Jia Wei Cao, '18

Assistant Director, Career Design Lab
Columbia University
School of Professional Studies

 

"Stony Brook offered me a golden opportunity to really launch my career. I thoroughly enjoyed all my classes and learned so much from the mentors I worked with along the way. Without the HEA program, I wouldn’t be as effective of an administrator as I am now."

Jia Wei was the first in his family to graduate from college, and he didn’t stop there. 

Feeling unfulfilled with the recruiting role he held after earning his bachelor’s, Jia Wei decided to return to his beloved alma mater for a new educational journey — one that set him on a path to his dream career.

Now, he helps students at Columbia University discover and chase their own dreams.

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Why did you decide to get your master’s degree at Stony Brook?

"I had worked with Campus Residences as an undergrad and realized I could make a career out of working at a university. About six months after graduation, I decided to come back and pursue this degree full-time. I had attended an HEA conference on campus, and it was there that I first met our fabulous Dr. Rick Gatteau. Hearing him speak and connecting with him afterward really sold me — I could tell that the program here truly cares about its students."

Was there anything standing in the way of you pursuing this degree?

"The costs affiliated with going to grad school were my main concern. I had to invest most of my savings into the program, so when I quit my full-time job to pursue my master’s, it was a big risk. But I was able to work on campus again to help sponsor me through grad school. Looking back on it now, I’m very glad I took that initial leap of faith. Otherwise, I wouldn’t have found a job where I'm able to go to work every day, be happy, and really enjoy what I do."

How would you describe the culture of the program?

"I’d describe it as a really supportive community. You have faculty who are deeply invested in your success and peers who share that same spark of passion. We were able to gain a lot of perspective just from hearing about some of the career paths that our professors took. The faculty played a big part in helping me narrow down where I wanted to go within the field, and I would say the members of my cohort probably share the exact same sentiment."

Were there any unexpected takeaways that helped prepare you for this career?

"I got some really good advice from one of my mentors, Daniel Soszynski. He urged me to do things I was unfamiliar with or things that made me uncomfortable — because whether or not I chose to pursue those things, I’d develop a skill set that I wouldn't have had otherwise. This advice led me to apply for an academic judiciary role, which taught me a lot about a different side of higher ed that I’d never really thought about. I’m very grateful for that broadening of perspective."

How else did your experience in the program enable you to thrive in your current role?

"It really helped me gain confidence in my speaking abilities. When you grow up in a bilingual household, you kind of take elements from both languages, and sometimes it comes out sounding weird. So I would say that up until grad school, I would often struggle to pick the right words. But the HEA program gave us a lot of opportunities to present in front of our peers as well as larger audiences, which was extremely helpful. I do a lot of workshops and presentations now, and being able to communicate in a way that’s professional but also relatable is something the program really prepared me for."