Stresemann was an excellent student, especially in German literature and poetry. In an essay written when he left school, he wrote that he would have enjoyed becoming a teacher, but he would only have been qualified to teach languages or the natural sciences, which were not his primary areas of interest. He entered the University of Berlin in 1897 to study political economy. During his studies, Stresemann was exposed to the principal political arguments of his day, particularly the German debate about socialism.