Rahul Ragu
45750 Chablis Ct.
Fremont, CA 94539
510-754-9162
Rahul.Ragu@gmail.com
OBJECTIVE: Acceptance in UC Berkeley’s Ph.D. Degree Program in Psychology
EDUCATION
BA Psychology, expected Spring 2010
UC Merced
General Education Coursework, Fall 2002 – Spring 2008
Ohlone College, Fremont, CA
LEADERSHIP AND COMMUNICATION EXPERIENCE
ICC Representative, South Asian Student Association, UC Merced
Present -
Attend meetings and aggressively lobby for funding from different organizations
Leader, Kidango Project, Make A Difference Day
2008
Participated in Make A Difference Day
Worked with Kidango, a non-profit child care center
Led and supervised project to repaint fences outside of Kidango
Fundraiser, Sisters of the Holy Family
2008
Worked with organization called Sisters of the Holy Family which is located in Fremont, CA
Raised funds for an event held by Sisters of the Holy Family by calling various organizations and
asking for contributions
Grad Program: UCB’s Ph.D. Degree in Psychology
Essay Prompt: Please describe your aptitude and motivation for graduate study in your area of
specialization, including your preparation for this field of study, your academic plans or research
interests in your chosen area of study, and your future career goals. Please be specific about why
UC Berkeley would be a good intellectual fit for you.
The reason that I am motivated to pursue a graduate degree in psychology is because it is what
will enable me to become a clinical psychologist. I have always been interested in the field of
mental illness. I am most interested in treating patients with severe mental illnesses. My interest
in mental illnesses began with the fact that I have had to struggle with and overcome severe
mental illnesses during my life. During my life I have struggled with social anxiety disorder,
depression, attention deficit disorder, and obsessive compulsive disorder. They had all been
present at a severe and chronic level. They caused tremendous mental and physical distress and
caused me to fail in my education, sports activities, social life, and everything else that I pursued.
I had to overcome all of these problems in order to get to where I am today. During my last
semester at Ohlone College I got four A’s and 1 B. After transferring to UC Merced my grades
have remained high. I have been able to sustain this level of academic excellence through my
religion and spirituality. I have had to overcome tremendous adversity in my life and this caused
me to develop an awesome competitive drive and willpower. This has been manifest in all
aspects of my life. I had not been overly involved in extracurricular activities before this
semester. This semester I have joined the tennis team. I plan to have a high ranking on the team
and to play exceptionally well in the tournaments and competitions that will be held for the team.
This semester I will be active in the club SASA (South Asian Student Association). I was
elected to the office of ICC Rep. In this position I will have to attend meetings and lobby
different organizations for funding. I may also get involved with the Greek life on campus. I
took two classes in UC Berkeley this summer because I thought it would be a wonderful
opportunity to find out whether I want to go there for graduate school. The two classes that I
took were Clinical Psychology and Developmental Psychology. I got a B- and a C+
respectively. I really enjoyed both of the courses. I found that the teachers in UC Berkeley were
much better than the teachers at UC Merced. They were extremely passionate about their
subjects and they made the lectures very entertaining. They brought guest speakers to class and
they showed poignant video clips during class. Both of the teachers were very nice and very
helpful. I never had a hard time paying attention during class. In both classes I was required to
participate in research studies that were being conducted by graduate students. I had to
participate in a total of six research studies. This gave me an excellent grasp of the process and
implementation of research studies. My passion for psychology was taken even further after
taking classes at UC Berkeley. My favorite part about UC Berkeley was the people that I met
there. I made a lot of friends at UC Berkeley and a lot of them were international students. My
roommate was from Italy and I met a lot of other Italian people. I fell in love with a girl from
Italy and I spent a lot of time with her. I went to some parties and I participated in a lot of
extracurricular activities such as soccer games and a Great America Trip that was organized by
the residence hall I was living in. My roommate commented that my time at UC Berkeley was a
turning point in my life because I went from being socially isolated to pretty much doing
everything. In my last day at UC Berkeley I felt a lot of emotional pain because I had the best
times of my life there and I did not want to leave. Another thing about UC Berkeley is that it is
the best campus that I have ever seen. I loved the archaic buildings on the campus and the
campus has an ancient and legendary feel to it. I fell in love with UC Berkeley while I was there
and that is why I would love to pursue my graduate degree at UC Berkeley. I had initially
planned to become a psychiatrist and was taking pre-medical courses in order to reach that end.
My grades in this subject matter were only average. I knew that I could not get into medical
school with the grades that I had. I could have done well in this route but I am still struggling
with obsessive compulsive disorder. I felt that I would have a much easier time in a psychology
degree program. Upon advisement of my psychiatrist and career counselors at UC Merced I
decided to switch my major to psychology. Ever since then my grades have been very high.
Last semester I took three psychology classes and got an A-, a B+, and an A. One of the reasons
that I switched my major to psychology was that I felt that a clinical psychologist is the closest
thing to a psychiatrist based on the fact that psychotherapy is administered in both professions. I
am still interested in treating severe mental illnesses. I plan to do this by either working in a
mental health hospital or partnering up with a psychiatrist in a private practice. By partnering up
with a psychiatrist in a private practice I would be able to administer therapy through nonmedical measures and the psychiatrist would be in charge of administering the medicine. I feel
that a P.H.D. degree from UC Berkeley will give me the opportunity to become a successful
clinical psychologist.
ASSIGNMENT REFLECTION FORM
1. How would you describe your experience in working on this assignment (Was it difficult
to begin? Did the ideas come easily or with difficulty? What obstacles did you face in the
process of writing? How long did it take you?)?
It took some time to obtain the information from UC Berkeley. After that the ideas for my
resume and personal statement came to me easily and I was able to get through the assignment
without a problem. I did not face any significant obstacles in the process of writing. It took me
about five hours total to finish the assignment.
2. What do you see as the strengths of this paper?
The strengths of this paper are the use of high level vocabulary and the organized compiling of
information
3. What do you see as areas for improvement in the paper?
I do not see any areas for improvement in the paper
4. What did you learn (about yourself, the subject, writing, or reading) from doing this
assignment?
I learned that I really want to go to UC Berkeley for my graduate studies.
Personal Statement and Resume Assignment Grading Rubric
Excellent
Satisfactory
Poor
Relevance (Are resume and statement
2 pts.
1.5 pts.
1 pt.
tailored appropriately to the essay prompt?)
Organization (Are resume and statement
organized in a clear, logical and persuasive
3 pts.
2 pts.
1.5 pts.
manner?)
Content (Do resume and statement provide
sufficient, appropriate, and effective
3 pts.
2 pts.
1.5 pts.
evidence of personal education, skills, and
experiences?)
Writing Conventions (Are resume and
statement free of mechanical, grammatical,
2 pts.
1.5 pts.
1 pt.
and/or spelling errors?)
Total 7 out of 10 possible points
Hi Rahul, I enjoyed reading your personal statement. You did a good job addressing the essay prompt.
However, you need to work on organizing your information (starting with having Ps) and refining what
you’ve included to make it relevant. Please let me know if you have any questions. – M. Truong