It's that time of the year again

No, I'm talking about the stress-inducing holidays. I'm talking about the stress-inducing MBA application time. I've been receiving some emails about what Stern does, what the community is all about etc. , so I'm going to try and answer some of those questions here.

Today's question:
I was looking to gain insight into the student clubs/activities related to Finance at Stern. Could you please provide me information from your experience at Stern that you think sets the school apart from other leading B-Schools, especially in the finance field. What kind of activities does Stern organize that helps students pursuing a career in the finance field?

As any current B-school student will tell you, I don't think I can do a fair relative-value assessment. What I can talk about is what Stern does, so here goes.

NOTE: This is specific to Finance, but some of these activities apply to all industries and functions, and the professional clubs associated with each industry organize their own activities similar to the ones organized by the Graduate Finance Association here at Stern.

1. Official Corporate Events - During October and November, before you apply to companies for your summer intership (typically, applications are due the first week of Dec), atleast two to three companies come to campus every day for corporate presentations - these are typically a presentation followed by a reception during which you get to network with the representatives of the company (usually the companies are represented by somewhere between 5 and 20 people, depending on the type and size of the firm). These events are organized by the Office of Career Development (OCD).

2. Panels - The OCD holds a number of panels with MBA2's and alumni where you can learn more about a particular industry, company or function. There are a number of these that happen throughout your first semester to help you make a more informed decision about what track you want to pursue

3. Workshops - Because Finance jobs are highly sought after and the selection process is extremely competitive, the clubs alongwith the Office of Career Development host a number of workshops for Resume & Cover Letter Writing, Behavioral Interview, Technical Interview as well as specialized workshops such as How to Pitch a Stock etc. throughout the first semester to help you prepare for the application process.

4. Unofficial Corporate Events - In addition to the corporate presentations hosted by the school, there are also other, specialized events such as cocktail receptions with companies, which are hosted by clubs such as the GFA, AIM (Association for Investment Management), STR (Sales, Trading and Research club) and FEA (Financial Engineering Association).

5. GFA Hour - This is a 1.5 hour weekly lunch during which a company will come and talk about a topic - this could either be a case study of a recent deal that they completed, or it could be about a particular industry or a current issue affecting the economy or businesses. Not only are these highly informative, again these are also a great way to network with officers in the company. Typically, the companies who participate in GFA Hour are all the major investment banks, but we also have other financial institutions such as commercial banks, credit card companies, mutual funds etc.

6. Other - In addition to these, a number of clubs like the GFA organize alumni mixers, where you can network with alumni. The school has an online database of about 70,000 alumni worldwide whom you can contact. I have had tremendous response from all the alumni I have contacted, and they have been instrumental in my research into companies and industries.
So, as you can see, the school - through the OCD and the clubs - invests a lot of time and effort to make sure that you are successful in establishing a longterm career that is the right one for you.

I will try to talk more about other industries, in the coming weeks, but typically recruiting for Finance happens in early-mid Jan, followed by Consulting and Marketing. The Entertainment & Media, and Technology companies come to campus starting in March.

If you have questions, post a comment or send me an email and I will try to address them going forward.

Good luck with all your applications!