Road to Wall Street 2015 Year End Report
Road to Wall Street 2015 Year End Report
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Road to Wall Street 2015 Year End Report
Road to Wall Street (RTWS) is a competitive mentoring program designed to introduce students to Wall Street careers and connect them with working alumni from key employers such as Goldman Sachs, Citi, Credit Suisse, JP Morgan Chase, and others. In addition to the formal pairing of students with alumni mentors, the program’s offerings have recently grown to include one-on-one counseling, technical skills training, interview preparation, and networking assistance. In 2016, the program will focus primarily on accepting sophomores and select first-year students.
MAJOR HIGHLIGHTS FROM 2015
50 17 18 Recruiting Class Size
seniors
juniors
15
sophomores
PARTICIPATING STUDENTS Cohort Four Application Process
Nearly 190 students applied to be part of cohort four. Applications were screened by alumni currently working on Wall Street and 74 students were invited to interview for one of 50 slots in the program. While the initial number of applicants was lower than previous years, this reflects the increased competitiveness of the program and higher qualifications needed in order to apply.
Summer Intern Placements: A Very Strong Year
This recruiting season has been rewarding in that the Road to Wall Street Program has experienced an encouraging summer internship placement rate for current sophomores and juniors within Cohort Four. The increased success can be attributed to the focus and intensive support the RTWS Program has provided to students. Areas of support include mentorship, individual career advising and coaching, and in-depth intensive training prior to program commencement. The RTWS Program has expanded its effort in recruiting alumni partners as program mentors and forming relationships with Rutgers alumni as a way to grow the network of professionals in Wall Street firms looking to hire Rutgers students. Although investment and engagement with current RTWS partners is a continued priority, forging partnerships with new Wall Street firms has also been an area of focus to allow students more options.
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Road to Wall Street 2015 Year End Report
Outreach and Diversity Efforts
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The need to increase awareness of the program with talented and diverse students remains a challenge. However, significant outreach efforts have been made this year in hopes of meeting this goal for the next cohort. The Managing Director has targeted and met with various campus groups such as the new Rutgers University–New Brunswick Honors College, diversity focused departments and groups such as the office of Student Access & Educational Equity and Sponsors for Educational Opportunity, and student organizations. It is our hope that the application pool for Cohort Five will increasingly reflect the campus diversity.
summer internship placements for juniors to date
MAJOR NEW RUTGERS/WALL STREET INITIATIVES Networking Events
47 students attended the Road to Wall Street Boot Camp
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• Financial Alumni Network (FAN): 500 students attended a program featuring a one-on-one interview between Harvey Schwartz, Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer at Goldman Sachs, and Rutgers University President Robert Barchi. • How to Break Into and Succeed on Wall Street Program: Hosted by Citi, this program attracted 350 attendees including students and alumni. • Road to Wall Street Tailgate: An informal gathering between program participants during the Rutgers University vs. Michigan State football game. • Corporate Governance at Citi Program: Panel discussion with Wilbur Ross and Bill Ackman. • Road to Wall Street Networking Trips: Various program participants traveled to NYC to learn more about Citi, Goldman Sachs, and the culture on Wall Street.
Road to Wall Street 2015 Year End Report
190 students applied to be part of Cohort Four
125 counseling sessions
Counseling/Training
One-on-one counseling: Through the appointment of a new Managing Director of the Road to Wall Street Program, the program has experienced a significant increase in the availability of one-on-one counseling sessions for program participants and interested students. Counseling sessions focus on soft, technical, and interview preparation skills. Over a six-month period the managing director held over 125 formal counseling sessions as well as numerous informal meetings with students. Training: Improving students’ soft and hard skills is a major mission of the program. To ensure the success of the program participants, an intensive two-day boot camp was held in the late summer focusing primarily on key technical skills required for interviews. The course was taught by Adjunct Professor Ken Freeman, an RU graduate and former Investment Banking Vice President at Deutsche Bank. The course material was accompanied by access to Wall Street Prep online training materials. A total of 47 program participants were able to attend the boot camp.
Developed Course Proposal
The RTWS Managing Director made significant effort to engage faculty within the Rutgers Business School. Through the significant support and partnership of key faculty members, the RTWS Program developed a proposal to create a fully accredited course designed to boost students’ technical (modeling and valuation) knowledge. The initial proposal to the faculty committee was submitted this year with the goal of exponentially increasing the level of preparation currently offered through the two-day seminar.
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Road to Wall Street 2015 Year End Report
MAJOR GOALS FOR 2016 Progress on Wall Street Course
The next turn in the road ahead will depend on the progress of the course. The goal is that the introduction of a Wall Street-oriented course would further demonstrate the university’s commitment to Wall Street careers.
Program Shift: Underclassmen Focus
The junior-year summer internship is key in assisting program participants in securing full-time post-graduation positions on Wall Street. The current program recruiting cycle and target academic classes do not lend themselves to successful placement in these coveted summer internship programs. The 2016 recruiting efforts will instead focus on accepting sophomores and select first-year students in the hope of igniting a potential career. Working with first- and second-year students will allow enough time to accomplish the necessary networking and interview preparation needed for the crucial interview season in the early fall of their junior year. Effort has been made to develop stronger relationships with student organizations, departments, and academic schools at Rutgers. A key goal for 2016 is to increase awareness of the program among students in the Honors College, the School of Arts and Sciences, and technical programs within the School of Engineering and the School of Communications & Information.
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Road to Wall Street 2015 Year End Report
More Effective Training for Cohort 5: The Students Give Back
Rutgers students demonstrate tremendous gratitude and many program alumni are eager to give back to the program. With this in mind, this spring the RTWS program will hold six, two-hour seminars on Friday afternoons organized and instructed by current Road to Wall Street Program shining stars. The hope is that these training sessions will serve as a model for next year’s program when we hope to offer a similar six-week training program in the fall semester, followed by the accredited course aforementioned in the spring. The sessions will cover subjects such as networking and interviewing skills, market-related news, and basic stock analysis and accounting skills. A major goal of 2016 will be to test the effectiveness of our training efforts in a real-world setting.
Key Employers: • Barclays • Bank of America • BNY • CIT • Citi • Credit Suisse • Deutsche Bank • Goldman Sachs • HSBC • Morgan Stanley • Prudential
“Participating in the University Career Services Road to Wall Street Program was a great way for me to move ahead of the competition and learn about career opportunities at the top firms.” Keith Gorda, Intern JP Morgan 5
Road to Wall Street 2015 Year End Report
University Career Services at the Busch Campus Center 604 Bartholomew Road Piscataway, NJ 08854 848-445-6127
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University Career Services at the Gateway Transit Village 106 Somerset Street, 4th Floor New Brunswick, NJ 08901 848-932-7997
careers.rutgers.edu