From Oregon to Paris, Samantha's journey as a Master's student in Communications, Media and Creative Industries.

I grew up in Oregon, USA, but before coming to Sciences Po, I spent 10 years living on the East Coast in Connecticut, New York, and Massachusetts.

In 2019, I graduated from a small liberal arts school in Connecticut, with a degree in English and Environmental studies. At that time, I was contemplating going into either law or publishing, but I decided against going directly to grad school because I was unsure about my desired career path.

I ended up landing a position as a Legal Analyst at a small litigation firm in New York City, where I stayed for about a year and half. I learned many important professional skills during this time but found it extremely stressful and ultimately decided not to pursue a law degree.

I then found a job in communications at Harvard Radcliffe Institute and fell in love with the work. I was part of a small but dedicated team of 11 people, taking on a wide range of creative projects from event promotion to magazines to a report on the history of slavery at Harvard.

My time at Radcliffe made me realize that I could see myself working long-term in communications at a mission-driven organization. However, I felt that to advance to the next level in communications, I needed to go back to school to hone my existing skills and fill in certain knowledge gaps. While I had strong experience in project management and editorial communications, I felt my knowledge of related areas such as design, strategy, and marketing could benefit from development.

I chose this program, first, because I appreciated the practical foundations and the ability to meet and interact with professionals in the industry. Being liberal arts, my
undergraduate education was relatively broad and theoretical; but now that I knew what I wanted to do, for my graduate degree I wanted to home in on the practical skills of communications and gain hands-on experience.

Second, I was looking for a new challenge and had toyed with the idea of living abroad for several years. After visiting Paris multiple times, the city became one of my bucket list places to live and this program seemed like the perfect opportunity to do so.

How many group projects there are! This is not at all common in US universities and was definitely something I had to get used to.

Many things are different compared to in the US. For example, in the US, full time college typically consists of 4 classes per semester, while at Sciences Po, I’m enrolled in 11 per semester. At the beginning, I felt like my brain was being pulled in a million different directions and it was quite difficult to keep the various subjects straight in my head. Grading is also different: in the US we are graded out of 100 and anything below 70% is a failing grade—so the idea that I could pass a class with a 50% (10/20) was initially quite disconcerting to me.
All in all, I feel that the US system emphasizes depth of knowledge while the French system is more about breadth—each has its advantages in my opinion, and I hope that by having experienced both, I’ll have improved my mental agility.

I hope to return to communications, hopefully in a leadership role as an editorialmanager or similar. OR (keeping my options open), I’d like to be an editor in a publishing house with a focus on novels.

Grab a warm croissant from a boulangerie and enjoy it in a park with a good book and a coffee.

1. Start everything earlier than you think. Administrative formalities are long and complicated, and the more you can get done before you start classes, the less
   stressed you will be during your first weeks. For example, I recommend arriving in Paris at least a month before classes start and using that month to find
   housing, set up a French bank account and phone plan, register for your carte vitale, etc. Many of these cannot be done from your home country.
2. Be persistent. In my experience, persistence is rewarded in France. Often you will have to make several appointments, send numerous emails, and call several times in order to make progress on things like obtaining housing aid and health insurance. Don’t give up!
3. Give yourself time to settle in. Moving to a new country will always be challenging, no matter how well you prepare. Unexpected issues will come up, and at times you will feel lonely and out of place. The only thing you can do is wait (it will get better, I promise!) and throw yourself into the Sciences Po community, which is very welcoming.