Admissions Maestro: Andrew Meyers
“The reason he cares so much is because he believes that a lot of systems in the world are not just, especially to those who are born in areas that don’t have access to resources, which is the case for many students who come to CSH.”
OMG! I’VE BEEN ACCEPTED TO MIDDLEBURY!
The emotions poured through me. I was elated. It’s ranked the 11th best college in the country. After so much work, effort, and time I gave into my applications, I finally got a hit. There was no better feeling in the world.
However, though people might think an acceptance is an individual accomplishment, I was not alone in this process. I would have never come so far if it weren’t for one person: Andrew Meyers.
Mr. Meyers is the Director of College Counseling at Comp Sci High, the person who helps facilitate students if their next steps involve going to college after school. You may have heard of him or worked with him. If you have worked with him, you should already be familiar with his strong work ethic and how amazing he is at what he does. If this name is new to you – remember it, because you will need him to guide you like he guided me. He will ensure that there will be a college that is best suited for you, and he will do everything he can to help you get in.
Mr. Meyers wasn’t always working at Comp Sci High. Before he came here, he was working in a foundation in Mississippi. He worked a total of five years in Mississippi. He taught English and facilitated ACT prep for two years at West Tallahatchie High. He did similar ACT prep work for two years at Byhalia High for two years. And, finally, he worked for the Educational Equity Foundation, helping to run the foundation and teach test prep classes for five years.
While at college, he worked part-time for a private tutoring and private college counseling company. His mother also ran a private company, and he learned from her. How did it start? Well, back in the day, Mr. Meyers’ brother had to take the SAT; at that time, the SATs had changed. Everyone was panicking about this change and many people tried to hire tutors; however, this was not the same for Mr. Meyers’ brother. His mother stepped up to say: “I can learn this test, let me learn it.” And learn it she did. She taught herself and then scored an amazing score on the test. She then taught Mr. Meyers’ brother, who almost had a perfect score. His score was so high, though, that when his friends found out about it, they wanted him to teach them. This led to his mother building a college counseling program where “she has taught Mr. Meyers everything. Then you learn from other people as you continue to grow.”
Mr. Meyers was not looking for a job but instead, a job – the one at Comp Sci High – came to him. One day he got an email from someone who he thought was one of his students but was someone with the same name: Estefany Lopez (who, at the time, was the head of our Operations team). Anyone of us could’ve just skipped the email and stayed where they were, yet this was different. As he was looking over the email, he came across the address of the school where his grandmother used to attend school: James Monroe High School. He found this as a sign to take the job, even though his grandmother kept persuading Mr. Meyers to return to the Bronx. Mr. Meyers had his first interview with Mr. Pooler, the Director of College Advising, and he described it as “amazing.” He “connected with [Mr. Pooler] so much and loved his vision.”
Comp Sci High was just starting up and didn’t have a college counseling department until Mr. Pooler created it for the founding class. The goal is for students to get the college outcome they are looking for. His job was to focus on only private schools because that was his expertise when he came here from Mississippi. He worked with our founding class on the private school process, since he had no background knowledge of the CUNY system. While working with the college team, Mr. Meyers has picked up more experience with the public system from when he was in Mississippi.
But what if college is not the path you want to take? The college team and the WBL (Work Based Learning) team have been working closely to help students if they wish to go to trade schools or trade programs. They ensure that they proceed with extreme caution. Mr. Meyers told me: “There are thousands of trade programs. You just don’t want to send a student off to one. You have to make sure that you understand that the program is strong, going to land a student a job, worth the money or financial aid — this is your students’ future.”
Our WBL team builds those partnerships while the college team helps create them. Mr. Meyers has learned immensely from Comp Sci High staff, such as Ms. Salcedo Perez. “I have never seen someone better with the public system,” he told me, “she is a wizard!” The same goes for Mr. Pooler who, he said, has been an incredible mentor and supporter for him.
“You never stop learning,” Mr. Meyers told me, “You should never be the smartest person in the room! And thankfully I never was.”
The reason behind this is that he was surrounded by really talented and remarkable people. Mr. Pooler, Chief Kale, Ms. Salcedo Perez, Mr. Noah, and the list goes on! They all have amazing skill sets and having the opportunity to work side by side with them makes him feel really grateful to learn and grow! As you might be aware, Ms. Lopez and Ms. Salcedo Perez are no longer with us which became a turning point for our college team. Mr. Meyers can only do so much to support the students of CSH, so we have Ms. McNair and Mr. Angel to help support us as well for students applying to CUNY or SUNY. However, this is not an easy job. Many colleges are always changing and the college team must keep up, or the students are the ones who are going to be left behind.
There are so many staff members who are well known, but I really want to highlight Mr. Meyers, because he is the man. He is amazing, and his work ethic is so strong where he surrounds himself with students who he knows are going to get a hit on really good schools. He truly is the Admissions Maestro.
Mr. Meyers treats everyone with the same amount of respect and love, but there are some students who do make it a bit challenging for him. He says that working with them “can be a little bit more challenging, but you shouldn’t come to work or work here if you don’t want to be challenged in what you're doing. Sometimes I’m going to meet the challenge and uplift, and sometimes I’m going to fail and have to reflect.” He is always going to have to self-reflect so that his next interaction with any student is more organized and better. If you’re not coming to school with that attitude – “that’s bad”.
Mr. Meyers does not only think about himself, but others too. He really does care about each student’s future. He shows a lot of empathy for a lot of students who are in the process of college applications. Although he is in a deep amount of stress, he knows we are too, and really wants to help us to the best of his ability. He knows how much time, effort and stress we put onto our applications. The reason he cares so much is because he believes that a lot of systems in the world are not just, especially to those who are born in areas that don’t have access to resources, which is the case for many students who come to CSH. He believes that where you went for high school should determine your future – it’s not fair. Everyone should have access to resources and support. He knows personally what college did for his life and his family’s. A lack of fairness is what pushes him, since he knows the experiences his family went through and the amount of support they had as well. He wants to follow in his footsteps. He wants to help all of us. If college is not your next step, then the college and WBL team will help support you with that. No one is left out and no one has to go through the stress alone. Mr. Meyers is here for each and everyone of us. I recommend that all students of Comp Sci High reach out to him as a resource.
To Mr. Meyers, we thank you for all the work you’ve done for us. We know it was not easy, nor the most fun thing in the world, but we got through it. The seniors and I thank you for everything, and hope you continue to be great!