Mission Statement

Marisa Benjamin; 20479759

Arbus 300
January 23, 2015

Trying to understand the human psyche has always been my

core value. Ever since I can remember, I was questioning why people
are the way that they are and how I can help them. My parents joke
about how they would bring me along to dinner parties as a small child
and I would help them make small talk with the other guests because I
was able to prompt adults to talk about their lives and their problems. I
am highly inquisitive and a natural people person. This skill
combination has framed my educational and professional focus toward
social psychology. I am constantly learning and absorbing the
information around me to gain more knowledge and experience about
how people work. In the future, I will leverage my excellent
interpersonal skills combined with a specialized background in social
psychology to help other academics expand their research on human
wellbeing and to communicate the findings with the public in a
meaningful way.
I am currently a candidate for a Bachelor of Arts, Honours Arts
and Business Co-op with Psychology Major at the University of
Waterloo. When I first enrolled in this program in 2012, I declined offers
from the University of Western Ontario, Laurier University and
University of Guelph because Waterloo offered the best psychology
education in Ontario. It is almost impossible to have a career in
psychology without pursuing a masters and a PhD and knowing that I
selected my school based on the best chance I would have at getting
accepted into a graduate program. According to Macleans magazine,
Waterloo is frequently reported the best university in Canada when
ranked based on reputation (Browne, 2014). I am hoping that being

affiliated with this university will help my grad school applications

stand out amongst similar competitors from less well-respected
universities. But that will not be enough to guarantee my acceptance
to a grad school program.
There are many components that are assessed when applying to
graduate schools. Two years ago I attended a talk hosted by Allison
Kelly, a professor of abnormal psychology at the University of Waterloo,
and she discussed how to get accepted to grad school. First, grades are
extremely important. Professor Kelly said that a faculty average of 85%
gets your foot in the door but a 90% average makes you competitive.
Second, Kelly explained that at least two years of research experience
is crucial. Third, one must obtain three recommendation letters from
professors for their application. Finally, the scores of an intense
standardized test called the GREs is taken into account and getting
above an 80% on this test is sometimes more important than the
marks obtained throughout your entire undergraduate education (A.
Kelly, personal communication, March 8, 2013).
I did a little bit of my own research because I was in disbelief that
the process was so extensive. All of the results that I found on the topic
corroborated what Professor Kelly said. I decided to continue with
studies in business to compliment my psychology degree because I
read that in order to have an advantage in the industry one should
have a secondary background in a unique field as well (Grohol, 2002).
Therefore, I have dedicated the next few years to catering my
academic, professional and social goals towards maximizing my
chances of getting accepted into a grad school program.
Achieving high grades would be the easiest of my goals to
accomplish because I love to learn and my classes are fascinating. I
have developed my study strategies to utilize my love of learning. My
study space is comfortable and fun so when I have work to do it feels
like a hobby instead of a chore. My grades are already close to where
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they need to be and I am confident that I will be able to improve them.

I plan to replicate my study methods when it is time to take the GREs. I
will dedicate a month of my life after graduation to living, eating and
breathing the GRE material so that I can get the score I need. The
other two components, research experience and recommendation
letters, are what I continue to struggle with.
I have secured and fulfilled two jobs working as a research
assistant in different psychology labs on campus. The first job was in a
cognitive psychology lab and I found the work to be boring and
tedious. Because of that I quit after four months and do not expect any
recommendations from the professor for whom I was working. But, I
am trying again in a social psychology lab this semester. I have only
been working in this lab for a couple of weeks but I am already running
into similar problems. The work is boring and easy and I am struggling
to apply myself. However, the content is much more interesting. My
goal for this semester is to find away to enjoy what I am doing and I
plan to do this by taking opportunities to do more qualitative tasks and
to talk to the researcher about the results of the studies. If I can
successfully do this, I will also be building up a relationship with my
supervisor and will therefore be able to get one recommendation letter
for grad school out of the experience.
In two years I will send off my applications, focusing on applying
to specific psychologists and not the actual schools. Graduate
programs typically accept 10-15 students per year. This seems
intimidating but I have learned that it is more important to build a
rapport with a particular professor in my specialty of choice because
they can help to guarantee a spot for me in their program. In my
career, I want to work with world leaders of cutting edge psychological
research and the way to do this is through building a strong social
network. In order to achieve this, I will make a point of seeking out
psychology conferences where I will meet other psychologists and
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academics. Psychology academia is an industry much like a club, and I

am very excited to become a member.
After establishing myself as a psychologist, I want to shift my
focus towards sharing research with the public. This is when my
communication skills will truly give me an advantage. I picture myself
speaking at conferences to thousands of people, sharing my
knowledge about wellbeing and happiness. Psychology is fascinating
because it is a relatively new, emerging field. It has only been around
for 100 years and there is still so much to be learned (Galotti, et al.
2010). I want to study topics like addiction, morality, wise reasoning,
humour, health psychology and intergroup relations. One day, I will
write a book. I recognize that my dreams are big, but my mission is to
help others while pursuing my passion of learning about the human
psyche, and if I implement my plans successfully I am confident I will
achieve my goals.

References
Browne, R. (2014, October 30). The 2015 Macleans University
Rankings. Retrieved from
http://www.macleans.ca/education/unirankings/ introducing-the2015-macleans-university-rankings/
Galotti, K., Fernandes, M., Fugelsang, J., & Stolz, J. (2010). Cognitive
Psychology: In and out of the laboratory. 1st Canadian Edition.
Toronto, ON: Thomson Nelson Publishing.
Grohol, J. (2002). So You Want to Become a Psychologist? Retrieved
from http://psychcentral.com/lib/so-you-want-to-become-apsychologist/0007166