Josh Carbonell '17

The [Psychology] department is one of UNE’s largest and yet is still relatively small. Class sizes are small, and I got to know all of the students very well. I’m still close with my friends from psychology who I met during my first year. Building those connections was fantastic because we all stayed connected even though we’re all across the country at this point. It’s really awesome to have those friendships and professional connections with the same people.

On top of that, the faculty members were super accessible. Some of them became not only my favorite professors but also some of my favorite people who exist because they are fascinating people, and they would do anything for their students. They were all so passionate in the classroom too. They obviously all challenged us and wanted us to do well, but you could also see that every day when they stepped into the room to teach, it was simply because they enjoyed it. That made it easy to be invested in the classroom experience. It was a perfect situation that helped build a strong community here at UNE.

Now, I am an undergraduate admissions counselor at UNE with Undergraduate Admissions. It’s a ton of fun because I get to connect with students in a very interesting way as compared to my roles in the past here at UNE. Every day, I am using my psychology background to connect with students to help them in their transition from high school to college. Helping students access college feels great. In today’s day and age, it’s hard for people to get the information that they need about college because there is so much information out there. To be able to work with students from the time that they are beginning to consider college and helping them through the entire process is great.

Welcoming Community

My favorite thing about UNE overall is the community. Ultimately, that’s why I came back here. I left to go to grad school in Boston, which was a fantastic experience, but I quickly realized that I didn't want to be in an education environment that was a large public school in an urban setting. It lacked the community that we have here. You can just see it in the people walking around on campus at UNE — even if you don't know each other, people are saying hi to each other and are involved in so many different things. It’s a pretty interconnected place.