As she pursued her undergraduate degree at the University of Arizona, Ashtyn Gee’s overarching goal was to graduate at the top of her class. With hard work, she achieved a 4.0 GPA while earning double majors in the university’s Honors College.

As the first in her family to attend graduate school, she came to Vanderbilt with a similar goal—which led her toward one of the most valuable lessons in her education. “I developed the understanding that perfection is not always plausible and can come at immense cost,” the Tucson native says. “Being the smartest person in the room can be limiting, while being around others who are smarter than you can push you to new levels of learning and growth.

“I have learned to accept mistakes with grace and that progress is more valuable than perfection. Vanderbilt fostered an environment to learn who I really am and what I value in life. Having a tight-knit community where all the faculty and staff know you by name helps create a very welcoming environment to learn and be vulnerable. Going from classes of hundreds to small class sizes made the sessions feel more like discussions than lectures. And being part of the Vanderbilt community has allowed me to connect with influential individuals with inspiring stories and career paths that I otherwise would not have been exposed to.”

Ashtyn credits the faculty—“the one-on-one attention from professors is unparalleled,” she says—with playing an outsized role in making her feel at home at Vanderbilt. She particularly recalls how Professor Cherrie Wilkerson reassured everyone at orientation “that every single person there has imposter syndrome and that we belong.” That feeling of belonging, she says, “comforted my nerves” and conveyed “an important message that I referred to throughout the program.”

Looking back, now that she has begun her career with Deloitte in Chicago, Ashtyn’s favorite memory of Vanderbilt’s sense of community involves a December evening, the day before her classmates left for winter break and internships. “My closest friends in the Valuation program came over to have hot chocolate, watch movies, and reminisce over the Mod we just completed,” she says. “I never imagined I could grow so close to my classmates in such a short time.”

Fun Fact: Ashtyn’s puppy, Archie—adopted one week after she arrived in Nashville—was a finalist for the Vanderbilt Cutest Pet Championship.

“Being the smartest person in the room can be limiting, while being around others who are smarter than you can push you to new levels of learning and growth.”