I was selected to participate in the University of Tulsa’s Student Investment Fund course, a hands-on investing and analysis course established in 1997 by the Friends of Finance Association. The Student Investment Fund is among the 25 largest student-managed investment funds in the United States. In this experiential learning class selected students brush up on financial theory, apply quantitative methods, and explore current financial events to manage a blue-chip portfolio in excess of seven million dollars in assets under management. The course lets students with a variety of disciplines excel in what they enjoy doing and are good at.
Quants get to apply machine learning, engineers get to consult on what products work, finance aficionados get to model optimized portfolios, those interested incorporate finance get to pick apart financial statements, marketing track analysts get to evangelize the work of the fund, organize events, and memorialize work done by the class. At the end of a whirlwind semester, each analyst can boast that they managed a multimillion-dollar fund of equities, enhanced their leadership skills, and obtained real-world financial management experience prior to entering the workforce. During my time with the Student Investment Fund, I served as the fund’s Student Executive Officer where I directed all SIF meetings, served as the liaison between the fund’s membership and the faculty advisor, acted as the corporate executive for the administration of the SIF, and was responsible for serving as the “last student word” on all relevant decisions and problem situations. The program has been and continues to be an immensely insightful experience that is unrivaled by similar programs at different Universities. The most exciting aspects of the course is its highly collaborative and evolving nature. With each class or out-of-class meeting, the dynamics of the financial markets continue to evolve promising that each subsequent class as well as the resulting analytical work, will remain new and refreshing. The fund continues to give its student analysts impressive real-world investment analysis experience and has played a great part in guiding my own future career aspirations and goals.