#julia doherty

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I represented Dornsife College as the flag bearer for the New Student Convocation. Honored to represent the school that I love and crazy to think that time has flown so quickly ✌❤️💛

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Dude, You’re Getting A Dell (Internship) - Julia Doherty

"What'd you do this summer?" 

"I interned at Dell."

"You mean like the computer company?"

Yes they are still around, and yes, I am an International Relations (Global Business) and Religion double major. I was able to explore the interdisciplinary business and marketing side of my major this summer when I accepted an internship at Dell Technologies in Santa Clara, CA. I was working in their Cloud Client-Computing Department as their Marketing Intern. What that meant was that in addition to learning about the Silicon Valley work environment, living completely on my own in my own apartment for the first time, and putting my marketing skills to the test, I was also learning a lot of technical jargon--and learning it quickly.

In a time where getting a job in tech is the goal for many of my peers, I considered my experience very lucky, especially after realizing how much of a crucial side of the company the marketing and business sides were. Through my work on newsletters, press releases and planning our global trade shows, I was able to get our products out there to the customers that would actually buy them. 

Unlike some internships that involve errand running and coffee making, I was able to develop actual skill sets and experiences that I know I will be using throughout the rest of my career, both in my next internship and eventually full time job, whether that be in the tech industry or something I haven't even discovered yet! 

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Sitting For My LSAT - Julia Doherty

 My Junior year of college I finalized my post-graduate plans and realized my dream of Religious Conflict Mediation meant that law school was in my future. After meeting with one of my favorite professors, Professor Sandholtz, during office hours, he opened doors for me by letting me know that attending law school for me didn’t need to mean that I had to practice law after school but that for a future in diplomacy law school is a perfect first step. This refocused the rest of my college path. Instead of committing to my internship offer in banking for the summer I decided to stay in Los Angeles, work on campus and get in full study mode for the upcoming LSAT.

One of my friends that had graduated the year before and is currently attending Hastings Law School in San Francisco recommended an online prep course that laid out a fourteen-week plan that I was able to do at my own pace which worked really well for my schedule as I was working during the day and would study in the mornings and evenings. My friend Erica from the Dornsife Admission Office was also studying for LSAT this summer which was great because I had a companion to go through what can be an overwhelming process as I had not taken a standardized test such as this since my junior year of high school.

While I am not planning on applying to law schools for this cycle I wanted to take the test while I was still in an academic setting as I knew that my focus and motivation would be higher under those circumstances. So, the first weekend in September, when all of my friends were up in the Bay Area for the annual Weekender migration, I sat in a ballroom in downtown Los Angeles and took a test that would set me up for my future.

I am excited for a future and a career path that, right now while uncertain, brings out my deepest passions and excites me to get up and go to class every single day. A year ago, the thought of not actively recruiting for jobs when others were or not knowing exactly what I will be doing next year would have left me paralyzed. However, the fact that I know that in two years I will be sitting in a law school classroom discussing topics that I have been fascinated with since age 7 brings me so much joy and hope for my future, and I am excited for the gap year that will set me on the best path to apply to those schools. 

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Leadership In Person - Julia Doherty

One the coolest things that I have had the chance to do at USC so far occurred this past semester. Through my work at the Dornsife Admission Office, as well as various organizations on campus, I have gotten to know Professor Steve Lamy very well, and fall he mentioned to me that they would be holding a leadership seminar class in the spring that would be invite only. I followed up with him a few weeks later and found out that this class would be co-taught by Dr. Gordon Brown, the former Prime Minister of the United Kingdom.

For three weeks last spring, a group of 60 students met almost daily with Dr. Brown and Professor Lamy in order to engage in conversation about how to best lead, manage and equalize the international community. As an International Relations major, this class was a dream come true because every question or thought that we had as students was met with real experience and stories of how some of the largest changes (such as the Asian Financial Crisis and modern technology) came to be and were impacting international relations on a daily basis. But I think the most rewarding part of the class was the last few classes where students were able to get up in groups and present before Dr. Brown on a topic of their choosing to express based on his knowledge and our research how we deem the world should change.

Learning in my opinion is best done through experience, and when you haven’t had the chance to have experiences yourself, going to the source and learning from the experts is the best way to learn. Dr. Brown is nothing short of an expert in regard to challenges to leadership, the difficulties of maintaining effective global institutions and balancing the intricacies of a globalized society. This class was so meaningful to me because while 60 of us spent three weeks talking about how we wanted to change the world, we left with the confidence that we would make tangible changes.

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It wouldn't be a #DiscoverUSC without a balloon pic. #DornsifeLife

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Religious Conflict Research - Julia Doherty

This past summer I studied abroad in Europe to work on what the intersections are of religion, conflict, and human rights and what the practical politics are of protecting these rights. We looked at how the overlay of religion and human rights colors almost every aspect of our collective human experience, influencing our gender roles, cultures, worldviews, and political systems. Building off of concepts that we learned in the classroom as well as through speaking to our interviewees, I looked at how conflict between and within religions bleed into our understandings of love and hate, justice and terror, the particular and the universal: mainly focusing on the role of identity and how it influences and ignites conflict.

Traveling to the University of Oxford, we participated in an intensive workshop run by the Oxford Institute for Ethics, Law and Armed Conflict (ELAC) that will forge useful frameworks for interpreting the complexity of competing moral ideas in our global political reality. After spending these nine days in lecture and discussion we traveled to Belfast, Northern Ireland followed by Córdoba, Spain to better understand global affairs in two different world religions. These days were used to think deeply about the theistic underpinnings of the philosophy of human rights and sought to better understand an era of historical coexistence of Muslim, Christian and Jewish cultures.

I focused my personal research work on the specific role of the concept of identity in conflict zones. This was especially pertinent given the Brexit vote that occurred while we were over there. I was able to talk to influential people and even set up a meeting with a Nobel Peace prize winner where I spoke about how identity heightened the conflict in Northern Ireland as well as how identity is just another weapon used to sling at one another. This is an experience that motivated me to commit to my future working in religious conflict mediation, using my education to turn what most people would consider helpless into a hopeful future for individuals and the nation as a whole.

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GAMEDAY - Julia Doherty

For those that know me, I am a very easy person to find on Saturdays in the fall. I will be somewhere in the stands cheering for our USC Trojans (whether it’s a home game or an away game). I like to say that gamedays are my favorite holidays because there is nothing more thrilling for me than being in a crowd of thousands of people watching my favorite sport. The noise, the smells, the cheers, the plays, the rain (It happened once and it was absolute insanity. I’ve never seen so many ponchos in my life.). 

Fans range from the youngest in their small Song Girl uniforms or baby onesies to alums that graduated over 50 years ago, and everyone is excited to greet each other with a standard “Fight On!”. To those on the outside we do appear to be a little cult-ish or strange, but to those on the inside, there is no greater community than the Trojan Family and no greater adrenaline rush than a huge gameday win. 

This past season I have traveled to Dallas, Seattle, Palo Alto and Pasadena for games, and while the Sundays afterwards are always recovery, and my body is exhausted for a few days after standing for 20+ hours and jumping up and down like a crazy person, there is no better sound than a triumphant “Tusk” played by the Greatest Marching Band in the History of the Universe (aka the USC Trojan Marching Band). For some, college gamedays are things that they only get to experience for four years but something that brings me so much joy is that being a part of the Trojan Family means I get to experience USC gamedays for the rest of my life.

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LA River - Julia Doherty

I am currently taking a year-long class called “A Polymathic Inquiry to Los Angeles” where we bring in guest speakers and go on field trips weekly to get to know LA on a personal level. My personal favorite moment in the class, as well as adventure for this semester, was our trip kayaking the LA River. Yes, it is where they filmed the car scene in Grease. Yes, there are parts of it that have water in it.

Our trip down the LA river was truly eye-opening (but I realized that I also should have had my eyes more open because I ran into a lot of rocks -- pretty much any rock there was in the river I crashed into it). I shouldn’t really have been that surprised however because coordination has never really been my thing. Other than my bruises and being covered in water, I thought it was so incredible because I could see a part of the city that I couldn't even comprehend existed before hand. Not only were we getting to see Los Angeles from a different vantage point and dimension by seeing it from the ground (or the roots, if you want to go natural) but also had we not gone I would have never even thought that it existed. 

Through this adventure, a new layer of complexity was added onto this city that I have chosen to call my home for these four years. The most mind-blowing thing was that at parts of the journey you couldn't even really recognize that you were in the city unless you looked up for the signs. But at other points it was incredible how well the city was integrated; for example, there were moments where on our right there was nature and trees (both native and invasive) and then you looked to the left and you realized that the city itself was invading upon this river by seeing some the electricity poles lining the side of the river. This oasis was invaded, but at the same time, the oasis was invading the city. The element of invasion was further enhanced because to gain access to the river, we had to "break-in” through the opening in the fence.

Tours go very frequently in the spring and summer months, and I would argue that you haven’t seen Los Angeles until you have seen it from the river! I would highly recommend checking it out.