{"id":117166,"date":"2023-07-06T17:13:14","date_gmt":"2023-07-06T22:13:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.thechicagoschool.edu\/insight\/?p=117166"},"modified":"2025-04-17T11:57:40","modified_gmt":"2025-04-17T16:57:40","slug":"international-student-pooja-das-is-poised-to-make-a-difference","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.thechicagoschool.edu\/insight\/psychology\/international-student-pooja-das-is-poised-to-make-a-difference\/","title":{"rendered":"International Student Pooja Das Is Poised to Make a Difference"},"content":{"rendered":"

When Pooja Das arrived in the United States from India with her husband in 2021, she had already completed degrees in education and psychology, and she was looking for opportunities to expand her knowledge. Das was intrigued by The Chicago School\u2019s master\u2019s program in industrial and organizational psychology, enough so that she enrolled in the fall of 2022.<\/p>\n

Das has enjoyed the challenge of learning about the field and improving her communication skills, including explaining what Industrial and Organizational (I\/O) psychology is to those who ask.<\/p>\n

\u201cPeople have this notion that it is counseling or related to psychiatric practice,\u201d she says, \u201cbut I explain that we engage in work that is beneficial to an organization or the industry in which we are working.\u201d A lot of the work involves administering performance appraisals, assessments, and surveys. Based upon the results of those diagnostic tools, I\/O professionals provide recommendations to their clients for \u00a0improving operations.<\/p>\n

Given her visa status as an H-4 dependent, Das is currently unable to work in the United States. Instead, she has thrown herself into volunteering, including tutoring Chicago Public Schools students. Additionally, The Chicago School\u2019s career fair introduced Das to a wide range of volunteer opportunities, and she began volunteering with Gilda’s Club Chicago, a support organization for people with cancer that was created by Second City and \u201cSaturday Night Live\u201d alum Gilda Radner.<\/p>\n

Attracting students with the kind of skills and determination Das exhibits benefits The Chicago School as well. \u201cInternational students bring valuable diversity of cultural perspectives and experiences to academic environments, enriching the learning and research experiences for both their peers and the institution as a whole,\u201d says Lynessa Rico, Ph.D., one of Das\u2019s professors and Division Chair of the Business Psychology department. \u201cPooja consistently shows a strong dedication to volunteering and giving back to her community. In addition to her humanitarian efforts, she also actively brings forth valuable insights and perspectives in the classroom.\u201d<\/p>\n

On top of her schoolwork and volunteering, Das has also been named one of 23 student ambassadors to World Business Chicago. These representatives from colleges and universities around the city collaborate on projects in the community at large, including the ThinkChicago IMPACT initiative. In this program, Das and the other ambassadors join with students from the area to innovative ideas for change in technology, sustainability, and the environment.<\/p>\n

Das has found that her previous studies in psychology have dovetailed well with her new concentration in I\/O, which she says is more focused on practice than on theory. In her consulting course, for example, role-playing sessions have students assume the roles of consultants and clients. In terms of a career after graduation, Das says, \u201cAs of now, I\u2019m thinking of an HR role, particularly leadership training, in marketing or communications.\u201d<\/p>\n

While coming to United States for the first time has been an eye-opening experience, Das committed from the beginning to arrive without any presumptions. \u201cI’m open to learning every day, because I knew very little about the place, the people here,\u201d she explains, \u201cbut I am always open to learn more.\u201d In return, she says, \u201cThe U.S. is treating me well–except the Chicago cold.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/section>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Students from abroad continue to bring fresh perspectives and determination to The Chicago School.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":55,"featured_media":117157,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[113],"tags":[],"coauthors":[1218],"class_list":["post-117166","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-psychology"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nInternational Student Pooja Das Is Poised to Make a Difference - Insight Digital Magazine<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Pooja Das, an international student at The Chicago School, is ready to make a lasting impact in the field of psychology.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.thechicagoschool.edu\/insight\/psychology\/international-student-pooja-das-is-poised-to-make-a-difference\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"International Student Pooja Das Is Poised to Make a Difference - Insight Digital Magazine\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Pooja Das, an international student at The Chicago School, is ready to make a lasting impact in the field of psychology.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.thechicagoschool.edu\/insight\/psychology\/international-student-pooja-das-is-poised-to-make-a-difference\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Insight Digital Magazine\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2023-07-06T22:13:14+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2025-04-17T16:57:40+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.thechicagoschool.edu\/insight\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/Das-photo-for-INSIGHT-scaled.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"2560\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"1707\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Ian Morris\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Ian Morris\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"International Student Pooja Das Is Poised to Make a Difference - Insight Digital Magazine","description":"Pooja Das, an international student at The Chicago School, is ready to make a lasting impact in the field of psychology.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.thechicagoschool.edu\/insight\/psychology\/international-student-pooja-das-is-poised-to-make-a-difference\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"International Student Pooja Das Is Poised to Make a Difference - Insight Digital Magazine","og_description":"Pooja Das, an international student at The Chicago School, is ready to make a lasting impact in the field of psychology.","og_url":"https:\/\/www.thechicagoschool.edu\/insight\/psychology\/international-student-pooja-das-is-poised-to-make-a-difference\/","og_site_name":"Insight Digital Magazine","article_published_time":"2023-07-06T22:13:14+00:00","article_modified_time":"2025-04-17T16:57:40+00:00","og_image":[{"width":2560,"height":1707,"url":"https:\/\/www.thechicagoschool.edu\/insight\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/Das-photo-for-INSIGHT-scaled.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Ian Morris","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Ian Morris","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.thechicagoschool.edu\/insight\/psychology\/international-student-pooja-das-is-poised-to-make-a-difference\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.thechicagoschool.edu\/insight\/psychology\/international-student-pooja-das-is-poised-to-make-a-difference\/"},"author":{"name":"Ian Morris","@id":"https:\/\/www.thechicagoschool.edu\/insight\/#\/schema\/person\/e757cdfda4a447f93db816274de931b0"},"headline":"International Student Pooja Das Is Poised to Make a Difference","datePublished":"2023-07-06T22:13:14+00:00","dateModified":"2025-04-17T16:57:40+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.thechicagoschool.edu\/insight\/psychology\/international-student-pooja-das-is-poised-to-make-a-difference\/"},"wordCount":543,"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.thechicagoschool.edu\/insight\/psychology\/international-student-pooja-das-is-poised-to-make-a-difference\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.thechicagoschool.edu\/insight\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/Das-photo-for-INSIGHT-scaled.jpg","articleSection":["Psychology"],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.thechicagoschool.edu\/insight\/psychology\/international-student-pooja-das-is-poised-to-make-a-difference\/","url":"https:\/\/www.thechicagoschool.edu\/insight\/psychology\/international-student-pooja-das-is-poised-to-make-a-difference\/","name":"International Student Pooja Das Is Poised to Make a Difference - Insight Digital Magazine","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.thechicagoschool.edu\/insight\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.thechicagoschool.edu\/insight\/psychology\/international-student-pooja-das-is-poised-to-make-a-difference\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.thechicagoschool.edu\/insight\/psychology\/international-student-pooja-das-is-poised-to-make-a-difference\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.thechicagoschool.edu\/insight\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/Das-photo-for-INSIGHT-scaled.jpg","datePublished":"2023-07-06T22:13:14+00:00","dateModified":"2025-04-17T16:57:40+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.thechicagoschool.edu\/insight\/#\/schema\/person\/e757cdfda4a447f93db816274de931b0"},"description":"Pooja Das, an international student at The Chicago School, is ready to make a lasting impact in the field of psychology.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.thechicagoschool.edu\/insight\/psychology\/international-student-pooja-das-is-poised-to-make-a-difference\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.thechicagoschool.edu\/insight\/psychology\/international-student-pooja-das-is-poised-to-make-a-difference\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.thechicagoschool.edu\/insight\/psychology\/international-student-pooja-das-is-poised-to-make-a-difference\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/www.thechicagoschool.edu\/insight\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/Das-photo-for-INSIGHT-scaled.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.thechicagoschool.edu\/insight\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/Das-photo-for-INSIGHT-scaled.jpg","width":2560,"height":1707,"caption":"TCS student Pooja Das in chair by window"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.thechicagoschool.edu\/insight\/psychology\/international-student-pooja-das-is-poised-to-make-a-difference\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.thechicagoschool.edu\/insight\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"International Student Pooja Das Is Poised to Make a Difference"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.thechicagoschool.edu\/insight\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.thechicagoschool.edu\/insight\/","name":"Insight Digital Magazine","description":"The Chicago School","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.thechicagoschool.edu\/insight\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.thechicagoschool.edu\/insight\/#\/schema\/person\/e757cdfda4a447f93db816274de931b0","name":"Ian Morris"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thechicagoschool.edu\/insight\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/117166","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thechicagoschool.edu\/insight\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thechicagoschool.edu\/insight\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thechicagoschool.edu\/insight\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/55"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thechicagoschool.edu\/insight\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=117166"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.thechicagoschool.edu\/insight\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/117166\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":117167,"href":"https:\/\/www.thechicagoschool.edu\/insight\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/117166\/revisions\/117167"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thechicagoschool.edu\/insight\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/117157"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thechicagoschool.edu\/insight\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=117166"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thechicagoschool.edu\/insight\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=117166"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thechicagoschool.edu\/insight\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=117166"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thechicagoschool.edu\/insight\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=117166"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}