I believe I have many characteristics and interests that would make me a good candidate for graduate school. I am a very introspective person; I put a lot of thought into what I do and why I do it. I constantly evaluate myself and my progress in making and reaching goals. One goal I have had for many years is to go on to graduate school. I know I have enough will and interest to make my goal a reality.

I have always enjoyed school and learning. My love of learning has been a key to my academic success and involvement. I am a Social an Behavioral Sciences Scholar, a National Merit Scholar, and a member of two honor societies, Phi Eta Sigma and Psi Chi. I also find I learn a lot by interacting with others. I participate in several clubs on campus. I was a member of the Student Environment Action Coalition (SEAC), and I helped to organize a benefit concert to raise money to save rain forests. I am currently involved in Anthropology Club, and Psychology Club. For Psychology Club, I am Vice President of Special Events; I help come up with topics for meetings, and I was in charge of publicity for our annual Volunteer Open House.

I enjoy being challenged, so I take heavy course loads and variety of classes. I will graduate with two Bachelor's degrees, in psychology and anthropology, after only three years and one summer of undergraduate study. I have been on the Dean's List every semester and have maintained a 4.0 GPA in psychology. I feel the courses I have taken have helped focus my interests and have prepared me for graduate work. Anthropology has given me a broader perspective on human attitudes, feelings, and behaviors than psychology alone. However, psychology as remained my favorite subject. I was a teaching assistant for Research Methods in psychology. This allowed me to work with others on all aspects of research from developing ideas to revising papers. I also had the opportunity to be a research assistant. I helped with data collection and putting it into a computer program. Next semester, I will be taking an honors course called Youth an Children: Issues and Controversies. As part of this class I will be volunteering with the Young Parents Together program and the Family and Children Council.

In addition to my classes and organizations, I also work at the Writing Center. I help university students with their writing skills. I have found that I have improved on my own writing in the process of helping others. I also tutored Meskwaki Indian students at a nearby middle school. I enjoyed watching their self-esteem improve at the same time a their grades.

I hope to continue my interests in research and teaching by eventually applying my skills to profit and non-profit organizations. I also would like to do work in evaluation research. I am interested in all types of issues and research, but I am especially interested in gender differences, distribution of power, and how people become empowered. I think I would really enjoy working with Dr. Abalakina because I share an interest in cross-cultural psychology. Dr. Madson would also be interesting to work with on the psychology of gender. New Mexico State's emphasis on computer training is especially exciting to me because I see that computers are becoming a necessity for any field, and I would like to improve my own computer skills and be able to apply them.