A Semester in San Francisco—Guaranteed Growth and Unique Perspectives
By: Ryan Hada
Tags: Study Abroad, Marketing, Innovation, Internship Experience, Silicon Valley

The Golden Gate Bridge. Shutterstock Image.

This past semester I was lucky enough to gain new perspectives and new experiences, learning from industry professionals in the Northeastern Semester in San Francisco program. I was blessed with the opportunity of having my first internship. Working at Wescover — an online marketplace for designers and creators — I was able to learn under an extremely supportive team and see firsthand the work that goes into an early-stage startup.

I saw how difficult it was to make decisions and learned how there really is no formula for success. It was fascinating to witness the many changes made to the company throughout my four months with the company. The changes made by understanding the customers, seeing what they want and need, and making decisions based on them. Every week I was able to sit in on weekly meetings where I was able to listen in on the overview of the week — often consisting of heavy analytical data that showed the impact of the decisions made previously.

Northeastern is all about experiential learning, and this semester was no different. I was able to learn things in my class that, for the first time, I really feel like I can clearly apply to the real world. I was able to take these things that I learned and apply them directly to my internship. While this semester definitely did not go as I had expected it would when I signed up, I am extremely grateful for the opportunity to spend my semester learning in Silicon Valley.

Overview of the Program

The program allowed me to have a full 16 credit schedule, with three classes and an internship (which served as a 4 credit course). One of my classes was a fully online class taught by a professor back in Boston, though the other two had content having a lot to do with the Silicon Valley atmosphere. These two classes — which I would definitely recommend — were Special Topics in Marketing and Innovation! (emphasis on the exclamation point). My classes each met once a week, for three hours at a time, giving me a good workload but also a good amount of free time.

In my marketing class, I learned more applicable information than I had learned in any other class I had taken before. I learned the ins and outs of what makes a good blog. I learned the little details that go into writing a promotional email. I learned a lot about website design — what works and what to avoid. I learned about more areas of marketing than I had previously known existed, and was given the opportunity to hear from an expert in each specific area through weekly guest speakers who are industry experts in Silicon Valley. If you are even slightly interested in marketing, Special Topics in Marketing is a class that you must take.

One of the many books we constantly referenced—a must-read.

The class Innovation! revolved around the question: can innovation be taught? Throughout the course, we spent time going through various leaders of innovation — from Rita McGrath to Clay Christensen. The class was a potpourri of innovation topics: we learned about the different types of innovations, innovations in startups, innovations à la Silicon Valley, among many other variations. I learned to think with a mindset that encourages innovation, but if you want to know the truth of whether or not innovation can be taught, you’ll just need to take the class to find out for yourself.

Aside from these classes, I was given a good workload with my internship, working a little under seven hours a day, three days a week. The workload varied based on the company you worked at, but I was happy that I was able to keep busy, as I wanted to make the most out of my four months at Wescover. My role had a focus on marketing and communications, and I was given tasks and learned under various heads of the department.

How this semester has helped me

Coming into this semester, I laid out a few goals for myself. First and foremost, I wanted to get a better understanding of what really goes into the marketing department. Marketing is something that I have always been interested in as I saw it as an essential part of any company, while still having a creative side to it. As I am currently enrolled in the D’Amore-McKim School of Business with a concentration in marketing, I wanted to be sure that I am on the right path.

Looking back, I definitely have a better understanding of what marketing really is, as well as the various jobs that go into marketing. Through the guest speakers I had the privilege of hearing from in my marketing class I not only learned a lot about their positions in marketing and their role’s importance to the company, but many of them actually went through their day-to-day activities and responsibilities which was really useful for me in seeing which path I might want to go down. I was able to experiment with different tasks at Wescover as well. Prior to accepting the role, I was told by the team that my role and responsibilities would shift pretty frequently, due to the changing priorities of Wescover as a startup. This proved to be true — while I had a few tasks that I continued to work on day in and day out, I was given new responsibilities of different varieties nearly every week, allowing me to build on my growing skillset.

Another goal that I had was to be able to add another perspective and to think about things in a new way. Different perspectives are something that I deeply value, and it is something that has guided a lot of the decisions I have made. It influenced me to leave California after high school and attend college on the east coast. It encouraged me to grasp the opportunity of studying abroad in London for my first semester of college. It is something I hoped to gain by learning from industry professionals in Silicon Valley. Although I wasn’t able to benefit from socializing with my peers due to the Covid-19 pandemic, I was able to gain some interesting viewpoints from my knowledgeable teachers and guest speakers throughout the semester. My class on innovation provided me with a new way of thinking about businesses and the roles that products play for their consumers. I strongly believe that the primary purpose of college is to gain new perspectives, as well as to try many new experiences, and I was definitely able to gain both of these during my semester in San Francisco.

What would YOU gain from this experience?

Any Northeastern business student should be jumping for the opportunity to take part in the Semester in San Francisco program. As much as I love Boston — I am extremely excited to return next semester — the San Francisco program is unmatched. The program provides numerous opportunities and experiences in the innovation hub of the world.

Ask yourself this: am I getting the most out of my classes right now? If you are like me, and you feel like your classes aren’t teaching you things that you feel you can really apply in the real world, the San Francisco program is perfect for you. If you want to build your professional network, gaining connections with people in your industry who have had success in Silicon Valley, then you need to seriously consider the San Francisco program. If you are eager to learn under successful entrepreneurs and gain a new perspective, then I truly believe you should consider taking part in this program.