“I didn’t want to engage in a predetermined path”

Lisa Lauton is a German student doing a Master of Public Policy at the Sciences Po School of Public Affairs. She talks about why she decided to come to Sciences Po and what she would like to do after graduating.

What led you to choose Sciences Po’s Master of Public Policy?

After my bachelor’s degree I wanted to focus my graduate studies more on economics (my minor in Germany) without completely dropping out of political science. Additionally, I wanted to do my Master’s at a university with a worldwide reputation for its academic excellence, and the opportunity to live and learn in an international environment. The Master of Public Policy (MPP) with its Economics and Public Policy track convinced me, as it allowed me to do exactly that in a two-year programme. I had already spent an exchange semester at Sciences Po in 2013, so I anticipated that the MPP would be academically challenging but that it would also allow me to learn a lot from a variety of teachers with actual work experience – so far, I have not been disappointed.

What are your goals after graduation?

In a way, choosing economics and political science as a subject, as I have done, already means not settling for a prescribed career path but having a rather open outlook and being flexible. I do however aspire to work in a dynamic environment with an international orientation and high standards in the mission of tackling economic, governmental and societal challenges. If I could choose, I would like to work in an international organisation like the IMF or the UN, but I am going to find out soon enough where my path leads me.

If you could change one small thing about your community, country or the world, what would it be?

I would make it mandatory for every student to live abroad for a few months. Nothing changes worldviews, attacks prejudices, and makes a person grow more significantly than to go out of his or her comfort zone. Personally, I feel that I learn most from the people around me here at Sciences Po and I believe that the world would be a better place if we all knew more about each other.

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