During his junior year in high school, Ross Nadel had no idea where he wanted to go to college. An acquaintance from his hometown in New Jersey mentioned the iSchool, and thought it would be a good fit for Nadel because of his interests in business and technology. The following week, Nadel scheduled a tour and was blown away by everything the iSchool had to offer. He especially liked the range of technical and non-technical courses that would allow him to learn about and understand technology without pursuing a purely technical degree.
Ross Nadel
“I instantly said, ‘This is exactly where I’m going to go,” recalls Nadel. “I did everything I could to get in, and thankfully, I did. It ended up being the best four years of education that I received.”
One of the highlights for Nadel was the built-in support system. Nadel recalls countless interactions with supportive professors and staff. He also enjoyed that while Syracuse was a large school, his iSchool graduating class was only around 200 people, which allowed for each student to get the assistance they needed from faculty. Plus, Nadel points out that the iSchool offers a wide range of opportunities.
“There were an insane amount of opportunities to get involved,” says Nadel. “I was a peer advisor, which I loved, and I did that for two and a half years. Mentoring students was really awesome. Then I ended up receiving the Undergraduate Service Award at graduation, which was just such a great experience.”
After Nadel graduated in 2017 with his bachelor’s, he started a role as a Technology Assurance Associate at KPMG US. He’d worked for the company for a summer before his senior year and received a job offer after graduation. His work involved consulting on technology for large banks. “It was a great experience, and I learned so much very quickly,” says Nadel. “It was a way to really shape my understanding a little bit further than college.” Nadel stayed with them until 2020 when he made the decision to return to the iSchool for his master’s degree.
“I was coming to a crossroads where I wasn’t sure what I wanted to do,” says Nadel. Returning to the iSchool was a way for Nadel to continue building his skillset. Nadel is still working toward his master’s and figuring out his next steps. “I’m using this opportunity as another jumping-off point.”
In addition to his graduate studies, Nadel is also a Teaching Assistant for Jeff Rubin, a position he’s held for the past three semesters. “I love it. It’s my absolute favorite thing that I do while in school,” says Nadel. “I think that it’s super important for me because it’s helped me to learn the subject matter to another level. When I was an undergrad, I loved the mentoring aspect of being a peer advisor. And I get to kind of mentor these students, especially now that I’m the TA for a course.”
