Meet Meet Nathan V.

Business Administration graduate

After being accepted into two Ivy League schools, 36-year-old Business Administration graduate Nathan VanAlstine was faced with an exciting yet difficult choice — Princeton University or Dartmouth College.

Just a few years earlier, Nathan wouldn’t have imagined attending any four-year school, much less applying to Ivy League colleges and being accepted into two of them. However, he said Hudson Valley changed that.

Nathan grew up in Ohio, and served in the U.S. Navy for five years. Following his service, he worked in a variety of different careers, including retail banking, revenue cycle management, operations management, and most recently, HR operations for GE.

“When I got out of the Navy, I went back and forth on if I wanted to go back to school or focus on my career,” Nathan said. “Then during the pandemic, I hit something of a mid-life crisis. I was overweight (300 pounds, actually), out of shape, and stuck in a life that felt empty. I wasn’t proud of the work I was doing, and I wasn’t moving forward. That kind of quiet stagnation wears on you. So, I bought a cheap stationary bike and just started pedaling. I lost 75 pounds in the first six months, then another 25. And somewhere along the way, I started thinking about what I actually wanted to do with my life.”

“Healthcare had always been in the back of my mind,” he added. “I had worked in different areas of healthcare, from the front line to collections, and saw firsthand how much it fails people. If ever I was going to make a difference, it was going to be there. Healthcare reform became my beacon in the distance.”

Nathan attended college before, but explained that he was not always a “stellar student” and was working three jobs to afford his education, which led him to drop out. But now, he was determined to succeed. He enrolled in two classes at Hudson Valley and after earning A’s in both of them, became a full-time student and earned straight A’s again. With great grades and a positive attitude, Nathan was eager to accomplish more and transfer to a four-year institution.

It was while he was visiting Dartmouth that Nathan realized he could envision himself going to an Ivy League school. So, he took a leap of faith and applied to a few — but, despite his 4.0 GPA, he was convinced he wouldn’t be accepted to any of them. That is, until he got two emails one day stating otherwise.

“I was in the library and felt prepared to see the rejections, so I signed into the portal for Princeton, clicked on ‘view details,’ and saw ‘congratulations.’ Out loud, I said, ‘What? Oh my God, I got into Princeton!’” he recalled. “When I was finally done shaking, I packed up my stuff to go home. I got to my car and saw an email that said ‘Dartmouth College: Transfer Decision Notification.’ I opened the email, and the first thing I saw was, ‘congratulations.’ I actually let out a tear for that one. I just sat there in my car taking it all in. It felt so surreal. It’s important to note that I’m 36 and have never experienced anything as exhilarating as opening those letters. It was beyond thrilling.”

Suddenly, Nathan had a difficult decision to make, but after a lot of thought and consideration, he made his choice — Princeton. In the future after undergrad, Nathan plans to attend law school, in addition to graduate school for an MPA (Master of Public Administration) or MPP (Master of Public Policy).

Nathan said he owes a lot of his success to his friends and loved ones for their incredible support, but also to a non-profit organization called Service to School (S2S) and their resource called VetLink, which offers free college application counseling specifically to military veterans and service members. “I hope my story serves as an example to service members, or really anybody that is coming back to school with a specific focus, to look for every opportunity that is available to them and just go for it,” he shared. But he also credits much of his success to Hudson Valley.

“At Hudson Valley, I feel like you’re set up to succeed and it’s just a matter of stepping out and grasping it,” Nathan said. “If I were to describe my experience, I would say I was incredibly well-supported. The professors are very accessible, and a lot of them are focused on pushing students to think about what’s coming next. Professor Beaudoin, Professor Lavigna, Professor Reynolds, Professor Whitaker, and Professor Yoder all made a difference during my time here. But truthfully, every professor I had contributed something meaningful. It just goes to show that HVCC shows up for its students. I’m so eternally grateful. They say it takes a village to raise a child; I say it takes a community college to raise a citizen scholar.”