. At age 27, I left a corporate job to enter graduate school in a clinical psychology PhD. Program. I ended up leaving after 3 years and got my masters after 2 years in the program. I ended up leaving because of the problems/difficulties I had, the amount of times I was triggered (CPTSD), and the failure of the institution to provide adequate accommodations. I was discriminated against and a liability, and even though my grades were A-B, they had an ethics meeting to compel me to leave the program after a professor had triggered me by yelling at me.

To get a master's degree in the field of psychology, think about if it has been within 5 years of taking the GRE exams. If you take the GRE's, you can apply to many more public schools. If you never took those, there are other private universities that often cost a lot more. You'll want to determine what your stopping point is - do you want to be a therapist, a doctorate, researcher, professor, etc. Be sure to only enter a program that covers your intended goal and not to go through anything extra that isn't necessary. If you want to help people in therapy, getting a masters in marriage and family therapy could be enough and getting a full PhD can actually be a hinderance and very costly (as you'll have to charge patients even more and have much more outstanding debt).

These are just some of the factors you may need to consider.


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ASS-P
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05 Jun 2017, 7:17 pm

...Is a DX that expensive if you're fairly well-paid and can reasonably consider the prospect of going to graduate school ?
Myself , I never truly went to college , never graduated/ got a BA , for sure , and that's a lifetime source of tears for me . :cry:
I'd like to go back , but my health and incredible problems with my records stand in the way , and I'd need more help , and of course there's money...I like to think that I would , if I could somehow get on the right track , be enough of " a suitable candidate for rehabilitation " that I could get enough grants/whatever to pay for it .


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" Oh, no! First you have to PROVE you deserve to go away to college! " ~ My mother, 1978 (the heyday of Andy Gibb and Player). I would still like to go.:-(
My life destroyed by Thorazine and Mellaril - and rape - and the Psychiatric/Industrial Complex. SOB:-(! !! !! !! !! !! !! !! !! !!


icechai
Tufted Titmouse
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Joined: 25 May 2017
Age: 36
Gender: Female
Posts: 45

05 Jun 2017, 7:39 pm

Hey Lockeye, that sounds like a really horrible experience. I would need accommodations for my mental illnesses and I'm pretty sure most graduate schools will not provide them, based on several people's experiences I've heard about so far. I'm still interested in getting a counseling certificate, but I would need to look into ways to fund that without taking on a lot more debt. Thanks so much for your reply though, I will definitely try to clarify what my goals are and then look at some programs.

Hi Ass-P, thanks for your message! My job is in a traditionally low paying industry, that usually pays as much as retail, and the jobs in my field are disappearing and being outsourced on a daily basis. Staying in my industry for more than a couple of years wouldn't make sense at this point, so I'm just working on learning more skills as cheaply as possible. I don't know if you've heard of MIT Open Courseware, but I like to listen to lectures on many topics there, like psychology, and the sciences, all the lectures, transcripts, and slideshows are available for free. Online resources are way better than they were a few years ago



kraftiekortie
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05 Jun 2017, 8:25 pm

What do you want to get you Masters Degree in?

I've taken some Masters courses. I have found them easier than courses taken to get the Bachelors. Professors generally have a little more respect for students at this level; classes are conducted on more of an equal basis, and it's more seminar and less lecture. Getting a C is almost a "failing" grade. I once got a "B" on a paper where I screwed up the topic. Unless you really screw up, you generally pass a Master's course.

I hardly ever worked hard with the courses, and I got all A's in my social work courses, and an A and B in my cognitive neuroscience courses (The B is where I screwed up my paper).

It's really a matter of time management. Maybe start off by taking one class?



KateUher
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08 Jun 2017, 10:14 am

I am currently working on getting a Master's in psychotherapeutic counselling. I have to imagine that every situation will be unique. For starters I do have a diagnosis. You might want to check on what the laws say about your right to request support. I like in the UK and I understand that a person can request for "reasonable adjustments" to be made when there is a suspected disability. In your question you listed out what your needs were, something I struggle with, so you have that going for you. Also I have heard many people say that academic work actually gets easier the further up they go. My husband has his PhD and lectures at a university, I'm certain that he is on the spectrum and most of his colleges strike me as being on the spectrum to, I would suspect that if you started a graduate program your needs wouldn't be hugely unusual. I'm sorry your mother compares you to your siblings. That's rubbish. I have taken longer to get to where I am, but I also feel like I'm probably happier than my NT cousins who seem much more insular and conservative in how they think and live. Best of luck!


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SocOfAutism
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09 Jun 2017, 12:27 pm

You need to do 1) a GRE, 2) get two or three recommendation letters from former professors or people you've worked for, 3) write an essay about why you want to go to grad school and what you will do after. Then just apply to whatever schools you are interested in. I would heavily advise doing something online.

I also heavily advise getting diagnosed and getting accommodations. You WILL get what you ask for, as long as you are somewhat reasonable. Usually people ask for the headphones, extra time on tests, a private room to take tests in, and permission to bring a laptop to class. No big deal. Oh and sometimes a recorder helps.

I agree the coursework is easier. And yes, a C is a non-acceptable grade. When they give you a B it's a subtle way of telling you they don't like you or you messed up. I've gotten some Bs. O_o

Often the other students are jerks. You may make friends but don't go there looking for them. And be prepared to hear all kinds of things about autism. Some things you'll agree with and some things will be stupid. It will be up to you if you want to correct anyone.

It would be good to get a master's for counseling. Perhaps for some kind of organizational psychology or HR thing. I'm not sure if it would be useful for much else. So I agree, make sure you have your end career in mind.

Make sure you talk to financial aid and apply for whatever help you can get. See if you can apply for a diversity grant as an autistic person (after you get diagnosed). Might be worth a try.



shortfatbalduglyman
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09 Jun 2017, 10:05 pm

Hi everyone! Hope something good is happening to each and every one of you today.
I can't afford to get an autism diagnosis, I have some mental illnesses (depression, general anxiety, C-ptsd, psychotic episodes, paranoia, etc.) and I was interested in the process of getting a master's degree. When I ask for help, I get general answers such as "just apply" and some variation of "you're smart, you'll figure it out". I am 28 now, and I'm no closer to figuring it out than when I was 22. I am also concerned that I will receive no support or flexibility when needed, just like I experienced when getting my bachelor's degree. I did graduate in 4.5 years, but it was a truly miserable experience from start to finish.

When it comes to important life events, I need the process to be explained to me step by step so that I can understand. I don't have useful intuition or common sense to help me out. My parents are also not helpful, my father hasn't been in my life for more than 10 years, and my mother puts me down against my younger siblings who are already working on/completing their masters.

Currently, I have a job that I enjoy that pays really well compared to other companies in my industry, and I am learning tech skills from online courses, which I am very happy with. I have trouble with focusing on and understanding long lectures, so I would need to bring a tablet or device for text to speech, as well as noise cancelling headphones wherever I go on campus. I studied English for bachelors and am kind of interested in a Masters in Psychology, so that I can understand the majority population who is in control of everything practically. Specific step by step instructions on how to apply, get into, and attend a master's program would be more than appreciated. :)))

___________________________________________________________________________________

your first priority, it sounds to me like, ought to be your autism diagnosis. if you do not have enough money to get an autism diagnosis, like you claimed, then you should not apply to masters programs. without an autism diagnosis, you could not get testing accommodations from school. (unless, of course, you disclose your other diagnoses.) be specific about what kind of testing accommodations you ask for. do some research online about what testing accommodations could benefit you.

apply for scholarships, grants, financial aid, fellowships.

look up, online, the schools that you want to apply to. find out their application process. for example, GRE, transcripts, letters of recommendation, application fee, personal statement. take the GRE and any test they tell you to take. get the documents they tell you to get. do what they tell you to do. and do some research about what grad schools are reasonable to apply to, based on gpa and other factors. then apply.

then apply.

okay, when you mentioned your younger siblings, it reminded me. my precious lil "parents" used to waste a lot of energy comparing me to my sister (4 years older). my sister is a medical doctor. and i just got a BA in cognitive science.

some of us are academically smarter than others.

but, life goes on.

it is legal for your mom to say anything she wants. it is legal for anyone to say anything they want. unless, of course, it is lying under oath, or some specific exception like that.

but, you do not have to believe whatever she tells you. yes, i know it's hard. yes, i wanted my precious lil "mom's" love acceptance and approval, too. and i wasted a lot of energy trying to satisfy her. but i ended up failing. and i ended up not satisfying either one of us. then 2 years ago, she dropped dead.

anyways, whatever.

based on the couple grad schools' websites i looked at, the application process does not look that different from undergrad applications.

anyways yeah. the applicaiton process is specific to the school. the bookstore has a lot of books about how to get scholarships and et cetera.



icechai
Tufted Titmouse
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Joined: 25 May 2017
Age: 36
Gender: Female
Posts: 45

10 Jun 2017, 11:09 am

Thanks for the helpful replies everyone! I truly appreciate you all :-)

I know there are a lot of resources out there, but its a LOT for my brain to sift through and try to figure out which details are important and which details aren't so much (various executive dysfunction issues). So having people explain this for me is extremely helpful, you guys don't even know!

Honestly, I am in no rush to get a professional diagnosis, or a masters. A diagnosis could actually make my life worse in some ways, for instance, I would not be able to move to Canada due to having a disability. I want to help people, and understand people better, but Im looking into ways I can do that, maybe not necessarily a career, but something I can do on the side. I hope to start a career in programming pretty soon, once I finish these online classes.

Thank you so much to all who replied once again! :-) :D