Why I Choose to Study at Tulane

I discovered a trick to manipulation, one that gives me the power to compel friends, family, and customers to make the decisions I want them to. My freshman year psychology experiment produced a significant p-value while I was testing whether handedness affects decision making skills. Presenting the option you want your subject to select on the same side as their dominant hand significantly increases the chance that they will favor it over another option.

Striving to better my own project, as I had only been recently introduced to the field of psychology, I thoroughly investigated a variety of databases in an attempt to find papers that would help me understand why people make the decisions they do. "Salespeople's Influence on Consumers' and Business Buyers' Goals and Well-Being” by Tulane’s own Harish Sujan, for example, posed significant confounding variables for my own experiment. Focusing on the decision-making skills of customers, Sujan noted the correlation between salesperson characteristics and consumer feelings. His results allowed me to conclude that my own interactions with subjects could vary my results; my subjects could have been more inclined to answer in a different manner based on my attitude towards them.

Looking back at Sujan’s paper, I see a reflection of the experience I believe I can have at Tulane. His study integrates a variety of fields and interests: marketing, psychology, statistics, and independent research. I feel that, at Tulane, I would be able to properly combine these similar passions of mine into a structured study program. Tulane offers me the opportunity to embrace each of these interests: participating in the Freeman School of Business, publishing my own original research in the Tulane Undergraduate Research Journal, and simply having the freedom to explore other subjects outside of my major. I want to spend the next four years in an environment that will encourage me to flourish as a student and an active member of the community. With programs and clubs suited to my own interests, Tulane will allow me expand my horizons, providing me with now-unimaginable possibilities for my future.