People are Josie Schoenberg’s ’24 top priority. The rising sophomore Honors student from Dunwoody, Ga., is a natural fit at Guilford, where she’s enjoying theater productions and her Psychology major.
"The experience I had with Admission Counselors was so wildly different at Guilford. I was treated like a person. ... It felt like a really good indicator of the kind of community this school has and how it treats people within it.”
“I'm a very empathetic sort of person, and Psychology seemed like a good way for me to apply the skills I have,” she says. “My strengths lie in interpersonal communication, and so I wanted to take the skill and my fascination with people and brains and make all of those things into a profession that helps people.”
Josie quickly found that her values are in line with Guilford’s.
“I knew I wanted somewhere small, and I wanted somewhere liberal arts, and funnily enough big, old trees were on my list, so that was that,” she says.
However, her affinity for Guilford goes deeper than these external qualities.
“The biggest thing was the Admission Office. The experience I had with Admission Counselors was so wildly different at Guilford,” Josie explains. “I was treated like a person. There wasn’t this attitude of like, ‘Good luck, kid. We don’t need you. You need us,’ that I was getting from so many other admission offices. It felt like a really good indicator of the kind of community this school has and how it treats people within it.”
Field Experience
Before arriving at Guilford, Josie already had two internships under her belt.
One was at Skyland Trail, a residential treatment facility in Atlanta for adults with a wide range of diagnoses. There she interned in the recreational therapy department. Her other internship was a day camp for children ages 5 to 15 who have autism. “That was excellent, too,” Josie says. “It’s honestly part of the reason I’m not sure whether I want to do pediatric psychology or adult psychology.”
Her next internship will come as one of Guilford’s Principled Problem Solving Scholars. Participation in the program comes with a stipend and a summer internship.
Acting is another way Josie has come to understand people and the human mind. She recently performed in a brand-new production called Coming Back to Me by writer and director Amy Da Luz, an Adjunct Professor in the Theatre Studies Department at Guilford. “The script was changing and evolving as we were in it. The work we were doing as the actors shaped the way these characters will be in perpetuity. It was very fun,” she says, noting that she may add Theatre Studies as a minor or major.
Because she would like to practice clinical psychology, Josie plans to continue her studies in graduate school and pursue a doctorate. She notes that Guided Discovery, Guilford’s integrated-advising department, has been a big help in choosing the right courses for the academic and career goals she has in mind.
Josie also has advice for new Psychology students coming in this fall. “Don’t be afraid to study broadly because there are a wide variety of applications for Psychology that you can pursue. Having a wide knowledge base is not going to make it harder for you. If anything, it’s going to make you a better resource!”
Are you interested in becoming a psychology major at a North Carolina college? Schedule your personalized visit to Guilford to meet your Admission Counselor and to learn more about psychology courses at Guilford.