Friendship Formed at ESU will Help Post Grad Success

Find one person and stick with him. That’s how you get all A’s as a biochemistry major.

In his first few days on campus at East Stroudsburg University of Pennsylvania, Austin McKale was scrambling to get enrolled in the chemistry lab he needed. Noticing his frantic classmate, Hamza Masood offered to help. Their brief conversation that day led to several study sessions, a few trips to Wal-Mart and a pretty solid “bromance.”

“It was a little spooky to see all the things we had in common,” Masood said. “We both have girlfriends who share the same name and are in the same major; our birthdays are a few days apart; we have the same anniversary; we are in the same major; and we like the same video games.”

In the midst of their first finals week, around 1 a.m., the two freshmen decided to ramp up their studying by bunking together in Masood’s room for the week. Masood and McKale would sleep in shifts and then teach each other the material they studied.

As their time on campus continued, they took resident advisor positions, enrolled in all the same classes, and wound up living together for a little over a year. Four years quickly passed, and now, after spending so much time together, people have a hard time telling the two friends apart. “People are regularly mixing our names up- I was in class the other day and someone called me Austin when he was all the way across the room,” Masood said. Reflecting on their time at ESU, they remember countless all-nighters and not enough sleep. Earning a reputation in their major as “the two guys who get A’s,” they both admit they could not have done it alone. “Hamza shaped me into who I am today – he made me a better person,” McKale said. “We understood each other when no one else did.”

A few days shy of graduation, they are taking a year off and completing applications to medical school for the fall of 2016. McKale recently earned a 30 on his MCAT and received a letter from Harvard University encouraging him to apply to their medical school. Masood will be taking his MCAT this summer.

While dreaming of Harvard, John Hopkins, and Stanford, both seniors have mixed feelings about leaving their life at ESU behind. One thing is for certain – wherever their journeys take them, they intend on having this friendship for life.

“Before I came here, I never really thought about how physics and chemistry work, and now I think about it daily,” Masood said. “I always want to be a student – I feel like the more you know the more you have left to learn.”

Outside of the classroom, residence life was their main priority. Both students are thankful for Pat Monaghan, resident director of Hemlock Suites, for always being there for them. “He helped us through everything every day,” McKale said. “He’s been there through so many things- he’s like family.”

Monaghan was impressed with how much time the two students spent on academics. “They spend an incredible amount of time studying, but in the years I’ve known them they always, always have time to stop and help others with their work.”

Many things happened in four years. Despite earning GPAs that are well above the 2.7 national average in biochemistry, and being set to graduate magna cum laude (Masood) and summa cum laude (McKale), the seniors don’t consider their academic achievements to be the best part of attending ESU.

“The best thing, by far, that ESU gave us is each other,” Masood said. “We are like brothers now and we would have never met if we didn’t choose ESU.”

Sometimes college is about the people you meet along the way.

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