Here’s a quick glimpse at one of many impressive outcomes HPU graduates achieve.
Name: Maria Haramis, Class of 2025
Hometown: Franklin Lakes, New Jersey
Major: Finance; minor in Economics
Internship plans: Maria will be a part of the 2025 Summer Internship Program as a Global Wealth Management Analyst for UBS Financial in New York City. This internship will provide Maria with the opportunity to immerse herself in the world of wealth management at a leading global financial institution. Interns will work closely with experienced professionals, contributing to projects that focus on personalized financial planning, investment strategies, and client relationship management. By collaborating with various teams, interns will gain a deeper understanding of how wealth managers help clients achieve their financial goals while navigating market complexities. The program also includes mentorship, networking opportunities, and educational events to build expertise in the wealth management industry.
How HPU helped you get there: “HPU helped me prepare for my future by providing me state-of-the-art resources to help enhance my preparation for my future career. For starters, having access to the Career & Professional Development Center allowed me to build a resume early on, conduct mock practice interviews, and show me the proper attire for interviews. Additionally, HPU’s Career Fair allowed me to apply the skills that I learned at the CPD center and apply them in real-life scenarios when I was faced with speaking to representatives at different companies. Overall, HPU did not allow me to get through these 4 years alone and unsure but rather guided me and gave me the resources I needed to convey to the real world my utmost potential.”
Most impactful mentor at HPU: “My most impactful mentor at HPU was Professor Steven Alberts. I took Professor Alberts’s Business Communications course in my sophomore year. Immediately, I went into the class thinking that because I wasn’t scared of public speaking, the class would be easy. However, Professor Alberts truly humbled me into seeing how much work I truly needed to sound professional and confident. One of the greatest lessons he taught me was that regardless of the field you go into, even if it is not a sales job, being able to talk clearly and professionally is a universal skill that is needed. Whether it’s answering the “tell me about yourself” question in an interview, speaking with your boss, or giving a business presentation, being able to speak professionally and clearly is a necessary trait in life. His constructive criticism, feedback, and willingness to work one-on-one with me can all be credited to my success in public speaking today. “
Most impactful moment at HPU: “My most impactful moment at HPU was having the opportunity to have lunch with a Morgan Stanley recruiter. Thanks to HPU, I was selected at random to have lunch with a recruiter and ask all the questions about the internship/job search process that I had been wondering about as I applied for roles. I was able to get answers from the decision-making person herself and from that, changed my entire approach to the job search process entirely. Soon after, I landed an internship back home for Topcon Healthcare and later that year, secured a role with UBS Financial. Due to HPU’s ability to give me access to these resources in the financial industry, I was able to go into the job search process with a new perspective.”
How you used Career & Professional Development: “I used the Career & Professional Development Center to assist me in building my resume, to conduct mock interviews, and for inspiration as to what to wear for important interviews and business meetings.”
How has HPU’s inspiring environment contributed to your success? “HPU’s inspiring environment has played a huge role in my success on campus. On the surface level, of course, the school is known for its beautiful campus and state-of-the-art academic facilities. However, Dr. Quebin’s approach to giving his students the #1 dorms in the country, the best food for a college campus, the best academic and professional resources, and numerous other luxuries, is all to teach students like myself what kind of life they want to live post-graduation. Giving me access to these luxuries has truly allowed me to see what kind of life I want to live post-graduation, and see what kind of hard work and ambition it takes to maintain one’s lifestyle. Giving students access to luxury living allows us to learn how different life can be when those luxuries are no longer as accessible. In order to live extraordinarily, you must strive to be extraordinary, which is something I will absolutely take with me after graduation.”
What are the life skills HPU helped you develop that prepared you for long-term success? “High Point University helped me develop critical life skills such as effective communication, adaptability, and resilience, all of which are essential for long-term success. The university’s emphasis on experiential learning, leadership opportunities, and relationship-building taught me how to collaborate with diverse teams, think critically, and embrace challenges with resilience. These skills, paired with HPU’s supportive environment and focus on personal growth, have prepared me to thrive in both my professional and personal endeavors.”
What has your internship experience been like and how is it preparing you for your future? “Currently, I intern remotely at Topcon Healthcare as their Finance Intern. I began the internship in person in June 2024, and by the end of the summer, I was the only intern to be offered to continue my internship remotely after I returned to HPU. This is preparing me for my future as it not only serves as a great experience, but allows employers to see that I spent my last year of college learning new skills from numerous projects and tasks I do daily. Learning to have a balance between my academics, work, and personal life, has been the greatest lesson and testament to who I am as a person and how I set my priorities.”
What are the values and virtues HPU’s campus helped you develop that you’ll take with you after graduation? ” The one value I will take with me after graduation is choosing to be extraordinary. In everyday life, choosing to be extraordinary means that you are choosing to be the very best you that you can be. It means facing challenges and appreciating the lessons you learn from them, it means embracing moments of failure and tailoring your future success from those losses, and most importantly, it means going above and beyond the bare minimum. In a competitive and fierce industry, choosing to be extraordinary to me is networking with as many individuals as I can, applying for double the jobs I normally do, being active within my community, and going above my job expectations willingly. Having adaptability, willingness to learn, and eagerness to do more than is written in your job description, are all aspects of choosing to be extraordinary that HPU has taught me.”
Advice for underclassmen: “My biggest advice for underclassmen to be successful post-graduation is to differentiate yourself from your peers. In this day and age, people get so fixated on what their job description is that they forget that success is not a straight line. In order to advance in this competitive world we live in, you must go above and beyond and live beyond your set expectations. Instead of doing the bare minimum, do beyond your title. Whether it is striving for leadership roles in clubs instead of being a member, applying for internships your freshman year instead of your junior year, or networking with people on LinkedIn with no promised outcome, be different! People notice extraordinary individuals, hardworking and ambition is a tradition that never goes out of style in the workplace, so strive to be more than the person you were yesterday.”
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