tomahawk518

since i realized that high levle financial internships were out of the question this summer (im a rising soph), i decided to do chem research - an activity i kinda like. however, the research is pretty laid back, so for the past three weeks i studied multivariable calc independently. now, i want to read some useful academic / professional material regarding banking or consulting. does anyone have any ideas? i have been suggested to check out the Wall Street Prep catalog but I am more than open to your ideas.

toblerone

Why not write your own research paper and submit it to your school, or organizations for research grant? Good for your writing/communication ability, and if you get the prize, not only will you receive monetary compensation, you'll also have something impressive to put on your resume!

Oh, and practice your excel skills!

tomahawk518

what kind of research paper? could you fill me in on the process? (i might be interested)

hello_motto

hahaha before i did my finance internship, i never knew there were so many cool things you can do on excel.....

toblerone

Well, since you want a career in finance, I would try to research finance/economics/Accounting related areas. For example, you can research the implications of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act (2002) on the decision to go public. In particular, you can look into changes in the characteristics of IPOs on the NYSE and NASDAQ, eg size, inside ownership, foreign ownership, liquidity, beta's, ROA etc.

Or, you can do a paper on the effect of global warming on the world economy, the trend of M&A in the Oil and Gas industry and its effect on underdeveloped countries, etc. It doesn't matter what subject you choose to do your research on, as long as it's original and uses reliable data. Try to think of it as a self-enrichment. The bonus to the gain in knowledge will be that employers will see that you are able to:

- Organize and compile often complex data (important in financial analysis, etc)
- Infer trends/correlation/causation
- Communicate clearly
- Have a great deal of knowledge in finance/economics
- Are able to carry a task through (a good research paper takes a long time to finish)
- etc, etc.

Not to mention the prizes and publicity!!