Finance at Owen

Are you planning on pursuing a finance concentration at Owen? Are you looking for a career in investment banking, investment management, or corporate finance post-graduation? If so, take a look...

It is no secret that the finance department at Owen is one of the strongest in the school (if not "the" strongest), both from a faculty and career placement perspective. Every year roughly 35% of Owen students concentrate in finance, making it by far the most popular career path for interns & graduates.

I am a finance concentrator myself, and will be completing my summer internship in the field of investment management at a bulge bracket bank. So, here are my "unofficial" thoughts about "Finance at Owen."

Reputation

One of the main reasons for me to choose Owen over another higher-ranked school (for those ranking-crazies out there) was the overall reputation of Vanderbilt University, as well as the high amount of respect the finance program receives here at Owen. After spending almost a full school-year here, I came to realize that this is absolutely true.

Faculty

Owen has top-notch faculty in the field of finance. Whether you are taking your Managerial Finance from the man, whose research led to a sweeping reform of the NASDAQ market and the introduction of the SEC Order Handling Rules; or Derivatives from the man who wrote the book on Derivatives, as well as creating three world-wide used indexes for the Chicago Board Options Exchange, you'll be sure to receive the best financial education possible.

Career Management

Vanderbilt (Owen) does not have a good reputation in Wall Street, it has a great one. Recruiters tend to love the fact that Owen students are hard-working, scrappy, and need to work hard just a little bit harder (than say a HBS student) to get that coveted job. I have actually leveraged this point heavily during my interview process with many firms.

Investment Banking seems to be the most popular field in finance (most finance students fall in love with banking early on.) While Owen is not a core school for many Wall Street banks (this means they do not come to campus to conduct information sessions & interviews) for investment banking, our school has many successful alumni at every bulge bracket bank imaginable. Owen does a great job of networking with these people & banks up in NY by planning "Wall Street Week" in October every year. It is a great opportunity for first-year students to learn about the different businesses (i.e. investment banking, investment management, corporate finance). Last year, about 80 of us attended this event and it was certainly very helpful. Moreover, Owen also conducts "NY Interview Day" in January, where they reserve an entire floor of a really nice hotel in NY and give many companies to interview the candidates they have selected from Owen.

Here are some firms that have hired Owen interns for investment banking functions this upcoming summer:

• Merrill Lynch
• UBS Investment Bank
• Bank of America
• Wachovia Securities
• SunTrust Bank Inc.
• Morgan Keegan
• Harris Williams & Co.
• Bear Sterns & Co. Inc. (yes, I know)

In terms of Investment Management - Private Wealth Management, Owen is a core school for many top firms and receives regular visits for company information sessions & interviews on campus. This field is definitely more "niche" in terms of the finance students at Owen pursuing it. It is quite harder to get into (than banking) just by sheer numbers perspective (i.e. Top Wall Street banks have thousands of bankers in the U.S., but only a few hundred PWM professionals.) Here are some firms that have hired Owen interns for Investment Management (PWM) functions this upcoming summer:

• Goldman Sachs
• Morgan Stanley
• Credit Suisse
• JPMorgan

Many more finance students at Owen tend to follow the corporate finance, general management, and various rotational programs at many Fortune 500 companies. Here are just some of the firms that have hired Owen interns for these functions this upcoming summer:

• Exxon / Mobil
• Citigroup
• Black & Decker
• Dell Inc.
• Procter & Gamble
• Bank of America
• AT&T
• Caterpillar
• Emerson
• The Thomson Corporation
• GE
• Pfizer

In short, there are plenty of great opportunities awaiting you at Owen if you are passionate about a career in finance. And that's all you can ever ask for in life...an opportunity.