“Hello Future” Event Held for Psychology Students at KPU

Panelists prepare students to say hello to their future in psychology Oct. 13

Psychologists care for the wellbeing of people all across the globe, and it takes a lot of schooling to prepare to do that job right. In turn, getting the necessary degrees and qualifications demands an enormous amount of time, effort, and dedication from students who dream of working in the field.

Rarely is it easy, and according to the Kwantlen Psychology Society and KPU’s Psychology Department, the path to graduation can be fraught with confusion and obstacles. That’s why they set out to organize an event that would prepare psychology students for what lies ahead, using advice from graduates and professionals from Vancouver and its surrounding areas.

That event, Hello Future, was held on Oct. 13 inside the KPU Surrey conference centre. The room was packed that afternoon, not only with KPU psychology students, but also those from other institutions, graduates from various related programs, admissions officers, faculty, and others.

Four panelists opened up the event, moderated by KPS President Michelle Hunsche. Elisabeth Kreykenbohm, who received an MA in cognitive psychology from SFU, Kate Morrison, who received an MA in educational psychology from UBC, and Bonnie Chi, who received an MA in counselling, sat alongside Admissions Officer Mina Taheri at the panel to answer questions about going to school, graduating, and working outside of university.

Although Morrison feels well-suited to the degree she pursued, she adds that her “path to grad school was not straight at all.” In fact, she started out in marketing, and only after taking a few psychology courses here and there did she discover her passion for the subject. Chi and Kreykenbohm shared Morrison’s sentiment.

Taheri stands out on the panel as an admissions officer for Adler University. Her presence at Hello Future serves to provide specific insight into what post-secondary institutions are looking for from their applicants. Audience members scribble furiously in notepads as she gives advice.

“Get involved with the community. Adler focuses on social justice and community engagement as well,” she says. She also suggests that applicants remember to get three strong letters of recommendation from “people who can talk about you” and have relevant experience.

“We want to know about the personality of the [applicant]. We want to know how they perform in a group,” says Taheri. “Can you write me a strong, positive letter of recommendation?”

She also warns students who have not yet applied, “If you’re not interested in research but you want to do a Ph.D. you’re setting yourself up for five miserable years.”

Those tips apply to getting into grad school in particular, which take several months to complete. Part of that application should include applying for external funding such as grants and scholarships, according to Morrison. Applications themselves can be quite expensive, and the price for tuition in psychology can get extremely high—a cost that Kreykenbohm refers to as “rent.”

“You’re simply living in your lab at that point,” she laughs.

Two of the lead organizers behind the event, Hunsche and KPS Vice-President Alisha Gardiner, were inspired to create the event because of “a lack of information for students” in the faculty. Hunsche says that they “really wanted to fill that gap,” and part of that is showing “students who aren’t right for grad school [that] they don’t have to do seven years of a PhD program to go somewhere in psych.”

Gardiner relates personally to that struggle and feels that she benefited from Hello Future as a future graduate.

“I’m one of those students that craves this information and I don’t know what I’m doing, and I think it’s better to have it in one special place where everyone comes together and you can get all that information right away,” she says.