Pursuing Professional Goals

During my time as a Psychology undergraduate student at San Francisco State University (SFSU), I was exposed to many different perspectives in the field, and it made me realize that I wanted to pursue a career researching cognition and the workings of the brain. I was recently accepted into the MBB Master’s in Psychology program at SFSU. I chose to focus on a master’s degree prior to pursuing a doctorate, because I believe that gaining as much experience as I can early on, will allow me to build a strong foundation upon which I will be able to get the most out of a doctoral program. Getting a master’s degree would also prepare me to better deal with obstacles that I will inevitably face while pursuing my career.
My professional goals include

finishing my masters and pursuing a doctoral program in hopes to one day become a professor at an R1 university. Since a young age my teachers and colleagues have referred me to as a natural when it came to teaching. I have always been a person who cared a lot about helping those in need. Starting in middle school and continuing on I was involved in afterschool tutoring programs, which aimed to help struggling students with their schoolwork. I always enjoyed helping the students for who learning didn’t come naturally, which I believe is a necessary trait when being an educator. My strong passion for research began during my junior year of my undergraduate career when I joined the Action and Consciousness lab as a research assistant under the supervision of Dr. Ezequiel Morsella. Craving to learn more about the workings of the brain, I later also joined the Psychophysiology laboratory under the supervision of Dr. Mark Geisler. I believe that my dedication to the field and my passion for research has only intensified as I have gained knowledge and experience by working in the two laboratories mentioned as well as working on my honors thesis project.
Because I take my education very seriously and believe that experience will make me better suited for my future career, it has been difficult balancing my schoolwork as well as finding a way to meet my financial needs in order to remain at school. Spending over 60 hours a week at school in order to manage the work load of 19 units as well as a lab this semester has left little time for me to find a job which allows me to pay for housing and necessities. Thankfully my mother has been helping me out financially, however considering that we are a low income family and the fact that she is also financially responsible for my brother making ends meet has been a struggle.
Being awarded this scholarship would allow me to further focus on my education and my career while taking some of the financial stress off me and my mother. I believe that if I was selected for this amazing opportunity I would be able to further excel in my studies and continue to remain at the top of my class.