Jonathan Rohr Summa Cum Laude in International Governance and Diplomacy

Above all, and yes this is cliché, curiosity. Being interested in the people around me and their backgrounds, in their ideas, and most importantly in ideas different to mine. Listening to arguments from different angles, wanting to understand how things work. That is probably my biggest strength, and also the most important "strategy" if you want to call it that.

To get the actual work done, four things mattered most. Clear time management. Asking questions and not stopping when it starts to feel like too many, but only once it's actually clear. Following my interests. And integrating AI into my workflows. That last one might sound precarious in a university context, so let me be specific. I'm not saying AI should write our essays. But it helped me draft emails, generate more ideas, test my arguments, and find the one fitting noun I so desperately couldn't dig out of my head.

It would be scandalous not to start with contacts into the professional world. I'm about to start working for a company I came into close contact with during my time at PSIA, at a career event. Beyond that, PSIA taught me to work alongside people from every corner of the earth. That exposure to such an international community will be extremely helpful in client engagements and teamwork. Several classes further sharpened this, especially the ones on negotiation and risk assessment, which gave me practical skills and tools I'll apply directly in my upcoming job. And lastly, the amazingly approachable professors at Sciences Po made it possible for me to literally start a company with one of them.

I believe everything in life is about priorities. You can do literally everything, just not all at once, and not all to the fullest. You have to prioritize. So be clear about yours before you get to PSIA. Maybe you want to maximize your academic performance, meet everybody, or travel all through France. Any of those is attainable. Just maybe not all at the same time.

Secondly: go beyond university. My time at Sciences Po wasn't only marked by classrooms and the friendships I made there. It was the extracurricular engagements for topics close to my heart, the initiatives I wanted to push forward, the conferences I wanted to attend, that start-up I wanted to build on the side. This is the moment for all of it.

Lastly, engage in class. It makes your time at PSIA anything but harder. It's a win-win-win. Your peers might have the same questions, or they learn something from your thoughts. Your professors have an easier time teaching. And you learn more, get better grades, and the time goes by quicker. ;)