Hear Nahal Malakabadi, a second-year MPP student, talk about her dedication to helping others — on a global scale, and also with her fellow students
People often say you truly master a skill when you can teach it. For Nahal Lotfi Malakabadi, a student at UC San Diego’s School of Global Policy and Strategy (GPS), that’s proven true in her role as a teaching assistant for the summer Prep program, which is designed to help admitted students from all backgrounds get up to speed on the mathematical topics they’ll need when the school year starts.
By supporting her fellow students’ academic success, she’s strengthened her quantitative skills while sharing her love of helping others. These are the same motivations that led Malakabadi, originally from Iran, to choose to pursue the Master of Public Policy degree, in which she is specializing in the Policy Design and Evaluation track. GPS News talked to Malakabadi to hear about her experience as a TA, the math-heavy curriculum and her own journey as a student.
What was a typical day like as a teaching assistant for the Prep program?
During the summer, I’d start my day with breakfast and then walk to campus. I don’t use a scooter, so it’s about a 30-minute walk to GPS, but the route is so beautiful that I always enjoy it. After the students got out of their classes, we had the discussion sections. I reviewed some of the lecture material and went over questions about mathematical and statistical concepts, and we also practiced solving problems together. Then, we TAs had office hours where students could come and approach us with other questions.
What was the most rewarding part about being a TA?
The Summer Prep program was a great experience for me both as a student and now as a TA. The most fulfilling part was being able to see students learn the concepts, even if they had doubts before.
[Read: A new AI math tutor supplements classroom instruction, helping students master concepts during Prep]
I remember vividly that one student was sitting in my review session the day before the Quantitative Methods final exam, and he asked me a question about a specific type of problem. Then, when I was grading papers, I saw that he answered that problem correctly. When students said, “Oh, I finally understand” — that was an amazing feeling.
What would you say to students who are worried that their lack of a strong background in math could make their GPS studies difficult?
As a TA, I told my students, “Just don’t give up. I know it’s tough right now, but you’re going to be amazed by the extent to which you’re going to push your boundaries and how much you’re going to learn.”
People come to GPS from all walks of life: For instance, my best friend here has an acting background, but we also have aerospace and electrical engineers. It’s a very mixed crowd. There are so many people at GPS who are there to help you succeed: The administrative staff, the advisers and the faculty are super supportive. If you need to talk to someone about having a difficult time in a certain class, our Student Affairs team has an open-door policy.
How did you decide to come to GPS?
The main reason I selected GPS was because of the quantitative rigor of the programs. You can learn about politics or sociology or policy from a theoretical point of view anywhere, but what distinguishes GPS’s MPP program is the quantitative component.
“There are so many people at GPS who are there to help you succeed: The administrative staff, the advisers and the faculty are super supportive.”
At the same time, you’re not just studying data analytics, but data analytics as it relates to people. I like people. I want to design and evaluate policies for people. I like human beings. I care about social welfare, and at GPS, I’m learning how to think better quantitatively and back up my policy recommendations better with data.
While one obvious way to influence policy is through working in government, I’m looking forward to working in the private sector, ideally in a consulting role at a tech company or a startup. I want to take what I’ve learned at GPS regarding regulations and combine that with my geopolitical understanding of the Middle East.
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