Aspiring doctor says it’s all about people

For Isabela Cordeiro Schumann, 24, life is about people and experiences.

That’s how the Brazilian student found herself on the other side of the world in New Zealand, undertaking a foundation course at ACG Education to prepare her to study medicine at the University of Auckland.

“I really like being surrounded by people, getting to know who they are, listening to their life experiences and learning more about their culture,” she explains. “It helps you open your mind and understand that the world goes much further than what you are used to seeing.”

For Isabela, the highlight of her time at ACG has been the teachers, students and colleagues she’s met from all over the world, from countries like Kazakhstan, Oman and China.

It’s also why she plans to pursue her passion for medicine at the University of Auckland next year – a science that satisfies her interest in how the human body works and involves working with people at the same time.

It’s a far cry from the English language course the native Portugese speaker came to New Zealand for a year ago.

“I saw the signs for ACG and I thought to myself, why not to try to study something other than English in a foreign country in another language? ACG opened a big door for me, it gave me the opportunity to go to the University of Auckland. This possibility to me, a year ago, was something beyond my imagination.”

Isabela is enrolled in the University of Auckland Certificate in Foundation Studies delivered by ACG Pathways