Hey fellow Huskies, I am John (Jack) Miller, a student in the Semester In: San Francisco (SSF) program. As you may already know, SSF is an experience-based and entrepreneurship-focused program in the heart of San Francisco. I am writing this blog for you guys to give you a student’s perspective on the SSF program. I’ll break this down into two sections, a recap of & reflection on my personal journey in SSF and some suggestions on how to maximize your experience in the SSF program.

Reflecting on my Personal Experiences in SSF — How it Started

My story with SSF begins almost exactly 24 hours before my flight out to San Francisco. Just after I checked in for my flight, I received an email about SSF, but it was not good news. Classes were being temporarily shifted to remote instruction due to guidance from local health restrictions in San Francisco. Looking back on this, it makes sense, San Francisco was and continues to be very cautious with their handling of the COVID-19 Pandemic. At the time, however; it certainly was devastating news, as my excitement and anticipation for this program had been bubbling up after months of lockdown due to COVID-19. That being said, if 2020 has taught us anything, it is that we have to be resilient and wear a mask #ProtectThePack, so I hopped on the plane the next day with the hope that things could only get better, and they certainly did.

Reflecting on my Personal Experiences in SSF — Hitting the Ground Running

I landed at SFO, called an Uber, and made my way to SoMa Square. Admittedly, it was a little small, but what do you expect? It’s San Francisco. I started setting up the apartment and met up with a friend from a previous SA experience in London, and before I knew it, orientation had arrived. After that, the program went full throttle. We dove straight into the content for the semester the next day.

Reflecting on my Personal Experiences in SSF — Not Your Typical College Classes

I am going to give a little overview of what the classes in SSF are really like, Spoiler Alert, they are not like a regular college class. For reference, I took ENTR 2301: Innovation!; FINA 4610: Entrepreneurial Finance; & MKTG: Special Topics in Marketing. In SSF, the classes only meet once per week, which really helps you optimize your schedule and enjoy the city, as you are effectively guaranteed 3 days off every week (currently it is policy to not hold classes on Mondays). As for the content of the classes themselves, everything seemed very practical, in the sense that it genuinely felt like I could be setting up a functional start-up with the knowledge provided by the professors. And, I will let you in on a little secret, if you can’t decide between two classes in SSF, the Professors will encourage you to just sit in on the class you choose not to take for a grade whenever you want, which I highly recommend. I know I probably just sound like I’m shilling for the professors, but it is genuinely an incredible program. Even though the courses already deliver on their promise of providing practical knowledge for entrepreneurship, the professors take it one step further and truly go above and beyond. On effectively a weekly basis, most professors had a guest speaker attend the lecture (virtually) in order to provide an even more diverse perspective of ideas and knowledge. We spoke with career entrepreneurs, venture capitalists, venture debt bankers, marketing strategists, startup coaches, and the list just goes on and on. This is GREAT for networking, and connecting with people who really are useful contacts to have in the startup world.

Maximizing your SSF Experience — Exploring the Area

It is important to remember that California has so much to offer in and around the Bay Area. When exploring San Francisco, my recommendation is to use the bike-sharing service: Bay Wheels (No this is not sponsored by them I biked 86 miles around the city on their bikes in just over 3 months). San Francisco is known for its hills, so check where you are going first, and if there are large hills involved, grab one of the electric bikes, you will thank me later. Of course, there is also Uber, but that is $15+ per ride compared to $15 per month for the bikes. If you plan on leaving the city, which you definitely should at some point, rent a ZipCar (again, not sponsored). You can pay by the hour or by the day, and if you take a trip with like 5 people it is pretty reasonable. So, here are a few of my suggestions on places to visit while you are there:

In The City:

1. Golden Gate Park — You could spend days exploring the expanses of this place, every time I went this semester, I always explored somewhere new.
2. The Embarcadero/Fisherman’s Wharf — Grab a bike or walk along the waterfront and enjoy the great views of the bay, the Golden Gate Bridge, and Alcatraz.
3. Haight Ashbury — If you like anything and everything vintage, this is the place for you, conveniently adjacent to Golden Gate Park, this stretch of shopping is certainly somewhere you need to at least see once.

Outside of The City:

1. Whitewater Rafting on American River — It is about a 2-hour drive north, but it is totally worth it if you have never been before. The views along the river are amazing, and the experience is thrilling.
2. Napa Valley (21+) — I can’t comment too much on this as I am not yet 21 but, I think everyone knows that taking a trip to Napa Valley is a given if you’re living in the Bay Area for a few months, just make sure you have a DD.
3. Stanford — The campus is a beautiful place to go explore for the day. When I went, it was eerily quiet as most students seemed to be doing remote instruction, but the campus was nonetheless stunning.

Maximizing your SSF Experience — Utilize WeWork as a Resource

Admittedly, I wrote this place off for about a month at the beginning of the program, and I regret that decision every day. It is only a short walk from SoMa square, and it is a great space for doing both solo work and collaborating on group work with ample conference spaces and absolutely stunning views of the city. Chinatown is literally right next to the building, so there are also a wealth of great places to eat lunch before/after class.

Wrapping it Up

In summary, if you are looking for a fast-paced, practical program on entrepreneurship, you found it. If you decide to take on SSF, do your best to maximize your experience and explore the area around you in your free time, especially if you are not from Northern California, it truly is a completely different world. If you would like to learn more about SSF, you should check out Northeastern’s Bay Area website, which contains additional resources on their program offerings in, you guessed it, the Bay Area.

If you have any questions that I could answer about the program for you, do not hesitate to connect with me via LinkedIn, and I would be more than happy to discuss SSF in greater detail there.