Alexandra Williams

MSB ’14
Hometown: Boston, Mass.
Major: Operations and Information Management; Minor: French

What’s the hardest thing you’ve ever had to do?
I guess the hardest thing I had to do in life was learning to let go. I form really strong bonds with the people in my life, like my friends. I try to get to know them really, really well and then life happens, and people get distanced so it’s really hard to let go of a friendship that you fostered and you built for a really long time.

What do you hope that your experience at Georgetown will help you accomplish?
I guess I hope it helps me think more as my own person, and understand the differences in people, everybody’s really, really different and comes from a really different background, and I think that’s something I did learn at Georgetown, even though I come from a place where diversity is a big thing, coming to Georgetown I realized how either sheltered or open or like anything they could have gone through in their life, reflects a lot on how they treat people or how they treat themselves, stuff like that.

So how would you compare where you’re from with Georgetown, and where do you think you’re more comfortable?
Georgetown is definitely more, rich is not the word I’m looking for, but it’s well-off I guess? And where I’m from it’s not poor, but it’s like not as – I am very, very used to seeing city, and Georgetown, it’s kind of like I live in a suburb-bubble, like I’m not used to living in a suburb-bubble. I have to say that I’m more comfortable where I’m from, just because I’ve lived there longer. I’ve lived in Georgetown for four years, I’ve lived where I’m from for the first 18 years of my life. So I’m definitely more comfortable there.

So do you feel like there’s sort of an obligation for you to be busy at Georgetown, do you notice a culture of overachieving among your classmates?
Yeah, there is definitely that culture, even in the business school. It’s sort of like the learning is lost a lot of the times. It’s just what I need to do to get an A, or what I need to do to get that job, or what does the professor want, and I think it should be your best. I feel like when you’re not the top of the class – I didn’t come from a school where I was the top of the class, I was somewhere in the middle – you realize that you can’t always be the best. But you can always be your best. That’s something I like to do, even if I’m not getting the top scores, as long as I did my best I can’t really be mad at myself.

Do you feel like you fit in at Georgetown?
No. I would have to say even after the four years that I’ve been here I don’t exactly fit in – I’ve never had a group of friends, I particularly don’t like to go out as much as the people do here. I don’t like to drink as much as the people do here, and even being in the business school – not everybody feels like this, but a lot of people have that track of mind, just like I’m going to go into banking for three years, and make this money, and then I’m going to do what I want. I just don’t think like that and I don’t have those values, not to say that they’re bad values, they’re not bad values at all, they’re just different. So no, I’ve never found a group of people where I actually truly fit in with them, like we could do all sorts of things together. I have friends where we have similarities, but I never really fit into a place or a group of friends.

So would you say that you’ve enjoyed your four years? That this has been a rewarding experience and that you made the right decision in coming to Georgetown?
I’m not always happy with the way Georgetown does things or the support that I’ve gotten. But in the end it was a rewarding experience. Sometimes I think, “Oh I should have chosen a different college,” but the hard lessons that I learned, even through being hurt and being angry and frustrated were very, very important lessons that I learned, and that I hold with me today. I think back what if I didn’t learn these lessons? I’d be a completely different person and I’m very happy with the person I am now and the way that I think and how I see the world. So despite the fact that it wasn’t a perfect college experience where I made my lifelong friends, I’m happy with what I’m going to take from it when I graduate.

Interview by Nicole Jarvis