UVA Psychology Alumni

 

 

Although I am working in the IT industry, I feel that I have benefited from my past training as a psychology major tremendously. Not only has it satisfied my intellectual curiosity to learn about the world, it has also trained me in a wide range of transferable skills including research, critical thinking, communication and quantitative analysis etc.I have been applying these skills every single day of my work, when I am designing user-experiences, developing digital organization strategies and well as interpreting natural language, personalities and emotions with Cognitive Data Analytics. I am always grateful to the wonderful professors like Prof.Fred Smyth and Prof.Oishi Shigehiro who made my psychology learning one of my fondest memories in UVA.   

My psychology degree directly helped me in the process leading up to law school and will help me during law school and in my career. All of my psychology classes helped with logical reasoning, analytical reasoning, and reading comprehension for the LSAT and for law school. My “Science of Forensic Psychology” class helped to really confirm my interest in the law by showcasing the kind of philosophical questions I might face and the type of work I might do. The class also prepared me for the kind of  critical analysis I will do in law school. “Research Methods and Data Analysis” I and II especially helped with my critical thinking as well.  Classes such as Social Psychology, Personality Psychology, Abnormal Psychology, and Child Psychology will help me engage with my clients, other law students and lawyers, and juries and could definitely help if I choose to pursue family law. My Perception and Neural Basis of Behavior classes could especially help with personal injury law. My Science of Well-Being class changed the way I viewed the concept of happiness and will definitely help me make decisions in my law career. My favorite memories were taking "Science of Forensic Psychology" and "Science of Well-Being" as they were both very engaging courses and taught me valuable life lessons.

For the past two years I have worked closely with high school students as they pursue their post-secondary plans. My degree in psychology provided me with a lens through which I could understand the students' ways of thinking and addressing situations, how to best motivate and encourage them and, most importantly, how to interact and build relationships with them. 

 

I provide individual and group counseling for students and also teach classroom lessons on social and emotional development. I am also an advocate for my students and their families. I work in collaboration with teachers, administrators and parents and can also provide consultation to these groups as well. As a counselor, I am trained in the prevention and detection of mental health issues in a school.

 

 

 

 

My psychology degree has helped me because I deal with people every day.  It is very important to be able to build trust and confidence with my patients; especially since some are afraid of coming to see me.  My psychology degree provided a foundation of being able to recognize certain personalities and adapt my interaction with them accordingly to make their visits as pleasant as possible.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I use what I learned in Social Psychology, Personality Psychology, Forensic Psychology, Cognitive Psychology, Abnormal Psychology, Child Psychopathology, Research & Statistics, Animal Behavior, and Children, Families & the Law almost every day.