A Whale of a Passion for Psychology :: Graduate Admissions Essays

A Whale of a Passion for psychological science A beluga whale helped me first light up my true academic passion. I spent my high tame summertimes and weekends volunteering at the New York Aquarium, first in the education department, and later in the cultivation department. It was there, through casual and explore-oriented observations of cetaceans, that I began to wonder ab erupt animal and tender-hearted minds. I later had the prospect to participate in an observational research jump out, helping to record info on the behaviors of new whale calves and mothers. My unaffixed and formal observations fed my intimacy in the phylogenetic and ontogenetic bases of apprehension and language. As a psychology student at my school, I had many opportunities to research and observe humankind being psychology, both in and out of the classroom. As a sophomore, along with a professor and fashion plate students in a seminar class, I helped design and take up a study on salmagundi and users intentions. Later that grade we presented our findings at the annual American Psychological companionship meeting. In that same course I also assisted a professor in conducting a study on the effects of long-familiar and unfamiliar music on reading comprehension. I spent the summer following my sophomore year (1997) as a research partner in the my school Psychology Department, funded by a grant from the Howard Hughes Foundation. I collaborated with a professor, a fellow undergraduate student, and a visiting high school student to research, design, and run a study on attitudes towards germs and illness. This included conducting an extensive literature review, specifying research questions, and invention questionnaires that would help us effectively resolving power our research questions. In attachment to strengthening my research abilities, this vex gave me the valuable chance to interact with fellow researchers as a student, a peer, and a mentor. My extracurri cular research experience during my sophomore and junior years of college gave me the tools to respectively develop and carry out research projects. During my senior year at my school, I completed a long term library- found research project on the evolution of the human linguistic ability. As a person who tends to look at the outstanding picture when conducting research, this project was the perfect opportunity for me to integrate research from legion(predicate) fields and subfields in order to resolve a psychologically based question. Through the study of anthropology, paleoneurology, neuropsychology, linguistics, and psycholinguistics, I explored theories debating the neurologic and behavioral bases for language evolution.A Whale of a Passion for Psychology Graduate Admissions Essays A Whale of a Passion for Psychology A beluga whale helped me first realize my true academic passion. I spent my high school summers and weekends volunteering at the New York Aquarium, fi rst in the education department, and later in the training department. It was there, through casual and research-oriented observations of cetaceans, that I began to wonder about animal and human minds. I later had the opportunity to participate in an observational research project, helping to record data on the behaviors of new whale calves and mothers. My informal and formal observations fed my interest in the phylogenetic and ontogenetic bases of cognition and language. As a psychology student at my school, I had numerous opportunities to research and observe human psychology, both in and out of the classroom. As a sophomore, along with a professor and fellow students in a seminar class, I helped design and run a study on categorization and users intentions. Later that year we presented our findings at the annual American Psychological Society meeting. In that same year I also assisted a professor in conducting a study on the effects of familiar and unfamiliar music on reading com prehension. I spent the summer following my sophomore year (1997) as a research assistant in the my school Psychology Department, funded by a grant from the Howard Hughes Foundation. I collaborated with a professor, a fellow undergraduate student, and a visiting high school student to research, design, and run a study on attitudes towards germs and illness. This included conducting an extensive literature review, specifying research questions, and designing questionnaires that would help us effectively answer our research questions. In addition to strengthening my research abilities, this experience gave me the invaluable opportunity to interact with fellow researchers as a student, a peer, and a mentor. My extracurricular research experience during my sophomore and junior years of college gave me the tools to independently develop and carry out research projects. During my senior year at my school, I completed a long term library-based research project on the evolution of the human linguistic ability. As a person who tends to look at the big picture when conducting research, this project was the perfect opportunity for me to integrate research from numerous fields and subfields in order to answer a psychologically based question. Through the study of anthropology, paleoneurology, neuropsychology, linguistics, and psycholinguistics, I explored theories debating the neurological and behavioral bases for language evolution.