James McNeal '23 Recruiting Profile

Personal statement 

Growing up was very hard for me. I had to go through a lot of things that I shouldn’t have at a young age. I went through physical abuse until I was 3 then I was taken away from that by my dad. My dad had anger issues and he said a lot of things that would hurt my feelings. At a young age I would go to school mad and do things that would get me in trouble. It’s a good thing that the women that my dad got with after taking me away from my birth mom's abuse. The reason I call her my birth mom is because the woman that my dad is with now I call mom and have been since I was around 6. She is the best thing that ever walked into my life and I appreciate her so much. She gives me everything that I have and treats me like I am her son and she has two other actual children. I have never felt other than her actual son and she has never made me feel less than that. When I was in school I chose to take help from a counselor because I had inherited my fathers anger. It has helped me so much with everything it makes me handle situations so much better. I used to get into a lot of fights until I got to highschool and the counseling finally started to pay off. Also, I did badly in school a lot until I got to high school. I finally got higher than a 3.0 in my life and I know that I’m not doing the best in school but I was finally proud of my grades. This could’ve never happened without the women I call my mom and all the counselors I ever talked to in my life. This is why I want to pursue my career in psychology to help people deal with their problems. I want to help people do what my counselors did for me and make sure that they can turn around their lives just like I did. I noticed that I was good at talking to people about their feelings and helping them come to terms with how they were feeling when I helped my friend. This friend's grandparents had just died and he told me about it at a football game before it started. When it was over he felt way better and he asked me to come play basketball with him but too bad the gates to the courts were closed. At the end of the day I felt so good knowing that I helped him feel better and come to terms with what had happened. Even if I just helped a little I was happy to help and that is why I want to be a counselor. Helping them get through their life problems and stopping their depression so they don’t hurt themselves or do something they might regret. I know that there are not a lot of male counselors out there because this is a mostly feminine job and some people feel more comfortable talking to a woman. This gives me the opportunity to be different and be the guy that does take the chance to help people and some even save lives. I do this to help people get out of the angry place I was once in and I’m not saying it’s all gone now but it’s way better then when I started. When I first started counseling I would start a fight over one mean thing someone said to me but now I can walk away from bigger situations. I love feeling stronger and being able to handle situations better knowing that I couldn’t do this before. Most importantly this is why counseling is my passion and I want to go to college to get my degree in psychology.