One of the hottest streams for which students pick a b-school is Finance. Every b-school has a range of electives or concentrations in finance. Career options are plenty for the finance guys- investment banking, investment management, commercial banking, managerial finance, private equity, venture capital, the list goes on….
We have randomly picked out 3 b-schools for the resources they offer in Finance.
Wharton:
Wharton holds the top position for being the best financial US b-school in the 2015 US news rankings. The academics come under the ambit of the Finance Department, which is known for its faculty and cutting edge research. Apart from the core section’s focus on finance related courses, there is Finance major for specialization. Students can also take the Independent Study Project (ISP) to study specific topics in more details than are covered in the Finance curriculum.
The hands-on learning component is met by FAP or the Field Application Project. Held in the spring term of first year, FAP helps students integrate their knowledge of different functions to solve business issues facing the participating organization. Teams of 5-6 students work under assistance of a faculty member and a second year teaching assistant MBA to give their recommendations via a detailed report.
Wharton has many a special interest clubs for finance. The Wharton Finance Club focuses on careers in Investment Banking, corporate finance(non- banking) and private wealth management. The club facilitates a range of career support activities such as mock Employer information Sessions (EIS), resume reviews and mock interviews; the Finance Conference and interactions with industry experts.
Wharton sent out a sizeable 9.7% of the graduating class of 2013 in investment management jobs. This is facilitated in part due to the efforts of the Investment Management Club, which provides an amazing network to students with eyes on hedge funds, portfolio management, asset management etc. as viable career options. Through the year, the Club organizes a range of activities, which include Speaker Series, workshops, career treks to the East Coast and the West Coast. Other prominent activities include the IM Club Socials, the socializing events which bring together first years and second years to interact and network with each other. The IM Conference is an annual event that brings in industry experts and alumni for workshops and speaker session. One of the most sought out events on this club’s calendar is the Warren Buffett Trek, a trip to Nebraska, to meet with the “Wizard of Omaha” – Warren Buffett.
With 700+ members, The Wharton Private Equity & Venture Capital Club is among the largest clubs at Wharton and has a varied profile of members, representing the PE/VC industry and those from outside it, looking for a transition into the industry. Wharton recruited about 10.5% students from the Class of 2013 into the PE industry, making it one of the
As stated on Wharton’s website, the Wharton Private Equity & venture Conference is “is one of the largest of its kind in the world”. This day-long event attracts distinguished speakers from the industry.
The Club also holds competitions- Students from top business schools participate in the Wharton MBA Buyout Case Competition in order to make recommendations for a simulated PE buyout transaction. Besides the large cash prizes on offer, this competition gives students a great opportunity to network with students of other b-schools. 23 teams had participated last year in 2013 to represent 16 b-schools and they made a case for investing in Staples to senior PE industry professionals. The competition was attended not just by the American b-schools like Cornell, Tuck Stern, Booth and Columbia (and many others), but also by Judge Business School and Said Business School from UK and Rotman from Canada. Wharton did have a happy ending with one of their teams walking away with the first prize.
The Latin American PE Competition grants students focusing on the PE industry in Latin America to network with each other. This also is an inter-school competition.
The Wharton Social Venture Business Plan Competition was organized for the first time in 2013 to present business ideas that address a social issue. The competition is a joint venture between the Social Impact and the PE & VC Club.
With the reputation that Wharton has as a finance b-school, there is little wonder that it places a large chunk of its grads in related career. Among the 800 student strong class of 2013, about 39% joined the financial services industry.
Chicago Booth:
Booth offers the largest number of advanced finance classes as compared to any other business school. There are two finance related concentrations on offer: Finance and Analytical Finance.
The Finance concentration covers both Corporate finance and investments. Among the highly helpful activities that enhance the finance focus at Booth is the Bank Week, for which students travel to New York for informational sessions with the banks. As the Bank Week is scheduled in the last leg of the Fall quarter, it is a crucial networking opportunity for students, just before they interview for summer internships in the winter quarter. This is a hectic week, laden with back-to-back meetings and info sessions with various banks. The event is put together by the Investment Banking Group, which is the largest student run group on campus, and works as a conduit between the investments banks, the career centre and the students. Other events organized by the Investment Banking Group include the LBO Challenge– first year students team up in groups of four to analyze potential buyout deals and then present their recommendations to a panel of judges; the IBG Conference and the Valuation and Modeling Seminars.
Two other groups, the Corporate Finance Group and the Hedge Fund Group bridge the gap between the industry and the students and assist the latter by providing them career support in these fields. Some of the activities of the Corporate Finance Group include The Corporate Finance Symposium which involves presentations from top managements and networking opportunities with them; Lunch-and-Learns, Resume Reviews and the Corporate Conversations, which are 60 minute events by companies, to make a connect with students, the prospective employees.
The Entrepreneurship and Venture Capital Club at Booth has about 400 members and is among the larger groups on campus. EVCC organizes highly popular career treks to Silicon Valley as well as to New York. The Club’s most important activity is the Venture Capital Investment Competition. Here, students get to act like the Venture capitalists themselves! The event requires participating teams to evaluate the business plans of real entrepreneurs who are seeking funding for their early stage ventures. Teams give their evaluations on whether to invest in these companies, how much to invest and how to structure the deal- and all this happens in front of a panel of judges, who are real VC investors. With both students and the entrepreneurs getting feedback from the judges, this is a win-win situation for all. This is an inter-school competition.
The activities of the Investment Management Group include the Weekly Stock pitches, Stock Pitch Boot Camp and the Chicago Booth Investment Management Conference. IMG members can recommend stocks for purchase by the Student Managed Investment Fund (SMIF) during the weekly stock pitches. SMIF is a $1M fund, managed by, as the name suggests, first and second year students!
The PE Conference hosted by the Private Equity Group is an annual fare where distinguished industry speakers offer their expertise to students interested in PE and in entrepreneurship. Career treks are organized to the East Coast, the West Coast and to Chicago based PE firms.
Lab Courses are the experiential learning component of the Booth MBA. Finance focus students can select among the following Labs:
Private Equity/Venture Capital Lab – Students spend 15 – 20 hours per week for atleast 10 weeks on an intensive internship at a PE fund or a VC firm. Based on their backgrounds, students are matched with the requirements of the participating firms. The Lab has an academic component as well, which includes, case discussions, lectures, workshops and simulated board room meetings. Learning from faculty and industry experts goes a long way in making students ready for the real jobs.
Booth has an extensive range of opportunities available for Finance and that’s why about 35% of the class of 2013 went into financial industry. Of these about 14% joined investment banking, 8% joined investment management, 4 % went to private equity and 2% into venture capital.
CORNELL:
The Johnson School of Business at Cornell has the concept of depth and breadth concentrations; second year students can take upto 2 concentrations. The finance focused concentrations include Corporate Finance, Financial Investing, Financial Analysis and Private Equity.
In addition, Cornell offers its students the immersion learning experience in the winter semester of first year. This is an intensive, semester-wide program that combines coursework with field project in the student’s field of interest. There are 3 immersions for the finance guys: Capital Markets and Asset Management (CMAM), Investment Banking and Managerial Finance.
The CMAM immersion is for students seeking a career in investment management/ research, wealth management and sales & trading. They learn about how financial instruments are analyzed, bought, sold, and utilized. The immersion aspect involves a visit to NYC to meet with the leading financial companies through the “Week on Wall Street” trip. Students can enroll into the Cayuga Fund and pitch stocks to the fund under faculty supervision. This fund is at the core of the second year curriculum for those interested in investment management. The selection process is rigorous
In the Investment Banking Immersion, a real IB environment is simulated within the classroom and students are given the chance to dissect real transactions. A Week on Wall Street exposes students to both the bulge bracket banks and the boutique firms. They also get an opportunity to analyze recently conducted M&A deals and to learn directly from teams that recently concluded these deals.
The Managerial Finance Immersion benefits those seeking a role in the corporate finance function of a company, in strategic consulting roles or in rotational development programs. Students are exposed to core issues they are likely to face as CFOs of their company. Teaching occurs not just within the classroom, but also at the premises of corporations that students visit.
The Old Ezra Finance Club is the largest club at Johnson. It’s purpose is to help students land internships and jobs in IB, Sales & Trading and managerial finance.
Another club, Private Equity Society helps with careers in late stage venture capital, leveraged buyout and growth capital investing. Activities include seminars, speaker series and many networking opportunities through industry interactions.