It started with showing someone around New York

Context

I’ve volunteered a few times as an official NYU tour guide. I also just like showing people around New York, so I kept doing it on my own.

The problem

None of what followed was planned. One of the people I showed around turned out to lead groups of Korean middle school, high school and college students on tours of universities on the East Coast.

What I did

When the group came to New York, I introduced them to NYU. Three separate things came out of that one visit.

• A high school student who was interested in NYU kept in touch, and I helped them through applying. They enrolled this year.
• A student at a university in Korea became interested in transferring to NYU. Changing schools was something I knew from the inside, having moved from the College of Arts and Science to Stern myself, and I helped them through the transfer.
• Another college student from the group stayed in touch, and I helped them a great deal as they worked to break into finance.

It’s the same kind of thing I do through the Korean Honors Business Society, where I run mock interviews and mentor Korean and Korean-American students trying to get into consulting.

What I learned

I didn’t create the opportunity. I was already in the right place when it came along. If I hadn’t kept giving tours, that chance meeting would have passed without anything coming of it.

The pattern underneath is one I keep coming back to. Someone has the ability and the will, and no way in. I happen to have walked a route they need: an application, a transfer, a first job in finance. The most useful thing I can do is show them where it goes.