“My name is Carly Sumner and I am a college senior, double majoring in Psychology and Pre-Med. I was tested about a year ago, and at that time had just completed all of my pre-med courses; however, although I had done well in the courses I was unsatisfied with my medicine-related extracurricular activities and felt I was working too hard for my grades. I thought that another conference with you might be able to help me understand this, and maybe offer me some alternatives.
Reviewing my scores at the follow-up conference clarified why I was having such difficulties with the pre-med courses. A couple of months ago I finally decided to drop pre-med and pursue another career, such as a speech-language pathologist, to incorporate my auditory aptitudes, which—along with Silograms, Foresight, vocabulary and Ideaphoria—were my highest scores.
Considering a Major Change
Since the follow-up conference, I have also been seriously considering some of the other professions JOCRF suggested to me, especially those having to do with music. This makes sense, as I scored very high on all three of the auditory tests. I’ve been playing, composing, and listening to music for as long as I can remember. Although there are certainly careers that incorporate auditory aptitudes into the psychology training that I already have completed, I recently realized that simply having an outlet for my auditory aptitudes is not enough. Music is my true passion and I really need to make it a major part of my career.
I always dreamed of a career in music and when I was a child my music teachers urged me to pursue that. But performance anxiety (which has now greatly subsided) and a feeling that I should pursue a more practical career led me to rule it out for a long time, and now the thought of actually doing it is really exciting.
I’m in my second semester and am taking all music classes, (although I have kept my part-time job at the hospital in an autism research lab) including a music producing and a songwriting class, both of which I am absolutely loving, and took music theory last semester. I feel so much more in my element in these classes and now I know why. After graduation, I hope to base myself in Los Angeles and get a research job while checking out the music scene, and hopefully move to Boston if I get into Berklee College of Music’s music production and composition program next winter.
Thanks so much for the help that Johnson O’Connor has provided in helping me discover how to use these aptitudes early on in life.”