UChicago students explore global careers over spring break

Students traveled to Asia, Europe and Africa to learn about international opportunities in their fields

Editor’s note: This story is part of Dispatches from Abroad, a series highlighting UChicago community members who are researching, studying and working around the world.

This spring break, University of Chicago students had the chance to venture outside the classroom and country to explore career paths and share their research with a global audience. 

UChicago undergraduates Angela Joo and Sonia Bradley and graduate students Anne Ruelle and Ritik Shah participated in distinct trips to London, Hong Kong and South Africa. They set forth with the goal of expanding their horizons—as well as their options after graduation—by sharing their own work and exploring their respective fields through in-depth meetings with industry professionals.

“I think when you’re home, and you're doing the same thing over and over in the same place, it’s easy to get mired or feel really isolated,” said Ruelle, a Ph.D. student at the Crown Family School of Social Work, Policy and Practice. “I think it's so important to see how things are done differently in different places.”

Discovering finance pathways in London

For Joo, a second-year College student majoring in economics and philosophy, participating in an international career trek to London meant an opportunity to explore new corners of the finance sector.

“What I really enjoyed about the trip was the fact that we were able to pick professionals’ brains on their different investment philosophies,” Joo explained. While on the trek, she and about 25 other students learned about a wide range of specializations by visiting firms working in real estate, private equity, asset management and emerging markets.

“It was very interesting to hear their thoughts on the European market, the London market, and how their companies react to different politics and the economy of the U.S. and the U.K. at the same time,” Joo reflected.

As an undergraduate still weighing different career paths, Joo appreciated the high-level view of the world of finance, especially the possibilities beyond what is considered strictly mainstream. 

“What was really valuable for me and other people trying to get into finance was seeing how the professionals we met ended up in the European market and how this could be a potential path for us,” she explained. “I haven't had the chance to explore that many different routes into finance being a second-year, but going on this trek, I realized just how many routes into finance there actually are.”

Although she grew up near London, Joo was set on working in the U.S. after graduation. However, “seeing what happens in London and the routes that I can potentially take” has her considering locating to the U.K. or Europe one day, she explained. 

Now back on campus, Joo is excited to take her newfound international perspective and apply it to her studies as she continues to discover her interests in the field. 

Exploring global policy in Cape Town

Second-year Bradley traveled to South Africa on a trek to learn about careers in policy work, human rights law and more. 

“I'm really interested in different policy jobs, including non-profit and NGO work, which were going to be central to this trip,” said Bradley, who is majoring in human rights and English. Over the course of their five-day trek to Cape Town, Bradley and others interested in public policy attended presentations and workshops to learn from policy leaders with focuses ranging from gender-based violence to climate change and economic development.

While on the trek, students learned about issues facing South Africa that help shape policy. Bradley said it was particularly interesting to learn about “the context of policy-making in South Africa and some of the different barriers that are faced in a post-apartheid country, such as wealth inequality resulting in a focus on development.”

In addition to visits with professionals, the Cape Town trek also explored the University of the Western Cape’s Center for Excellence in Food Security. This part of the trip, Bradley explained, “gave us a look at academic opportunities to either get a graduate degree in policy and development research or to work in a research think tank.”

For Bradley, the trip had a significant impact on her understanding of global policy as well as her ideas regarding future career paths.

“Being there, meeting the people who work at these organizations, and seeing the communities that they live and work in was super eye-opening,” she said. “This trek gave me a lot of important perspective on how policy work is so different across the world and how there's a lot more opportunities than are typically advertised to us as students.” 

Sharing stories in Hong Kong

Ruelle, the Ph.D. researcher at the Crown Family School, is no stranger to international travel and collaboration. After earning her undergraduate degree in global studies, Ruelle’s graduate research focuses on El Salvador and the experiences of the families of people who were wrongfully incarcerated under the government’s new anti-gang policies. 

This spring, Ruelle shared her work with other researchers at a symposium hosted by Hong Kong Baptist University with the broad theme of “Global Perspectives on Social Problems, Policy, and Practice.”

Beyond a forum to share individual research projects, the symposium made space for students from around the world to learn from each other and gain new global insights for their work.

Ruelle shared that she loved gaining “the perspective of the whole universe of possibilities for research and research methods.” Presentations at the symposium ranged from refugee camps to parental behavior and beyond, highlighting some of the many different paths researchers around the world are following.

For her, the trip was an opportunity to think about her own work in new ways—as well as to practice how she would answer difficult questions about her research. 

When Ruelle found out she had been granted a spot on the trip to Hong Kong and afforded the chance to participate in this symposium, she was excited to bring the stories that she had heard in El Salvador to an international audience. 

“I was able to talk to my research participants and say that I have this wild opportunity to go across the world and that I'm going to be able to tell more people about what's happening,” she explained. “I had them send in any remarks that they wanted me to add to the presentation, which made the trip really meaningful in that way too, being able to bring their voices to a wider audience.”

Finding inspiration in Cape Town

As part of the Law School’s International Immersion Program, first-year law student Shah ventured to Cape Town to explore the mechanisms of South African law—and how they can inform legal studies in the U.S.

Inside the South African Parliament Building in Cape Town.

“I don't think most law students think about what law is like in other countries until they actually go there and learn about a different system. Looking at the ways that each system works or doesn’t can reveal a lot,” he explained. 

For Shah, studying a country with such a young and developing democracy helped put the U.S. constitutional system into a new focus. 

“Talking to the people in South Africa helped me understand that the U.S. is not perfect in the way it runs things,” said Shah, who is studying intellectual property and patent law. “Through the challenges in South Africa and through the successes from their constitution, I better understand how the U.S. Constitution could be better.”

While participating in the Law School’s immersion program, UChicago students are required to write a research paper that ties their specific interests and specializations to what they learned while abroad. Shah’s paper examines varying systems of intellectual law, with a focus on the South African system. 

For his paper, Shah spoke with specialists in his field about how South African law is the first to allow for AI inventorship to be legally declared on patents, meaning that if an AI program is used to create a new product, the program itself could be listed on the patent as the inventor. 

“Most intellectual property law follows from the English or E.U. law systems,” Shah explained. “But South Africa is the only country in the world that allows AI inventorship, which is why I wanted to go there to learn about it.” 

In addition to working on their individual projects, students heard from a variety of leaders, experts and other professionals about the intricacies of South African law. Shah said speaking with former Constitutional Court of South Africa Justice Albie Sachs, known for his work in human rights activism and law as well as for his role in the early days of South African democracy, “was a once-in-a-lifetime experience.”

“He had a really interesting perspective on the world because he’s been through so much. He’s seen how hard it is to create change, but he’s still such an optimist and has such a warm presence.”

“On this trip, we talked to people across the board who wanted to enact change and find ways to move their country forward,” Shah remembered. “I think it helps you realize how much each country has its own uphill battles and challenges. Talking to people who are trying to make it a better place is really refreshing and inspiring because it shows you how anyone can make a real impact on people.”