SMF Class Company Visit: JPMorgan Chase's McCoy Center

This past month, many of my fellow classmates and I had the amazing opportunity to visit JPMorgan Chase's McCoy Center in Polaris here in Columbus. Specifically, we spoke with professionals working in JPMorgan’s Asset Management segment. Opportunities like this and another company visit to Vertiv really allow the SMF to stand out from the perspective of career prep, and I’m excited to share with you my experience at the McCoy Center.  

My first impression of the McCoy Center was that it was absolutely massive. Second only to the United States Pentagon in being the second largest single-tenant office building in the United States, and sitting at a quarter mile long, it seemed very easy to get lost in. Luckily, we were able to see much of the building, and got an extensive look at the trading floor, which was populated by screens of financial news and Bloomberg. 

 I had thought at first that the trading floor would operate similarly to that written in Liar’s Poker by Michael Lewis, where the environment would be very tense and overwhelming, with people shouting and a lot of different things going on at once. JPMorgan Asset Management surprised me that their trading floor was the opposite: a calm environment. After the panel of professionals spoke about their backgrounds and experiences at JPMorgan Chase, we split into groups and were able to have very insightful conversations with the panelists about what it is like to work in the Asset Management segment, any advice they’d have for graduate students, or any challenges they might have faced during their careers.  

Looking back on that experience, it was one of a kind. Not every day do people get to pick the brains of working professionals at the largest financial institution in the world. My classmates and I learned a wealth of information about different career opportunities in investment management and were able to make many different connections that I hope to keep in touch with as I approach graduation next December.