Less than three months after finishing the MAIE program, I received and accepted a job offer from Pepperdine University. Being from Southern California, my dream was always to come back home and work locally, but being offered a position at one of the most beautiful schools in the country was something that would’ve never happened without ACM.
My degree program, in addition to the ACM faculty and staff who created professional opportunities within our curriculum, enormously prepared me for the post-grad job search experience. I could talk about the courses I took, the concepts I learned, and the conferences I attended, but telling hiring managers and potential bosses that I did all of that internationally makes it so much more impactful. You don’t just look professional and knowledgeable, you look well-rounded and equipped with soft skills that others don’t have, which is the ultimate goal. ACM gave me that.
(During the program) my French improved drastically, thanks to my experience living in a host family. I had the best host parents and host sisters in the world who were so patient and engaging, so getting better at speaking a foreign language was a natural byproduct. It has only made me more motivated to continue learning and seeking out language learning opportunities back at home in the US because bilingualism is so highly valued in the California university system.
My summer practicum, while short in duration, was the number one contributor to the readiness and preparedness I felt when I left France. As someone who didn’t have office experience previous to this summer, it proved to be essential for me in job interviews and for understanding this kind of work in general. I learned invaluable lessons while working in the Student Life Office as an intern, and the environment felt supportive, welcoming, and professional. Some of my favorite memories I have from my year abroad come from this experience!
ACM-IAU professors and staff always went out of their way to make sure our academic experiences were honest, relevant, and applicable to the kind of work we wanted to do in the future. They were kind, open-minded, and truly wanted nothing but success for their students, even after they left their classrooms.
Getting my Master’s at ACM changed me in ways I could’ve never expected. I left Aix-en-Provence as a better professional, friend, peer, and person. This program was unique in the sense that, as a master’s student studying international education, I was actively living the experience that I was learning about in my classrooms. The academic environment I was in had a richness and a collaborative spirit that I know could not have been replicated anywhere else. I owe so much to ACM!
– Hannah Grossman, MAIE ’26