Alex Rallo

COL ’15
Hometown: Hamden, Conn.
Major: Economics

How would you compare growing up in Connecticut to Georgetown, and where do you feel more comfortable?
They’re just so completely different. I feel like I lived in a bubble back when I was in Connecticut, and this is just how I was brought up, this is how it was and I had never really been challenged to think about other things. Pluralism in Action coming into New Student Orientation freshman year challenged what I had previously thought diversity was — I always thought of it as ethnic diversity because that was something my town focused on because we were so homogeneous. When someone asked what diversity meant they would respond with, “Oh this percentage of our student body is from this background,” but coming to Georgetown they focused more on diversity of experiences. I think being in a city and more specifically being at Georgetown where they foster that is the biggest difference that I’ve seen.

What are the things you are involved in here at Georgetown
I’m involved in Students of Georgetown Inc. as it’s formally known — or The Corp — the largest student-run corporation in the world. I work for the catering service and it was the reason I came to Georgetown because it gives students a real life, in-depth, hands-on experience with business for people who are 18, 19, 20 years old, which is something that you wouldn’t otherwise necessarily get until your 30s or 40s. Everyone from the baristas to the CEO has had experiences in The Corp that have made Georgetown worth it in and of itself.

What are your plans for after Georgetown? If you don’t have plans what do you hope that Georgetown will be able to help you accomplish?
So Georgetown has provided me with what I was hoping it would — it’s a long term investment, college is expensive. I was hoping to come out being employed in the summer and I’m working at Deutsche Bank in New York City so I’m really excited and Georgetown really gave me the tools necessary to get there. I’m going to see how it goes after graduation. The great thing about Georgetown is that it’s given me so many different types of tools, like I mentioned before with The Corp and other student organizations and groups on campus it gives you flexible tools that aren’t just necessarily “I can run this type of financial model” or “I can do this theoretical analysis.” People here are people people. They have people skills so even if it isn’t something I end up doing long term I hope that I’ll be able to have the skills to make the switch to something I am truly happy in.

What would you say is the hardest thing you’ve ever had to do?
It’s more personal, but switching majors. For my entire life I had told people that I wanted to be a doctor and I was pre-med all the way up through organic chemistry and then it was actually one of my Georgetown peers — Sam Taylor — one night I was sitting in Regents studying and — the great thing about Georgetown is that people take the time to get to know you — and he recognized that I wasn’t happy doing what I was doing and that it isn’t necessarily about making money or making an impression. He could tell I wasn’t happy and really gave me the encouragement and support I needed to switch my major. The Dean’s Office gave me support as well but it was difficult abandoning whatever notions I had of what I wanted to do before. It’s like Georgetown’s idea of caring for the whole person. It’s not just your financial stability or what your parents think you should do: it’s what’s going to make you happy in the long run.

How do you de-stress, or what do you do for “me time”
I think one of the other amazing things about Georgetown is the location. Just being able to go down to the Waterfront — you’re in the nation’s capital you can feel the heartbeat of the city and its right at your fingertips. You have this close-knit, small-campus feel but at the same time, going out into the city getting lost. You can go with friends but for me there’s nothing better than going down to the Waterfront and going on a run by myself and I think Georgetown has the environment that makes that possible.

Do you feel like you fit in at Georgetown?
I don’t know what “fit in” means. This is something I’ve been thinking about more and more, especially this year. I guess if I could change one thing about Georgetown, this is what I’d change — to bolster financial aid (which is easier said than done) to attract a wider range of economically diverse people because I think Georgetown strives to reach there benchmarks in terms of what’s obvious — religious or ethnic backgrounds, female to male rations — those are blatantly obvious but sometimes socioeconomic factors aren’t as obvious. They can become more apparent the more you get to know people – there’s a lot of money at Georgetown where, when I talk to my friends from other schools, it’s there but not nearly to the extent that it is here. And so I wish Georgetown did a better job of bolstering financial aid so the student body would better reflect what the U.S. and the whole world actually looks like.

Interview by Nicole Jarvis