Senior Carlos Salinas poses in front of the Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris, France. | Photo Courtesy of Carlos Salinas
Carlos Salinas, senior international business and economics major with a certificate in international studies, has his future planned out accordingly after he leaves UT this year.
Salinas has been at UT for five years because he decided to do an internship in Washington D.C. with the Department of State in the Office of Public Affairs for the Western Hemisphere in fall 2009 for a semester
While he interned, he also took courses at John Hopkins University School of Advanced International Studies as a Ford Motor Company Scholar and a UT honors undergraduate research fellow.
Salinas was born in Miami but lived most of his life in Costa Rica. He is half Costa Rican and half Brazilian. Salinas speak four languages, having learned Spanish first, then Portuguese, French and lastly, English.
The Minaret had the chance to interview Salinas to learn about his post-graduate plans in Europe/New York, his achievements and his goals.
The Minaret: What are your plans after graduating from UT?
Salinas: First I will be taking an internship at the US Mission to the European Union in Brussels, Belgium and after that I will enroll in the fellowship, a dual masters degree fellowship and a fellowship at the UNESCO headquarters in Paris, France.
My masters degree is a dual masters program with the Instituto de Empresa in Madrid, Spain and Columbia University in New York. IE is well known as the top business school in Europe and the fifth all over the world.
My masters is going to be in international MBA and international MPA. One of the masters programs is a masters in public administration and the other is business administration. The reason is that Columbia is a leader university in public affairs and IE is a leader university in business affairs.
The Minaret: What do you want to do as a career?
Salinas: After I graduate from both universities and I get the training at UNESCO, I will be joining the Foreign Service as a U.S. representative in a multilateral organization. I will be working either by the UN, Organization of American States (OAS), International Monetary Fund (IMF), World Bank or the Organization for Economic Corporation and Development (OECD) as a Department of State representative.
The Minaret: Have you had any internships besides the one in 2009 with the Department of State?
Salinas: I started my first internship in 2008 with the Greater Tampa Chamber of Commerce. I did an internship at the U.S. Senate Committee for Commerce and Technology in D.C. for the summer of 2009. After that, I did the one in the State Department. Then, I interned for the U.S. Embassy in San Jose, Costa Rica in the summer of 2010. In the summer of 2011, I interned for the U.S. Embassy in Madrid, Spain.
The Minaret: What will you be doing for your internship this summer?
Salinas: This summer I’ll be interning for the U.S. Mission to the European Union, in their Office of Political and Legal Affairs so I’ll be supervising the different legislations in the international organizations represented in Belgium regarding European affairs and US/EU relations. I’m very excited. It’s going to be an amazing opportunity.
The Minaret: What is the fellowship that you got into?
Salinas: The fellowship is a Fulbright/Department of State Fellowship. The program is a partnership between Full Bright and the Department of State to fund the education of future leaders and diplomats.
It pays for a double master’s degree at IE and Columbia specifically and you have to take those master’s. It is composed of one year at IE full-time, one year as a fellow working at UNESCO in Paris and one year at Columbia University.
It’s everything paid and it’s all inclusive. It’s one of the most competitive fellowships; they choose one person from all over the U.S. Application process starts in May followed by four interviews after being selected into the top 50 finalists. I applied last June of 2011.
The process to know the final decision will take about maybe 11 months. It’s a decision made by Columbia and IE together. There is just 1 spot available for a student but the great thing is even though its really competitive and has given me the biggest headache in my life, it’s one of the most amazing fellowships
Out of the 497 applicants this year, I got the one and only spot. After being done with the whole fellowship, after three years, everything paid, I’ll have a secure spot for the State Department. Now, applications start on May 1 and they close by August 20, so applicants can start looking for fellowships if they are interested.
After being done with the whole fellowship, after three years, everything paid, I’ll have a secure spot for the State Department. Now, applications start on May 1 and they close by June 20, so applicants can start looking for fellowships if they are interested.
The Minaret: What has been your key to success?
Salinas: I think my key to success has been consistency and the willingness to be a better person and make a positive impact on our society. If you fail once in life, never give up and keep trying. Even though I was rejected my first years in different fellowships, I kept going and now I got this amazing fellowship and am really happy.
The Minaret: What are you passionate about in life?
Salinas: I am passionate about learning about different culture, languages, travelling, getting to know different people with different personalities and dancing. My passion is knowing that my work is having a costly effect on the life of others.
The Minaret: What are your goals in life?
Salinas: My main goal is to be an important person inside the U.S. government and to work for policies that increase and allow Americans and all people living in the U.S. to get a better education.
I want to make sure people get an education because I think it is a right and the only way a country can get even further from the development because we need more educated people. We have a really developed society and a really educated society, however, with the changes in technology and in the demand for companies, we need people even more educated, so that’s my main goal, to try to work to increase the quality of education in the U.S.
The Minaret: Since you already speak four languages, do you want to learn any others?
Salinas: I started learning Chinese Mandarin my first year at UT, I took two courses.
I would love to keep learning about the language since my sister is already in China and knows Chinese fluently. The rising of China is impressive so I’d like to have knowledge of the language.
“I want to thank all the people who supported me along the way, special thanks to Tierra Smith and Jackie Latorella from the Financial Aid office, Elizabeth Mills from the International Programs Office and Lola Hidalgo from the Language Department. I have to thank them for all their great support. This achievement was their achievement, too.”
Salinas will be the Speaker of the 2012 Commencement along with another student.
For more information about Salinas, his education and his internships, you can contact him at csalinas@spartans.ut.edu.
Yasaman Sherbaf can be reached at ysherbaf@spartans.ut.edu.
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