Courtesy of Miles Kirkpatrick
As a Yale student, my life doesn't slow down in the summer. Ahead of this year's fall semester, I interned at my local public defender's office, got a new job doing policy research, and participated in some political action.
I also took classes at the London School of Economics for six weeks — aided logistically and financially by the Yale study abroad office but ultimately organized by myself. That meant I had to move to the UK and immerse myself in its educational system. I studied macroeconomics and public policy analysis.
Although I was only there for a few weeks, I was surprised by how much I enjoyed my experience with the UK school system.
Studying in London was my capstone to a busy summer. I enrolled in my college courses with two different aims: macroeconomics to refresh my skills for any future economic study and public policy analysis to help me with my job as a writer and research associate.
In my first class, I met mostly undergraduates — primarily Americans and Yale students.
But I was one of only a few undergraduates in my second class. Many of my classmates were — or were about to graduate and aspired to be — professionals and bureaucrats working for governments and NGOs worldwide.
This was my first time interacting with a demographic of this sort in a classroom setting. It brought a more professional atmosphere to the whole class and broadened my perspective on what government work can look like overall. I've interacted with graduate students or college fellows in classes before, but it was nothing like this.
I felt more comfortable being part of a distinctly international academic community (although with a slight American bias) than I expected. I could suddenly see my future self in my classmates.
Like many civic-minded Ivy League students with presidential-sized ambitions, I have fantasized about studying in the UK for graduate school since I started planning out my future career.
There are a myriad of scholarships for American college grads to study abroad in the UK. Plus, the opportunity to immerse myself in a different environment while learning about public policy would be invaluable. There's a romanticism to it — the idea of strolls through the Magdalen College grounds in autumn has a certain pull.
But it's always been a bit of a scary prospect. I would be separated from my family. I'd be living in a new country with essentially no ties to home. Famously, I'm one for adventure, but even that is a bit much.
My perspective changed when I finally took a trip to Oxford to tour the campus during my semester in London. It was beautiful. To be honest, it made Yale look like a "normal" college: The sprawling grounds, massive towers, and lovely downtown Oxford really hammered home that Yale was modeled after the older school. The sheer scale of everything in Oxford — not to mention the age — was incomprehensible.
I might have been intimidated if I had taken that trip as a child; the idea of moving for two years to study in a foreign country straight out of college is a little scary. But seeing the school in person made it feel more realistic.
Plus, studying (and surviving) in the UK only made me more determined.
Although I still have a few years left in college to figure out what I want to do, I now see a new path I might take.
After graduation, I want to pursue an advanced public policy or political science degree — potentially as preparation for law school with my sights on a legal or political career. I either want to spend much time abroad in the UK for my studies or fully enroll in a British university.
All of that now seems doable for me because of the time I spent studying abroad.
