Ashley Sandoval
Kaiser Permanente
Long Beach, CA USA
"Try things! Shadow people doing something you are interested in. Seeing a day in the life of someone is invaluable."
Career Roadmap
Ashley's work combines: Medicine, Science, and Helping People
See more careers and stories that connect to your interests.
Take Roadmap Quiz
Day In The Life
Skills &
Education
Here's the path I took:
High School
Bachelor's Degree
Psychology
University of California, Irvine
Doctorate
Medicine
New York Medical College
Here's the path I recommend for someone who wants to be a Pediatrician:
Bachelor's Degree: Psychology
Doctorate: Medicine
Learn more about different paths to this career
Life & Career Milestones
My path in life has been direct
1.
My mother was a psychologist and I always found that field interesting.
2.
Attended the University of California, Irvine (UCI) where I was a psychology major, but after taking a cognitive neuroscience class, I decided to pursue a career in medicine.
3.
At the time, biology was an impacted major at UCI, which prevented me from switching—I decided to continue studying psychology while taking my medical school prerequisites at a community college.
4.
Eventually, I graduated with a bachelor’s degree in psychology and began working on various research projects in order to gain the experience needed to apply to medical school.
5.
Applied to over 30 medical school programs and got into New York Medical College.
6.
I was initially interested in neurosurgery, but through my medical school rotations, I discovered that I was truly passionate about working with kids and decided to pursue pediatrics.
7.
At the end of my four year program, I began working at the Children’s Hospital of Orange County (CHOC).
8.
I am now working as a pediatrician at Kaiser Permanente in Long Beach, CA.
Defining Moments
How I responded to discouragement
THE NOISE
Messages from Myself:
Maybe this isn't the right career for me.
How I responded:
I was subjected to a lot of gender discrimination and even sexual harassment when I was in college, which made me second guess my decision to pursue medicine. In the end, with support from my family, going through all of that only served to reaffirm my decision that medicine was the career that I wanted so I persevered.
Experiences and challenges that shaped me
When I tried to switch my major in college, biology was impacted and I couldn't switch. I decided to continue studying for my psychology degree and had to take my medical school pre-requisite classes at a community college.
While in college, I was also working in order to help pay for everything. I had to take out student loans which I am still paying off.
I was the victim of sexual harassment from one of my lab managers in college. This made me feel like, as a woman, I wasn't meant for this career. This made me second guess everything I was working towards, but I was strongly supported by my family.
Being a pediatrician can be really hectic and emotionally challenging. You can see some really difficult things sometimes and I try not to bring it home with me, but it's inevitable.
I used to work a lot of overtime, but after I had my son, I had to work even harder on maintaining my work-life balance. For awhile, I worked two jobs and had crazy hours, so juggling everything was a challenge.