Cristian M.
San Jose State University
Bachelor of Arts in Psychology
Being consistent and diligent is more valuable than being smart.
What did you learn about yourself?
I learned that I really enjoy helping other people through my volunteer experience and classes.
What were your proudest accomplishments or highlights from attending college?
Graduating Magna Cum Laude
Rate your experience
at college:
Class of 2022
2020 & 2021 were extremely challenging under the confinement and constant menace of the Covid-19 pandemic. Hopefully there were some silver lining and lessons learned.
What were the highlights or accomplishments of your Senior academic year 2021/22, after all that hard time.
Honestly for me school was easier during the pandemic because the classes were a lot less intense.
One of my accomplishment is that I was able to become a Dean's Scholar.
Thinking of the whole 4 years, what were the greatest challenges you faced? How did you overcome them?
The greatest challenge in my 4 years was my social anxiety.
I overcame it by slowly interacting more throughout the years.
If you could go back in time 4 years ago, what would you tell your 18 year old self? If you could do-over, what would you do differently?
I would tell my 18 year old self to just say hi to new people in classes and interact more because everyone is just as nervous as you are. Also to time manage better to not do all nighters.
What advice would you give to an incoming freshman?
I would advise them to try to interact with classmates and professors. it makes the college experience much more fun. Also to not be afraid to go to office hours the professors actually enjoy it when you go.
Now that you have graduated, have you formulated any new short term / long term goals?
I am going to work for a year and then apply for graduate school for applied behavioral analysis.
The goal for long term is to create my own ABA company focused on special needs people and if successful eventually expand to Mexico where there is not a large presence of ABA therapy and methods for special needs people.
How did being a Bella Scholar contribute to the success of achieving your goals?
Bella helped me by allowing me to solely focus on my schooling and not worry about debt. thanks to Bella i was able to graduate debt free.
What is your current job? and your dream job?
I am applying for behavior technician.
My dream is to become a BCBA (Board Certified Behavior Analyst)