W&L Outcomes: Perry Kramer ’24

Office of Communications and Public Affairs
July 23, 2024

Perry Kramer '24
Hometown: Roswell, Georgia
Major: Mathematics major with an entrepreneurship minor

Post-grad plans:

After graduation (and a backpacking trip in Southeast Asia!) I plan to move to New York City and begin working for Boston Consulting Group (BCG) in October.

How did your career plans evolve over the course of your time at W&L?

I came to W&L interested in many different potential career paths and initially planned to pursue a career in biotechnology. However, over my first year or so here, I realized that mathematics was the major for me. I then discovered consulting as an industry that combined the math and reasoning skills developed in those courses with the business skills I picked up in classes for my entrepreneurship minor, and I ended up pursing a career I knew nothing about coming into college.

What internships or other summer experiences did you partake in, and how did those experiences shape you and your career plans?

The summer after my sophomore year, I interned at a venture capital firm in Miami. I learned so much during my time there, both about the industry and from living on my own, and I left Miami with a newfound sense of independence that carried into a gap semester backpacking trip in Europe and Africa. The following summer, I interned at BCG and gained an incredible amount of experience working directly alongside clients and solving complex problems independently, and I'm excited to return later this year to begin working there full-time.

How did the Office of Career and Professional Development support you, and which resources did you find most helpful?

The CPD office was incredibly helpful in preparing me for my career after graduation. From meeting with a student Career Fellow my freshman year to start on my resume, all the way to practicing mock case interviews with full-time Career Advisors, the one-on-one attention I received from the CPD office was beyond anything I could have imagined, and I am very grateful for that.

What did you study at W&L, and what are some skills or learnings you will take from your academic experience into the professional world?

I majored in mathematics and minored in entrepreneurship. While it's true that I might not directly use skills like calculus on a daily basis, I found that math has given me a toolbox filled with problem-solving abilities that I can apply in many different situations. Furthermore, the concepts and knowledge I picked up from my entrepreneurship and business classes have given me skills I can directly apply to business problems that I will face before too long.

What clubs, organizations, athletic teams or other extracurriculars were you involved in that had an impact on you?

During my time at W&L, I was on the men's lacrosse team and was involved in both the Connolly Entrepreneurship Society (CES) as an Executive Committee member and in the Career and Professional Development Office as a Career Fellow. All of these experiences taught me timeless lessons about teamwork, time management and leadership, and I find myself continuously drawing from these lessons time after time.

Who or what has inspired you along the way?

I was lucky to have fantastic mentors during my time at W&L, and many of them were older guys on the lacrosse team. I'm very thankful for people like John Mills '23 who gave me advice about academics, careers and life in general, and it's people like him who have inspired me to give back to younger students through experiences like being a Career Fellow. I'm also incredibly thankful to have a loving, supportive family and wise parents whose lessons have stayed with me over the years.

Did you connect with alumni during your career development process?

I connected with many alumni during my career development process, and I was blown away by how willing they were to meet with me, give me advice and help me get my foot in the door at great companies. Alumni like Alex Owen '15 at the venture capital company in Miami and Allie DiPietro '19 at BCG were invaluable in my process, and I'm excited to pay their help forward before too long as an alum myself.

What career-related advice would you give to next year's graduating class?

I would say to use Career Fellows and the CPD office as much as you can, and don't compare yourself to others in your job search process. Everyone's at a different stage, so just focus on being the best that you can be!

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