How does consumer psychology influence user experience?

Jessica Singer:

Hi everyone. Thank you so much for joining us this evening to learn more about the Master of Science in Applied Psychology program at USC. My name is Jessica Singer, I am the academic advisor for the program, and I am joined here tonight by Dr. Ellen Leggett, the program director, and recent MAPP alum, Arianna Biedebach.

Jessica Singer:

Throughout the program, please be sure to refresh your browser and turn up the volume on your device to make sure that you can hear our webinar. If you have any questions, please feel free to submit a question in the Q&A tab at the bottom of your screen. Following the webinar, we will save time to answer your questions.

Jessica Singer:

So tonight, you'll get the chance to meet Dr. Ellen Leggett, and our special guest, 2019 alumna, Arianna Biedebach. We will be going over the program and the curriculum within the MS in Applied Psychology program. We will then hear from Arianna about her work in user experience and how the program prepared her for that. We will discuss some next steps to apply. And finally, we will end with a question and answer session. And now, I'm going to turn it over to the program director, Dr. Ellen Leggett.

Dr. Ellen Leggett:

Thank you, Jessica. And hello everyone. Welcome. I'm so glad to have the opportunity to meet with you all virtually tonight. I am delighted to tell you that my eight years at USC and with the Master of Science in Applied Psychology program has really been the fulfillment of kind of a lifelong vision of wanting to use the work that I had in psychology and in business, specifically in the legal field, to inspire and teach students about ways that they can use psychology in business.

Dr. Ellen Leggett:

I feel that there are a lot of opportunities that generally, students are not aware of when they're in their undergraduate education. So like many of you, I had a bachelor's degree in psychology from Mount Holyoke College, on the East Coast, one of the women's colleges. And then went off to Harvard to get both my master's and doctorate, but I always found that I was seeking ways to use psychology. And through some chance conversations in random places, I actually had a way to be introduced to a new field, at the time, that was jury psychology and helping trial lawyers communicate and understand the ways in which jurors make decisions in the courthouse and in the jury room.

Dr. Ellen Leggett:

So I've had a fascinating 30-year career in seeing many companies, many kinds of organizations at their worst when they are realizing that it's not necessarily only the law that is going to be on their side, it's also the court of public opinion, and that is the province of psychology. So I have been really fortunate to be able to now bring some of that experience to USC. And been here, as I said, for eight years, developing this program.

Dr. Ellen Leggett:

It was one of the first goals that I had in this program, and that the faculty had, that we wanted to bring together two areas that often are not studied together. And that is areas looking at the outside audience of companies and organizations, meaning their consumers, and also looking at the inside audience, the employees, teams and leaders.

Dr. Ellen Leggett:

So understanding human behavior is really central to the functions of motivating employees and reaching consumers. And in today's world where both of those are global and virtual, we have even more use for psychological understandings. Let's talk a little bit more about this dual focus on consumers and organizational psychology.

Dr. Ellen Leggett:

When we speak about consumer psychology, we're talking about how consumers behave in the marketplace, how you and I do our shopping, why we shop, what drives our decision-making, whether we like to shop online or in person. Some of our behaviors about shopping and consuming have been changed quite a bit during the pandemic in the past year, but we're really focusing on purchasing trends, decision-making, how to persuade and communicate effectively to consumers, how to build strategic marketing plans, and more and more, how to understand the journey that a consumer is on from their first idea that they might want something, to investigating where they can get it, what the pricing is, and ultimately making their purchase.

Dr. Ellen Leggett:

And consumers, by the way, come in all industries. That consumer could be a patient, could be a movie watcher, a television consumer sitting at home in our living room, or someone shopping for products that are readily available online or at the local grocery store even now.

Dr. Ellen Leggett:

And similarly, when we're speaking about organizational psychology, which often is another area of psychology called IO psychology sometimes, we're looking at employee behavior in the workplace as opposed to consumer behavior in the marketplace. And in this area of study, we're looking at how to make business decisions that impact the employees and the teams, how to bring about organizational change, how to understand the life cycle that employees are on from recruitment to onboarding, training, and evaluating and promoting.

Dr. Ellen Leggett:

So the ultimate similarity that both of these have is that as psychologists, we're interested in making data-based decisions that will impact either the consumers or the organization and employees, and the tools of psychology enable us to use those research skills, and even the theories of psychology, within organizational settings to drive better performance for the organization.

Dr. Ellen Leggett:

And the career outlook in both of these areas remains strong. And we're expecting even that post-COVID, there will be renewed interest in both areas because our world has changed so much. We are not employees now, the same way we were a year ago. We're not shoppers today, the way we were a year ago. And as you all know probably, you may not be students today the way you were a year ago either. And the job growth should be profound in all of these areas going forward.

Dr. Ellen Leggett:

A few things I'd like to point out about the program that we're proud of, one is that it is a very challenging program, it's accelerated as a master's program. Most master's programs will take you at least two years even if you're going to an on-campus program, but in our online degree program, 16 months, that's really four terms, including summer. If you take two courses per term, you will be able to graduate in a little over a year and a half.

Dr. Ellen Leggett:

This would include doing an internship and also a capstone research project, which are part of our curriculum. We're also very proud of our faculty. Everyone teaching in this program has been specifically recruited and hired for this program. They have not been at USC doing research in a laboratory for their entire careers. In fact, most of them have had careers in industry as consultants and worked in different industries. But what they have in common is that they're passionate, just like I am, about the role that psychologists can play in industry and organizations of all kinds.

Dr. Ellen Leggett:

And lastly, I'd just like to point out that we're really striving to have a contemporary curriculum that is also globally relevant. And what I mean by contemporary curriculum is that by being on the West Coast, we're taking our cues from Silicon Valley and looking towards the companies that are doing new things in communicating with customers, in developing software, in being tied to technology, in making workplaces more engaging for employees. And we're trying to infuse some of that energy into the program by having team-based projects in every class just about real-world case studies and using data, sometimes data from very real companies in fact, to bring the work in the classroom to life. And on the global relevance piece, we are constantly seeking examples from other countries and bringing in examples that our own students tell us about.

Dr. Ellen Leggett:

I think I'm ready to talk about a little bit more specific information about the program, and I'm going to ask Jessica to do that. And by the way, Jessica is also an alum of our program.

Jessica Singer:

Thank you so much, Dr. Leggett. So as Dr. Leggett mentioned, most students take two courses per semester, which means that you graduate within four semesters or 16 months. Over those 16 months, you'll have nine courses. We have our foundation courses, which are consumer psychology, organizational psychology, research methods in applied psychology and proseminar in human behavior foundations. Those are taken during the first and second semester. And then during the third and fourth semester, that's really when you have the opportunity to select electives and an internship and treatise that really aligns with your specific goals and interests in addition to doing the final foundation course, which is proseminar in human behavior applications.

Jessica Singer:

In terms of electives, you can see all of the options we have listed right under the picture. Some of these electives are heavier on consumer psychology content, some are heavier on organizational psychology content, and some are a mix of both. So there's really something, no matter what your interest is. And then in the internship, students get to have experience applying what they've learned in the program in a professional setting. And you also will be writing a treatise. This treatise can be a topic that you are personally interested in. Some students choose to do it in conjunction with their internship site or with their current employer. And we also have the faculty members bring in consulting projects on occasion. So total, that's 34 units, and that is a summary of the curriculum for the program.

Dr. Ellen Leggett:

Thanks, Jessica. At this point, I'd like to turn it over to our guest alum today, Arianna Biedebach. Arianna, are you there?

Arianna Biedebach:

Yeah. Hi, Dr. Leggett. Thank you so much. It's ... Oh, go ahead.

Dr. Ellen Leggett:

Yeah. Can you tell us a little bit about your educational background, Arianna? Welcome. Thanks for joining us today.

Arianna Biedebach:

Of course. Thank you so much for having me. I'm so happy to be here because it's at one of these informational sessions that I first learned about UX research, when I had just started the MAPP program. So it's interesting to be here a few years later on the other side of it.

Arianna Biedebach:

But for some context, I'm in California. I'm in Thousand Oaks, California. It's a suburb outside of LA, and I was in the online program and graduated at the end of 2019. I got my undergraduate degree in psychology at the University of California, Santa Barbara. But when I graduated, I knew that I wasn't really getting everything I wanted out of the forces in my program there. I knew I didn't want to take the clinical route, and I had always had an interest in applying what I learned in psychology into industry and really get into industry and working with what I had learned in that way, but I knew I wanted to pursue a degree in higher education, and eventually found the MAPP program, obviously, which combined all of my interests.

Arianna Biedebach:

And as for some of my ... A quick synopsis on some of my experience, while I was in the MAPP program, I was able to do a few internships. One of them on the screen you'll see here was with Disney, I was a full-time intern with them as a UX researcher, where I got to work on a digital movie purchasing platform. And I'm currently a UX research contractor at Google. But this was a career switch for me. So I was originally in healthcare operations for seven years, doing mainly administrative work. And so MAPP really gave me the tools I needed to make that career transition and make that jump. So again, I'm so happy to be here and to kind of share everything I've learned and hopefully help someone who is trying to decide what move to make next.

Dr. Ellen Leggett:

Thanks, Arianna. Yeah, I had forgotten about the fact that you had spent seven years in healthcare. So let's talk a little bit more about this interesting career that you're in now, can you tell us a little bit more about what you do as a UX researcher, and do you find UX to be more on the consumer psychology side or the organizational psychology side? Because it is kind of a niche field.

Arianna Biedebach:

It is. And I think it blends both worlds, because one, you're looking at what motivates a consumer, right? Is what we talked touched on in our consumer psych side of the program. But you're also looking at motivations and how to build something that really speaks to someone's needs, which you see a lot in organizational psychology in creating talent development programs and things like that. And there are also a lot of parallels. I know a lot of UX researchers go into employee experience research, or come back and forth. So there are a lot of parallels you can draw which was interesting. I think it kind of sits right in the middle, the more I think about it and the more time I've had in my career.

Dr. Ellen Leggett:

So how do you spend your time at Google?

Arianna Biedebach:

Yeah, that's a good question. I think every day is different. It all depends on what phase of the research process I'm in. And I can elaborate a little bit more on that. So essentially, in the research process, it usually all starts with a meeting with stakeholders. And by stakeholders, I can mean like UX designer or product manager or someone from the marketing team, a UX writer. And understanding what they're trying to learn about our consumer or customer or user, and really working with them to kind of tweeze out research questions so then I can go back and design a study that meets the needs of the research question. And so that could either be qualitative research, quantitative research. It could be mixed. But essentially, it's all based around understanding a little bit more about our user.

Arianna Biedebach:

Another day could be me conducting that study, either launching a survey or meeting with users on Zoom or in person, if this were a year and a half ago, or a year ago. And really executing on the research. Another day could be me analyzing the findings. And then another day could be me doing a workshop to go over the results of a study with the different stakeholders who are eager to see the results and take them and to understand how they can improve the product. So each day is a little different, but it's always really fast paced, which I really enjoy. And it's always very collaborative, which is another part of it I enjoy as well.

Dr. Ellen Leggett:

So what kind of products and experiences are UX researchers interested in understanding? Obviously, at Google, it's various technology interfaces, right? But is technology the only industry where there are UX researchers?

Arianna Biedebach:

Well, yes and no. So with technology, there's obviously more opportunity for a UX researcher. So at a company like Google, you'll see hundreds of UX researchers, but there are UX researchers in a lot of places you wouldn't think, like diabetes companies, healthcare companies, furniture companies like Herman Miller, motor companies like Ford. Ford looks for UX researchers. There are so many different places where it can be applied because again, it's all just about understanding the needs of a user. How can we build a product that meets someone's needs instead of the other way around? Building a product and seeing if it kind of fits.

Arianna Biedebach:

So there's a lot more places that you can apply it than just an app or a website, for example, Disney, obviously there's UX researchers who focus on that, like I did. There are also UX researchers who run studies in the park and do testing on rides. So it's been a learning experience for me to understand all the different ways a UX researcher can really do their role, the different industries and settings.

Dr. Ellen Leggett:

Would you say that the field is growing, Arianna?

Arianna Biedebach:

Definitely. I know just with all the talks I've had with researchers who've been in the field for a while, they've seen a huge jump. And even during COVID, I mean, everybody experienced kind of a little bit of unsettlement during that time, but now, I see job postings for it multiple times a day. Again, like you touched on earlier, things are changing so fast and we need technology to connect us when we can't connect personally anymore, as much as we could before. And so there really is a higher demand for it.

Arianna Biedebach:

I know when I was just getting into it two and a half years ago, that's what I was hearing. And I've slowly seen that, just in LA alone, when I was looking for internships in LA a couple of years ago, there weren't nearly as many opportunities now, even in COVID, as there were back then.

Dr. Ellen Leggett:

Great. And I know at some point you had done some work in market research. How would you differentiate this from market research?

Arianna Biedebach:

Yeah, that's a good question. I think there are so many similarities. A lot of the methods that we use to conduct studies are similar, like focus groups, in-depth interviews, surveying. But user research is really focused on improving the product and the user's experience. So it's essentially, how do we make this better? How do we make it easier for someone to order on our app or to checkout of our hotel accommodation website? It can be that, or again, it can be more foundational research, where we're trying to understand how do we build a product from scratch? How do I understand the needs of a person day-to-day, so I can understand how I, again, make the product fit their life?

Arianna Biedebach:

And so with market research, it's strategic as well. I would see them both as strategic, but market research is more about understanding how to motivate a consumer to purchase and those purchasing needs as well as other things, but they are distinctly different, but with a lot of overlap in terms of execution.

Dr. Ellen Leggett:

So market research would be once the product is developed, kind of how to promote it, whereas user experience feeds back into the design?

Arianna Biedebach:

Yeah, exactly. Market research would be more geared towards promotion. And user research can happen after a product is launched too, just more evaluative studies to improve it over time. But yeah, I would say that's the key difference that you just highlighted.

Dr. Ellen Leggett:

Okay, great. Thank you, thank you. So now let's talk about your experience in our program. You already said that when you joined the program, you were primarily in the healthcare industry. So can you tell us how you got from there to here? What happened in the middle and how did MAPP help? And there are some things on your slide here that may prompt you to talk about some of the things along the way that I know we've discussed.

Arianna Biedebach:

Yes, definitely. I'll start out kind of with the coursework, because that obviously gave me my foundation, and I'll jump into the internships, which really helped me pivot and kind of get my feet wet in market research and user experience research. But the course works on the screen here, in the MAPP program, you really get things that you can take away with you. You are working with professors who work in the field and you get to complete projects that you can put into a portfolio. And that was really important for me, especially when I was looking for internships. My first internship that was not healthcare-related was with AGL and associates, as you can see on the screen, which is an employee engagement and market research agency started by two MAPP alumni, and that's really where I got my first experience. I was a market research intern for them. I got to design studies, I got to analyze data and present to clients. And that's what helped me transition into UX research. It was at that time where I started to learn about UX research. I really took a liking to it.

Arianna Biedebach:

There was also a professor on the faculty, his name is Dr. Jason Buhle, and he was teaching a course in UX research that was about to be available to the online students at the end of the year. And so I decided that I wanted to pursue the Dublin summer internship program that MAPP affords, or makes an opportunity available to their students. That was something that drew me to the program initially. And so, through that, through the Global Experiences Ireland internship program, I was able to get my first UX research internship.

Arianna Biedebach:

And this was a really exciting opportunity, not only because it was in Dublin, but because of the support you get along the way. You really get one-on-one coaching to help you with your resume and help you land that internship abroad. And then when you get to Ireland, you still have that same type of support. And so in Dublin, I got to work for a design thinking agency, where I assisted on research projects. And while I was in Dublin, I still had a term left in MAPP. And so, I had left my job in healthcare. And so I knew I needed to find something else, and was really taking a liking to UX research, and applied for a graduate internship at Disney. And while I was in Ireland, I was actually going through the interviewing process for that, and when I came back, I was able to start that internship.

Arianna Biedebach:

And that internship was directly because of my experience in market research and UX research. They wanted someone with a quantitative background and a qualitative background. And so in Dublin, I was doing more qualitative research. And at AGL, I got that quantitative research. And so I was at Disney for about a year. But in that summer, in my last term, I was able to take the UX research course, and there is where I got those portfolio-ready project experiences. And I also got to do a consulting treatise.

Arianna Biedebach:

So as we touched on earlier, you get to do a capstone treatise and you're able to do a consulting one as well, where you partner with a professor and another student. And so I partnered with another student in my term and Dr. Luke, who I had taken an advanced quantitative methods course with. And we got to complete a full service market research project with a luxury home appliance company, to understand their post-purchase journey, which again is UX research at the same time. So you can see that overlap.

Arianna Biedebach:

Understanding consumer journeys is very much UX research and market research. And that project helped me land my role at Google today, because it is with the Google Nest and Home team, it's all about home appliances. And so when I went into that interview, they wanted to know all about this capstone project. So that was definitely one of the reasons why I'm in the role I am in today. So there is so many parts of MAPP that helped me along the way, transition out of my old career and into this new one.

Dr. Ellen Leggett:

It's a fascinating story, Arianna. It's exciting just to remember how much you did in the program, but let's step back even further and reflect on your choice to come to the MAPP program. If you can recall, I think you've mentioned one or two things, but help us identify what stood out for you when you were choosing a graduate program. And you did choose an online program.

Arianna Biedebach:

Yeah, I did choose an online program. At the time, like I said, I had a full-time job in healthcare ops and I wanted to be able to still work full time, but also pursue a degree. So I was looking for an online program, but what I wasn't finding with other online programs that I found with MAPP, is that ability to really get you ready post-grad. I didn't see that with other online programs, and I did with MAPP, not only with the Dublin Experiences program, but with the ability to work with professors who were in the field, those were two things that very much stood out. I wanted to be able to have an education that was online, but not miss out on any of the other parts that come along with an on-campus program. And so, I felt that most with the MAPP program, and it definitely 100% delivered.

Dr. Ellen Leggett:

What about being an online student pre-pandemic? Obviously, lots of people in the country right now have their education online, whether they wanted it or not to be that way. But what was it like for you in our program? Because we've been at this for a while, doing online education deliberately, not just because of COVID.

Arianna Biedebach:

Yeah, I think that's something I've been reflecting on a lot lately. I have two sisters who are in undergraduate programs at Berkeley and UC Santa Barbara, and friends who are in really great grad programs and undergraduate programs. And I really feel like I didn't know how great the online learning was with MAPP, because it's really set up for you to be an online student. So it's very different than having an on-campus program, have to in overnight, go into an online format and just conducting classes on Zoom. The professors know what they're doing, the portal and the whole system setup online is extremely conducive to building relationships, having discussions, meeting other students. And all the curriculum, all the coursework is set up in a way that you can build relationships remotely and work remotely.

Arianna Biedebach:

And so when I've seen what my sister and my friends are experiencing in terms of online education, the pandemic, it really makes me look back and go, wow, this is not what everybody else is experiencing. I look at them, I'm like, what's so bad? I was an online student, it was great. But it's because MAPP is set up that way and frankly, knows what they're doing.

Dr. Ellen Leggett:

Thank you, thank you. Good to hear. You mentioned that you felt there was a community in MAPP. Can you say a little bit more about that? How can there be a community that's composed of people virtually? How did that happen in the program?

Arianna Biedebach:

Yeah, that's something I was wondering too, when I first started out, I didn't know if I was going to be able to make friends with an online program. But again, as I touched on earlier, there are so many project opportunities in each course that you do. Most of them, and I think the classes that I were in, there were group-based projects where you really get to work with other students. And they're challenging projects, which makes for a great bonding experience, challenging and rewarding.

Arianna Biedebach:

And so in conjunction with that, there's lots of opportunity every week for discussion. And because the students in my classes were from such diverse backgrounds, it made the discussion so much richer. So rather than, I've been in classes before where this discussion is really just kind of post something. And I did it, I posted, let me walk away. These were very lively, because again, you're learning not only from your professor and the course work, but also from other students because they have a wide range of background. So I came out of MAPP with some solid relationships, and the Dublin summer internship program definitely helped me strengthen those.

Dr. Ellen Leggett:

You mentioned the diversity in the student body, you had worked for a while before you came to the program, was everyone about the same age as you?

Arianna Biedebach:

No. There were people of all ages, which I was excited to find. I didn't know what I was going to find. I assumed I would come in and everybody was fresh out of undergraduate, which there are a lot of students like that, and that's so exciting to kind of transition so soon out of your undergraduate program. But there's also people like me who had taken some time to kind of figure out what they wanted to do next, or find the right program. There were people who had had a career, or had multiple careers, who were looking to get a graduate degree or their first graduate degree.

Arianna Biedebach:

But I remember in my classes, there were people of all ages, all backgrounds, some not even from psychology. So again, that's what kind of made for really interesting discussions, because again, you're learning from people who may be in a field that you would like to get into. So it also allows you to kind of learn from other students and how they got to where they got and why they want to be in MAPP now and how it's going to help them. So it was definitely really interesting and exciting to learn that it wasn't just one type of person in this graduate program, it was extremely diverse in terms of age and geographics and you name it.

Dr. Ellen Leggett:

And industry too, no doubt. That's great to hear. Let's see. Can you talk about your experience with the ... Oh, I know what I wanted to ask you, how large were your classes, since you were getting to know the students, are these MOOCs and big classes where you've got lots of students with the professor?

Arianna Biedebach:

No. They were just the right size, kind of the Goldilocks of classes. In undergraduate, I had those big lecture halls where you're one of 800 or one of 200, and I've had the sections where you're one of 30. But this was smaller than that. It was an intimate class size, but enough people to where you could have enough people to talk to and have enough people to have a three-person group project. So it was really just the right size. You weren't lost among the crowd whatsoever. You still got that personal attention from professors, which I was just amazed by, how they have the time to dedicate themselves to teaching, but also be in their respective fields. So it was really wonderful, the balance there.

Dr. Ellen Leggett:

Can you talk a little bit more about the faculty in the program? And by the way, I think this picture might remind you of some of the professors that you had, do you see any professors in there that you remember?

Arianna Biedebach:

Yes. I see so many familiar faces. Yeah, my experience with the faculty, and this probably shines through with what I've been saying, but was really wonderful. I, again, came from a large school where I didn't really get to build relationships with a lot of professors, and that's not what I found here at all. Dr. Luke is in this picture, he's front into the left, and Dr. Jason Buhle, and Dr. Lucas, who I did my consulting treatise with, and he was such a sense of support during that whole process. And same with Dr. Buhle, he teaches the UX research course. And we're still in contact today. I'm really amazed especially at how dedicated he is, just like MAPP is, to making sure you're supported post-grad.

Arianna Biedebach:

He's had a hand in other freelance projects that I haven't talked about that I've gotten experience with post-MAPP. He has really helped mentor me throughout my career as well, in the classroom and when I was transitioning from different roles, and so yes. So back to what I was saying, you really are just able to build relationships with professors in this program. They're really there for you. And I think, again, that's something that I didn't really know what to expect from going into an online program. But yeah, it's so wonderful to kind of be a little bit post-grad and still be able to send an email to a professor and either seek guidance or maybe send some information their way. So that's really great.

Dr. Ellen Leggett:

I want you to know that the first person to tell me that you had gotten your position at Google was your professor, Dr. Buhle. He sent me an email, "So excited, Arianna has a position at Google." And he's the tall one there. You can't miss him, right?

Arianna Biedebach:

No, you can't. And what's so funny is I've never met him in person, and that's why I'm like, this is so crazy. He is a mentor of mine and I don't even know how tall he is.

Dr. Ellen Leggett:

Well, now you do. He's the tallest one there. That's crazy. All right. Thank you so much, Arianna. You've really, really given us a lot of your time and insights, and it's great for me to be able to see you and hear about your experience as well as share those with the prospective students. So let's move on here. I think I can toss it back to you, Jessica, at this time. Thank you again, Arianna.

Jessica Singer:

Thank you, Dr. Leggett, and thanks Arianna. So if you are interested in applying to our program, here are some of the admissions requirements. You would fill out the graduate application that is part of USC Graduate School. You will need to have earned your graduate, or your bachelor's degree. We do accept applications for people who are in their final semester of earning their undergrad degree. You will be writing a brief statement of purpose explaining why you're interested in the program. You will send copies of your transcripts to graduate admissions. You will also upload a copy of your most recent resume, and you'll have three letters of recommendation. Those letters of recommendation should come from both academic and professional sources.

Jessica Singer:

Due to COVID-19, we have waived the GRE requirement for the current admissions cycle. So we do not need your GRE scores. The summer 2021 application deadline is Friday April 9th, and the semester begins on Monday May 17th. We are also accepting applications for fall 2021, and that semester begins the first week of September.

Dr. Ellen Leggett:

By the way, I want to comment on the fact that we will also be interested in you if you have a degree in addition to a bachelor's degree, because Jessica, I know you would agree that we've seen applications from people ... Arianna mentioned this as well, who already have a master's degree. We've got in our program, we've had people with MBAs, we've had lawyers, we've had people that are in other kinds of professions, CPAs. And I know that we have someone who is a pilot entering the program this summer in fact. So that's great. Thank you very much.

Jessica Singer:

If you have any questions, please feel free to reach out to me. My email address is singerje@usc.edu, or feel free to call our enrollment services number that you see on the screen. We have a team of enrollment advisors. Once you begin the application process, you'll be assigned to an advisor who will be able to assist you throughout the application process. You can also reach our enrollment and services by emailing admissions@appliedpsychologydegree.usc.edu.

Jessica Singer:

And now I believe we have some time for questions. If you haven't had a chance to do so already, please feel free to send a question to us in the Q&A box, and I will ask Dr. Leggett and Arianna to help answer some of these. So one question for Arianna is, did any of the students you became close to during the MAPP program, join you in Dublin for the internship program?

Arianna Biedebach:

Yeah, they did. And that was what was most exciting, because it was a chance to meet people that were in different states. And so I got to live with two people I had classes with actually. So we were texting before and all excited to meet each other because she lived in Hawaii and I was in LA, and the other person was in New York. And so I actually got to room with them and spend two months really getting to know them outside of the classroom and outside of the relationship that we had built remotely. And so that was really exciting.

Arianna Biedebach:

That was another motivator for me to do the Dublin internship program, because it was a chance to get together and really get to spend some time together. Because again, you're there for two months, everybody is working, you're riding the bus together to get to your internships. There are a bunch of events that the program puts on for you while you're there to help you understand the culture and just have new experiences there. And so it was really cool to meet some of the people I had classes with.

Jessica Singer:

Great. Thank you. It looks like we have a couple other questions about internships. Another one is, can the internships be completed online exclusively? I can actually speak to that a little bit. So because of COVID, almost everyone has been completing their internships online, which does have a silver lining and that it enables the students to complete internships all over the world, since it doesn't matter where you are. So we have students completing internships all over the United States, regardless of where they're located, and through the same organization that helps us with our Dublin program. We have students interning in Dublin right now. We have students in Italy and Spain as well.

Jessica Singer:

So there are lots of opportunities, but post-COVID, we know that some of these virtual opportunities will continue. But we're also excited to have people on the ground in Dublin again. So yes, if you're in the online program, you can complete a virtual internship or an in-person internship. Okay, next question. What types of careers can I have with this degree?

Dr. Ellen Leggett:

Why don't I talk a little bit about that? I think a simple answer is any kind of career where you will be working with people. That's a very general statement, but more specifically, we focus on preparing students to further their careers or begin careers in the two areas mentioned that relate to consumer psychology or organizational psychology. So within consumer psychology, market research, marketing, sales, advertising. UX is an allied field that is burgeoning, but any opportunities that require utilizing research or thinking about how to maximize the consumer experience.

Dr. Ellen Leggett:

But again, that consumer can be, in my case, the consumer is jurors. In a hospital setting, the consumer is patients. In a restaurant, the consumer is the diners. So just about any industry has an audience. And that is what we are sharpening your skills to see and understand. The other is internal to your organization. Again, in any industry, looking at the employees, the teams, the leaders, what are the dynamics? How is change happening? How can the experience be better working? Or in the case of a nonprofit, even volunteering for an organization.

Dr. Ellen Leggett:

We have students that do internships and have careers in nonprofits in public agencies, in startups, in global organizations and everything in between, all over the world I might add. So it's surprising where this path can take you, but those are the two anchors for us. Everything kind of comes back to helping employees or helping consumers.

Jessica Singer:

Great. Thank you, Dr. Leggett. Another question for Arianna, and I'm sure Dr. Leggett would have something to say about this as well. Did having team members in your group projects located in different parts of the world, or the United States in our case, impact your ability to collaborate?

Arianna Biedebach:

No. Actually, not at all. It was all about planning. Today, I'm working remotely too, and I have team members from all over the US and some in Europe. And so being in MAPP definitely prepared me for this past year and working remotely. But it really didn't. I had, as I mentioned, some classmates who were in Hawaii, so were three hours behind me. Or New York, who were three hours ahead of me. It all just was about how we could collaborate together to understand what time is going to work best for all of our busy schedules, we were all balancing either full or part-time jobs.

Arianna Biedebach:

But again, that's where the opportunity to really connect and get to know each other came from, because you have to understand how to work well with people and how to balance schedules and being mindful of other people's schedules, even though you have tight deadlines. And again, that's something that's truly helped me just in career in general, but especially with the new way I do work today with remote teams.

Jessica Singer:

Great. Thank you so much, Arianna. And moving off of that, we have another question. You mentioned you were balancing these group projects with other coursework and also working outside of the program. So how did you balance a job with the program requirements and the internship too?

Arianna Biedebach:

Yeah. I think that question, the first thing I think about is how well the online portal is that holds all of your tasks and assignments and whatever is going to be going on in that semester. That was really just like my guiding light, every term that started, I would look through that and I would just plan. This program turned me into a master in time management and planning, which again has been an invaluable skill. Now, when I put that on my resume, I'm like, yup, 100%. Like, you can challenge me on that. That's what my graduate program taught me.

Arianna Biedebach:

But yeah, it was a lot of planning. I think if I remember correctly, the school day would start on a Sunday night, but you can see all your assignments ahead of time, you can really understand beyond what you get in a paper syllabus, maybe that I was used to in my undergraduate coursework, what you will need to do when, what's going to be due. And the professors are really helping you ... Help gear you up for everything that's tasked to you, whether it's a project or a discussion or a paper.

Arianna Biedebach:

So yeah, it definitely will challenge your time management skills, but it's extremely rewarding. And the way the system is set up, the online learning system, it's just really your friend when you're trying to plan out, what is my next week going to look like when I have eight meetings on the calendar and I'm working 8:00 to 5:00? And prior to this, I had an hour commute into the office. So it really does help you out with planning.

Jessica Singer:

Great. Thank you. Another question we have here, and I know we talked about additional graduate degrees that our students have, but does the type of undergraduate degree matter to qualify? This person says, "I have a bachelor's in business administration."

Dr. Ellen Leggett:

Jessica, why don't you answer that?

Jessica Singer:

Okay. I actually have my bachelor's in business as well. And in addition to having students who are CPAs, lawyers, pilots, all the different backgrounds we have, I think there's as much, if not more, diversity in the undergraduate degrees of our students in the program. So no, it doesn't matter what type of undergraduate degree you have. We do like to see that you've taken some courses in psychology, and statistics is helpful as well. So people who are psych majors take research methods and apply in psychology, so that's a very helpful course to have on your transcript.

Jessica Singer:

If you did not take any psychology courses as an undergraduate student to make your application more competitive, you're welcome to take courses at a community college, an intro to psych course. We do like to see that you have relevant academic experience related to psychology. But I saw another question on here as well, so I'll speak to that too. Saying, "Does the program have enough foundation in business for people who have no business experience?" And I think the answer is yes. Many people in my cohort had formal psych education backgrounds, undergrad degrees in psychology. I came in with business. We both were equally comfortable in class and did just fine. So yes, we see people with diverse degrees, and the program really caters to everyone regardless of your background. But the foundation in at least a couple psych courses is definitely helpful.

Dr. Ellen Leggett:

I would just add that it's competitive for admission. So being able to check off some of these boxes will definitely help your application, because it is a Master of Science degree. And therefore, we are looking for evidence of an ability to think empirically, look for data that will answer questions, and the kind of experience you've had with data in your jobs or in the classroom will help immensely.

Jessica Singer:

Thank you, Dr. Leggett. And it looks like we have a couple of other questions related to the program itself. So how many students are in the online program? So currently, we have 150 current students, but as Arianna mentioned, the classes are kept very small. So your core courses are capped at about 20 students. So in your live sessions, you'll only be on with those 20 students and the professor, and the electives tend to be smaller. So the electives tend to be between 10 to 15 students.

Jessica Singer:

So even though there are a lot of current students, it does still feel small and intimate, but you have the advantage of that decent-size community of current students to interact with, to network with and just to have a mix of different people in your courses as you progress through the program.

Dr. Ellen Leggett:

By the way, if I could just interrupt you, you used the phrase, live session.

Jessica Singer:

Yes.

Dr. Ellen Leggett:

And do you want to explain what that means and how often those are?

Jessica Singer:

Yes. So Arianna did a great job talking about how she was able to balance all of the responsibilities she had while being a student. And one reason that this works for students who are working part or full-time is because our program is a mix of synchronous and asynchronous learning. So what that means is that some of your course content is on demand and available to you on a weekly basis for you to do whenever it works with your own schedule.

Jessica Singer:

And then, each class has a set number of live sessions per semester. The classes meet up to once per week, but not necessarily every week. I'd say they tend to meet about 10 to 12 times out of the 15-week semester. So most weeks, you will be having a live session and connecting with other students in your courses. Those live sessions take place at, or after 5:00 PM Pacific time to accommodate everyone's work schedule. But they generally wrap up by about 7:00 PM Pacific time, because we know we have students on the East Coast, and we're mindful of the time there as well.

Dr. Ellen Leggett:

So those are the Zoom meetings. And yes, I think that the typical length of those meetings in the online program is really 60 to 90 minutes. And you will only have, for each class, one of those meetings periodically on a particular day. It's not a situation where you're doing hours of Zoom every day or every week for all of your classes. Most of the content is in the learning management system, available asynchronously.

Jessica Singer:

Thanks, Dr. Leggett. I think we have time for a couple more questions. So another question, how important is previous work experience when applying to the program?

Dr. Ellen Leggett:

Would you like me to answer that?

Jessica Singer:

Sure.

Dr. Ellen Leggett:

I would say that we definitely have students coming directly out of their undergraduate program. In fact, it's one of my strong beliefs that undergraduates in psychology need more career options than they often know about. So we're highly committed to helping those with an undergraduate degree develop career interests and launch into the workforce. However, many things can give you experience that is helpful, even if you haven't had full-time work experience post a graduate, or post a bachelor's degree. We look for evidence of leadership in volunteer work, in organizations on campus, in other activities that you may have done even in sports or athletics.

Dr. Ellen Leggett:

So any leadership experience counts as being able to reflect upon an organization. So almost everyone can look to their own experiences as a consumer. And interestingly, even if you haven't had a full-time job in the marketplace yet, in the workforce yet, you have had experience in organizations that if you talk about it and reflect upon it well in your personal statement, can be very compelling.

Jessica Singer:

Great. Thank you, Dr. Leggett. I think I saw a brief question related to the application process. Would the applications for fall 2021 also have a deadline in April? I'm sorry if I confused anyone there. No, the deadline for fall 2021 is not April. We are starting to review applications for fall, but we will be accepting applications for fall probably up until the end of July. So you do have a little bit more time to work on that application if you're not interested in applying for the summer, but would rather be considered for fall. See what other questions we have here. Will the program cover any aspects of neuroleadership?

Dr. Ellen Leggett:

I'll speak to that. We definitely have a psychologist on our faculty who's in neuroscience. We have actually two that are in neuroscience, Jason Buhle, who is the UX researcher, has his degree from Columbia in neuroscience, interestingly enough. So yes, there are elements of neuromarketing and neuroleadership that are brought into the program in varying degrees. There's no full course on it. And some of the research is more convincing and credible than others, but we focus on where there are peer-reviewed studies that will inform either the consumer or organizational fields from the perspective of neuroscience. Sorry.

Jessica Singer:

Thank you, Dr. Leggett. I believe we have a couple other questions. We're almost out of time, so maybe one last quick question is, are there local Los Angeles in-person internships? I'd be happy to answer that because I completed my internship in person in the Los Angeles area, and I was part of the on-campus program. And so everyone in my cohort completed their internships in person in Los Angeles, but we also have a large number of online students who are local to the LA area, like Arianna. And we have a lot of students who do in-person internships in Los Angeles.

Jessica Singer:

As part of the program, we put on an internship webinar before you're eligible to complete the internship part of the program, where we explain how to network, how to make the most of the MAPP community and the USC community, to find opportunities regardless of where you are.

Dr. Ellen Leggett:

I'd just like to ask Arianna. Arianna, you had three different internships. One was virtual, one was international and one was in LA. Do you have anything to add about where you think most of your colleagues did their internships?

Arianna Biedebach:

Yeah. Well, a lot of people in my cohort were in LA too, but they were in the online program as well. And so most of those people did those internships in LA, but a lot of people did multiple internships too, kind of like myself. A couple of people who were in Ireland had already ... Or did an internship after that when they got back, just like I did. So I think there was a variety of different internships, remote, local to your area and then also abroad. So there's definitely a lot of opportunity there, especially now with the ability to get a remote internship, that makes finding something that's right for you a lot easier because you're not restricted by location right now. So there was definitely a lot of opportunities and a lot of diversity in where students got their internships. I think I mentioned, I had a friend in the program who was in Hawaii, and she went to the Dublin internship and also had done an internship in Hawaii as well.

Jessica Singer:

Great, thank you both so much. I think we do have a couple more questions, but unfortunately, we've run out of time. So for those of you who do not get your questions answered, we will be sure to reach out to you with the information you've requested. I don't know if Dr. Leggett or Arianna have any more to say, but on behalf of all of us, thank you so much for joining us tonight.

Dr. Ellen Leggett:

Thank you everyone.

Arianna Biedebach:

Thank you.