Omar Albert: Learning Chinese Before Earning an MBA

Omar Albert, a student in the Thomas Hunter Honors and Chinese Flagship programs, is double majoring in Chinese and economics. He’ll spend his CLS summer perfecting his Mandarin at Northeast Normal University in Changhun, China, and pursuing off-campus excursions that expand his understanding of Chinese history, politics, culture and daily life.

A Queens native, self-supporting since his parents died, Albert lives in a Hunter dorm and works on the staff of Undergraduate Student Government. Motivated by a longtime interest in China, he chose Hunter for its Chinese Flagship Program, affordability and broad liberal-arts curriculum. He is a recipient of the Leon Cooperman Scholarship, which benefits students showing exceptional promise as future leaders in business, and a participant in Hunter’s SEEK program, which offers him tuition aid, special advising, and a mutually supportive community of low-income students.

“My SEEK counselor, Sandra Granizo Cruz, my Chinese professor, Bing Ying Hu, and my pre-business advisors, Peggy Segal and David Valazzi, have all played a big part in my life at Hunter,” Albert says.

While his tentative plans include a master’s in economics, a career in business consulting and an MBA, he is constantly grateful for the well-rounded, interdisciplinary education he’s getting at Hunter.  Two of this budding businessman’s favorite courses so far: German Fairy Tales, and Sanskrit Epic and Hindu Thought.