recommendations for the university studying lic. in finance

hello,

What recommendations do you give for a university student in finance?

What kind of internships?

Do you recommend finishing the degree with a CFA level 1?

Some specific subjects to choose?

To arrive with experience at an MsF. pointing to the PM job on the buy side

3 Comments
 
 
Most Helpful

Study and pass the SIE whenever you can but hopefully before you start applying to internships or jobs. This is a recent exam that was created as kinda the intro to the rest of the Series exams like the 7, 79, 66, etc. Potential recruiters will be happy you don't have to take that exam when they hire you plus you don't need a sponsorship and its not that expensive for books and to register. 

Carve out your resume with the help of your career center. Make sure its spotless and make it readily available just in cases someone asks for it. 

Read up on some books that can teach you skills for buy side. A book I read recommended by my boss is called "Analysis for Financial Management" 12th edition. The read gets somewhat challenging as you progress, but it has really good pieces of information that I had never read about. 

Learn how to write cover letters and build the perfect one for finance internships. Then its only a matter of customizing each one to the specific company you're applying to instead of writing all over. \

Don't know what year you are (assuming freshmen year cause you mentioned what courses to take), but start networking asap. You're in college now so work is right around the corner. You need to learn any names you can get. 

Start applying. You need internships asap. Pretty straightforward. 

In terms of courses, just take the ones you need for a finance concentration and then some acct courses. Doesn't need to be advanced or anything. 

IMO don't touch the CFA until you've decided you absolutely want to get into buy side. You might not like it and then you're stuck with a bunch of useless textbooks. Plus, you need to be at least in your fourth year to sit through it. 

Also, make sure you get good-excellent grades. Be nice with the teachers and try to be their friends. You want a list of people to get a recommendation letter in case you decide on B-school. 

Hope this helps.  

 

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