Figuring It All Out? by Grayson

Figuring It All Out? by Grayson - April 2025 Scholarship Essay

For the longest time I had been dead set on becoming an engineer, until the end of my freshman year, when I started to dislike higher level algebra. I then started to gain an interest in biology and environmental sciences. But after a couple of rough classes and a rapidly declining interest in these subjects as the curriculum got harder and harder, I decided to pursue a career in music. Now, with a couple of stints with major audition anxiety and a little bit of burn out, I have decided to minor in music, and use it more as a hobby/side gig. All of these changes have finally led me to land on psychology as my major, with backup plans, such as financing. Even without taking an AP psychology course, lots of instances throughout my life and one regular psychology class have done enough for me to want to dive deeper into the psychology field. I first started to gain an interest in the field when I heard about the variety of job opportunities a degree in psychology could offer, such as criminal psychology, sports psychology, music psychology, and your run-of-the-mill therapist. Many of these jobs pertain to interests and hobbies that I look into in my free time, and my interest in the way the mind works and how humans act and react, makes these jobs seem like a perfect fit for me. Another reason for majoring in psychology is my experience with my one psychology class and how interesting and fun the projects were, which then lead me to study high school students more and more in social situations. I found that observing the different ways my friends reacted to my questions or statements was very interesting and even somewhat fun, regardless if their reactions were positive or negative. This led me to ask questions as to why people react the way they do, and gave me an itch to learn the specifics and context behind these reactions. With college and majoring in psychology, I hope to be able to answer these questions and dive deeper into the human mind in hopes of helping others and finding a sufficient and enjoyable career path.