Life of a Psych Major

Alberto: When did you decide to study psych?

Me: Well from a young age I’ve always been interested in the minds of people and why people do what they do, what makes them tick; the clockwork of the mind. I’d say what really made my path concrete though was when my best friend suffered from depression. It came out of nowhere; he had a great life a great family, people who cared for him and he just told me he didn’t want to live anymore and I didn’t understand it, neither did he. He was not the only friend who I’ve had suffer from depression but that was the most impactful on me because of the closeness of our relationship; he actually tried to take his life. That just made me want to figure out the cause of it and the possible cures, especially depression that comes out of the blue for no apparent reason.  

Alberto: Since that experience do you analyze people when you meet them, read them so to say?

Me:  I wouldn’t say just because of that experience. I think I’ve always had a tendency to maybe over analyze people. When I first meet somebody. Just their posture, their gestures, the way they speak, the way they shake hands, what they’re wearing. Just all in all can give me an assumption of what kind of person they are or their background and I would say that plays a pretty big part in why I want to become a psychologist. Just being interested in people and why they tick.

Alberto: Is that something that maybe you acquired from your family? Just being able to read people? A lot of people say don’t judge a book by its cover but you can tell a lot about a person from your first experience with them.

Me: I would agree with that. The cover of a book so to say tells a lot about the book itself. Maybe you shouldn’t but you definitely can get a general analysis of somebody, not always accurate, based on initial impressions. I would say my family would play a role in that. My mom has always been one to analyze people, especially my friends. And she’s usually right, almost as if she has a sixth sense, so I can’t even get mad at her for that

Alberto: Is there a bond would you say between psychology majors at least on state campus?

Me: As far as a bond we definitely connect often times for simple fact that even though we aren’t underrepresented we are definitely underestimated. People think oh you’re a psych major because you may not be good at the more empirical sciences and maths dealing more strictly with numbers, since psychology is a science based often times on theory. As a psychological community we all understand that. We all understand that the pay for psychology majors if you don’t pursue a medical background is probably going to be pretty low so if you are a psychology major you have to love what you’re doing and want to help people. I’d say all psychology majors are in it to help people.