05/18/2026
While Alyssa came to Reed planning to study economics and eventually go to law school, she ended up writing a psychology thesis on social anxiety, drinking motives, and alcohol use in gender-diverse communities. In this episode, Alyssa shares about her experience discovering clinical psychology at Reed and taking on a complex statistical analysis project that, despite her best efforts, didn’t always cooperate with her intentions.
Tune in to hear Alyssa reflect on how she learned to let go of preconceived notions of the “senior thesis,” how she has been continuing her psychology research post-grad, and how her senior year taught her to occasionally step away from the computer and touch grass.
🎧 Hear from Alyssa on Spotify (or listen to Burn Your Draft anywhere you find podcasts):
https://open.spotify.com/episode/1WB7edSOexwhy3NaGqkncT?si=1dc31e1997d643f0
This is the last episode that our student producer, Ace Lackey ’27, will produce for the podcast. We’re sad to reach this end, but excited for Ace to start their senior year next year, and who knows, maybe they’ll be back to do a mini-episode for us while they’re working on their thesis.
Listen to interviews with dozens of Reed alumni and learn about their thesis years on our website:
🔥📜🔥 reed.edu/burnyourdraft 🔥📜🔥
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