The best possible lift-off

Hayat Essakkati attended SAIS Bologna in 2009-10 and graduated from SAIS in Washington in 2011. She is one of a number of SAIS graduates to go on to work at the World Bank. Below she reflects on her SAIS experience and gives some advice to young people like herself who want to change the world, "step by step".

Since childhood I have longed to break free from groups because with time they tend to become homogenized. From the moment I discovered similar speech, style or habits in a group, I would find some way to get out.

Now I understand why I was so anti-group: they weren’t big enough. SAIS is the only place where I have found like-minded people in great numbers.

Hayat in front of the World Bank in Washington

The connectivity doesn’t end with your own class. It extends to all SAIS classes, especially the Bologna classes, whose students went through the same experience, same requirements, same building, in some cases the same professors and most importantly enjoyed the same ambiance that I can’t explain in words but which every SAISer will understand.

As a Dutch national with Moroccan origins, I had no idea how I could go to an American graduate school and never even thought of it until I read “Think Big” by neurosurgeon Ben Carson of Johns Hopkins Hospital. The book was more than inspiring; it showed how someone with almost no future prospects grew to become a world famous surgeon.

After watching the Bologna Center video, I knew I had to apply. I have never regretted that decision as it truly changed my life. I had thought I did not want to pursue graduate studies because I believed I wanted to start a company after graduation. During my studies I learned to be humble as change doesn’t happen overnight; sheer idealism was replaced by realistic idealism where you know you can make a difference in the world step by step.

Since childhood I have looked for inspiration, for something greater than the small village in Holland where I grew up or the even smaller village in Morocco where I spent my summers. From a young age I would interview inspirational people who challenged the status quo so I could learn from them.

While at Johns Hopkins, don’t waste your time framing your profile just to land a job; frame it as your own so you land your job. This is what SAIS stands for -- to enable you to fulfill your aspirations.

On a mission in Morocco

I have always wanted to make a difference for the Arab youth as I see their desperation, fears, hopes and above all undiscovered talents. I was lucky to be born in a wealthy country, but I could well have ended up cleaning houses in a village in Morocco.

After graduation from SAIS, I landed a job with the Youth Team of the MENA region at the World Bank thanks to a referral by a SAIS alumnus. Hired by the World Bank office in Marseilles, I now have the opportunity to travel across the Maghreb and the United States. I could not wish for a better job as my heart and soul are with the development of Arab youth as they need it the most; a little push so their wishes become reality as did mine.

The SAIS network does not lose its effectiveness once you get a job. In my work I still benefit from the many contacts I made while at SAIS. SAIS gives the best possible lift-off in one's career -- like the always supportive distant uncle who watches your back.

"The best year of our lives"

SAIS scholars and alumni are our best ambassadors.

Little wonder then that students looking to embark on the SAIS journey want to hear from current students or those who have recently completed their studies. Enter the Communications Office, which makes sure prospective students can hear alumni and see their faces.

Case in point is the series "One Day at Hopkins SAIS Bologna". Like Antonio Vivaldi's "Four Seasons", there is a video clip for each season: Episode1: Winter featured alumna Chidiogo Akunyili and Episode 2: Spring focused on Mac Broderick.

Just released Episode 3: Summer presents Judit Vasarhelyi-Kondor from Hungary. Judit finished the first year of her MA studies in Bologna in May and is now on her way to DC for her final year.

A European Studies concentrator, Judit chose SAIS to pursue public policy-making. While in Bologna she worked at the Bologna Institute for Policy Research (BIPR) as a research assistant.

(Some of our readers may recognize Judit from our quiz last week.)

Other SAIS Bologna alumni appear in videos in the "Voices of the Bologna Center"series, which also offers text versions.

Below is Judit's video. Enjoy -- before the cold months of winter arrive.

If you're reading this post on email, click here to view the video.

Amina Abdiuahab

What do you think about our new look?

Participants in the survey we conducted earlier this summer told us we should spruce up this Journal's look and improve its navigability.

We've opted for a different look, not necessarily definitively but as an experiment.

What do you think? Is it easier to read and navigate?

As ever, your comments are welcome, either through the comment box below or with an email to admissions@jhubc.it. Any comments will confidential.

Nelson Graves

Quiz: Where is this painting?

Time for a ... quiz.

The winner will get a SAIS Bologna tee shirt.

In the video below, SAIS student Judit Vasarhelyi-Kondor is seated in front of a painting.

Where is the painting located?

(Hint: It's in a building that is part of SAIS Bologna but not the main building on via Belmeloro. It's part of a collection of art put together by a recently founded think tank that is part of SAIS Bologna.)

You can answer using the comment box below or by sending an email to admissions@jhubc.it.

If you are reading this via email, you can see the video here.

Nelson Graves

Our most popular posts and most viewed videos

This is the time of year when many prospective candidates, trawling the Internet for information about graduate programs, discover SAIS Bologna.

With these readers in mind, we offer a list of the most viewed posts since we launched this Journal in December 2010.

1. The Analytical Essay (Nov 16, 2011)
2. The Statement of Purpose (Oct 19, 2011)
3. Seeing how you think (Feb 21, 2011)
4. Standardized tests: No time to wait (Oct 5, 2011)
5. What is in a name? (Dec 9, 2010)
6. Jobs at SAIS Bologna (May 24, 2012)
7. Learning outside the classroom (Mar 7, 2011)
8. A Window on Yourself (Dec 15, 2010)
9. A video peek at SAIS DC (Mar 10, 2011)
10. Your interview (Feb 23, 2012)

Do you have a favorite post that you think should be on this list?

Here's the video that has attracted the most views -- doubtless because we put the name of the ECB president in the title.

The video that is clearly about SAIS that drew the most views is this one, with Rebekah Lipsky giving us a tour of SAIS DC:


If you are reading this via email, you can see the video here.

With these viewing statistics in mind, we will continue in coming months to explain admissions procedures and discuss key elements of the application.

We also think we should provide a new tour of SAIS BC and of the city of Bologna. Stay tuned.

Nelson Graves

At the crossroads of politics and law

Run across Justin Frosini on a given day and you can see him wearing any of a number of hats.

At SAIS Bologna Frosini is an adjunct professor of constitutional law. He teaches at Bocconi University, Italy's best-known business school, and also heads the Center for Constitutional Studies and Democratic Development (CCSDD), a think tank co-founded by SAIS Bologna and the University of Bologna.

It's not so much that Frosini stands at an intersection connecting SAIS Bologna and two other prominent institutions. He is the intersection.

Frosini has just written a book, "Constitutional Preambles At a Crossroads between Politics and Law", published by Maggioli Editore. Next spring he will teach an international law course at SAIS Bologna called "Constitutional Development and Democratization".

As our readers may know, International Law is one of the concentrations within the International Relations field at SAIS. What is the connection between his new book and SAIS?

Frosini answered our questions, including this last one, before heading to the Caribbean for a conference.

Q: What is your book about?
Frosini: It is about the introductory statements, known as preambles, that you find at the beginning of many constitutions including the American Constitution of 1787. The majority of legal scholars believe that these preambles are not truly operative, and what I have tried to do is verify whether that is really the case by conducting a comparative study examining constitutional preambles across the globe.

Q: How did you get the idea for the book?
Frosini: I first started studying this topic while I was doing my Ph.D in constitutional law. This may sound rather banal but when you are doing research on constitutional systems of the world, inevitably you begin by reading a country's constitution and the first thing you come across is the preamble.

What tickled my curiosity was the fact that the preamble is often the best known part of the constitution -- I'm sure you can recite the American preamble off by heart, Nelson -- and yet it is generally considered to lack legal value. I was not completely convinced that this was always the case, and given the fact that there is very little specialised literature on this topic I was prompted to carry out this study.

Q: Once you started writing it, were you surprised by any of your findings?
Frosini: Yes and no. With regard to the United States and France, which I focus on in the second section of the book, my findings confirmed that the two countries stand at opposite ends of the spectrum. In the States the preamble is not considered to be a source of substantive law, while in France the preamble is on an equal footing with the articled provisions of the 1958 Constitution.

But I was surprised by the number of other countries that consider the preamble to be truly operative. Furthermore, the textual analysis, contained in the first section of the book, provided some unexpected results.

Q: Who should read it?
Frosini: Well, as a preamble (sorry I couldn't resist that) let me say that I don't think this book is going to become a blockbuster (!), but I do believe it will be of interest to anyone studying or doing research in the field of comparative constitutional law and especially those focusing on the case law of Constitutional and Supreme Courts. In fact, as my findings demonstrate, the courts play the role of the protagonist in determining whether the preamble is truly operative or not.

Q: You're an expert in constitutional studies. Is your book relevant to work that is done at SAIS Bologna? If so, how?
Frosini: Yes, it is specifically relevant to the research carried out at the CCSDD and to the course I will be teaching in the second semester (Constitutional Development and Democratisation). But it is also relevant in more general terms with regard to the trends in global constitutionalism which is of the utmost importance for anyone doing advanced international studies.

I firmly believe that the preambles of more recent constitutions can be used as a litmus test to verify what principles and values are actually emerging in different parts of the world today -- the preamble to the new and rather controversial Constitution of Hungary being a good example.

Q: What next?
Frosini: First I have to finish a book I am writing on the 1948 Italian Constitution for Hart Publishing's book series "Constitutional Systems of the World".

Then the idea is to return to my research on constitutional preambles and move from the wide comparative study that I have just completed to more narrowly-focused research on some of the countries where I have found that the preamble to the constitution has a prominent role.

Finally, I will also be closely monitoring the progress of the constitution-drafting process in the countries of North Africa as part of a research project on the Arab Spring currently being conducted by a team of researchers here at the CCSDD.

Why SAIS Bologna? One student's answer

Lisa Heinrich attended SAIS Bologna in 2010-11 and then SAIS DC before graduating this past May. She enrolled at SAIS shortly after finishing her undergraduate studies and so is proof that while many SAIS students work before matriculating, not all do.

Before starting SAIS, Lisa had worked for an online magazine and radio in Germany and also on a documentary about Germans in Georgia. Now she is working for Oxford Analytica.

We asked Lisa to discuss her transitions, first to the U.S. academic system, then to SAIS DC from SAIS Bologna.

During my last year of bachelor’s studies at the University of Bremen, I started thinking about MA programs.

I knew from the beginning that I wanted to try to get into an English-language program and to be forced to think, write and speak in English. Although my English was already strong, I felt more comfortable expressing myself in German.

Because I aimed to work in international relations, I wanted to be able to write and speak in English without having to ponder at length. Now, two years later, I can say I have just about succeeded – almost at the expense of my German. But that’s another story.

Lisa at SAIS graduation in May

Why SAIS Bologna?

As a non-U.S. national I had to decide which SAIS campus to apply to – for non-Americans, the DC and Bologna campuses have different application processes. I chose the Bologna campus for several reasons.

First, I had spent my Erasmus semester in Bologna and fallen in love with the city. During my first stint in Bologna I had spent a lot of time with the SAIS crowd and seen first-hand what a great experience it is, especially the mix of nationalities and the community feeling, what some call “the SAIS bubble”.

From a practical standpoint, because I was in the midst of writing my bachelor’s thesis during the application period, I did not have time to take the GRE, which is not required by SAIS Bologna.

Also, I was hopeful I would land financial aid at SAIS Bologna, which has an extensive network of donors, many of them loyal alumni including large numbers of Germans.

Being from Germany, where education is largely free, the monetary factor was clearly important to me as it is for many Europeans. But SAIS was very supportive in that respect, and Germans enjoy many opportunities to receive aid from generous German institutions.

Just about everyone who studies at SAIS Bologna will tell you they spent the best year of their lives in Bologna. Being a cynic, I was sure this was a marketing tool. Best year of their lives? That sounded a bit too much for me.

But now that I have spent a year at SAIS Bologna, I can say with confidence that it is true – at least up to now. If I had to do it all over again, I would pick SAIS Bologna over any other school.

U.S. SYSTEM

Adapting to the U.S. academic system was a bit difficult at the beginning but totally manageable. There can be a lot of busy work, and I must admit that sometimes I thought to myself: “This is silly and repetitive. Why do they make me do all of this?” But learning to manage a busy schedule has proven very helpful in my new job.

On a SAIS field trip

I was also freaked out that “C” was a failing grade in the U.S. system and that you have only ONE try. In Germany, if you fail an exam (or just didn’t feel like taking it and didn’t show up), you’ll always have a second, third, fourth try without any negative consequences.

But my scholarship at SAIS required that I not fail a single class. If I failed two, I would get kicked out. I admit that freaked me out.

WASHINGTON

My transfer to DC was fairly smooth. Luckily my roommate was already there over the summer, so he looked for apartments. But choosing classes was not that easy in DC, where there is a wide range of courses. Often several courses that interested me overlapped.

The atmosphere is very different in DC than in Bologna. That is not to say that Bologna is better, but it’s different. DC offers an impressive array of speakers and also interesting people you can meet during luncheon talks all over the city.

Things are not as cozy and you have to work hard to manage to keep your friendships from Bologna alive because DC is bigger, people have friends outside of SAIS and everyone is busier with networking, job hunting and internships.

So the transfer can be harder for non-Americans than it is for Americans, who after all are returning home whereas we have to adapt to a new way of life in a new city and new country. There is less of a comforting community than in Bologna. But you get used to it very quickly, and it is important to expand your horizons and meet the DC students as well because they can be a great asset when it comes to fun things to do in town!

Last but definitely not least, what is special about SAIS is the great support recent graduates get from alumni. I am a prime example of someone who has benefited from what some call “the SAIS mafia”.

Two weeks after graduation I received a job offer from Oxford Analytica, a company I had been introduced to through a SAIS alum – also a bolognese. Thanks to her, I have found my dream job. The help from alumni is just amazing, particularly for the bolognesi, who stick together for generations.

The shared experience of SAIS Bologna creates a very special bond, and a fellow bolognese will always lend a helping hand.