Spotlight: Class of 2024

Do you have a favourite memory or moment during your time as a psychology undergraduate student?

A moment that has stuck with me was the intro to the unit on emotions in PSYC 304, Brain and Behaviour. I was prepared to jump into a mechanistic explanation of neurons, but my prof opened by saying that “emotions are adaptive” and that they are evolutionary important experiences that have helped us to survive by motivating us to seek out our needs and avoid harm. This was profound to hear in the context of neuroscience as so often in Western society emotions are associated with weakness and are something to be avoided. Learning that emotions are normal and healthy - even the challenging ones-  in the human experience was so affirming. Then of course we got into all the juice of the neurons, brain areas, and transmitters. I carry this moment forever as it helped me feel less shame and more agency around my experience of emotions. It was refreshing to experience neuroscience taught with so much empathy and humanity. (Thanks Dr. Hosking)

During your time as a student, which psychological concept or theory piqued your interest—and why?

In Cultural Psychology, we learned how one’s cultural background influences how we perceive the world around us in something as simple as a line! Research has shown cultural variation in attention, cognition and perception that influence how we process our visual world: if we pay more attention to the individual components, or the whole image and its connections. We practiced giving stimuli of vertical, horizontal and lines that were slightly off either axis to people in our lives and it aligned with the research! This makes me think that if we can perceive something as banal and seemingly uniform as a line on a paper so differently, imagine more complex aspects of life. This also points to potential issues with standardized assessments that don’t take into account such cultural differences. It was a deep lesson in just a line. (Gratitude to Dr. Heine!)

If you could provide incoming psychology undergraduate students with one piece of advice, what would it be?

Be audacious, practice conscientiousness, get sleep, build authentic relationships with classmates, your profs and TAs, and care for your mental/emotional health. Take those risks applying for opportunities and RA positions, they just may pan out! But if you never try, it’s guaranteed to not happen. Stay after class and ask questions, go to office hours... Good things will come from building a strong academic community, including support you will appreciate later on. Academic success is more strongly linked to contentiousness than IQ, so get organized, know your deadlines, practice your retrieval, and find the study methods you resonate with most! (Worked for me!) Of course for your cognitive resources to show up, you’ll need to care for your physical and mental wellness. So set up your support systems and self-care rhythms that enable you to focus, including new experiences and ones that bring awe and joy. Move your body - it can get stiff behind that computer. And remember, your academic performance does not bear meaning on your worth as a person. You are already enough just as you are, and always will be. Believe in yourself, always keep going, and be generous with grace and self-compassion when you need it.

Graduating can be a thrilling—and overwhelming—time. What about this next chapter of your life are you looking forward to?

Firstly, I’m looking forward to a little bit of cognitive rest and summer! Haha. I’m curious to experience applying all of the incredible knowledge I have received within the academic world and beyond. I’m curious how it will impact my experiences: what I do, how I do it, and what’s possible. It feels like there is so much to reflect on and sort through with infinite possibilities of future directions including research, grad school, and careers that my degree in psychology has set me up for. I’m excited to find the spaces where I can fully work all of my new psychology muscles. Overall, I am excited to jump into the bright future all my learning and rich experiences at UBC set me up for! …and plenty of naps on the beach.

Is there anything else that you’d like to share?

The possibility of getting involved in research swayed my decision to transfer to UBC. Reflecting on that decision, I couldn’t have imagined the depth and extent of research I would have the pleasure and honour to be involved in, or the richness of my experience at UBC.

Once on campus I quickly realized students were more than dedicated academics, they were fully immersed in every aspect of university one could imagine - and the opportunities were abundant. I excitedly followed their example adding an invaluable layer of richness to the fascinating classes with brilliant faculty. I learned and competed nationally with UBC artistic swimming, worked with high school students, co-lead a student-directed seminar, and was an undergrad teaching assistant… All while gaining research experience in wildlife behaviour, dolphin language and culture, health psychology, existential psychology, and even getting to conduct behavioural neuroscience research with (and learn from) 32 sweet, motivated rat gals.

Rewind to a few years before, I was devastated to leave my beloved career in the performing arts due to a concussion that just never resolved despite my and my NYU care team's best efforts. The psych department faculty and beyond offered profound support (fellow students, staff too) as I navigated academics with an acquired invisible disability, enabling me to live to my full potential despite my delicate brain/nervous system function.

Now I graduate gratefully as a lab manager with a group of kind and brilliant humans, and look toward abundant future possibilities and where the journey will take me next. Decisions can be challenging, but joining UBC Psych was one I’m grateful I made.

Do you have a favourite memory or moment during your time as a psychology undergraduate student?

Not favourites, but I do have a series of memories I love looking back on. My most recent memory is when my roommate and I took a celebratory graduation trip during this year's exam season because we planned our courses to have no exams in the final year. Getting away from the general exam-stress environment to have fun was great!

Bonding with classmates at each other over difficult classes when we set up study sessions is always a fun memory. Knowing that others are facing similar stresses or worries to myself is comforting and really helps with building a sense of community in psychology classes that can reach upwards of 300 people. This is also why I really love smaller seminar or discussion-based classes because they give me a chance to build stronger connections.

I also love looking back at the process of learning or coding new statistical tests or breaking down research problems, as although the process can be frustrating, I love the sense of achievement, relief, and joy I get when I finally figure it out.

During your time as a student, which psychological concept or theory piqued your interest—and why?

Ah, that’s a hard question. I have so many I am interested in, but since I am graduating and looking for potential graduate school supervisors, a concept that has been on my mind is person-environment fit. Simply put, this concept looks at how suited or well-matched a person’s individual characteristics (e.g., personality, values, goals, etc.) with their environment (e.g., opportunities, culture, etc.).

I find that person-environment fit is such an applicable concept even outside academia and research. I also love how it reminds me to consider not only the actual parts of a job or opportunity but also its surrounding context and how those parts or context fit me as a person. There is no one-size-fits-all arrangement, and I love how this concept embraces and highlights the differences and idiosyncrasies people have between each other.

 If you could provide incoming psychology undergraduate students with one piece of advice, what would it be?

Take a breath (or more) and not rush through their undergraduate life. People go through life at different paces, and what works for you can be wildly different from what works for another person (remember person-environment fit?). You will often meet people who look like they have it all figured out with their research positions and plans for the future, and that might be true, but your situation and theirs are different, and it's okay to not be or want to be where they are (chances are they are also feeling a little lost!). So remember to be compassionate and patient with yourself, and if you are feeling lost or need some advice, don't be afraid to reach out to your friends, people around you, or even your professors or TA! It can seem intimidating to approach them, but many are super welcoming and are always open to help. And if you are looking for formal advising options, you can always go to Psychology advising or Arts advising. UBC Psychology and UBC, more broadly, have many helpful resources (e.g., career advising, well-being workshops, etc.), and many can point out or help you find those resources.

Graduating can be a thrilling—and overwhelming—time. What about this next chapter of your life are you looking forward to?

Honestly, just being able to relax and see my family back home during my gap year is a big one. However, I am also involved in some research positions or opportunities this summer, and I am super excited to be able to start having more time to dive into psychological research. Other than that though, I am also looking at potential graduate school supervisors and am looking forward to going back to school after a break from it.

Is there anything else that you’d like to share?

I recently learned to crochet and I love making crafts. For example, I have been taking some free donated books to make into book purses or clutches. I am currently volunteering/working on research in some labs over the summer. I also recently won the Faculty of Medicine Summer Student Research Program (FoM SSRP).

Do you have a favourite memory or moment during your time as a psychology undergraduate student?

It’s so hard to pick just one favourite moment as so many experiences here brought me joy, fulfillment and made me who I am today. One such experience was being elected president of the UBC Neuroscience Club (UNC) by a group of people I will always love a cherish. Further, some other rewarding accomplishments included being asked to join Dr. Sin’s lab as an RA, being able to host the first in-person Neuroscience Undergraduate Research Conference (NURC) after the covid online-only restrictions, being a part of creating the new neuroscience major at UBC, completing my directed studies project, and presenting my research at NURC, MURC and internationally at WPA. Furthermore, being part of UNC and Dr. Sin’s lab made me feel as though I was finally accomplishing things outside of the classroom and making the most of my time at UBC. Being a part of UNC and the UPLIFT Health Lab made me feel as though I was ‘doing something right’ and that I was on the right path thanks to the tremendously intelligent, accomplished, hardworking, impressive, and amazing people I was able to work alongside and who dedicated time, resources and more to make sure I succeeded because they cared and saw my potential.

During your time as a student, which psychological concept or theory piqued your interest—and why?

I’ve really grown to love cognitive psychology particularly pertaining to executive functions like working memory. This interest partially stems from my diagnoses of ADHD which commonly has relationships with working memory deficits, but also because executive functions are really what makes us human and unique and they can relationships with stress, depression, neuronal metabolism, activation and more. I feel as though it is a very rich area of research along with stress research and healthy aging research, which are also among my top interests. I really believe that this interest was sparked in Dr. Sin’s PSYC 314: Health Psychology course and I believe her teaching style and her material not only introduced me to health psychology but made me love it and opened my eyes to concepts like the biopsychosocial model which gave me a new perspective of how our environment and biology shapes who we are, our wellbeing and more. For me, this course was a breakthrough, it was the niche I had been looking for. I highly recommend taking this course for any psychology major.

If you could provide incoming psychology undergraduate students with one piece of advice, what would it be?

Don’t let your ideal timeline consume you or inhibit you from taking the time to find what you are truly passionate about. I, like many, had a perfect 4-year undergrad plan laid out (spoiler: not a single part of that plan went as predicted) and I never anticipated finding a passion for health psychology. It was a journey and I didn’t feel like I had found my niche, my real research interest, until I took Dr. Sin’s PSYC 314 class and joined the UBC Neuroscience Club. I read that PSYC 314 book cover to cover, I was motivated to attend office hours regularly for the first time and I have never done that with any course before or since. The UNC executive team really took me in under their wind, like I belonged there even though I knew little to nothing about neuroscience at the time. That is when I knew I found where I belonged and the achievements, my gpa, really everything started to improve and my goals or understanding of what I really wanted out of this degree became so much clearer (fun fact: even some professors at UBC have had similar experiences!)

Graduating can be a thrilling—and overwhelming—time. What about this next chapter of your life are you looking forward to?

It is a bittersweet thought to end my time as an undergraduate at UBC now but I am definitely relieved to finally have some time without exams to worry about! I am excited to begin working as a certified medical office assistant at BC Women’s Hospital, to work on publications, to travel, and to discover what might lie ahead academically for me. After all the time I spent saying I wanted to quit, that I would never finish, I sincerely am leaving UBC with extremely fond memories, amazing friends and mentors, and accomplishments my 18-year-old self would have never even dreamt of.

Is there anything else that you’d like to share?

We all come with a unique story and some aspects of my story my resonate with many others but when I was diagnosed with ADHD, GAD and PCOS, I really didn’t know how to manage my illnesses and academics. I felt like I was constantly working twice as hard to achieve half of what my peers were able to, and I felt behind. Once I realized that I was not giving myself a fair chance at doing as well as I could, I reached out to the centre for accessibility, I started going to office hours, and finding mentors which made a world of difference. Being okay with finishing in more than four years was also a difficult pill to swallow but this allowed me to take advantage of what UBC has to offer and accomplish everything I was truly capable of including 2 years as President of the UBC Neuroscience Club and member of the Neuroscience Steering Committee to change the Neuroscience program at UBC, three years as an RA and directed studies student at the UPLIFT Health Lab with experience in two other labs, presenting my research at NURC, MURC and the Western Psychological Association Annual Convention and more. Meeting others like me gave me the confidence to reach out for help and seeking opportunities and I saw doors open for me that I didn’t even know existed.