What extra-circulars really matter for undergrad?
(Sorry that is this in the B-school tag, I didn't know what category to put it in and this one seemed to fit best from I can see)
Background: I am currently a rising freshman at a the University of Georgia and am a stats and economics double major. I do not what sub-field of finance I will want to pursue when I graduate yet (PWM, VC, EQ, etc).
Question: What are the most helpful activities that you participated in during undergrad, or wish you did looking back? Are investment clubs helpful or are they mainly just a resume filler? I could do a fintech or entrepreneurship program, which would be more helpful for someone who don't know their specific career sun-field? (personally leaning more towards the fintech one since I believe fintech will continue to be a growing career arena)
Currently my current list for making myself a more qualified candidate is:
Get the Bloomberg Terminal Certification
Join the investment club (although I don't know how helpful/informative it will be)
Try to work with the student investment fund
Learn R (this may be helpful if I end in more of a quant/data science role)
Thank you for reading and all thoughts and advice is greatly appreciated :)
john finn, way too quiet in here. What about these resources:
Fingers crossed that one of those helps you.
Bump
Do stuff that interests you!
If you really like investment club stuff, then try to join in on that. I would advise it since it's really relevant experiences to talk about and can help increase your interest and understanding of markets and finance. Also helps A LOT to be surrounded by people who are pursuing the same things as you since it's really a team effort to get into such a desirable career.
But really, dude, just join stuff you're interested in. Of course, it's helpful to do extracurriculars that are "pre-professional" but I find that it's also important to balance that with your personal interests too, if that's a club sport, a community service org, a school newspaper, etc, it adds up to give recruiters a better picture of the person you actually are. Not to mention, there are just as many valuable experiences to be taken from clubs that aren't pre-professional as those that are.
People wanna see that you're actually an interesting person beyond just your interest in finance.
At UGA - greek life 100%. Enjoy your years in college.
I think anything that shows you excelled at what you did. So if you join Investment club, figure out how to run the joint, If you join a sports team find a way to become captain, etc. Finding ways to be a high performer outside the classroom will pay dividends.
Do things that interest you.
I've seen CVs with various different Bloomberg qualifications and I literally don't give a f*ck about them - all it says to me is that you're an incredibly boring person and that you struggle to think of more productive activities to undertake in your spare time. Learning R (or any other meaningful coding language for that matter) would stand you in far, far better stead. If you're dead keen (for whatever reason) to get some sort of certification on your CV, take the GMAT or GRE alongside your studies (although, again, whether this is actually "valuable" is up for debate).
Investment clubs are hit-and-miss, especially as they seemingly give out so-called "executive committee" titles like free balloons. By all means join up with these societies if you think you'll learn something from being a member / want to attend whatever events they organise, however I wouldn't stress about getting a senior position unless: i) You'll really, really enjoy the role (difficult to tell early doors); and ii) You'll get material (i.e. job offer) reward directly from doing so (also unlikely in my opinion).
I'd much rather see that someone plays a sport. This could be rugby, football ("soccer" for you septic heathens), chess, poker, debating, etc. It shows me that you have interests outside of academia / your desired profession and, as a result, are a well-rounded person. In other words, someone who's likely to be somewhat interesting isn't going to make me want to cut my wrists in the event I have to sit next to you for 12hrs/day for the next 3-5yrs. It also places an emphasis on your capacity for competitiveness and sociability.
Fantastic advise and thanks for commenting
Joining the school newspaper could show that you are 1) good at writing and 2) interested in a variety of topics
join the frat with all the rich kids so you can frat hard and get placed by someone's dad
Lol, low-key all the UGA frats are trash from what I have seen
Since you're on here look into investment or consulting clubs that have connections to industry or have a history of placement. One, two clubs where you do well is better than 5.
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