“Every pay phone had five to 10 people,” Robbason said.

Confusion mounted for those searching for classmates because many graduates were unsure whether their friends worked at the midtown or downtown locations of bigger firms.

Fortunately, many recent grads seemed to be working in midtown Manhattan rather than downtown, in the financial district.

“I think a lot of people at the WTC were probably higher up in the firms, not younger associates,” Carmack said.

Meanwhile, grads working in other parts of the city waited to hear news of friends and classmates, slowly accounting for those who they knew were in the area.

Jennifer Mrowka ’01 was at a computer training facility in midtown Manhattan when she began to see photos of the towers on the screens of others who had simply intended to read the daily news. She thought it was a practical joke.

Her roommate, Jacqueline Mesnik ’01, had turned down a job at AON consulting, which occupied more than 10 floors of one of the towers. Had she taken the job, Mesnik probably would have been in the building.

“It’s the saddest and most shocking event in our life,” she said.