What Students Have Thought About the First Few Weeks

Adjusting to anything new can be both exciting and challenging. Stepping up to a program with academic rigor most students have not experienced presents its own unique opportunities and road blocks. As a new Graduate Associate of the SMF Program, I share many of the same sentiments as my classmates about the program experience after completing the first couple weeks. After conducting a student survey, I was able to verify this and will gladly explain the results.

New Faces and New Places

I was reassured when I saw that the vast majority of my peer respondents were also excited to get to know each other. Having a smaller cohort size of 45 students, an inviting energy was created through social events like going to Buffalo Wild Wings during orientation that led us to know a bit about every classmate and feel welcome in multiple groups. 

For most students that did not attend OSU for undergrad, exploring the 1700-acre campus has been a must before and after classes. Some of the favorite places I’ve visited are Barnes & Noble on North High, Buckeye Donuts, and the skating rink, and there are many more on my bucket list.

Multiple professional development opportunities have presented themselves that have allowed students to learn about different career paths in finance. Just last week, we had the Fisher Fall Career Fair and attended a networking opportunity at Vertiv headquarters, and there will be many more to come.

Going Through Changes

I was also reassured when I saw that the vast majority of respondents have been challenged by their new schedule. Many of us are still adjusting to living in Columbus, adding extracurriculars, and prioritizing class and study time. It does help that we have Fridays off from classes this semester and can use that day as a reset.

Most of our classes this semester are seven weeks, making expedited learning difficult for some to learn new material. Those of us from finance backgrounds like myself have had easier transitions because some of the material builds upon what we learned from undergrad, but I still often feel challenged and set up multiple study blocks a week to review.

This semester, we are taking a professional development class to gain skills in networking and showcasing our qualifications. Many students had work experience that improved their professionalism before attending the program, but if you do not have that experience, this class along with the Office of Career Management offer guidance.

Shaping Your Future

The rewarding parts of the program make the challenges we have faced worth it. Opportunities to get to know students, professors, and recruiters have appeared so quickly and frequently that most of us already feel like we are establishing a strong network.

I would attribute this to the Buckeye community being so close knit despite the size of campus and because our cohort has already been connected with a SMF alumni network that is eager to get to know us. Being a Buckeye is rewarding enough, especially for me as I grew up in a community where everybody loves OSU football, and the master’s program is an extra step up from what we’ve already achieved.

We’ve already learned so much about financial software applications like Bloomberg, company valuation, and statistical modeling. These skills are core competencies employers look for, and we will continue to strengthen them throughout the program. I already feel like the SMF experience has been worth it for me because of the life and professional experiences I have gained and am looking forward to continuing the program.