Chris Hallman/University Photography

Cornell senior Thomas Wei, a policy analysis and management major, is pictured in front of Pi Kappa Phi, his fraternity. He helped re-establish the fraternity at Cornell and is the scholarship chair for his fraternity brothers, setting up a tutoring network in the house.

ITHACA, N.Y. -- "Balance" is Thomas Wei's mantra A pre-med major his freshman year, he spent a disproportionate share of his time on academics during the first semester. To do "some soul searching," Wei took a leave of absence his second semester. But he so enjoyed an economics course he took at University of Albany, State University of New York, that when he returned to Cornell the following fall, he switched his major to policy analysis and management (PAM) and never looked back.

Determined to get more involved in all of his many areas of interest, Wei realized that balance was key. "College is more than just academics; it's about balancing tradeoffs," Wei reflects. "I took advantage of many of the opportunities that Cornell presented to me, and I have had to maintain a sense of balance in order to be successful."

Wei not only has maintained an impressive academic record but also has served as a teaching assistant and an orientation counselor, helped rebuild a fraternity and helped his brothers succeed academically, gained experience in policymaking, played the violin in the Cornell Symphony Orchestra, edited and written for a Cornell journal and managed a team of undergraduate researchers on a large research project.

After discovering his love of economics, he knew the PAM program was a perfect fit for him. "Within academics, I found the opportunities to work with professors invaluable," he says. "The PAM major has been great for me because it really combines the experiential aspects of learning with the academic side."

For example, Wei took advantage of the Capital Semester Program in Albany. For a semester and a summer, he interned with the New York State Legislature in the Office of the Assembly's Deputy Majority Leader, Ron Canestrari (D-106th Dist.).

"I realized there how various factors play out in creating policy," recalls Wei. Although he isn't looking for a career as a politician -- Wei prefers the analytical and research sides of policymaking -- his time in Albany still brought him experiences not available strictly from textbooks.

"Attending debates and legislative sessions, meeting lobbyists and doing real research for the government were tremendous experiences," says Wei, whose research paper on accounting reform was one of nine chosen to be published out of 155 written by student interns in Albany that semester.

Ultimately, Wei wants to do research -- something he already has experienced: working two semesters and a summer on a federally funded smoking cessation project for Rosemary Avery, Cornell PAM professor. He managed 16 undergraduate researchers who collected data from 30 journals over the past 18 years and devised procedures to streamline the collection process while minimizing errors. He regrets having to leave the study, now that it is in its more analytical phase. Instead, he is headed to Harvard in the fall to begin Ph.D. studies in public policy at the Kennedy School of Government.

Wei also works hard on behalf of his fraternity brothers. As a sophomore, he served as a "founding father" in re-establishing Pi Kappa Phi, whose charter had been revoked. This year he took on the role of scholarship chair, motivating his brothers and helping those who are struggling academically.

"Having the highest GPA in my house, I decided that I could do more for them. After all, we're brothers, and it is our duty to help each other out, not just look after ourselves," he says. He has monitored the brothers' academic progress, created a tutoring network in the house, provided incentives to recognize academic performance and improvement, reorganized the fraternity's bank of class files and its library of textbooks, invited faculty to dinners and organized a "meet and greet" reception to introduce younger brothers to faculty and administrators.

"I wanted to share the strategies that I have learned and the motivation that I have had to be academically successful at Cornell," he says. "Like all economists, I believe that if you reward certain desirable behaviors, you will generate more of that behavior. We have worked to foster an atmosphere of brothers helping brothers. If you are struggling with a class, you shouldn't be afraid to ask for help. Rather than showing weakness, it instead shows strength."

Wei also has been committed to the new student orientation program at Cornell. In recognition of his dedication to this program, in August 2004 he was awarded the Dave Bletsch Award. He has been honored as a Merrill Presidential Scholar and a banner bearer for the College of Human Ecology. And as a member of the Cornell Economics Society, he has served as both an editor of its journal and a regular contributor of articles.

Sarah Davidson is a writer intern with the Cornell News Service.