Robert Coakley '20

Why Robert chose Rider

Robert’s first visits to Rider were always met with a warm welcome. “The smaller campus and class sizes demonstrated to me that I was more than just a number or a face in the crowd,” he says. Robert enjoyed how people at Rider not only remembered his name but their previous conversations as well. “This differed significantly from my visits to larger schools,” he says.

At Rider, everything felt more personalized. Before he came to Rider, he applied for the first-year Trustee Scholarship. Participating in the interview process for the Trustee Scholarship provided Robert with the opportunity to meet many of the professors and leadership at Rider prior to his first day of classes. “It was clear then and remained clear during my time there that the faculty is there to help you succeed,” he says.

Rider’s impact on Robert’s success

Robert feels that Rider pushed him to learn beyond an academic setting. “Rider taught me the importance of application based knowledge. Even from semester one, I was always applying knowledge learned in the classroom,” he says.

As a freshman, he participated in the Business in Action Program, a program where students are formed into teams within their Business Living Learning Community cohort and taught how to develop a business plan. Robert also found the time to participate in Science for Business seminars, Medicaid data analysis and epidemiology analysis for the Trenton Health Team and acted as a mentor in the Business in Action Program and the Science for Business seminars.

He spoke about his Rider experience at multiple Open House events. “During my last year at Rider, I spent 8-12 hours on campus a day (including classes), and I loved it. Now not everyone has to do that or wants to, but my point is that Rider provided endless opportunities for me to be active on campus in a leadership style role.”

Robert obtained a summer internship with Navigant Consulting (now Guidehouse), which ultimately led him to a full-time offer after he finished his undergraduate studies.

Continued success

Robert now works as a full-time life science consultant with Guidehouse. “Rider is the reason I have a career. The flexible course schedule allowed me to follow my...passions,” he says. He believes that Rider set him up perfectly for his career as a life science consultant and thanks Professor Kristin McCarthy who not only helped him to get the first phone interview at Guidehouse but taught him the skills and educational background to succeed. “Really, I can’t thank Rider and the faculty enough for what they have done for me.” 

In Robert’s role at Guidehouse, he works with the pharmaceutical clients of his firm. His projects have been in rare disease, cardiology and hematology and can vary significantly.