The Northeastern University: Master in Finance Class - Admission/Application Essay Example

The Northeastern University: Master in Finance Class 1. Discuss in detail your short and long-term career goals. How will a Northeastern degree, combined with your past experiences and interests, help you achieve your career goals? Definition of success varies from person to person, depending upon the circumstances and the ambitions. In my opinion long term success means recognition as an expert in the field in which I’m passionate. I am a budding youth with dreams in my eyes, lots of hope and determination to do something constructive for the society in general, for my parents & family and for myself in particular. I recognize that my greatest passion is in the field of investments. I believe a Masters degree in Finance program at Northeastern will provide me with the best opportunity to gain the expertise required to take a leadership role in helping fellow employees with investment strategies. Globalization calls for the companies to look for investment opportunities under different sets of circumstances. Therefore companies have to depend on finance and investment experts. With a graduate degree from Northeastern, I am quite confident that I’ll be in a position to analyze the target markets and work my way to the trading floor at an investment company. It is therefore quite imperative that I must learn the “ins and outs” of the industry. I’ve an interest in equity and debt market, and I believe that I’m made for a job on a trading floor. I wish to acquire an effective working knowledge of the market. I believe the best way to learn about the market is to be right in the middle of all the action. Northeastern has the tradition of practical learning, combining academic studies with work experiences by way of internships, and cooperative education. This is bound to give me a practical exposure. I love the adrenaline rush that I get from the high-intensity lifestyle offered by a career in investments. My short term goal is to gain credentials as a qualified learner, who’s ready to accept the challenges and learn from them. This will help me in acquiring leadership skills. I plan to go to school part-time while working, in order to gain an integrated knowledge of both the academic and workplace environment. My experience so far has taught me that success does not happen overnight. It is the direct result of dedication to working harder than the competition. I must therefore diligently try to make use of the academic learning into practical knowledge. In high school, I worked and studied tirelessly in order to earn a 3.7 GPA, knowing that I would need this in order to gain acceptance in a college with a strong business program. Once accepted into the Isenberg School of Management, at the University of Massachusetts, I carried this work ethic with me, earning a 3.6 GPA. This strengthened my resolve as I realized that I can live my dream if I set goals and work towards achieving them. In college, I was fascinated both by the corporate as well as investment sides of the finance world. During college days I acquired a corporate finance job with Liberty Mutual, which was to begin in the July month following graduation. Unfortunately, graduation took place in the previous December. That proved an advantage though, as I took up an investment position with a hedge fund group for Investor’s Bank, during this wait period. This allowed me to expand my work experience while waiting to begin the program with Liberty Mutual. While working for Liberty Mutual, I realized just how much I’d enjoyed my days evaluating investment funds at Investor’s Bank. I left Liberty Mutual and returned to Investor’s Bank. This burning desire in me to excel in the field of investment finance pushed me to aggressively pursue a Master of Finance. The program at Northeastern University provides one of the most well designed curriculums I could ask for, with in-depth exposure to various subjects, taught by a world’s renowned faculty in a globally recognized institution. 2. All applicants should answer the following: Describe in detail an accomplishment of yours from a professional or volunteer setting of which you are most proud. What steps were necessary to reach a successful conclusion? What challenges did you have to overcome? As a member of Alpha Epsilon Fraternity I took part in many volunteer activities towards the betterment of the Amherst community. For over a year I volunteered to head the fraternity’s philanthropy committee. I organized volunteer activities like blood donation drives, bone Marrow drives, walk for hunger, book drive, and middle school dance chaperone. The most rewarding project was when I set up the opportunity for members of the fraternity to volunteer for Habitat for Humanity. ‘Habitat for Humanity’ is a volunteer group that helps in building houses for low income individuals. We had to be up at 6am on a Saturday morning, after taking part in the events with a sorority the night before. We spent the whole day building and putting together framework for the second floor of the house. Furthermore, I volunteered to take the lead for maintaining the financial records as a treasurer of Alpha Epsilon Pi Fraternity, Jewish student union, and Commuter Area Government. These leadership positions were full time assignments. The fraternity had over 30 members and a campus house. A fraternity can be considered a small business in itself. In order to keep the house we were supposed to make profit. My job was to collect dues from each fraternity member and balance the house budget with the help of the president. Any mistake or miscalculation on my part could cause the fraternity to go bankrupt resulting in loss of our house and possible charter on campus. As a treasurer for the Jewish Student Union I was also in charge of collecting money at the events. The responsibility also included organizing the annual budgets, and working in coordination with the University Administration for organizing some events. The leadership board for the JSU was much smaller and therefore I had to take a leadership role in publicizing, organizing, and running the events. One event in particular that I feel proud of was that we organized study hall at night for all students during final’s week at the Hillel house. One member of the group had to be there to supervise the study hall. As my finals were over, I volunteered to stay there every night in order to allow people to study. Students, especially Greek and people who live in near by apartments, were so grateful and thankful that we organized a place where they could study without traveling to the other side of campus in order to go to the library. The greatest part of all this work that I did was, learning about ‘time management’. I was able to make dean’s list for both semesters of sophomore year. In order to get all my academic work completed and for fill all my volunteer activities I had to develop my skills in time management, teamwork, and delegation. Developing my teamwork skills also helped in allowing me to organize my schedule in a better way. Every week I used to have meetings with the executive boards of both the organizations. During the meetings I was able to prioritize the work schedule as per the need and urgency. In addition, whenever one member had a lot of work to do for school we helped in picking up the slack. I was awarded the Sophomore Fraternity member of the year title by the University of Massachusetts for my contribution in the community, Greek life, and academics. The biggest challenge that I had to overcome was my inexperience in leadership roles. In high school I never took a leadership role, always followed the lead instead. Then I realized the latent potential in me and all of a sudden I became a high ranking member in two organizations while organizing volunteer work. I had to learn to stand up to members who were older and more experienced as leaders. As treasurer I sat with the president and vice president at the table facing the whole fraternity. 0In the following years I interned at Merrill Lynch and Principle Profit Asset Management. Most importantly, I was able to share my knowledge with younger students in my fraternity and volunteered in speaking events at the School of Management. a) What have you learned in your research on Northeastern that has motivated you to apply? b) What unique contributions will you bring to the Northeastern community as a student? c) How will you benefit personally and professionally from your experience at Northeastern? The biggest thing that attracts me to Northeastern University School of Management is their world renowned program in the heart of Boston. From the website, I learnt that Northeastern University has invested nearly a half a billion dollars for supporting research. I want to be able to take advantage of every opportunity the campus has on offer for the students. The classes for the MSF program are located in the financial district which gives me the unique opportunity to get a feel of the much needed business ambience and connections. Like the Northeastern alumni, I’ll also be getting the feel of how internationally experienced top managers interact with each other in social networks, and how this influences a company’s internationalization. Another thing that attracts me to Northeastern University is the campus environment of the business college. While attending UMass (Univ. of Massachusetts, Amherst), I truly enjoyed the campus environment and feeling of community. Such an environment allows me to get to know other students with similar aspirations and experiences. This interaction helped me in learning from others’ experiences. In addition, the opportunity to work with students from around the world will help me in knowing about their way of life, their cultures, the investment climate in their countries, economic policies, leadership positions etc. which will help me in growing as a student of finance and investment. The Northeastern University website says that on an average the Master of Finance class size is thirty to thirty five students. This moderate class size will allow me more opportunity for one-on-one interaction with instructors as well as fellow students. In my undergraduate years, I was crammed into overcrowded classrooms and never had the opportunity for close personal interaction. I wanted to be part of a learning environment, not just a “degree factory,” one that will provide all the tools needed to succeed in life. I take inspiration from the likes of Peter Barrett, George Chamillard etc. who are the alumni of Northeastern and today well known for their role in the industry. It is worth mentioning here that The Boston Business Journal ranked the University third in the nation when it comes to producing CEOs of Massachusetts-based companies1. The unique contribution to the campus is the desire not only to participate in the academics but also in the campus community programs. Even as a part time graduate student I want to participate in as many, organizational activities on campus, as possible. As a student at the University of Massachusetts I am sure to gain the most pleasurable experience by contributing through volunteer work and campus groups as I believe that good academic experience is based on more than classroom learning. Besides growing as a student, I’d also like to make my humble contribution towards the growth of the program outside the classroom. Gaining the knowledge from a master of finance program would benefit me on a personal level. Ever since my undergraduate days I focused on both the investment and corporate finance side. In Australia I gained a high distinction mark in corporate finance. Now I want to grow further and I believe a grad school education will give me the necessary tools to help in my growth. I want to use the knowledge I gain in grad school to help me progress in the work place. I need to acquire the necessary tools to help me in fully understanding and interacting with upper level management. Read More