Licensed Clinical Psychologist
About
Why did you choose to major in Psychology and how has that affected your career thus far?
I was always interested in psychology from a young age. I was curious why people thought and acted the way they did and I had a fascination with the brain. One of the reasons for attending Michigan was for its renowned psychology department. Freshmen year, I took an abnormal psychology and introduction to neuropsychology course and fell in love with the intersection of clinical psychology and neuropsychology.
What was your career path like?
In college, I was greatly involved in research and joined a cognitive science lab during sophomore year. I learned a great deal from the professor and the graduate students on how to conduct experiments and what it would be like to pursue a career in research. I was fortunate to be able to do an honors thesis, which persuaded me to apply to research-focused clinical psychology PhD programs. However, after a few years of being in the PhD program, I found myself yearning for more clinical training and did not find the research side as fulfilling. The research I was involved with did not have much clinical applicability; perhaps if the research were more clinically-oriented I may have been more satisfied. After receiving my master’s degree, I left the PhD program to pursue a career as a clinician. I took a year off after receiving my masters to gain more experience working with patients and teaching undergraduate students at two universities. I found the clinical and teaching work much more satisfying, which convinced me to apply to Doctor of Psychology (PsyD) programs as I wished to gain more clinical training. This was not the trajectory that I thought I would take in college, but I am very glad that I figured out what I was passionate about.
What advice do you have both professionally and personally for students and recent alumni who are interested in pursuing a career similar to yours?
Get as much exposure to different fields and subsets of psychology. I was so focused on staying on my path in college that I did not give myself the opportunity to further explore other areas. Had I given myself more exposure to other areas, perhaps I would have chosen to apply to clinically-focused doctoral programs and counseling psychology programs.
If possible, would you change anything about your career path?
I wish I had taken at least a year off after graduating from college to give myself more time to figure out what I wanted to do. For some reason, I felt that I had to go straight into a doctoral program, which did not allow me to deviate from my set path and explore other areas of psychology.
What has contributed most to your career success?
My curiosity and resilience. Whether in research or in clinical work, my curiosity propels me to try to assess the issue in differing ways, to ask many questions, and to keep searching for many possible answers. Additionally, I would attribute my success in finding the right career to my resilience. There were times in my previous program where I felt frustrated and had thought about entirely leaving the field of psychology. However, I am glad that I was resilient enough to keep searching for the right fit and what I am passionate about. Had I not continued to pursue that goal of finding the right career for myself, I would not be where I am, which is being passionate about what I am doing because I get to help others and also satisfy my curiosity about people and why we think and behave the way we do.
