Alicia Clara Rojas

Alicia’s intense curiosity has always been one of her strengths, and she credits herself as being someone who loves to know a little about a lot of things. These fantastic qualities, which are so useful in her academic life, actually worked against her when it came to finding a program to study in the first place. But when she heard about IE University’s Politics, Law and Economics (PLE) program at her high school’s university fair, something clicked in her mind—perhaps separately they’d never interested her, but together they could provide her with something truly inspiring. Soon after, Alicia applied and then accepted her offer to the multidisciplinary program.

As she nears graduation day, Alicia has been savoring every moment she has left at the university’s beautiful Segovia campus. Taking advantage of all the school has to offer in and out of the classroom, she’s attended conferences, taken part in clubs, arranged campus tours for prospective students and even acted as coordinator for the Catholic Club. From the motivating teachers to the extracurricular activities, Alicia says she’d go back a thousand times and do the experience all over again.

Coming from a life abroad, having lived in Paris and Geneva for several years, Alicia has been lucky enough to learn from a variety of environments. It’s part of what’s made her interdisciplinary experience at IE University so special. Over the last four years, Alicia has changed a lot, having developed a newfound confidence in herself fostered within an educational atmosphere. She maintains that being pushed out of her comfort zone provided her with the necessary tools to face her future with enthusiasm. Part of her confidence was found in her internship experience at a digital communication startup, as well as a Commercial Sales Intern at Amazon Web Services, which lead to a permanent position starting June 2021. Without the school’s support—and specifically that of the careers department—those doors may not have opened, or at least not been as accessible.

It’s an area of study that Alicia would recommend to anyone, especially those most interested in understanding everything around them. She considers the economics aspect of the program to be the best suited to her, and hopes to go on to study interior design, as one of her creative passions is decoration. This, she says, is the benefit of modern studies—students aren’t limited but have the broad skill set to go into fields not related to their degree. But she’ll carry what she’s learned, and the connections she’s made, with her in whatever direction she decides to go. Getting involved and meeting new people has helped Alicia come out of her shell, shedding her shy exterior to face her fears.

When she isn’t browsing the aisles at her local IKEA, Alicia loves escaping to the countryside, enjoying a simple meal with her family, reading up on child psychology, exploring old cafés in Madrid and getting lost in the streets of Malasaña. Much in line with her naturally curious nature, Alicia lives by the motto “never surrender,” a way of living certainly punctuated by her time spent in university, following her heart, pushing her boundaries and finding her place in the world.