Inside the Life of a Psychology Student – Aubrey & Tina (#4)
These series of articles are going to be based upon interviews with psychology students, we’ll be asking these students about their courses, what they like and dislike, how to succeed, and career information. For anyone currently considering, or actually studying, psychology these will be very helpful! Let us know what you would asking for future interviews in the comments!
Let me introduce our next two interviewees. We have Aubrey Cannon, who is currently pursuing a Bachelor of Science in Psychology with a minor in Child and Adolescent Development at San Jose State University in California, USA with a current focus on neuropathology. She is going into her second year of schooling, but will be a junior by next semester due to the fact that she took many advanced classes before entering college.
We also have Tina Tran, who is an Australian student (important to bare this in mind when reading her answers). She is studying her Bachelor of Science (Honours), major in Psychology, minor in Genetics, and on hold is her Bachelor of Laws. She is currently a 4th year Honours student at Monash University in Melbourne, Australia.
As always, we first asked these two students about their courses and universities specifically.
Us: How’s the program like and cost?
AC: The program is very detailed and allows the student access to a wide range of contexts and sub-contexts within the realm of psychology, whether it be counseling based or research based. The cost is one of the best in California. For the cost, we have excellent schooling, many exquisite programs, and countless resources that allow our education be utilized to its maximum potential.
Us: Have you had much career advice or training in your programme?
AC: I have not had much at all. Every bit of information I have ever had from a career or educational counselor has not been accurate. Due to this, I have taken matters into my own hands and researched every aspect of my future career, as well as the classes I must take to obtain my desired future.
Us: Is there something you’d like to study not within your programme?
AC: Dream Psychology has always been very interesting to me, but it is not something that is widely offered in most schools. I also think that it is not a greatly demanded subject within psychology.
Us: How’s the program like and cost?
TT: The ‘Honours 4th year’ is a compulsory year in Australia in order to become a registered psychologist and generally involves 2 parts: core subjects (on things like statistics, current topics in psychology, ethics, research methods) and a research thesis where you conduct a year-long project. Costs vary, mine is about ~$7000AUD.
Us: How’s the education?
TT: The core subjects are pretty standard, whether they are well-taught depends a bit too much on the professor. The research thesis is the exciting part and but also depends entirely on your supervisor and how fantastic they are! Undergraduate psych subjects generally feature heavy content based lectures and tutorials. Assessment tasks are usually essays, lab/research reports, and multiple-choice exams. The most interesting essay topic I’ve ever had to complete was in a first year psychology class asking me to view a sunset and record my experiences in terms of human sensation and perception, that was a real blast doing together with friends.
Us: Is there something you’d like to study not within your programme?
TT: I guess I wish there was more exposure to clinical psychology in the earlier years of the programme as well seeing as that is what most people are interested in when they start a psychology course.
Next, we asked about their career aims, and what they had done to further their careers.
Us: What’s your goals in terms of career?
AC: My goal is to become a neuropathologist with a focus in the developing brain.
Us: What do you look to do after your degree, further study or work, or something else?
AC: After my degree, I am looking to go into the research of mental disorders as well as apply for medical school to study neuropathology. I plan to continue volunteering at the Emergency Youth Shelter that I put my time towards.
Us: Have you had much career advice or training in your programme?
AC: I have not had much at all. Every bit of information I have ever had from a career or educational counselor has not been accurate. Due to this, I have taken matters into my own hands and researched every aspect of my future career, as well as the classes I must take to obtain my desired future.
Us: What’s your goals in terms of career?
TT: Probably academia/research, so looking at going the route of PhD -> Postdoc -> Scientist !?!?!?
Us: How easy will your career path be?
TT: I think a lot of successful career paths depend on knowing the right people, and being lucky in getting the opportunities when they come by. I can’t say it’s an easy career path, especially as a female, where rates of females getting to the ‘professor’ stage being notoriously low (as with many end career position in any field). I think research definitely opens up a lot of doors though, and the jobs I end up having might not have even been invented yet.
Us: What, outside of your degree, have you done to further your interest or career in psychology?
TT: I’ve done a heap of research internships since starting university (at a genetics lab, at an addiction lab, a neuroimaging lab, at a cardiology hospital unit, at the law faculty) that have helped me get a tonne of general useful research skills as well as in-depth knowledge about specific research areas that I could go into later on. I’ve also volunteered for things like mentoring and R U OK Day? where you really try to put yourself in another person’s shoes and understand how their thinking affects their day-to-day lives and how you can help them improve and reach their goals. Because psychology is studying the processes behind human behaviour and thinking, doing things like this definitely helps maintain that perspective.
Us: How did you find your internships?
TT: My short internships (for ~1 month) were useful for getting a taste of day-to-day life in a lab but were not very handy in getting a deeper grasp of a research area because there is only so much you can learn in one month. Generally you’ll be doing a specific short task that the supervisor needs (like some form of data analysis, a brief literature search, some menial data collection) and you won’t be able to immerse yourself into a project. This is good early on when you’re not quite sure what research is, but you want to get a feel.
We asked them both for advice they have for you guys.
Us: Whats one thing a student should know about studying psychology?
AC: It is a lot of work! Learning about the brain is not an easy walk of the park. You will be learning about a complex system that no one fully understands. You will have to understand that you will never fully understand and let that fuel you to learn more and more.
Us: And whats one thing a student should know about studying at University?
AC: It is not for everyone. If you feel as if it is not for you, that’s okay. If you feel as though it is for you, that’s wonderful. It’s an amazing opportunity to further yourself and your education, but it’s not the end of the world if you do not feel that it is the right choice for you.
Us: Whats one thing a student should know about studying psychology?
TT: That psychology is a huge, broad discipline and there is probably something that you will love in it, and there will be things that you are not so keen on, which for a lot of students is statistics (but this is very important so don’t neglect it either)…(or you might love everything!). Psychology is also a discipline that goes well with a lot of things, like law, or commerce, so I always encourage future students to bundle it with something else. Also, you should love reading. You will be reading a LOT of research papers.
Us: And whats one thing a student should know about studying at University?
TT: Uni isn’t for everyone but when you find that one thing you love studying, it’s an amazing experience and you’ll never want to leave! (The only bad thing is you don’t get paid…)
And finally, we asked about where their interest in psychology came from.
Us: What got you interested in psychology?
AC: The brain has always been this looming mystery to me. I never fully understood how it worked and still do not to this day. Whenever I have a question or do not understand something, I find the answer. Psychology is something that I will never stop learning about, so I will always be interested in it and try to learn more.
Us: How long have you been interested in it?
AC: I have been interested in psychology since I was about 12. As soon as I had the ability to realize that the brain was in control of every action I make, I wanted to understand it more and more.
Us: What got you interested in psychology?
TT: I think most psych students struggle with personal experiences of mental illness, whether it be yourself, your friends or family and I think seeing it and experiencing it definitely makes you want to get into psychology and help out those who suffer. That’s what happened for me anyway!
Us: How long have you been interested in it?
TT: Probably since the middle of high school? Around 14?
Tune in next week for more interviews with psychology students!
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