Research for Journal 6

Sofia Royo

  • Clinical research manager

  • Currently in Berlin

  • Did tutoring while in undergrad

  • Did both qualitative and quantitative research

  • Two undergrad thesis and two majors

  • MS in cognitive neuroscience

  • Speaks English, Spanish, and is learning German

  • Experience w/ AI and machine learning

Lizzie Wilson

  • Psychology internship

  • Worked at an educational non-profit that disseminated evidence based practices in psychology (President and possible founder)

  • Clinical PhD student at UNC Chapel Hill

  • Double major

  • Honors thesis and honors stuff

  • Did all the honors in high school

  • Chem/bio focus

Valerie Velasco

  • BA in psychology to MA to PhD

  • In multiple honors programs, especially for psychology

  • Worked at a Center for Child Abuse and Neglect

  • Interested in child psychology

Hannah Grace Rew

  • Christian

  • Internship at NOAA

  • Graduated in 3 years

  • Undergrad research assistant

  • Clinical psych phd at Ohio University

  • Psi Chi honors

All of these participants are extremely talented and have great resumes. All of them have gone on to pursue graduate studies at the PhD level. I noticed that most of these participants were part of several honors programs, completed an undergraduate thesis, and had two majors. Additionally, several of them graduated in three years and went on to study at Ohio University, where this program takes place. Many of them participated in internships, ranging from drug treatment centers to the NOAA. I do share some commonalities with the participants of this program. I’m planning to graduate in three years, have two majors, and I’m hopefully completing an honors thesis. One thing I’m lacking is research experience. While I’m in training for a research lab, I haven’t officially started as a research assistant. Participants in the Ohio REU program had several years of research experience, and I need to improve in this area to achieve my goal of graduate school.

While every person I looked at studied psychology, the participants approached the field of psychology from different angles. Some of the participants were interested in the neuroscience aspect of psychology, while others focused on counseling and clinical psychology. One participant, who now studies clinical psychology in Berlin, connected psychology to machine learning and AI. Another participant majored in both psychology and biology, with a minor in chemistry.

Reading the LinkedIn profiles of these former participants was intimidating. I’m part of one honors society and may start at a research lab, while these people were in multiple honors societies and completed years of research. One of the participants had their high school resume on their profile, and it was filled with honors programs, AP classes, extracurriculars, and pretty much every advanced studies option there is. My high school resume has several pass/fail grades because I had to complete credit recovery. I’m left feeling like I’m behind. I haven’t done all these amazing things and I don’t know if I can start a psychological education non-profit. I don’t want to feel like I’m chasing the dreams of other people or to stay stuck in the feeling of trying to catch up with other people.

Fellowship writing

  • Convey yourself to them

  • Create a narrative

  • Collect things that you have done

For this assignment, I talked to two forensic psychologist professionals from the University of Denver FIRST Center. Hailey Allo, the first person I talked to, is a postdoctoral fellow. She talked about the importance of mentorship for getting into graduate school. After getting a BA in psychology, she went to DU for a master’s in forensic psychology followed by a PsyD program. She mentioned that people who completed master’s degrees were more competitive when applying for further graduate education, which surprised me. A previous professor stated that MAs in psychology should only be done with a specific purpose in mind. I can’t take on the financial burden of a master’s degree without significant financial aid, but it was interesting to consider. Hailey Allo also described the internship process for licensure in Colorado, which I hadn’t heard about before. Additionally, she stated that to work for the Colorado court system, they require specialization, typically through the form of post-doctoral fellowships. Luckily, internships and post-doctoral fellowships are paid. One of my concerns about my future is the financial burden of higher education, and she provided greater detail into the actual costs of a career in forensic psychology. She also described the competitiveness of getting specialized graduate programs, which I’d previously heard about. One thing that reassured me was that she was able to get into graduate school with only one research assistant position. I’d previously been worried that I wouldn’t be able to get enough research experience in my three years at DU (2 and ½ by the time I need to apply to graduate school). It was nice to see that people get into graduate school despite the low acceptance rates. In my head, it was easy to conceptualize the people accepted into graduate school as having crazy resumes and constant research experience, so it was nice to see an example of an incredibly talented but still relatable scholar. After this meeting, I am going to look over the 4+1 master program to see if that would apply to my situation.

The second person I talked to was Joshua Francis, who is a supervisor at the Denver FIRST Center and a visiting/adjunct professor. He had an interesting career path because he served in the military and took a ten-year gap between undergraduate and graduate school. He also completed a master’s program followed by a doctoral program. He provided me with more details about the number of schools he applied to and the amount he got into. My fear has always been that I’d apply to a dozen schools and not receive a single offer, so it was helpful to have an example of the application and acceptance process. He also stated that it’s acceptable to reapply after you’ve been rejected after you’ve increased your resume. An interesting thing he said was that it’s helpful to focus on applying to schools you’re invested in, rather than focusing on staying in a region or applying for the sake of applying. He said that it’s much harder to write application essays and complete interviews when you’re not fully committed to that school. The two schools he got into were his top two choices, likely because of this. Another thing he mentioned was the importance of service and other activities outside of research. The importance of research has been hammered into me, but he stated that service work is appealing to graduate programs, particularly in the field of psychology. He mentioned that some people take a gap year and work with the Peace Corps or engage in a professional endeavor. He stated that taking a year off just to have a break from academics is okay, but that you’ll have to explain your reasoning during the admissions process. This was helpful to me because I’m considering taking a gap year, though it depends on my student loan payments. He also provided more insight into the academic and mental experience of graduate school. When I was younger I wanted to be a lawyer, but I stepped away from that dream because I’d heard a lot of lawyers mention having a breakdown during law school. In previous class assignments, I’ve heard that some lawyers recommended not becoming lawyers. It was reassuring to hear that while a psychology graduate program is academically rigorous, it is less breakdown-inducing. Both Dr. Allo and Dr. Francis encouraged me to continue my studies in forensic psychology, which is a good sign. Overall it was helpful to learn about what the process of graduate school and eventual career paths are. These interviews helped me conceptualize my future and gave me some things to consider about my own path.