USC Price student landed job at Meta while studying online

In addition to earning her Master of Public Administration degree online, Hannah Wills spent the last two years moving between states, switching jobs, getting married, and having a baby – all while maintaining a 4.0 GPA. “She’s an exceptional student,” said Dora Kingsley Vertenten, professor and faculty director of the USC Price MPA Online.

Hannah credits the program’s online modality in helping her continue studies even when life was a whirlwind. “I am so happy that nothing went on hold while I was in the program. I was learning. I was progressing. I could get married. I could be pregnant. It didn’t feel like things that I had put in motion before the degree had to wait unnecessarily, and that was really nice.”

Previously, Will managed digital marketing campaigns for big brands like Discover, Staples, and TripAdvisor, putting her in the middle of issues surrounding online privacy and social media’s role in society. A year into the MPA program online, she was hired to be on Meta’s policy programs team, where she oversees marketing and performance management for the company’s government affairs team. The job combines her marketing skills with her new policy knowledge, and she supports policy work across the globe. 

Will chose the USC Price School because its MPA program was highly ranked and academically rigorous. The online classes were also synchronous – rather than pre-recorded – so she could interact with professors and classmates. Many of her classmates were working professionals in city government, which gave Will further insight into public administration. “The MPA program was what I needed to get into this policy-focused role. I was so happy to land the job because I had been nervous about making a career pivot from marketing into policy. My leap was enabled by the degree.”

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