Yi graduated from the Sciences Po & UC Berkeley Dual Degree program in December 2019 with a double major in Legal Studies and Political Science. Since then, Yi has started her career as an Intellectual Property Paralegal at Twitter.

During her time in France, Yi explored her interest in law by representing Sciences Po at the Philip C. Jessup International Law Moot Court Competition. Yi went on to become President of Berkeley’s Legal Studies Association while pursuing several impressive law internships. According to Yi, the Dual Degree helped her foster an academic interest across many disciplines and prepared her for various professional opportunities.

Before attending the Dual Degree, Yi knew almost no French but found the challenge rewarding and much less daunting than expected.

"The first French word I learned (after Bonjour and Baguette, of course) was 'sortie' at the Charles De Gaulle Airport when I first landed and went through customs in France. My biggest fear at the time was that I didn't speak French (and was not exactly confident with my English either). But it quickly turned out that language was not as big a problem as I had imagined. The second-years at Sciences Po’s Le Havre campus walked me through the administrative procedures and helped me settle in. Soon enough I found myself too busy making new friends and experiencing the city to worry about language issues.”

When asked what the biggest difference between Sciences Po and UC Berkeley, Yi explained:

“The most staggering difference would be the campus size and class size. The learning environment and the social scene can be quite different: back in Le Havre, I found myself learning the most from my classmates and during study sessions with close friends - thanks to the fact that we could have almost identical curriculums and schedules; whereas at Berkeley I had a much more diverse list of courses to choose from, which exposed me to professionals and peers from vastly different backgrounds. While this meant I didn’t know everyone’s name at Berkeley like I did at Sciences Po, I felt that on both campuses it was easy to bump into friendly people with an open mind to discuss and to learn.”

Outside of this friendly atmosphere, Yi really enjoyed the hands-on, multidisciplinary academics of the Dual Degree. Yi’s favorite class was UC Berkeley’s Theories of Justice (Legal Studies 107 / Political Science 117) with Professor Christopher Kutz.