In the Job Shadow: Studying at Psychology Schools
by Vicki Salemi
Name: Ashley Wells Major: Psychology Education: Indiana University (IU, Bloomington, IN), Class of 2004
According to Ashley Wells, studying at psychology schools is interesting because you can apply what you learn from your courses in psychology to social situations and life in general. "Psychology is involved in every aspect of an individual's life and teaches you so much about the world," she says. "I believed studying psychology would help me not only in school but in life."
At IU, Ashley took lots of courses in psychology before she chose to focus strictly on social psychology. She worked in a clinical laboratory and developmental psychobiology laboratory. Then, as a senior, aside from finishing up her courses in psychology, she spent most of the year working on her honors thesis: "The Merry-Go-Round of Infatuation -- Do you ever get off or just keep going around and around? The relationship between neuroticism and serial infatuation."
One memory from her courses in psychology that she'll never forget occurred during her time in the psychobiology lab when she had to work one-on-one with rats. She developed and tested hypotheses relating to the effects of handling on behavioral and hormonal responses of rats. "When I first started working in the laboratory with my friend Amanda, one of the rats somehow escaped," she says. "Needless to say, it was quite an ordeal. Before I knew what was going on, Amanda was gone and I was locked in a closet with a rat running around!"
Despite the rat race that college can sometimes be, Ashley went on to graduate and is currently studying psychology in the real world as an intake coordinator at the Family Institute at Northwestern University (Evanston, IL), a nonprofit corporation devoted to marital and family therapy, professional education, and research. Her job involves working with clients and matching them with the most appropriate therapists for their situations.
So take it from someone who's conquered studying at psychology schools -- psychology is an excellent choice if you enjoy learning more about the innerworkings of the mind, working with people, and gaining a deeper understanding of others and the world around you.
According to Ashley Wells, studying at psychology schools is interesting because you can apply what you learn from your courses in psychology to social situations and life in general. "Psychology is involved in every aspect of an individual's life and teaches you so much about the world," she says. "I believed studying psychology would help me not only in school but in life."
At IU, Ashley took lots of courses in psychology before she chose to focus strictly on social psychology. She worked in a clinical laboratory and developmental psychobiology laboratory. Then, as a senior, aside from finishing up her courses in psychology, she spent most of the year working on her honors thesis: "The Merry-Go-Round of Infatuation -- Do you ever get off or just keep going around and around? The relationship between neuroticism and serial infatuation."
One memory from her courses in psychology that she'll never forget occurred during her time in the psychobiology lab when she had to work one-on-one with rats. She developed and tested hypotheses relating to the effects of handling on behavioral and hormonal responses of rats. "When I first started working in the laboratory with my friend Amanda, one of the rats somehow escaped," she says. "Needless to say, it was quite an ordeal. Before I knew what was going on, Amanda was gone and I was locked in a closet with a rat running around!"
Despite the rat race that college can sometimes be, Ashley went on to graduate and is currently studying psychology in the real world as an intake coordinator at the Family Institute at Northwestern University (Evanston, IL), a nonprofit corporation devoted to marital and family therapy, professional education, and research. Her job involves working with clients and matching them with the most appropriate therapists for their situations.
So take it from someone who's conquered studying at psychology schools -- psychology is an excellent choice if you enjoy learning more about the innerworkings of the mind, working with people, and gaining a deeper understanding of others and the world around you.
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