Rubbing Shoulders with Industry Leaders

Wanying Song
Master of Arts ’16
American Foreign Policy
Home Country: China

Wanying majored in International Relations as an undergraduate student and knew she wanted to continue focusing on this subject with additional training in writing and critical thinking. Therefore, Johns Hopkins SAIS was her first choice for graduate school due to its reputation for high academic standards, location in Washington DC, and its diverse, politically-inclined atmosphere.

As an American Foreign Policy concentrator, Wanying acquired a comprehensive understanding of US policy and history. Her courses featured different perspectives ranging from Professor John Harper’s focus on the US and European influence to Professor Piero Gleijeses’ emphasis on Latin America. Weekly discussions on current affairs with students from different backgrounds in her classes allowed Wanying to polish her arguments and refine her thoughts, which greatly aided her during job interviews. In fact, her concentration’s focus on writing, reading and oral skills, and courses which required more than 200 pages of weekly reading followed by discussions and papers, allowed her to stand out and rank first in a group interview in winter 2015.

In addition to her courses, Wanying enjoyed the events hosted by the school and the diversity of topics and guests ranging from US Secretary of State John Kerry to the head of HBO, Richard Plepler. As a member of the Johns Hopkins SAIS Finance Club, she also had an opportunity to meet Warren Buffet during her first semester.

Starting in July, Wanying will be working for the global team at Huawei, the world’s largest telecommunications provider.