Adriana Restrepo began her internship as a senior in Rutgers College. She followed by graduating with a double major in psychology and French, as well as being fluent in Spanish. As an intern, Adriana had worked with Dr. Allen (UMDNJ) on various research projects such as “Depression and Somatization”. In addition, she had also done some volunteering, working with autistic and head trauma patients. She had applied to Project L/EARN for a more complete hands-on experience with the full research process.

In twelve short weeks, she had gotten just that. Prior to the summer’s training Adriana had never taken the steps in analyzing data. Thus, she had then stated that she “never really saw the point of research”. However, after “…the whole experience, once [she] had gotten the chance to work on it and see the whole process and the steps to doing research, [she] then saw it in a different way.” She adds, “The whole thing [had been] a surprise actually”. Through her experience, Adriana had changed pursuing a Ph.D. in clinical psychology from an option to a clear goal.