A Comm Major’s Journey from Pop Culture to Networked Technology and Beyond

When communication major graduate Anika Gururaj (C'24) arrived at Penn from Bangalore, she didn’t imagine going to law school. But after three years at Penn, she has found herself there.

“I didn’t have a major in mind when I got to Penn,” she said. “I just wanted to spend the first semester exploring different courses and I happened to take a class with Professor Jessa Lingel.”

The course was “Critical Approaches to Popular Culture.” Gururaj loved it.

“It married theoretical learning with an understanding of the practical implications of what we were reading in class,” she said. “It felt so contemporary and relevant to the real world and current events.”

Taking Lingel’s class led her to take more communication courses and become a Communication major. Each class she took exposed her to new facets of the field and sent her on new paths of exploration.

Gururaj’s interest in law blossomed during a course on the history and theory of freedom of expression taught by Professor Carolyn Marvin. She realized that legal cases, rhetoric, and literature fascinated her and found herself drawn to the intersection of law and communication.

A Passion for Privacy

Another eye-opening academic experience came when Gururaj took “Communication in the Networked Age” with Professor Sandra González-Bailón. It got her thinking about the impact technologies like Facebook and Instagram have on privacy and free speech.

She completed an independent study with González-Bailón, focused on the Digital Services Act (DSA). The DSA, a groundbreaking piece of legislation, regulates privacy laws for social media platforms operating in the European Union.

“Going to law school was the perfect next step to allow her ideas to consolidate and find a way, as I am sure she will, to expand on current regulatory frameworks,” González-Bailón said.

For Gururaj, the transition from a Communication major to a prospective law student represents more than just a shift in academic focus — it embodies a spirit of intellectual curiosity, adaptability, and growth.

As she heads into this next chapter — she started at Harvard Law this fall — Gururaj is keeping lessons from Annenberg close.

“The support I’ve received from my professors and classmates has gotten me to the point where I feel confident enough to begin my law school journey.”