Why This?

I am choosing to research the Psychology major for a couple of different reasons. I have heard the most about this major out of all of the other majors available to me at UNE because my dad studied psychology at UNE and my sister is also doing something with psychology during her time at Wheaton college. I am not sure if psychology is actually something I am interested in which is why I am choosing to research it. I am very interested in how each individual human thinks and what goes into certain behaviors. I feel this is also becoming a very important major because we have seen trends of mental health issues in the world increase exponentially in the past years. I know if I choose to study this major I will be able to help a lot of people during my life and have the ability to help increase people’s mental health.

The email I sent to a professor reads as

“Hello Professor. Burman, 

I am a student in the GUST program and for one of our projects we have to explore a potential major we might be interested in. A requirement for the project is to interview a professor in that major. I was wondering if you would be interested in meeting with me either in person or zoom (whichever one is easiest for you) in the next couple of weeks to just answer a few questions I have about the major. No worries if you decided not to.

Thank you,

Seth Huntington”

A couple questions I plan on asking is 1. If had you had explain this major to someone who has never heard of psychology before, what would you say? 2. What is a typical class like? 3. How might this major set me up in life? (in other words, do people tend to get jobs right after college with a psychology major?) 4. Are there any minors that are good to pair with psychology?

(October 11th, 2022) Professor: On October 11th, I interviewed Professor Burman. The interview was very informative about the psychology major. In between the why this part of the project and the interview, I did some thinking about what I would want to do with a psychology major after college. Of course, this is all what ifs because I’m not completely sure if I want to study psychology. I would like to possibly double major in psychology and second education so I could become a teacher, so my interview really consisted of talking about the psychology major as if I was going to pursue a teaching career. I don’t have any quotes from the interview at this exact moment because I just got done interviewing Processor Burman. After the interview, I asked him if there are any students that he would recommend to me for a student interview. He said he is going to follow up with me in an email with any students that might be good for an interview. Questions I asked…

  • Could you give a quick overview of what the psychology major consists of? (I have an idea, but just want to get a better understanding)
  • If I am interested in possibly being a middle or high school teacher, would it be in my best interest to pair psychology with secondary education?
  • Internships? If so, is it required? What level of assistance will I have in finding one?
  • Is continuing education into grad school with psychology an option? And if so, what are the different options?
  • What type of coursework and projects (essays, papers, group projects, research, assignments) can I expect in the courses for this field?

The interview made me realize that I am now living in the real world. What I mean by this is that all the decisions that I am making now should reflect what I want to do later in life and everything in college is an opportunity to become more prepared to pursue a career.