Psychology Week: Interview with Anastasiia Iun

March 13, 2013

- You are a student in the Psychology Department.  Do you regret your choice? Why did you choose AUCA, and why did you enroll as a psychology major?

- No, I do not regret my choice.  AUCA is very interesting for me, although I came here by chance. I never planned to study here and I didn’t even prepare for admission. For some reason I was curious about checking my level of knowledge at the time and I decided to take the admission exam unprepared.  Nonetheless, I was accepted on my first try. I chose psychology because it was the only area in AUCA that was related to medicine.  I really wanted to be a doctor once.

- Tell us a little about your department. What new things did you learn there? What did it give to you?

- The department is quite interesting and I’ve met a lot of interesting, intelligent and nice people here. We have wonderful teachers as well. Most of all, I am grateful for the knowledge they give us, and for their humanity. Perhaps the most important thing that I learned was that I was not mistaken in choosing my future profession. Despite the fact that I wanted to be a doctor, I still did not know what kind of a doctor I wanted to be. Now I see that psychologists are also doctors who cure people, albeit through different means. 

Studying in the Psychology Department is very exciting. It helps me to better understand myself, something which is very important for me. Psychology also aids in my personal growth and gives me the ability to manage personal problems.  Psychology makes my life fascinating and diverse.

- Psychology itself is pretty multidisciplinary. Tell me, which sphere of psychology would you like to specialize in? Why?

- To be honest, I am still uncertain about this issue. At the moment I like all spheres of psychology. By the time I am a fourth year student, I hopefully will have decide which sphere of psychology I would like to work in. 

- What are the career prospects for students of psychology?

- Psychology is needed everywhere, and in every industry, because there are elements of life that always affect a person, his mood, productivity at work, etc.

- Tell me about your favorite class in the department. What is interesting about it?

- In my first year I really liked the course on Anatomy and Physiology of the Central Nervous System.  This subject matter has always fascinated me. I was always curious to know how a person is arranged and how his anatomy influences his behavior. However, my favorite subject during the first semester of sophomore year was on Social Psychology. Having taken that course, I’ve come to know a lot about the relationship between individuals, between an individual and a group, and their mutual influence on each other. At the moment, I’m enjoying the course on the Psychology of the Individual, since I’m curious about how an individual develops. In fact, all courses are interesting in their own way.

- What types of internships do students of the department have to pass?

- An observational and practical internship.  Currently, I am doing my supervisory internship in the realm of psychological research. It is an interesting area, and I think I will discover a lot of new and exciting things. 

- What is the observational internship about?

The observational internship involves a familiarization with the professional activities of the specialist. Right now I am distributing questionnaires to different organizations. Then, we will analyze the data received from those questionnaires.

- What good advice would you give to students who want to study in the Psychology Department?

- I would say this: do not listen to people and teachers at school who do not consider psychology an interesting or necessary profession. Study and be engaged in psychology if you like it. This is both a fascinating and necessary science.

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