Running Head: ENTRY ESSAY 1

Entry Essay

Whitney West

California State University, Monterey Bay

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My name is Whitney West and I was born on November 19​th​, 1997 during a cold

afternoon in Henderson, Nevada. I am the second child to parents Karin Mitchell and William

West. I grew up in a typical middle-class household. The house I grew up in could be described

as an average suburban two story home in a diverse neighborhood. There was not much to do in

Henderson, so much of my time and extra-curricular activities revolved around playing soccer,

which helped teach me the discipline and determination needed to succeed in my day to day life.

After kindergarten, I ended up attending a public elementary school and a public middle school.

During my elementary school experience I had teachers who cared very little and teachers who

cared a lot. Each of them gave me different types of perspective on my education. My middle

school experience was similar to my elementary school experience until it was split in half. Once

I had reached the eighth grade my parents then decided to move to a small town named

Glendora, in Southern California. In Glendora, I ended up attending a public high school. The

town of Glendora could be described as a small family town in the southern foothills of Los

Angeles National Forest. Located only about forty-five minutes to an hour from the beach meant

that I needed to have completed my homework and achieve high leveled grades to be able to

have the freedom to do what I wanted to do. Even though I was still attending public schools, the

transition from the Nevada to California education system was a hurdle. Adjusting to a new

town, with new people, and a harder education system definitely took a small toll on my grades

until I was able to get on my feet and figure out how the system worked. All of these experiences

helped to prepare me for college.

The topic of college has always been a massive ordeal for my family. My siblings and I

have all started our education at a very young age with the expectation of attending a higher
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education institution. Some of my earliest memories include sitting at the dining room table

practicing in my math and English workbooks. Even though it was only my father who had

received his bachelor’s degree later on in life, both of my parents vigorously urged my siblings

and I to pursue it for ourselves. From high school, I was originally supposed to attend San

Francisco State University. After thorough contemplation, I decided to attend the local

community college in Glendora, Citrus College, to save money instead. The decision assisted in

bridging the gap from high school to college. There was a slight change in the way that my

schedule and motivation to attend school were now completely up to me. Citrus college had

many similarities and many differences to California State University, Monterey Bay. I enrolled

in several different courses to test out where my interests had peaked. My educational experience

differed in the way of at Citrus most of my courses were general education courses, while at

California State University, Monterey Bay due to me being a transfer student, all of my courses

pertained to the major of psychology. The ways in which they were similar were how they both

required me to make my own schedule and depend on my own motivation to attend class. About

half way through my time at Citrus College, the opportunity to study abroad in London, England

had presented itself. Attending a semester at the University of London also had several

similarities and differences to attending California State University, Monterey Bay. Some of the

courses I had taken at the University of London happened to be psychology courses. I couldn’t

help but notice how many similarities and parallels the experience of living in a new city

overseas and the information I was being taught in psychology were having. It was this

experience that resulted in me wanting to pursue a psychology degree. After deciding on which

major I wanted to pursue the path to transfer had begun. After intensive research, I decided to
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attend California State University, Monterey Bay for their psychology program and for their

study abroad program.

The experience of attending the University of London had opened my mind to new

perspectives. At the time, I was not quite too sure which major I had wanted to pursue and I was

not connecting to any particular subject. It was not until going to London and taking a

psychology course that I had found myself genuinely interested in a subject. I found myself

constantly wanting to learn more and constantly wanting to participate in the course. Compared

to every other subject psychology was the only one I did not feel like it was work and

emotionally draining to pursue. Another reason I had decided to major in the subject of

psychology is because of the professor that had taught the psychology course during my semester

at the University of London. It was the first time I had experienced a professor introduce and

teach topics through such an open minded nature that it had drawn me to the subject. I was also

finding that the more and more I learned the more understanding I had felt towards not only

myself but to the world around me. It helped me to understand certain thoughts and feelings not

previously taught in my childhood to gain emotional intelligence.

Some of my professional goals before attending California State University, Monterey

Bay included; raising my grade point average, studying abroad again, completing a bachelor’s

degree in no longer then four years, and learning how to set myself up for graduate school. Once

I decided on majoring in psychology, I set a goal to raise my grade point average to have the best

chance to being accepted to transfer to California State University, Monterey Bay and to show

my professors I was serious about my education. Another goal was to study abroad again with

psychology to have another educational perspective opening experience. Since deciding on

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pursuing psychology I have done my best to receive no lower than a B letter grade in any course.

One of the main reasons I chose California State University, Monterey Bay was because of their

study abroad program with the Amsterdam University of Applied Sciences’ Positive Psychology

minor program. Another one of my goals I had set before attending CSUMB was to graduate

within four years. For that to be possible, I needed to take almost twice the amount of units that

was considered normal to be able to fit the requirements for a psychology bachelor’s degree and

studying abroad with a minor in positive psychology. It also meant that I would take my

capstone course my second to last semester to be able to have attend Amsterdam my last

semester before graduating in four years. An additional goal I had set before coming to

California State University, Monterey Bay was to figure out the steps necessary to pursue my

education to graduate school. To do this, I needed to figure out which topic in psychology I

wanted to focus on. As of now I have decided on pursuing International Industrial Organizational

Psychology. As described by the book ​Psychology at Work: An Introduction to Industrial and

Organizational Psychology​ students learn to understand employee development and different

organization structure to understand psychology in the workplace (Berry 1993). I am still

working on learning and pursuing the exact path I need to take to figure out which graduate

programs and when I want to take.

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References

Berry, L. M., & Houston, J. P. (1993). ​Psychology at work: An introduction to industrial and

organizational psychology​. Brown & Benchmark/Wm. C. Brown Publ.