Major: Advertising and Public Relations
Minor: Journalism

“I never had any other plans for after high school. For me, college was always where I knew I would end up. In fact, throughout my high school years, I had it all figured out. I would work twice as hard to achieve a straight-A status and join after school clubs in hopes of receiving a scholarship. Once in college, I would start my life as an architecture student for the next five years. Coming from an architecture high school, it seemed [to be] the most logical choice. I enjoyed architecture enough, and I was good at it. Why not pursue it in college, right?

Upon my entrance into the City College of New York, I realized that maybe I didn’t have it all figured out after all. Yes, my hard work did pay off and earn[ed] me a spot at the Macaulay Honors College, but my plans to remain an architecture student did not run as smoothly. About a month and a half into the program, I began to develop thoughts that architecture wasn’t for me. Immediately, I attempted to push these thoughts out of my head. Architecture had been a part of my plan for so long, that I felt as though leaving it would be a failure. It would be a disappointment. However, there eventually came a time where I had to make a decision between my pride and my happiness. I chose to be happy.

Fast forward to now; I am no longer an architecture major and I couldn’t be more pleased with my choice. Currently, I hope to minor in journalism and am heavily leaning towards a major in advertising and public relations. Switching majors was something I never thought would happen to me in college. I thought that I had it all planned out, but if there is one thing that college has taught me, it’s that life doesn’t always go according to plan. Life is going to toss me in all directions, but I will be ready when it does. It is perfectly fine to not know where I will end up ten years from now; I’m not worried.”

Interviewer: Haresh Mohabir ‘21 (City College)
Photographer: Autumn Gonzalez ’21 (City College)

 Special thanks to student group Humans of Macaulay for this Macaulay student story. Read more.

Majors: Neurology & Economics

“Nowadays, we’re prone to just look for information that supports our own points of view. Instead of searching for contrary viewpoints, we search for information that basically answers the question, ‘Why something I believe is true’. And if that’s all we’re looking for, then we’ll find just that, and nothing else.

There’s also a lack of empathy, I believe. We see others on the opposite side of our beliefs, and we’re inclined to just mark and label them, because humans seek association by nature. But nothing’s ever binary in life. And if we simply make an effort to reach out and understand others’ points of view, and where they’re coming from, we can discover that they’re not necessarily bad people.”

Interviewer: Steven Du ’21 (Hunter College)
Photo Credit: Ralph Venté ’21 (Hunter College)

 Special thanks to student group Humans of Macaulay for this Macaulay student story. Read more.

To learn more about the event:  https://www.eventbrite.com/e/conversations-with-global-business-leaders-tickets-39147599524

I graduated from Macaulay at the Queens campus in 2010. I went into a career in financial services, I’m a consultant now and do business consulting specifically in financial services. I worked in the corporate world for about seven years, and was the youngest-ever vice president at New York Life Insurance Company.

I travel a lot for work, but any opportunity I can get to give back and speak on behalf of Macaulay, I’m there. My parents were born in Greece, and I didn’t have any family members, friends, or anyone who worked in finance, so my mentor was Macaulay.

“Everything I have today, every success point that I’ve reached in my career professionally also personally is because of Macaulay. I will speak and donate to this school. I started doing it the minute I got into finance and I’ll do it forever.”

One thing that’s incredible about Macaulay is that it was designed to identify students who have an X-Factor even when they don’t realize that they have an X-Factor. Macaulay accepts kids that they see real potential in; I was one of those students.

I knew that I wanted to go into business but didn’t know what that really meant. Other kids were playing with dolls and wanted to be teachers, maybe, or doctors, while I would be organizing files at a desk in the basement.

My advisor, and also the Dean, spent an enormous amount of time helping me figure out the business world and where I might fit in. They helped identify an opportunity for me at the London School of Economics that was designed to help students hone entrepreneurial skills, leadership skills, and really closely study cooperate finance, economics and marketing. I didn’t tell my parents I was going there until the week before (true story!) because they were strict immigrant parents. They didn’t want me to go, but they supported my decision and it completely changed my life.

What ultimately launched and catapulted my career in finance was coming back to speak about my experience in London and talking about what it did for me personally, and what it did for me in terms of understanding my abilities as an entrepreneur and a leader. I spoke to an audience similar to this, and in the audience was the CEO of New York Life, and he said, “I’ve got a job for you. And you will be perfect.” And that started what has been a very successful career for me. I’m most proud because it allows me to give back to my family, provide for them and help them, but also give back to the College.

I’m often asked by students and even some parents, “Do people really know the name Macaulay? Do they know that name in the profession my child is going into?” And what I say to everybody is: “Tell your children, if employers in New York City do not know Macaulay then personally I probably wouldn’t want to work for them. They should know Macaulay because the school is designed to raise future leaders for the city and the state!”

I’m very proud to recognize Macaulay and I’m very proud of the school.

Major: Biochemistry

“Coming into college I didn’t know what to expect. I had no idea how classes worked, what subjects I liked, or how to make new friends. I’ll admit, at first, everything felt so scary and I thought I was doing everything wrong. But I think it’s important to realize that all those feelings are normal. The transition from high school to college is a little bumpy. However, taking the steps to make new friends and having people you can talk to made everything a lot less intimidating. I’m still trying to figure things out, but I’ve realized I like my science courses more than my other classes.”

Interviewer & Photo Credit: Jannatul Ahmed ’21 (Hunter College)

Special thanks to student group Humans of Macaulay for this Macaulay student story.