Goldman Sachs partner Isaac Wong ’00 understands the value of Cornell

When Isaac Wong ’00 first arrived at Cornell as a first-year student, he knew no one. After leaving Hong Kong in a typhoon and sitting through a grueling 35+-hour flight to Ithaca, he arrived in a place that was worlds apart from his urban roots in Hong Kong. But what struck him the most was how welcome he felt in his new community.

His first-year roommate, who was from Rochester, New York, helped orient Isaac to everything from local dining, to navigating campus, to American slang. Isaac recalls learning the word “awesome,” which is how he felt about his first semester at Cornell.

Looking back on his Cornell education 25 years after graduation, Isaac is grateful for the scholarship assistance he received, including a scholarship awarded by his high school in Hong Kong.

In 2024, Isaac decided to make a larger gift to support Cornell’s undergraduate affordability initiative. In partnership with the Goldman Sachs Gives program, he made an affordability scholarship gift. He trusts the university to allocate the funds to someone who will benefit from the opportunity to attend Cornell.

“Once you change a person's life, that can change a few other people's lives, and it keeps on paying forward,” he says.