Sylvie Ashford

Sylvie Ashford is a senior majoring in IR and minoring in Arabic. Passionate about public service, human rights, and ethical governance, Sylvie is currently writing an honors thesis on authoritarian resilience in Oman through CDDRL. Sylvie reflected on her time studying IR and offered advice for incoming IR students. This spotlight is part of the IR Senior Spotlight series, highlighting IR students graduating this spring.

What has been the most fulfilling part of studying IR at Stanford? 

The most fulfilling part of studying IR has been the flexibility to tailor my course load to my interests and aspirations. Every course has been a foray into a new region of the world, period in history, or area of theory that together have formed a well-rounded program. I can't overstate how much I enjoyed the freedom to dabble in political science, sociology, economics, history, philosophy, religious studies, and language classes. 

What advice would you give students deciding their major/interested in IR? 

(1) If you feel like you can't pick between programs, IR is the right choice for you! Beyond the fantastic core IR faculty, you'll be able to take advantage of diverse Stanford departments. IR requirements have given me the opportunity to get to know political science and human rights professors well and make friends across the social sciences.

(2) Get involved in research early––all you have to do is ask! I've been part of a research project at Hoover since my sophomore year and it's given me the chance to gain work experience, improve academic knowledge and skills, and build relationships. I also conducted research for a professor junior year and got to know them so much better outside of the classroom.

(3) Get to know IR students before making your decision! Ask a classmate to grab coffee, show up for a speaker event, or come to a SIAS open meeting to get a sense of your peers. The passion and leadership of the IR students before me were inspiring and motivated me to declare the major.