WHY I CHOSE COMMUNICATION AT SCIENCES PO

Nathan Stewart, a student at the Sciences Po School of Communication:

"I am originally from Belfast in Northern Ireland, but I studied French and Politics at the University of Glasgow, Scotland. If I was to continue my studies beyond undergraduate level it just made sense to do politics in France."

"However I didn’t realise this straight away and spent a relatively easygoing year living in luxury as an au pair in the 7ème while trying to work out what to do with my life. Fortunately, I ended up making friends with a lot of students already at Sciences Po and was persuaded to try and stay on here in Paris rather than just trudge home no clearer about what to do. Instead of it being an unobtainable dream to study somewhere like Sciences Po I saw first hand that I would have an actual chance if I applied after seeing what the students were actually like. It’s quite odd to me that while I would never consider actually applying for Oxford/Cambridge/LSE etc. in the UK I took a chance and went straight for the ‘elite’ option in France. I think it was the cultural distance that I have from not being French that removed a lot of the intimidation about the place. That and hanging around with my ridiculous friends."

"It was definitely worth applying. The fees worked out slightly more than I was hoping but when compared to an equivalent masters in the UK it really isn’t that much different, and can even work out cheaper. Basically all my fears about properly studying abroad, and not just doing an exchange, went away the more I talked to my new friends. The actual hassle of living in a place as weird as Paris without the safety net of my au pair family was obviously still there, but that all gets sorted out in time. Once I’d applied I knew that it would just work itself out if I got in. As for what subject to study, that was almost secondary back when I was working out where to study, if I was even going to continue studying at all. Once I was set on applying to Sciences Po I knew that their courses were still broad enough in ‘political science’ that I would be happy almost anywhere and I set about looking at the individual masters degrees."

"The masters is indeed very broad, and not necessarily what I would have ended up studying if I’d gone for a straight ‘Political Communication’ masters at home. Though there are definitely times sitting in a Finance lecture (or working on a particular corporate strategy case study) that I start to feel out of my comfort zone, these classes all compliment each other and should hopefully give me a good enough base in the field of communications as a whole. The more specific classes can range from fashion to law, and include a lot of marketing and branding. Though I feel most at home in the political classes, it all sort of ties together in the end. Considering that I am studying at the Institut des études politiques everything should theoretically link back to politics anyway."

"There is a great mix of theoretical things and actual practical experience and most of the classes are taken by people in the actual jobs that we will all be applying for. While the insane amount of group presentations (and the new Facebook groups that pop up on a weekly basis to organise them all) can get annoying, the process of working in small groups and then having to essentially pitch your ideas to your peers, in front of industry professionals, goes from being terrifying to actually being a really rather essential experience. There are strong links to outside organisations, and a lot of help when working out what to do in terms of the internship component in the second year. After feeling a little bit out on my own during my undergraduate degree, this is a welcome change."

"Communication seems like it was good choice so far and every organisation (whether in politics or business, NGOs or brands) will have a comms department so you can basically work in any field you like. That’s the idea anyway, and it was the perfect choice for someone like me who is interested in too many things to really chose anything too specific. I intend to stick with the more political aspects of the course and then hopefully work directly with a party or a candidate in the future. After that, I’m not so sure, but I am bound to have an excellent election campaign when I run for office..."

by @nathanjstewart

Related links
Master's programmes at Sciences Po