Low GPA and want to apply to mental health internships

[happynonsense]

I'm a third year student and my GPA is pretty low right now...2.5-2.9 approx.

I took a bunch of classes that I wanted to try out to see what I wanted to do (since I wasn't sure what I wanted to do in the future), which brought down my GPA a lot.

I just recently declared myself a psychology major and after a lot of thinking about my future, I've decided I want to go into mental health counseling. I want to apply to grad school for mental health counseling. I wanted to apply for internships for this summer but with my low GPA, I don't think there are any internships I will be eligible to apply for. A lot of the ones I've looked for require at least 3.0 GPA. I'm not sure what to do now?

I don't have much experience and want to get more to be a better applicant. I would like to get some experience in mental health field during the semester but I live off campus and don't have a car so I want to find something on campus.

Should I wait to apply for internships when I get better grades and my GPA gets better? How can I be a better applicant to get into grad school for mental health counseling?

Any advice would be appreciated!

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[submarine1991]

I wonder if volunteering for a crisis line will be appropriate for a potential mental health counseling grad student. Have you narrowed down schools you are interested in? Once you do, I'd suggest calling admissions offices and seeing what experiences and volunteer opportunities strong applicants apply with.

As far as being a better applicant, do you have one more academic year left? Have you taken your core psychology courses? You will want to get strong grades in those classes to augment your GPA. I'm not well versed with the requirements for that degree type but maybe you can take the GRE,do well, and that will bolster your overall application as well?

 

[happynonsense]

Thanks for your advice. I will definitely look into volunteering for one of those suicide prevention hotlines. I'm from NYC so I'm looking into grad programs in the city, like maybe CUNY programs which are probably really competitive. I have about two semesters left so I'm planning on using that time to get better grades.