Ana Tarbetsky, a senior sociology major, worked on graduate-level research while on co-op in Australia and now plans to pursue her doctorate at the University of New South Wales after she graduates from Northeastern.
Ana Tarbetsky worked on graduate-level research in educational psychology earlier this year while on co-op in Australia. But the experience did more than advance her exploration of that field. It also continued her global learning that began a year earlier on study abroad at the University of Sydney.
“My experience there felt unfinished,” Tarbetsky said. “That was the first time I was abroad by myself. It took me awhile to get established there, and then once I did, the experience was coming to an end. I feel like my co-op picked up where I left off.”
Tarbetsky, SSH’16, a senior sociology major who is expected to graduate in three-and-a-half years, started searching for a co-op in Sydney as soon as she returned to campus in fall 2013 following her study abroad. She eventually connected with a professor at the University of New South Wales whose research interests aligned with her own.
“This was an immersive experience into educational psychology and the current state of the research,” she said of her co-op. “I was thrown right into it, but into an environment in which learning and growth was encouraged. I didn’t feel overwhelmed. It was challenging, but supportive.”
