Will Kim

My journey into the Global and Comparative Education program is a bit unique from others. To begin, I came to Stanford a year before the GCE program, as an M.A. student in the East Asian Studies department. Before my arrival, I served in South Korea’s mandatory military service and nurtured a strong interest in Korean history. I was strongly interested in studying under the nation’s most famous Korea scholars at Stanford.

Simultaneously, I was searching to be a part of something bigger than myself. My acceptance into Stanford not only affirmed my interest in high-quality learning, but also deepened my gratitude for my education. During my East Asian M.A., I had the opportunity to take a GCE course, which was cross listed as an East Asian Studies course then. Just a few classes later, I was committed to applying to the program: I’ll never forget the feeling of studying topics that meaningfully affect people’s lives. I chose the GCE program to learn how to utilize education to address societal inequities.

In terms of the caliber of the program itself, I can only repeat what others have said: small class sizes conducive to thought-provoking discussions, world-class faculty in the international education and development fields, and the opportunity to write a high-quality, evidence-based, research paper on the topic of your choice. However, one unique thing I would like to emphasize is that when you join the GCE program, you become part of a broader community of socially engaged researcher-practitioners: you are forever a member of the Stanford Graduate School of Education. At the GSE, I’ve had the privilege of engaging with students who have founded their own non-profits/scholarship foundations, debating with famous professors who have shaped entire fields of study, and even hosting my own cross-departmental event to raise awareness about the Bay Area’s non-profit scene. To be a GSE student means to be part of a group of individuals committed to tackling the world’s hardest problems.

To that end, upon graduation, I was fortunate enough to land a job as a Program Facilitator at Braven, a national education non-profit. I work with first-generation and underrepresented college students at San Jose State University to help them attain strong first jobs or graduate school admittances upon graduation. This semester, I have the privilege of teaching roughly 100 students each week to help them leverage their education to empower their post-graduate lives. I hope to continue working on such meaningful initiatives in education, serving others alongside others.  

Ultimately, my biggest takeaway from GCE program is how it enabled me to think like an impactful educator. Some of you may be coming to do research, others of you may be here to learn and return to the workforce. Either way, you will all be exposed to an abundance of literature on what works and what doesn’t by the most influential minds in education, both as a research field and as a pedagogy. I firmly believe that your time here will be easily the most impactful so long as you stay true to your intentions. I am a proud member of the GCE program and the GSE – I hope you can join the family!