Shreya Pendyala
Shreya Pendyala (B.S. ’24) is passionate about social work. Thanks to an Advanced Placement (AP) psychology course and the help of professors in the Georgia State Psychology Department, she is working to become a licensed therapist. Here, she discusses uncovering her passion and the opportunities she’s been afforded to work toward her goal.
Interview by Jordan Ferguson
Tell me about yourself and how you got to Georgia State.
I’m from North Georgia. My dad went to Georgia State for his MBA in the ’90s, and I felt some inclination to come here because he did, but I also love the city. We would visit Centennial Olympic Park or somewhere downtown every weekend. Living right next to it and going to school was a big thing for me. I also have a huge passion for social work and psychology, and I always felt like I would have better opportunities being in the city.
As a psychology major, where do you see yourself going?
I want to become a therapist. I’m a massive mental health advocate and I faced my own struggles with mental health when I was an adolescent. I loved how it worked in the background and how the therapists worked. It was always exciting. I took AP psychology in high school to get the AP credit, but I fell in love with the class, which made me realize that I want to do this in the future.
I am continuing my education and getting my master’s in social work at UGA. Then, I will work for a year in a clinical setting and get my license in clinical social work. I plan on opening a clinic for adolescent therapy.
How has Georgia State prepared you for your next step?
The psychology community at Georgia State is like a family. When I would freak out about the future and what I wanted to study, my professors would sit me down, listen and ask me the critical question: “What are you interested in? Let’s talk about that. Let’s figure it out.” They’re the ones who helped me figure out this route. I didn’t even know you could go into the route of social work and then become a therapist. I thought that was a different subject.
I also had a great experience being a co-author for one of the research papers while I was a research assistant in one of the department’s labs. I co-authored a poster that gave the abstract of the experiment, and we got to show it at the Georgia State Undergraduate Research Conference in April last year.
Tell me about your experience in the International Honor Society in Psychology.
I remember in my sophomore year I had a professor who posted about it on iCollege. I applied for it in my junior year and joined. We were constantly being told about research job opportunities and lectures that were coming up. I got on the executive board as the director of programs.
How do you think you’ve grown or changed in your time at Georgia State?
Coming to Georgia State from an area like North Georgia, less diverse than the city, was a huge culture shock for me. It was nice because I felt seen as a woman of color. I felt like I had finally met my people, which showed me there are people with stories to tell. They have experience.
I see that realization as an accomplishment because I’ve grown a lot. Just seeing that also helps me with my background in psychology. I’m going to see patients of all different backgrounds and diversities, so that also helps a lot. And honestly, it enables you to grow as a person.
You should always come from a humble place. You’re only sometimes going to be the person who is the most knowledgeable in something. If there is something that you may not necessarily know about, instead of making assumptions about it, go and talk to people who would know that experience.
If you could look back to your senior year of high school when you were going through the application process and wondering where you would end up, what advice would you give yourself?
Chill out. Everything will be OK. I am somewhat of a type-A person, and I wouldn’t say I like not knowing the future. I think when graduating high school and going on to college, you have a lot of people who know exactly what they want to do, and then you have those who don’t. That is completely fine. Everything works out and happens for a reason, and you’ll find a great support system to help you through it.
What is your favorite part of the campus?
I love the greenway, especially in spring and summer and early fall, like August and September. When it’s nice out, I love going to class and seeing how lively it is there. People bring their picnic blankets and eat lunch, study and lie on the lawn, and you could catch me there many times, too.
