Fulbright Scholar Sets Sights on Career in Foreign Affairs

Caroline Fried focused much of her academic work at Northeastern on better understanding the Asia Pacific region—most specifically, Taiwan—and its cultural and political complexities. She points to her co-op last year at the Asia Society Policy Institute in Washington, D.C., as playing a critical role in her shaping a career path.

Fried spent six months performing research and compiling reports for the institute on topics such as economic, security, and gender policy. She followed the daily press as countries discussed and ratified the Trans-Pacific Partnership, kept tabs on the trade climate between the U.S. and Asia, and tracked developments on gender inequality within the private sector in various Asian countries.

Not only did she gain valuable hands-on experience, but she said being the only undergraduate intern working alongside graduate students pushed her to deliver high-caliber work equal to her peers. She also discovered what her next step had to be to achieve a career in foreign affairs. “Everyone around me either had a master’s degree or was working on one,” said Fried, SSH’17. “I realized that was what I needed.”

Fried, who was in the University Honors Program and graduated earlier this month as a double major in international affairs and history, is now on that track. In April, she earned a Fulbright Scholarship to pursue a master’s degree in Asia Pacific studies at Chengchi University in Taiwan and launch a career working in foreign policy think tanks.