New York, New York University

Just finished watching "Light Sleeper", the mysterious and wonderful 1991´s film. Willen Dafoe is, as usual, splendid (one of those actors too good to be uber-famous). Dana Delany appears as one of the most breathtakingly beautiful actresses I´ve ever seen. I googled her and, not unexpectedly, I learn that she has quite the pedigree, having been raised in Connecticut and attended elite educational institutions. Her angelical face does fully resemble that of a New England-raised preppy (though she plays an on-and-off drug addict in the movie!).

Anyway, Light Sleeper brought me late-night memories of New York. Specifically, of my time as a student at NYU. You see, just like Dafoe´s character is a non-conventional maverick, I too chose the unconventional, different route when embarking on my graduate studies.

I chose NYU because it alone offered me exactly the type of uniquely tailor-made program that I was aiming for. I wanted badly to go into derivatives so, in my eyes, that ruled out the MBA. But I didn´t want to go the hard-core quant route, so that ruled out math and engineering schools. Salvation came through NYU´s business school, which allowed me to enroll in a non-MBA, non-quant program heavily specialized in financial engineering and derivatives. This refreshingly different Master of Science (offered through the Stats department, and which has in recent years been incorporated into the MBA) was simply perfect for me. So I took a loan, bought a plane ticket, and spent a fantastic year and a half around Washington Square Park.

While I had the guts to go the unconventional graduate education route (doing an MBA would have been much more riskless), I haven´t always displayed the same valor when it came to living with my decision. More than once I have questioned my choice, asking myself why I didn´t do a Harvard or Wharton MBA. Why did I specialize?. It is not as if NYU was a bad experience, on the contrary. Academically and socially it was extraordinary, and I landed a prestiguous and well-paid job as a result. But my program was so uniquely exotic, so indelibly mavericky that I have sometimes wished for a more normal background. The same radical differentness that (rightly) attracted me to NYU in the first place later turned into a psychological semi-curse. I had what it took to go my own intrinsic way, but I haven´t always defended such boldness as eagerly as would have been expected.

Watching Dafoe cowboyishly roaming the streets of New York in the movie has fully reminded me of how privileged I was to be able to attend NYU some years ago. And how smart I was to make that choice. The program that I attended was the best program for my goals. Very different, yes. Abnormal, yes. A huge risk, yes. But 100% right.

Those who do the right thing even when faced by difficulties should never regret their decision one bit. Particularly when the alternative course of action would have been utter cowardice.

ptriana@profesor.ie.edu