When Sam Finkelstein ’96 arrived on campus as a first-year student in Yale College, he was struck by the diversity of talent and experience among his peers.
“In the president’s address to the student body at the beginning of the year, he told us that we would learn as much if not more from the people sitting to our right and left than we would from more traditional structured settings of learning,” Finkelstein says. “It couldn’t have been more true.”
Finkelstein says he “tried to take it all in,” participating in intramural sports, debate, mountain biking, community service, and the Men of JE singing group in Jonathan Edwards College.
As an economics and mathematics major, Finkelstein was particularly interested in economic development and investment in emerging market countries. The bulk of the next twenty-five years of his life would be dedicated to that goal, working at Goldman Sachs in emerging markets and asset management.
This work is what brought Finkelstein and his family to London in 2008.
“It’s a very international city, but there was still some culture shock,” he says. “Sometimes when I’d come back to the US on business trips, my wife would put in requests for some specific food item that we couldn’t find here. I’d then have to explain to customs why I was bringing an entire suitcase of sour patch kids or grape jelly into the UK.”
Moving abroad, Finkelstein leaned on the international Yale community to help make London feel like home.
“I didn’t have much of a network when I arrived in the UK,” Finkelstein says. “But I reached out to an old classmate when I arrived, and he connected me to a group of Yalies who would meet up at the same pub on Monday nights and eat Thai food. It was very informal, and most of the people in the group were people I didn’t even know from my time at Yale, but it made a huge difference.”
Now more established in London, Finkelstein has started volunteering for Yale, helping with last year’s For Humanity Illuminated event in London, interviewing Yale College applicants, and serving as an ambassador for the university.
“I’m always happy to encourage young people in the UK to think about the American university system, and Yale in particular,” he says. “It’s a much more well-rounded social and academic experience than the strict career-track in the UK. I had no idea what I wanted to do when I was applying to college, and the diversity of curriculum at Yale was critical for my development.”
Spreading the word about Yale abroad also includes dispelling myths about the expense of an American higher education.
“Many Europeans automatically assume that a Yale education is out of their reach financially, but that’s not the case,” Finkelstein says. “Teaching people about the scholarship opportunities at Yale for international students is so important. It’s important that the best and brightest from across the globe have access to Yale, and I don’t want people to be intimidated from applying just because the topline tuition number looks more expensive.”
No matter where in the world you end up, Finkelstein says, the strong ties developed at and through Yale serve as a vital support network.
“It’s all because Yale students have such fond memories of their time on campus,” he says. “Because it’s so core to our identity, we always want to connect with other people who can relate to that transformative experience.”