Personal Statement

I will explore my intellectual and academic interests at the University of Pennsylvania through studying in-depth my different fields of interest. I am applying to the College of Arts and Sciences, where there is a wide range of majors and minors available for me to choose from.
Social psychology is a topic that I hope to study because it sparks my curiosity. Psychology interests me because it is intellectually exciting to learn about how the human mind functions. I am keen to understand how people’s brains affect their behavior under different circumstances. Likewise, sociology intrigues me because it is the study of human social relationships and institutions. Social psychology is a combination of those two fields, as it focuses on human interactions in addition to their origins and effects. I would love to

I want to learn how to help people recover from life-changing accidents. It is a field of study that has engaged me since my mother’s stroke about two years ago. I frequently accompanied my mother to her physical therapy appointments, and seeing her doctors try to restore her ability to walk on her own was an emotional experience. It was difficult for my mom and she was often exhausted at the end of her sessions. As I watched her become stronger and self-reliant, I knew I had found a career that I loved. I witnessed firsthand how therapists help their patients directly and how powerful and intimate therapist-client relationships can be. I observed my mom’s improvement, and I want to be able to do the same for someone in the future. Watching her walk on her own for the first time after her stroke was a tear-filled experience: I cried, my mom cried, and her therapist cried. I want to change people’s lives in the same way and help them regain their faith in themselves. At the University of Pennsylvania, I hope to gain the knowledge as well as the abilities to alter someone’s life for the