What made you choose this major?
Finance allows you to work with numbers and analyze data. Furthermore, it allows you to work with people, specifically by helping people achieve their long and short term financial goals. Personally, I’m a student who really enjoys helping others, who is really good with numbers, and who is a people person, so I think finance is suitable for a person with my skills and interests.
What is your career objective?
My career objective is to be a financial advisor in a financial services corporation or to work in the trust and wealth management division of a bank. I aim to attain the CFA certification after graduation as well as other brokerage licenses in order to improve my knowledge of investments.
How has what you’ve learned prepared you for your future?
Through my studies at Carroll I am now able to understand different financial documents and what the numbers inside of them mean for a corporation. Additionally, I have gained more knowledge on finance and loans through my commercial bank loan internship and different job shadowing opportunities with equipment finance. Courses like microeconomics, macroeconomics, accounting, computational thinking, principles of management, and principles of finance have given me the knowledge and abilities I need to succeed in my current internship and to create a professional path in order to achieve my career goals.
What opportunities have you had to work closely with a faculty member and what impact has that had on your education?
Being able to study in a small class size allows you to have a deeper understanding of the conceptual side of finance. In addition to this, the attention that is provided to students is more personalized which creates an environment that fosters more insightful questions in class. By taking the principles of management class with Professor John Gnadinger, I was able to improve my professional network by meeting managers in different corporations in Milwaukee. The Careers in Finance course also teaches you how to improve your networking skills. Moreover, through Professor Gnadinger I was able to be a part of Carroll’s Analytics and Business Intelligence Consortium, giving me the opportunity to meet people that currently hold positions that I would like to hold in the future.
What is the most memorable experience you’ve had in your education at Carroll?
Through my education at Carroll University I was able to meet Curt Culver, Non-executive Chairman of MGIC Investment Corp and co-owner of the Culver’s restaurant chain. It was amazing because he taught us that expanding our knowledge in different areas is the best way to improve your career path. I believe that each day is the best day to learn something new, so it was really cool to hear a successful individual like Curt Culver give us an insight like that one. On a different note, when I was an exchange student I promised my friends and family that one day I would tell the upper management of Culver’s to bring Culver’s to Peru. Well, four years after my exchange year in Fond du lac Wisconsin I was able to meet Curt Culver and personally tell him to bring Culver’s to Peru!
How has Carroll enriched your growth as a person?
I was able to found the Carroll University Rotaract Club as a student organization. Co-founding this student organization allowed me to expand my professional network, increase my volunteering activities in the community of Waukesha, and become friends with some of the best people on campus. Friends that I now see as family. We base ourselves on the principles of service, professionalism, and fellowship. Through my current position in the organization, I have been able to grow as a person, as a professional, and as a student.
If you were recommending your major to a prospective student, what would you tell them?
If you love math, are really into investments and markets, enjoy being around people, and consider yourself an outgoing person, then this is the major for you. Carroll has amazing faculty that can help you participate in so many different networking opportunities and student investment competitions. These opportunities can greatly expand your knowledge on finance and give you the skills needed for a finance position in the real world.
How has financial aid made a difference in your life?
I am an international student from Peru whose lifelong dream was to study in the United States. I wouldn’t have been able to make my dream a reality if it weren’t for the scholarship that Carroll University provides me. Carroll University has provided me with many opportunities that I would not have had access to in my home country.
What’s your favorite place to study on campus?
I would say on main lawn when the weather is nice, but when it gets colder out I really enjoy studying in the library quiet rooms as well.
Learn more about the finance program