Marie Haddad BSc International Relations, 2020

Southampton is a reputable university and the city seemed like a great place to study and live as a student. I visited an Open day and got a really good feel for the place - the Politics department were very welcoming and the course seemed really interesting.

I volunteered with a global health charity in very rural and impoverished communities in Madagascar, which was incredible. We taught children from ages 3 to 15 and undertook research and development for the charity

I’ve really enjoyed the flexibility of my course. I’ve always wanted to learn Arabic, and I was easily able to integrate Arabic language classes into my degree. I’ve also studied modules in global health, human geography and sociology.

I was selected to participate in the 13th edition of the Young Diplomats Forum in Brussels, an opportunity I discovered through the University’s career support channels. The forum was an amazing week of discussions on solutions to a variety of global challenges including global warming, artificial intelligence in diplomacy and international development. I met many great friends from all over the world, and the experience has undoubtedly been valuable in both influencing ideas in my essays and inspiring me to consider a career in diplomacy.

I did a Summer Internship with the University’s Social Sciences marketing team, where I have learned countless transferrable skills through a variety of marketing projects. This insight into marketing has led me to consider it as a future career, and my experiences have been key talking points in graduate job interviews.