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Melisa Hypolite
Melisa Hypolite
01:13

Melisa Hypolite

CollegeBound Foundation

Baltimore, MD USA

"We can’t all individually change the world...find out what your part is."

Career Roadmap

Melisa's work combines: Education, Non-Profit Organizations, and Helping People

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Day In The Life

College Access Program Specialist

I am a college advisor that helps high school students find college options that best fit them.

02:00

Day In The Life Of A College Access Program Specialist

My Day to Day

Working with students, there isn't ever a typical day. Working in the inner city ads layers to this. So if someone shadowed me for a day, I can not tell you with certainty what they would see.

Skills & Education

Advice for getting started

Get good grades/test scores. Working for a non profit organization or working in education will not make you rich. Good grades and test scores will get you scholarship money so that you will not have to pay back as many student loans as I do. Paying exorbitant student loans take away from your quality of life.

Here's the path I took:

  • High School

  • Bachelor's Degree

    Public Relations/Image Management

    Morgan State University

  • Graduate Degree

    Business Administration and Management, General

    University of Maryland-University College

Life & Career Milestones

My path in life took a while to figure out

  • 1.

    Was born in Trinidad, West Indies; later moved with her siblings to Philadelphia, PA, to live with her father, leaving her mother behind in Trinidad.

  • 2.

    Admits that this transition was really hard on her—not only did she have to adapt to a new culture, but she also had to adjust to living without her mother around.

  • 3.

    In high school, she struggled and her GPA showed it—admits that she didn’t really have any college plans and was told that because of her grades she could only get into a community college.

  • 4.

    Not knowing what her options were and lacking any guidance, she only applied to one college and got in.

  • 5.

    Once in college, she found the support structure that she had been lacking—some professors took an interest in first-generation college students and provided additional emotional support.

  • 6.

    Used her degree in communications to begin working in television at Nielsen, the TV ratings company, but quickly got bored with it—bounced around jobs from leasing, sales, and school counseling.

  • 7.

    While working as a school counselor, she found that her passion was in helping students get to college and change their lives.

  • 8.

    She now works for the CollegeBound Foundation, guiding people in their pursuit of higher education; she’s also the author of “I’m Ready,” a guidebook for college and career readiness.

Defining Moments

How I responded to discouragement

  • THE NOISE

    Messages from Teachers:

    Your grades are bad so you are only going to get into a community college.

  • How I responded:

    I ended up only applying to one college and luckily got in. Once there, I found the support from professors and faculty that I had been missing. Their guidance pushed me through to graduation.

Experiences and challenges that shaped me

Click to expand

  • I didn't know we didn't have much until I became an adult. When I was growing up, things that we had/didn't have was just our normal. I have also struggled with student loan debt.

  • I applied to one college, Morgan State University. I took out loans to finance it. My professors took a special interest in first generation college kids, so they provided the additional structural and emotional support we needed.

  • I left Trinidad and came to the US when I was eight. We had to come without my mother and live with our dad. I had to adjust to a new culture, new food, changing seasons and not having my mother there to walk me to school.