Are you considering a career in the field of psychology but don’t know where to start or what questions to ask? Perhaps you are a high school, undergraduate, or graduate student who is looking for insightful and practical advice regarding your academic and professional career path in psychology. In this podcast, Sa-kiera “Kiera” Hudson, PhD, reflects on her journey and transition from undergraduate student to graduate student to postdoctoral fellow to Assistant Professor at University of California Berkely Hass School of Business in the Management of Organizations (MORS) group. Throughout our lively and candid discussion, Dr. Hudson shares practical and insightful advice for those interested in advancing their educational and professional careers in the field of psychology. Add this to your “must listen to” podcast list as Kiera provides an honest and transparent view into her personal, academic, and professional journey and offers impactful advice on a variety of topics.

Sa-kiera “Kiera” Tiarra Jolynn Hudson is a first-generation college student who matriculated at Harvard before switching over to Williams College in Massachusetts, where she received her Bachelor of Arts in Biology and Psychology. When she attended Williams, she originally wanted to be a biology and STEM major as she thought it was important to do STEM as a Black woman. Kiera thought “psychology was what people did when they couldn’t hack it in the sciences” so when she needed to take a fourth course in her sophomore year, she thought “let me go take this easy psych class that everyone is talking about.” She recalls, “I was floored. I fell in love with psychology because it was the study of social issues using the scientific method. And that blew my mind, it just, it truly, truly did.” She discusses how her introduction to psychology class was taught in a unique way (i.e., it was taught by 5 different professors each in their own discipline).

Kiera then attends Harvard University and explains the process related to searching for graduate schools and programs in the field of psychology and why she ultimately chose Harvard for her doctorate in Social Psychology. She recalls, “one thing I had to remember when it comes to picking graduate programs that is different than undergrad, and part of that is, when you’re picking a program for graduate school it's really about the fit with your advisor.” During our discussion, Kiera opens her Google spreadsheet and shares the exact details regarding how many graduate programs she applied to, how many interviews, and some other factors she considered when making her final decision on where to attend for her doctorate.

When considering all of the graduate programs and universities in psychology, Dr. Hudson suggests that “you’re not going to get everything from one person and you’re actually not going to get everything you need from one place, and I don’t think you should.” She then discusses the pros and cons of having older, tenured professors as advisors versus having younger, pre-tenured professors and how having both can be beneficial.

When asked how she found herself in the area of social psychology versus other areas or branches of psychology, she states, “Great question. So, I honestly believe that a lot of these fields of psychology are blending…and, to me, it always comes down to methods, theories, and frames of reference. So, there might just be certain things that you’re really drawn to do.” She also shares her thoughts on the qualities and skills that psychology students should have if they want to work in the field including the ability to “abstract up” and “be a critical but constructive thinker” and to learn the foundational theories in any particular field as these will help you build your “collective wall of knowledge” and help you talk with many different people in the field. In her case, Dr. Hudson shares that having this knowledge helped her stand out and she was able to engage with almost...