Marianna Kwan

Experience Prior To The Program

I had little to no experience in finance, besides the little tidbits of news I would read in the Wall Street Journal, or the high-level topics that were covered in my university’s beginner economics courses.

Training Experience

Training allowed me to start from square 1. When I came to university as a freshman, I found myself constantly playing catch up so that I could be on the same ground as my classmates. I never took the time to learn the basics. In this training however, all pretenses are stripped away and everyone starts from the beginning, slowly and thoroughly making their way through the material until they graduate at the analyst level. To me, that was the most valuable part of my learning, because I was never hindered by the belief that I should know more. I just had to show up, learn the fundamentals, and go from there.

I apply the lessons learned at training and at the internship on a day-to-day basis especially now, where it’s my job to analyze data, draw conclusions, and build a presentation to inform our clients.

Internship Experience

The internship experience consists of applying everything you learn in training so that you can ultimately make a confident assessment of whether a stock should be given a buy, sell, or hold recommendation. There are two things that stood out to me about this internship. The first, was that it gave me the opportunity to build and think through a financial model. I obtained first-hand experience on how to crunch the numbers, sanity check results, and tell a story based on our model. In times of uncertainty, I gained valuable insight and an alternative perspective from my partner, because we work in pairs of two. Whoever it was, they never failed to challenge my assumptions, sharpen my analytical skills, and make the internship process a fun time. Secondly, this internship gave me the confidence to stand by my professional opinions. I was given the know-how on how to present my findings to a potential client and answer questions based on the data when there was push back.

Mentorship

The one-on-one mentorship was helpful because it gave me an opportunity to ask specific questions and to be held accountable for my work. It feels very similar to the one-on-one reviews that some managers will give you once you start a full-time job, where it’s a chance to learn how to improve. Mentorship ensures that your growth is constant.

Career Development

I apply the lessons learned at training and at the internship on a day-to-day basis especially now, where it’s my job to analyze data, draw conclusions, and build a presentation to inform our clients.