Starting Finance Club at my school
I'm in the process of starting a finance club at my school. I need some ideas for activities. I want to bring in guest speakers who work in finance, but what are some other things?
I'm in the process of starting a finance club at my school. I need some ideas for activities. I want to bring in guest speakers who work in finance, but what are some other things?
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Most do some sort of mock-trading or investing contest which could be alright
Check out the websites of other finance clubs at different schools and see what they do.
Host exam prep sessions for some of the most popular courses in the business program at your skwl, it'll help build your network since your starting in February.....
Looking for affiliation with an outside body is always good too. Im the president of the business club at my school (private liberal arts top 30), and we are affiliated with a local association for human resources management. While HR topics don't scream "come to our event!", using the connections that such a local body could give you access to, as far as speakers and workshops go, is a big plus. It also helps credibility as well.
Panel discussions. Networking events. Information sessions.
Id pretty much focus on how to network and bringing in speakers. Point your members towards WSO ;)
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Thinking of starting a finance club at my school. What do you do in them? (Originally Posted: 05/04/2014)
Our school doesn't have a finance club. We have a business club that most econ majors are in, but no finance club. That club does have workshops and networking events if you're interested in finance though. I was wondering what your college finance club did?
Really it depends on how you set it up, at my school you need a professor to preside over every club and in a way they have the last say on everything that happens. What you do really depends on the students you attract and how you structure the meetings, keep in mind that many students may be finance or general business majors but many of them do not have a true interest in these fields so they may find discussing these topics to be boring. At least that is the case at my school, for every 10 finance majors id say 3/10 are actually really interested in it and would enjoy discussing or learning more (outside of what school requires). I led my schools Econ club and to be honest what attracted people was games, outside speakers, and free food. Not many people were interested in actually learning more about economics let alone the global financial system and how different sectors of the macro-economy affect various industries/fields/ nor were many people interested in discussions or debates. In the Economics club we had several outside speakers, someone from the World Bank, two people from oil and gas industries who were analysts in their companies. In additions professors including the department head talking about potential careers and stressing the importance of post graduate work as a prerequisite to any higher or even mid level financial job let alone any job involving economic research.
Of course it all depends on what the students are like imo.
• Manage about $100,000 (raise through alumni?) • Pitch stock to the group every/other week. • Teach financial modeling/valuation to the group. • Review accounting principles/prepare for general finance interview questions. • Bring in alumni speakers. • Hold investing competition every semester.
I too, want to start a finance club at my high school
Undergrad Finance Club Ideas? (Originally Posted: 09/18/2015)
Hey guys, I'm thinking about starting a club but I feel that my idea is too bland. What are some ideas that kids have came up with at your schools, or perhaps ideas that you think would be interesting? I don't want to start another investment club that just talks about stocks and has members compete in an online trading game.
If you start an investment club just invest with real money - that's way better than an "online trading game". And members would be more committed.
Otherwise we currently have a PE/VC society at our uni - the main point being that they contact local firms and try to find some speakers. Pretty good for networking, and very interesting.
Are there any clubs that you know of that are out of the box? The club I was thinking about starting is like the PE/VC club you just described, but I feel that it's just an unoriginal idea and won't be that impressive on a resume. I want to do something different, but i'm all out of ideas.
Personally I am president of a small investment club and although not so original it is still an experience that I consider worth speaking about. The idea does not have to be so original to look good on a resume to my opinion, it is more about how the whole project is working, and in the PE/VC case if you can find good speakers.
Need help in starting a banking/finance club in my school (Originally Posted: 08/22/2012)
Hi everyone, I need a little help here. I am going to start a banking club soon in my college but I would need some advise on how to do it and how to get things going on. Specifically, I would need you guys to chip in a bit about what you guys have been doing in your own finance/banking club, and what kind of events or activities should I organize in my club. Really appreciate if you can take some time and help me this. Thanks
Is this going to be an investment club, or just a club for people interested in banking?
Good initiative. Here's what I would do:
1) Immediately contact all alumni from your school working in finance and ask for their advice. Specifically, ask if they had a finance club during their time in undergrad, and if not, what they wish they had that could have benefited them when they wanted to break in. Locate them using the alumni database or Linkedin. This is a great way to build rapport (as opposed to a simple networking call, which is clearly made with the overt intention of getting something out of the relationship), and truthfully, they just know more about the school's needs than we ever would. And it doesn't hurt to be remembered as "the guy that was trying to help out the school" when you need to find an internship or job.
2) Alumni responses will differ, but what I find helpful are seminars where alumni explain what exactly they do, and company visits. I don't think you can do much more than this, and see if anyone you fish out of 1) can help with this.
3) This club ultimately needs to serve as a conduit between students that want to break into finance and people that are willing to help. If the school lacks no alternatives, and this club has the real potential to alter job placement at your school, you may be able to hustle some money out of the administration for throwing/attending events. See if you can get a funded trip to the WSO conference next year, or anything-finance related really. The school already knows this, but I would argue that if the club has the long-term potential to alter job placement in a "positive" way, it could have a tangible impact on how the school's endowment will grow. Let me know if you need any help with this part.
4) I've seen student organizations grow to the point where they manage a fund of money granted by alumni- not sure how this is done, but if you could be the one that launches such an endeavor, that would indeed be impressive. See 1)
What you don't want to happen is to create a club where you simply have undergrads 'interested' in finance, and no one else. Something like that would be "The Worst of WSO, In Person"
Source: Did (something like) this in college.
A lot of good info here. Thanks a lot! Btw I do not quite understand here, are you saying that having undergrads who are merely interested aren't enough? Can you tell me more about this?
if you werent a united fan, i'd help you...cant wait for that sell out van persie to shatter his knee
Finance Club (Originally Posted: 05/07/2012)
Hey guys, I'm the President of my school's Finance Club, and I was hoping you could add some of the things you did at your school. Thanks.
Some things I have in mind:
I can tell you right now, if I joined a club at school and they wanted to do community service, I would be un-joining that club.
Ugh, don't go to NYSE, it's a museum. Better to find an alumnus who works at a bank and can take you guys around the trading floor or somewhere business actually gets done.
this
NYSE has a pretty nice private dining room, not sure if it's included on tours.
Some things the various finance clubs at my school did:
How much of that is feasible will depend on # / commitment of sponsors (avg society budget was around 50k) and # / commitment of members
use some of the money allocated to your club by the school to offer IB training courses at a subsidized price
Free Pizza, all you need to know
don't forget the soda. you need to have soda with pizza.
The first rule of Finance Club is: YOU DO NOT TALK ABOUT FINANCE CLUB.
Set up networking events, have people pitch stocks, do interview practice/prep
Depends where the school is. If you go to Grinell, god help you getting alums out there. If you are in New York, you could have a finance speaker every week.
Field trips are expensive. And I can't think of a great destination off the top of my head.
Try to get the college to give you some of the endowment to invest. $50,000 to $100,000 is nothing for them. Worst case that 100k lags the market a few %. Run it like a fund.
Do mock interviews, both with alums & seniors.
See if you can get sponsored by a bank or some other firm.
buy a bulk license of our finance guides for everyone in your club :)
http://www.wallstreetoasis.com/guide-to-finance-interviews
founding a Finance Club (Originally Posted: 02/02/2011)
I'm considering the idea of founding a club for students of my school who are interested in financial careers, but I'm not very sure of what that would entail.
I've got several students who would be interested in meeting weekly to prepare technicals for IB (corporate finance and general market discussion).
In addition to this I'm in contact with a couple of financial-research companies who would be interested in giving lectures at our campus if i were able to gain permission from my school and gather some interested students.
But aside from this i'm not really sure what a finance club does. Can someone give me some suggestions?
Also, is founding a finance club of any use resume-wise? Does it add anything to a CV?
Get speakers from relevant industries, do alumni panels, arrange networking events, try to schedule on-site visits, run a mock portfolio, resume workshops, cover letter workshops, assist companies hosting on-campus events/presentations, etc.
but to be honest, founding one is nice but won't add much to a CV.
Thanks for the suggestions. Well, I'm sure it won't add much, but since I have a pretty academic-intense CV i believe that a line that says something like "XXX Business School Finance Club: President" might just be better than not having it.
internships >>>>>>>>>> finance club
i didn't found a business club, but i was the president of one and i was never asked any questions about it in an interview, and i'm pretty sure no one cared about it. what i'm saying is that it takes a lot of time to get this stuff set up and execute. might as well spend that time either working a part-time internship, or networking. either will be much more beneficial than one line in a resume.
rofl founding a finance club. proper grammar pls. i laugh at that shit whenever i see that while screening resumes
What is the correct way of saying it? I'm not a native english speaker.
Well, this is not a real problem, since most of the people I will be practicing with will not apply to SA interviews but to off-cycle ones. I'm going for the SA ones instead.Proper grammar? Says the person who used "pls", "i".... really lloyd come on stick to being hood rich.
Aside from not being that impressive on a resume, you will be practicing technicals and working on your cover letters/resumes with the same group of people who you will be competing with for interviews. Nothing makes you stand out less than having a cover letter and resume that are extremely similar to every other applicant that the interviewer spoke to that day. Not to mention you will all answer your technicals in almost the same manner and nobody will stand out above the rest. You're better off preparing on your own or with someone majoring in finance but not going into the same industry. It may not be the friendliest concept in the world, but you'll get more superdays.
The truth is that (at least in London and Frankfurt) investment banks do not about extracurricular activities. Noone has ever asked me about anything like that, even though I have some off that stuff on my resume. This is not consulting, bankers know that 80% of extracurricular activities listed on CV's are either entirely made up, or vastly exaggerated.
100% false. A kid with no extracurriculars on his/her resume faces a significantly uphill battle when it comes to getting an interview. He or she would need to have a stellar GPA (i.e. 4.0) and substantial internship experience to make up for the lack of campus involvement.
If you were to start an investing club, raise funds and make money, then that would be worth putting on your resume. To be completely honest, in our resume reviews being in finance club isn't worth much when you're competing against kids with solid internship experience. At least founding a fund-raising investment club demonstrates commitment and high interest.
Advice on starting an IB club on campus (Originally Posted: 02/08/2015)
Hey guys. I'm a sophomore at a non-target in LA/CHI/BOS. I was thinking about starting an investment banking club geared towards breaking students into FO finance roles. We have a student finance club but it isn't extremely relevant for students looking to do high finance. There are several alumni who have gone to do IB at BB, MM, and boutiques, but given our school's close proximity to banks it isn't extremely high. Looking to hear from anyone who has experience with something like this.
Totally doable. Try structuring it as kind of a learning thing where you teach people about fundamental IB concepts, prep for interviews, discuss markets, etc. Eventually recruiters that go to your school will seek out kids who specifically were part of that club. Even more important if you go to a nontarget. The end goal of this should be kind of having the club as a pipeline for wall street.
That's similar to what I was thinking. I was looking at Indiana's IB seminar/workshop and it looks like they have an amazing program. Emulating something even close to that would be awesome.
As a former SGA nerd, definitely get approved and recognized as a club so you can get funding, etc. for events or speakers. I saw several people with great ideas like yours get derailed by that. You could also see if your school would pay for (or at least subsidize) the on campus seminar from Wall Street Prep or something similar.
I think those alumni will be your most valuable assets in terms of speakers/video conferences/contacts/connecting kids with internships. Contact them early and ask for their advice.
Starting an Investment Banking Club on Campus (Originally Posted: 09/16/2013)
Hey Guys,
Just started junior year at a semi-target, and I want to start an Investment Banking Club here on campus.
Problem is, we already have an "Investment Group" which manages a few hundred thousand of the endowment and is a good sized group with a couple hundred members. I asked a few members of the e-board if they'd be interested in adding my idea to the club and most of them weren't interested for whatever reason. (Too busy etc.)
My school has a small number of alumni on Wall Street and in Boston, but we need more. I want to have more speakers and spread the word about investment banking, PE and high finance here on campus because, frankly, no one even knows what it is which is sad because we are a business-focused school.
Do any of you guys have any tips or ideas about things I can do to make this club stand out from our Investment Management club? Did you guys have any investment banking clubs? What made it successful?
Thanks in advance for the help.
Just curious, what would your "investment banking club" actually do? It's hard to imagine you getting any actual advisory work so like, case studies? Just wondering.
Networking and info sessions from banks in the surrounding area to spread the word about the industry and hopefully place those who are interested on a path to the street. I'd really just like to have maybe 2-3 meetings each year given by those who work in the industry.
The partner from the bank I am currently interning at offered to give an info session at my school and put me in touch with his contacts for future info sessions. I just feel like our school is really underrepresented and the clubs we have right now aren't doing much of a job to help the general student body gain any idea about what high finance really is.
You sure you're at a semi-target?
The semi-targets I know of bring in dozens of top firms that fly in 5-10 alumni from each bank to give company presentations. Obviously you won't be able to do that given your alumni count. Another thing they do is bring alumni to judge case competitions, upperclassmen with Junior SA experience hold mock interviews and resume reviews.
Your best option is probably to give up on the club and just fight for your own internship. Or you could just start up some bs club to put on your resume, but I wouldn't count on it lasting too long after you graduate.
What does the investment management club have to do with the investment banking club? No point in having a club if your only going to have 3 meetings a year. I am sure you have a general club for finance and banking, partner with them on this.
Creating Investment Banking Club on Campus (Originally Posted: 05/17/2017)
I hate using the word "non-target" because it has such a negative connotation, but that is the only way to describe my school. There is a lot that makes us a non-target ranging from not many alumni working on Wall St, lack of school clubs focused on corp finance, lazy students, and more.
Of course the fact that I attend a non-target is not making me slow down my goal of trying to become a banker. However, the lack of 'wall st presence" at my school is kinda depressing. Students do not know what they are capable of simply because no one tells them what is available, regardless of how competitive it is.
I want to combat this problem by creating some sort of Investment Banking club on campus. I realize that is very broad goal, which is why I created this post.
I was wondering how other schools IB and finance clubs operate. I do not think I would want to simply focus on the ibd, but rather investment banks as a whole. Again, I do not want to go too broad. I would be hoping to inform students on careers such as S&T, Asset/Wealth/Investment Management, Equity Research, and others in addition to IB.
How would you guys suggest I go about this?
P.S: I am comfortable enough to say that I believe I can build some type of bridge between students and firms that we have 0 access to because they just never come on campus.
Thanks. All love no hate
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