Kathy Lin is a Cornell Human Ecology alumni who graduated in 2018 as a Policy Analysis and Management major and in 2019 from the Sloan Masters in Health Administration program as part of the 5-Year dual BS/MHA program. As an undergraduate, Kathy was heavily involved in the Human Ecology Career Exploration Center. She currently works as a managing consultant at Guidehouse and focuses on transforming the delivery and financing of healthcare in key state and federal agencies.
Below are some questions and Kathy’s responses and advice.
Q: What is your work like? Could you tell me a little about who you are?
A: I’m currently a Managing Consultant at Guidehouse, formerly known as Navigant Consulting. I’m situated in our healthcare practice and work on our state team. My area of focus is long-term care services and supports so our team primarily works with state Medicaid agencies. I was a five-year dual degree student so I graduated Cornell with an undergraduate degree in Policy Analysis and Management in 2018 and a Masters in Health Administration in 2019.
Q: What was your CHE undergraduate experience like? What were you involved in during your undergraduate years?
A: I really valued my CHE education and really took advantage of the courses outside of PAM to explore different topic areas. I’ve always been really drawn to the ethos of HumEc and appreciated how seemingly disparate majors are connected by a shared desire to improve the human experience. In my undergraduate career I was heavily involved in the Human Ecology Career Exploration Center. I also volunteered at the Ithaca Free Clinic downtown and was involved in the East Coast Asian American Student Association.
Q: What are your recommendations for finding, cultivating, and best working with mentors?
A: I find that the most effective and most fruitful mentorships are the ones that are developed organically. I think it’s really important to surround yourself with individuals who will coach you and really help you grow in your career whether it be through cultivating new skills or granting you new experiences and opportunities. Ultimately it comes down to establishing genuine connections with others. While my “mentors” are still individuals that I would turn to for career advice, they’re also first and foremost friends who are invested in my growth and success. Working with mentors is also such a valuable experience as you get to see how experienced individuals navigate situations. My best advice is to always demonstrate eagerness to learn more.
Q: Are there skills or internships that you think students should focus on right now, which could be advantageous in multiple professions in the future?
A: I think this question is highly dependent on individuals’ goals and interests. I think for me it was really helpful to leverage my internship experiences strategically. I spent my summers exploring different career paths (e.g., policy work, consulting, hospital administration) to give myself breadth in experience and also help me assess 1. The type of work I enjoy doing and 2. The types of teams I enjoy working on. So if you’re interested in multiple career paths but not sure what you want to do post-grad, I would highly encourage you to use internships or extracurriculars to learn more and see if it’s a good fit.
Q: What advice would you give to students who are debating between entering graduate school or immediately ending the world of work?
A: I don’t think there is a right or wrong decision here. It can be beneficial to enter graduate school with some work experience as it can really add depth and help enrich your learning environment. Relevant experience can also help bolster your applications for graduate school. Alternatively, going straight into graduate school also has its benefits – since you’re fresh out of college you’ll still have a “student mindset”. Depending on the program, it could also be cost and time-efficient (as was my case when I decided to pursue a 5-year dual degree). I would encourage students to talk to individuals in both camps to hear their first-hand experience. Additionally, there are so many different types of degrees out there too so I would highly encourage students to do their research and really assess what their career goals are and determine if/how graduate school can be best leveraged to reach those goals.
Q: What are some strategies you use to successfully network?
A: Networking can be really intimidating and it takes a lot of practice to learn not only how to network but how to network sincerely. Rather than seeing it as a transactional conversation, students should approach networking as relationship building. People are social creatures and the more you can embrace that social interaction, the better that interaction will be. Once you shift your mentality on networking, you’ll find that you’ll develop genuine interest in people, their jobs, what they do, how they do it, the struggles, why they like it. That type of reflective, anecdotal information you get from connecting with an individual is far more useful than simply learning how to land a job or internship.
Q: What advice would you give to your undergraduate self?
A: I would encourage my undergraduate self to explore and do things that I enjoy. I think as students, it’s really easy to get sucked into the busyness of applying to jobs and building yourself up to be a desirable candidate but there is very little value in spending time and energy doing activities that you feel like you ought to do rather than activities you actually enjoy. Undergrad is a great opportunity to explore new hobbies, subjects, clubs, and activities and through each of these, you meet so many new people. The time definitely flies so I would encourage my younger self to spend more time doing what I love.