Looking out over a sea of people in garb ranging from hijabs to yarmulkes to baseball caps, enjoying laughter and conversation with one another over bagels and coffee on a holiday few in the room even celebrate, Batya Abramson-Goldstein couldn't help...

By the time she was 13, Helen R. Friedman already knew she wanted to be a psychologist. "I always observed how relationships work, and also had compassion without judgment," says the native of Rome, N.Y. "When I was a senior in high school, my best subjects...