Yan Somoza
Educational Consultant

Yan Manuel Somoza is currently pursuing a Ph.D. in Clinical Psychology from the California School of Professional Psychology at Alliant International University in Alhambra. After graduating from Loyola High School in Los Angeles, where he placed first in the National Spanish Examination at the highest (bilingual) level his senior year of high school and was a National Hispanic Merit Scholar, he began an academically and geographically diverse undergraduate career. Yan graduated with dual majors in both Psychology and English from Dartmouth College, where he also minored in Spanish Languages and Literatures. He also studied English Literature and Philosophy at the University of Glasgow, Scotland. And finally, he spent a term at the University of California, San Diego, studying both English and Spanish Literatures.

His experience in the academic arena stems not only from his own education, but also from tutoring and professional experience. Throughout high school and college, he tutored various academic subjects, but focused on Spanish, as he is a native speaker. Yan also led sections of Spanish drill classes that employed the Rassias method while at Dartmouth. More recently, he served as the Admissions Associate at Vistamar School, an independent high school in El Segundo. He remains active with the Dartmouth Alumni Association, attending frequent gatherings and serving as a local admissions interviewer in the Los Angeles area. His passion for the discipline of Psychology, other cultures and his own cultural heritage, and education have most recently led him to pursue research that addresses questions of biculturalism and how it can serve as an asset in the arena of higher academia.