MA Alumni Spotlight: Natalie Smith

Posted in Feature  |  Tagged Alumni, MA

Natalie Smith (MAGIC ’16) earned a political science degree at Duke before joining MAGIC.  She sought an MA program as steppingstone to get into competitive doctoral programs in French history. This year, Natalie was offered admission with a five-year fellowship to UCLA, the University of Wisconsin, and the University of Chicago.  Natalie will join the doctoral program at Chicago in the fall.

Natalie writes, “I can’t say enough about how much the MAGIC program at Georgetown helped me get to a Ph.D. program that I’m really excited about.” Particularly useful for her were the MAGIC panel on applying to doctoral programs and the assistance that Professors Jim Collins and Richard Kuisel gave as she was preparing applications, a writing sample, and a personal statement.  Natalie also notes that the experience of researching and writing her MA capstone paper proved vital since it demonstrated to Ph.D. programs that she knew how to conduct independent research.

Natalie enjoyed that the environment in our department is particularly collegial, among both students and faculty. “I made great friends here – in all different fields and from different backgrounds – and built relationships with professors here that will (hopefully) last a lifetime … Seeing the relationships and interactions among the professors and students in the department helped me to really appreciate the value, both personally and professionally, of fostering a collegial environment. That’s something I’ve loved about this program in particular and something I hope to be able to bring to whatever workplace I find myself in in the future.”