Career Development
Washington College to Wall Street
Program Synopsis
Washington College is proud to announce our new "Washington College to Wall Street" program. Beginning in August 2011, students will have an opportunity to take part in this new initiative with 2 main components. The first component will be on-campus consisting of alumni and parent panels, mock interviews and online tutorials to help prepare students (mainly juniors) for Wall Street internship interviews.
The second phase of the program will be a two-day student trip to Wall Street in New York City in November, 2011. While in New York, the Wall Street team of staff and faculty will take students to meet with alumni at key financial institutions operating on Wall Street. Last, we will conclude with students applying to and accepting internship offers from firms on or near Wall Street.
Example Program
Fall 2011
Day One | Networking event at Bank of America/Merrill Lynch with John Semrai '00
Students were able to tour the trading room floor and observe after hours trading from "the deck" which they found quite interesting. After the tour, students networked with other employees of the company, hearing of their experiences with Bank of America/Merrill Lynch and the finance sector in general. Alumni Chris Davis '07, John Harty '92, Brian Dorst '97 and Brandon Righi '07 sat down with our students for a very candid conversation on what it takes to work on Wall Street. The alumni all agreed that although excellent grades in business courses are nice to see on a resume, they are looking for characteristics such as: • Personal Integrity • Strong interpersonal relationship skills • Strong analytical and problem solving skills • Excellent written and verbal communication skills • Resilience • "10 Hour layover" Rule (the ability to communicate if stuck in an airport with a co-worker for 10 hours) The alumni also agreed that they would like to see a business ethics course on the candidates resume. It was suggested that summer jobs, or extra-curricular activities that could accentuate this would help the student immensely.
What We Are Doing
Training students to participate in a selective Wall Street internship program which will lead to full-time job offers.
How We Will Do It
1. The Center for Career Development and faculty will identify current students to participate, with an emphasis on matriculating juniors. We will have a target of 32 total students in the program.
2. These students will be trained on campus to succeed on Wall Street.
3. Selected students will travel to New York each fall semester for a 2-day trip meeting with key Wall Street alumni, parents and recruiters.
4. Students will then apply to internships for the summer after their junior year.
5. Over time, we would like to add key curricular components including dedicated courses, for-credit internships and research options for faculty.