Grad School Femtoring: Inclusive Grad School Stories, Personal Development, and Productivity Tips for First-Gen BIPOCs · A podcast on thriving in graduate school for first-generation BIPOC students, offering insights on academic success, career development, mental health, and navigating diversity and inclusion in higher education.

345: Client Spotlight: Stephanie Sanchez on Applying to Master’s Programs Abroad

·47 min·3 clips

Stephanie used LinkedIn to study IOM employees’ backgrounds before choosing London and LSE.

1. Grad School Femtoring: Inclusive Grad School Stories, Personal Development, and Productivity Tips for First-Gen BIPOCs centers on Stephanie Sanchez’s application to master’s programs abroad. 2. Dr. Yvette Martinez-Vu hosts the conversation and introduces Stephanie Sanchez as a former one-on-one client who now studies international migration and public policy at the London School of Economics. 3. The episode asks how a first-generation applicant can turn a dream of living abroad into a realistic grad school plan. 4. Stephanie says she had always wanted to live abroad and regretted not studying abroad during her undergraduate years. 5. She explains that nonprofit work with migrant communities pushed her to seek broader context on migration and compare solutions outside the United States. 6. Stephanie describes deciding that a master’s degree would be the next step after her bachelor’s degree because she wanted greater impact. 7. Her career goal shifted toward international organizations, and she specifically names the International Organization for Migration, or IOM. 8. To understand that path, she used LinkedIn to review IOM employees’ education backgrounds and the schools they attended. 9. That research led her to London and LSE because the school has a track record of sending students into international organizations. 10. She also names London’s English-language environment, large immigrant population, and diversity as important criteria. 11. Stephanie compares London with programs in Paris and Geneva, where local-language demands made her decide to prioritize coursework and networking over language learning. 12. She says she spent substantial time reading core course descriptions, assigned readings, and curriculum links on school websites. 13. She treats the degree as an investment of time and money and says the course title alone was never enough. 14. Informational interviews with current students helped her learn which classes were worth taking and which ones they would have skipped. 15. She says weekends and evenings were needed for application work because she was employed full time. 16. Family and friends provided accountability, and her father checking in on her progress helped her keep moving. 17. Dr. Yvette and Stephanie discuss creating a timeline, breaking work into small tasks, and using the application like a project with deliverables. 18. The conversation is interview-based and reflective, with Dr. Yvette offering tactical guidance and Stephanie giving detailed examples from her own process. 19. People researching master’s programs abroad, funding, and immigration policy will get the most from this conversation. 20. Listeners who want only broad advice without application details may skip it.

As heard by us

A practical client story about making an overseas master's application feel manageable.

This client story follows Stephanie Sanchez as she works through the familiar problem of turning a plan to apply to master's programs abroad into something that feels possible.

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If studying abroad feels bigger than your calendar, this episode gives you a way to begin.

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