While most would prefer to enjoy their summers soaking up the sun on the beach, there is the motivated bunch who would rather take up internships to get ahead. Anel Zhunusova takes her career goals in the medical industry seriously and has already received a summer internship offer from one of the most prestigious medical schools in the world, Harvard Medical School.

About Anel

Anel Zhunusova is a native of Karagandy, who graduated from Nazarbayev Intellectual School in 2018 and pursued her studies at the Ulsan National Institute of Science and Technology (UNIST) in South Korea, where she double majored in biomedical engineering and business administration.

During her time there, she balanced science and extracurricular activities. Anel founded the NIS Alumni subdivision in South Korea and was the president of the international student organization in UNIST for two years. The gained experience helped her receive a fully-funded internship at the National University of Singapore hospital.

“I am very grateful that, back then, I had decided to postpone my university graduation and gain practical experience. Here, in the pediatric neurology department, I was able to discover my dream specialization. I even received financing for my research project on investigating autistic disorders in children aged 3-7,” shares Anel.

During the Singapore internship, Anel worked on multiple projects simultaneously, guided by prominent professors and doctors. This allowed her to explore the different research methodologies and the basic types of neurological image analysis.

“The practical knowledge from neurology, programming, and molecular biology provided me with the sufficient background to apply for a summer internship at Harvard Medical School. That has been my dream for a long time. Still, getting into Harvard seemed unattainable. Their medical school was pronounced N1 in the Us News & World Reports School Ranking, and only 2.9% of the 6914 applicants were admitted last year,” she confesses.