Dr. Geoffrey "Geoff" McMillan Russell

I had initially gone to Westchester Community College. What I found great about WCC was the affordability, accessibility, and diversity. When I was moving to a four-year school after my two years at community college, I wanted to continue that tradition. I was also looking for a place in Manhattan particularly because I was a pre-med, and I knew I needed to be around some of the great hospitals in New York City. CCNY kind of fit in perfectly. I read a little bit online about the college and the academics there, and science education was world-class. I thought it checked all those boxes for me, and it turns out it did. I got a chance to do this program called Peer Health Exchange there. I thought that was a fantastic experience to be exposed to high school students and middle school students in the city and help them to learn about safe health practices. I did some other extracurricular stuff too, but my greatest experiences were in the science classes that I took there, particularly in the Department of Biology, which was my major. I won a few awards and scholarships through that. I found that the professors were amazing. Dr. Mark Biscoe, who taught organic chemistry, stood out. He was great. My other professor taught movement and muscle, and I still think about that class to this day. I learned so much, and I went on to do really well in medical school. The best part of going to CCNY was how great the science education was and how well it prepared me for my future career as a physician.