Assel Yezhikova

21, from Almaty, Asfendiyarov KazNMU, she did her summer research in Tafts university in 2015.

1. Why did your choice of profession fall on medicine?
The great Socrates said, all the professions in the world are from people and only three of the came from the gods. A judge, a teacher and a physician receive their gift from above. I chose the latter profession. The medical profession is in demand and requires full-time and generosity. Since I was a child I always admired people wearing white doctor’s overall/uniform, they were like superheroes to me. That’s how my hobby turned into my clear life position that is to help people.

2. How did you pass the selection for obtaining a grant?
The selection for summer internship in the U.S. took place in two stages. First we had to send all the documents together with an essay on the topic “I need a PhD in order to…”. Next was the interview. At this stage the main thing was not to panic and not get lost. I was able to demonstrate how I find a way of solving the problem, that I was offered. And I was very happy when it turned out that I entered the list of the grant recipients.

3. What interesting happened during the internship?
I did my three-month summer research internship in the student capital of the USA – Boston. There are dozens of universities, known throughout the world in the city. Their graduates become a political and scientific elite of the country. During the internship I met with the talented students of top universities. Competition among them is quite tough – all of them compete for the best scores, for a place in the best research teams. However the competition motivates them. I think many of Kazakhstan students lack a spirit of competition, self-confidence/faith in themself and a positive attitude.

4. What did you achieve personally during your internship?
It gave me a lot in terms of professional development. Now I have an idea of how things work in the best research laboratories. I will use my acquired knowledge and experience to achieve my main goal – entering PhD program at American University.