My name is Ryan Long I'm currently a senior here at the University of Iowa, studying finance,
and after graduation, I'm going to San Francisco to work with the Bank of Montreal on their investment
banking team. What originally brought me to the University of Iowa was actually their amazing
nursing program. I have a deep interest in health and nutrition and thought that I wanted to become
a nurse after graduation but I luckily realized that wasn't the goal I wanted to pursue.
So, I was able to talk to people in one of my business clubs that I was in,
called uh HawkTrade and people on HawkTrade were so helpful and
just gave me a lot of advice and really pushed me to pursue a finance major.
But I'd say the most important thing I've learned so far is just learning how to learn.
I think the University of Iowa has really taught me that I can be put in any situation and learn
how to excel in that situation. So it's being able to use any of the knowledge that you have
and apply it to the current situation. My biggest piece of advice going forward and
then, also just to all incoming students, and I can't encourage you guys enough, to get involved. The more
you guys get involved the greater your experience here at the University of Iowa is going to be.
And the people here are awesome and always looking to help you and become your friends.
When I'm not studying some of my favorite things are just enjoying campus, also love
going to Bread Garden Market have to give them a shoutout they have the best burritos, sandwiches,
uh tacos they got everything that you could possibly want there and I have to say their
burritos are the best burritos you're ever gonna ever gonna eat. And then also there's nothing like
Kinnick on game day. Iowa football is the most amazing thing I've ever seen.
It is electrifying and something you truly have to be there in order to experience.
I'm Brian Richmond, I'm a professor of practice in the finance department at the Tippie College
of Business and the director of the Hawkinson Institute of Business Finance. The Hawkinson
Institute is the undergraduate investment banking program here in the college of business.
And our students go to work for firms like Goldman Sachs, JPMorgan, Bank of America, and other names
that you may be familiar with. Networking with Hawkinson alumni is one of the most important
elements of the program. So, as Ryan Long can tell you, he spent a lot of his sophomore year
building those relationships with alumni who helped him get into the industry. One of the most
valuable aspects about being in the Tippie College of Business is really the alumni connections. I've
reached out to hundreds of alumni through the Tippie College of Business and every alumni
that I've talked to has been more than willing to help me and really just give me advice to
accelerate my career going forward. So having all those connections as well as the foundation of
students here really just broadens your experience and gives you more resources as you continue to
move throughout your professional career. Students like Ryan learn about key topics such as corporate
evaluation and capital markets through coursework such as the applied equity evaluation class
where they spend a semester researching and valuing a company as part of their efforts to
manage a $500,000 dollar equity portfolio called the Kraus Fund. I'd say the
memory that really sticks out the most as far as finance classes go is I was taking one of
the classes here called applied equity evaluation with Todd Hogue. A super useful class, it's probably
one of the best classes I've ever had. Really gives you real-world experience, and prepares you for a
finance role. But we had a huge project due and one of one of my teammates got really sick about
two nights before it was due so he wasn't able to really complete his portion of the project. So
there were three of us and we ended up pulling two all-nighters back-to-back uh to complete
this project and we ultimately got the project in on time and got the highest grade in the class so
hard work really paid off. And just being able to uh pull through with my group mates and
spending the night, although that was tough on those all-nighters really just spending
the time with them and really enjoying the work that we were putting on this
project really made this experience worth it and learned a lot in the class as well.