University Admission

★ Barnard College of Columbia University

Scope of the program

Overall structure

• Bethan and the mentor met eight times on zoom for one-on-one meetings that lasted one hour long. They began work at the end of 2020 and worked through January 2021.
• She wrote a final research paper on “Countries With Different Covid-19 Reaction Approaches Due To Their Different Cultural Structure”.

Learning objectives

• Bethan was interested in developing her skills and knowledge of psychology, social psychology, cultural-psychology, and sociology. She had experience with three very different schools systems and had spent time in several countries. This background inspired her interest in completing a project that explored cultural differences.

What challenges did she face?

• She was in between schools and college programs and was doing on-line college learning. This resulted in her having little time and she had to rush her final paper for this program

How did our program partly help in her Psychology Columbia University transfer?

• This program exposed her to reading and writing academic papers on an undergraduate level.
• With the mentorship program added to her portfolio, she was able to strengthen her college transfer application and was accepted into the Department of Psychology, Barnard College of Columbia University.

Matched mentor

At the University of Pennsylvania, the mentor teaches sociology and urban studies. He holds a position as a Research Consultant for a nonprofit organization in addition to his work as a Research Analyst for the US Department of Veterans Affairs. This organization engages in study, analysis, and advocacy on behalf of underprivileged groups, such as prisoners, veterans, and patients.

Bethan was very candid and open about her background and feelings. I appreciated her humility and candor. I appreciated her perspective on how her personal background intersected (and sometimes conflicted) with China and Chinese culture. I learned from her wisdom about cultural differences between China and the United States.

Lecturer from University of Pennsylvania

Mentor’s evaluation on the student

Do you have any advice for this student as to how the student could further explore this discipline in the future?

Bethan needs to do more reading and follow through on learning about topics. She is curious and bright, but she would benefit from a more sustained engagement with readings on topics and areas of interest.

In what areas would you like to see this student improve in the future?

Bethan needs to develop focus and do more sustained reading and engagement with writers and scholars of interest. Moreover, it would be good to be forthright with instructors about any efforts, limitations, and concerns.

Student testimonial

Student testimonial after getting accepted to Psychology, Barnard College of Columbia University

“The mentorship program with my mentor was extremely beneficial and opened my eyes on a
lot of social problems. Each session was designed to discuss a previous readings assigned
therefore a lot of interesting readings were shared through the mentorships. Some of the
ones that I really enjoyed reading was a chapter from the Outliers, an article related to the
pandemic.

The chapter from the Outliers talked discussed reasons of why Korean Airline
once faced so crashes, It was a surprise to me when the author concluded that language
was the main cause. Culture study has always been something that I am willing to learn
more about therefore I think that chapter was the perfect intro to this mentorship.
Throughout the two months of time working with my mentor, we also dove deeply in to the
topic of Covid-19.

We discussed how different countries approached the pandemics and
what are some of the advantages or disadvantages of doing so. As a result, a paper on “how
culture structure in different country affect the outcome of pandemic” was written, in the
paper it focuses on how different culture orientation would lead to different approach of
how to mitigate the pandemic.

Overall, It was a really good and impactful experience to be
able to work with my mentor over the past few months. I am extremely grateful for all the help
and support offered.

Bethan Chin

Excerpts from the student’s work

Excerpt from the student’s final research paper on the topic of “Countries With Different Covid-19 Reaction Approaches Due To Their Different Cultural Structure”.

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