“I’ve always loved the arts,” Alejandra Gonzalez-Acosta confesses.
The senior dabbled in a bit of everything growing up, from singing and dancing to acting and drawing, but decided to take her passion a bit more seriously in high school — and did she ever.
With seven theater productions and seven semesters of art classes under her belt, Gonzalez-Acosta wanted to bring those interests with her to Duke. The Psychology major feels she’s achieved the goal twofold through a Visual Arts minor and her involvement with the student-run musical theater group Hoof ‘n’ Horn.
Gonzalez-Acosta feels that including a Visual Arts minor has benefitted her studies in Psychology. For example, as she physically draws cognitive processes and parts of a nerve, she’s found herself able to learn psychological concepts more efficiently and effectively. Visual Arts is also relevant to her involvement with the Department of Psychology.
“I’ve been able to create graphics for events that I’ve helped organize as president of the Psychology Majors’ Union,” she explains. “My visual arts experience has also helped me land a volunteer position with Duke’s CHILD Studies Group.”
Currently on the pre-med track, Gonzalez-Acosta’s immediate career goal is to get into medical school. After graduating this spring, she plans to take a gap year to strengthen her application before jumping into the rigor of medical school. In the long term, she wants to be a pediatric specialist while making time for her other passions: publishing children’s books, conducting research and pushing the field of healthcare to be more inclusive and proactive.
We sat down with the busy senior to learn how she landed on her unique major/minors combination, the benefits she sees between healthcare and the arts and why she keeps the arts in her STEM-focused career.
You’re majoring in Psychology with minors in both Visual Studies and Computational Biology. How did you arrive at this trio?
Visual Arts was the easiest for me because I knew coming to Duke that I wanted to continue my passion for art. I always had an idea that I would minor in it, but Psychology was the opposite. Prior to Duke, I’d never taken a psychology class!
My first class was Psychology 101 with Bridgette Hard, and I absolutely fell in love — not just with her teaching but also with the subject area. I decided that I’d at least minor in the subject, but what convinced me to make it my major was a mixer between the university’s Minority Association of Pre-Medical Students (MAPS) and the Student National Medical Association (SNMA). Guests had the opportunity to ask current medical students questions about their experiences leading up to medical school.
When asked about picking a major as an undergraduate, one of the med students shared that the best major to choose is the one you are passionate about. If medical schools ask you about your major, they often care less about what that major is and more about why you selected it.
Finally, Computational Biology came into the picture during my sophomore year. I took Introduction to Data Science and Statistical Thinking, and I really enjoyed the coding aspect of the class. I remembered my advisor mentioned an option for a Computational Biology minor, so I investigated it — and I liked that it allowed me to stay with my major while continuing my newly discovered interest in coding. These experiences led me to declare the combination I did, and I could not be happier with my choice!
Do you think there is a correlation between healthcare and the arts?
I definitely think the arts bring something to the field of healthcare. At a minimum, keeping an open and creative mind is particularly useful for situations or cases that require outside-the-box thinking. But beyond that, I think the arts and healthcare intersect quite nicely if you zoom out and look at the bigger picture.
It’s all about crafting a story and a purpose that intentionally mixes the two. For example, during my time at Duke, I’ve made it my goal to gain a holistic understanding of healthcare. Rather than simply taking the required Biology, Chemistry and Physics classes to be considered a “pre-med student,” I want to gain an understanding of how different fields work with healthcare and the various factors that influence individuals’ health and behaviors outside of their genetics.
This has influenced every course I’ve enrolled in, the independent study and thesis topics I’m considering and the extracurricular opportunities I’ve chosen to involve myself with. There is a proverb that states, “There are many paths to the top of the mountain, but the view is always the same.” I like to take this a step further and think that oftentimes, even if a route to the top takes longer or is less straightforward, the skills and connections you make along the way prove to be invaluable in the long run.
Do you think Duke provides an environment where students can include an arts discipline in their studies?
Duke does provide an environment for students to incorporate art with their studies and to formalize this in a major or minor track. In my experience, I’ve found that faculty and advisors love to see students find new ways to intersect fields or bring new collaborations to campus.
Why is it important to include arts courses and extracurriculars like Hoof ‘n’ Horn in your studies when you’re STEM-focused?
This habit developed during high school, as I always made sure to include an art class in my course schedule. I felt this helped keep me balanced in my studies. These art spaces give me an opportunity to think outside the box without the fear of making mistakes. They allow me to meet people outside of my major department and career paths, and through them, I’m able to make connections between ideas across fields.
Interested in learning more about STEAM students at Duke? Read their stories.
Trinity College of Arts & Sciences
