Graduate Student Blog

Something New? Something BU! (MSMF)

One year ago, the words ‘Masters in Mathematical Finance’ flashed on my screen as I combed through the vast amount of graduate programs geared towards students with quantitative backgrounds. It felt like every day I woke up I had a new idea about how I was going to use my highly theoretical degree in math to study something with more tangible application and direct relevance to my life. Financial Engineering was an ideal medium by which I could use mathematical modeling and data analysis in the dynamic and exciting context of financial markets. By the end of October, I had taken the GRE, secured letters of recommendation, and submitted my application. Before I knew it, I had submitted my letter of intent and paid my deposit.

I was going to Boston. I WAS GOING TO BOSTON?!

My undergraduate school located in Spokane, Washington was nestled in a suburban neighborhood with about 2,200 undergrad students. Suddenly, I was signing up for something much larger, much more fast paced, and much more unknown to me.

Fast-forward several months to the middle of August. I found myself sitting in a Math refresher course where the humidity made my skin instantly sticky as I sat in a room with several other students anticipating the storm that everyone said would hit us and hit us hard. My emotional radar hit several extremes for those first few days: excitement, fear, anxiety, anticipation, happiness, homesickness, you name it! This time provided an excellent transition period with a nice balance of sitting in class, meeting classmates, and most of all, having free afternoons to find footing in such a lively city.

It has been about two months in Boston and school is in full swing. We have been through the math refresher course, were sufficiently oriented and welcomed during orientation week, had a few days to prepare for the beginning of the semester, and now are just on the verge of panic mode as we persevere through difficult problem sets, attempt to identify our career goals, and anticipate midterms. However, the amount of personal, professional, and academic learning that has taken place just in this brief time is absolutely incredible. We have built relationships with faculty, forged friendships with classmates, gained exposure to the industry, and probably had a few “Why on Earth did I sign up for this program?” moments. From what we’ve been told, we are right on schedule! We are fortunate to have a cohort of second year Math Finance students who are willing to advise, guide, shed wisdom, and empathize.

The opportunities that come with the Boston University Mathematical Finance degree are vast – even more than I was aware! Weekly emails signal to us important deadlines, networking opportunities, alternative lectures, and social events. There is a prestige that comes with the Boston University SMG and I am so grateful to someday be apart of the network of BU professionals. The relationships I have formed with classmates and professors are rich and will reap many benefits. Learning alongside classmates who have different intuitions and thought processes encourage different ways of approaching similar problems. There is nothing more inspiring than walking into a classroom that is led by some of the brightest minds in the industry, is unified by the passion to learn math, and that requires us to wrestle with theory and application.

If these next 17 months are anything like the first few months, I know I am setting myself up for personal, professional, and academic development and success.

Annika is using an academic background of mathematics and a passion for financial markets to leverage career opportunities in quantitative portfolio management or risk management. Annika enjoys cooking new food, drinking coffee, running, exploring Boston, and playing Sudoku.

My exciting -working- summer in Boston with Education Pioneers!

I had a great experience working to the Graduate Summer Fellowship at Education Pioneers, a national non-profit organization that promotes leadership towards the Education Reform. I am passionate about reducing inequality and better understanding of the education issues would allow me to find my niche in this sector. From a social perspective, there isn't anything more important than education as it is the best way to equip people for life!

As a fellow, I worked for the Strategic Planning Office at Boston Public Schools. The district is changing its student assignment policy to prioritize quality and options closer to students’ home. This policy is going to be implemented next year and it will impact the enrollment of the entire district. There, I created a progression model to find out building usage efficiency opportunities and prepared enrollment projections for SPED (special education) students. Both projects are connected to the long-term capital investment plan and the district initiative to increase inclusion opportunities for students with disabilities. I took advantage of this opportunity to learn more about finances, evaluations, development, IT, budgeting from the school and central office view.

On the other hand, I enjoyed a great cohort experience as I talked to people with different backgrounds, professional experience (ie, teachers, policy mindset guys) and schools from all over the country. I got a better understanding of education reform and the opportunity gap we are facing. More importantly, I had the chance to have really open and honest conversations about issues in education in a very casual and open-minded environment. I met entrepreneurs, tech people, school leaders and funds that are supporting innovation at schools – I would not know about all these initiatives otherwise!

Last but not least, the program promoted social interactions and the opportunity to share leadership stories among fellows, and all of which were as cool as inspirational! Personally, I appreciated close contact with teachers and getting to know professionals that are working passionately every day to improve education!

Felipe is a 2nd year MBA in Boston University's Public & Nonprofit Program. He is interested in the social sector and enjoys conversations about how to solve complex social issues. During the first year he collaborated to run the Internship Fund, a student led-initiative that supports financially students that want to pursue social impact and career accelerating internships. Last but not least, he loves spending time with his nephews and playing soccer.

3 Steps to Landing a Silicon Valley Internship from Boston

Before setting foot in Boston for the start of 1st year, I targeted Khan Academy as the place I wanted to intern. I've been a long fan of the organization's mission of providing a "Free world class education for anyone anywhere" and was excited by the wave of disruptive innovation they are bringing to the education sector. But with an internship target on the opposite coast and little background in the education industry, I faced a few major questions around how to get there.

One the most under-promoted skills you gain in business school is strategic planning. This goes beyond big firms making decisions about which project to launch next, customer segments to target or companies to acquire. Strategic planning in the "life-sense" is picking an ideal scenario in the future and building a road map backwards to look at the paths that will take you there. Here are the three ways SMG friends, clubs and resources helped me land a spot at Khan Academy:

1. ITEC New Venture Competition

Participate in a business plan competition, regardless of whether you want to peruse an entrepreneurship career path. Venture competitions force you to get out into the real world and do your own industry analysis, find out the holes in a market and explore different business models. I pitched my way to the final round of BU's New Venture Competition based on a concept for a new mobile product to increase parent engagement in K-12 education. To learn what parents, teachers and students cared about most in a new potential product, I had to go and interview tons of parents, teachers and students. The process both clarified the product vision and armed me with the language and trends in the education technology sector.

2. West Coast Networking Club

Location matters. Khan Academy is based in Silicon valley, so I joined the West Coast Networking Club for the Tech Trek learn the culture and visit firms in the Bay Area. The trip is student coordinated so we get to both leverage SMG's West Coast network and build new relationships with target companies. Twenty of us escape four days of class in early February to visit Google, HP, Zynga, NetApp, Chevron and an interesting collection of startups. I also took this opportunity to arrange a personal informational interview at Khan Academy to learn what they were looking for in candidates and areas where they planned to grow so I could figure out how to align my skills with their needs. I can't stress enough how valuable the process and knowledge that come from the New Venture Competition was in giving me the background to have a high quality conversation in an newly familiar industry. (Photo: so shocked by finding the House from Full House that I leapt into the arms of my fellow MS-MBA cohort-mates, Adhiraj and Shourya)

3. Classmate Connections
You can never stop networking. I got the chance for the informational interview by reaching out to all of my SMG classmates who had LinkedIn connections to the organization. People at SMG really are excited to help each other, so the clearer you can articulate your goals, the more likely you are to find a friend who can put you on a path to landing that dream internship. (Photo: damp after a foggy bike ride across the Golden Gate Bridge with fellow SMG Bay Area interns Mark, Adhiraj and Jon. This pic also proves how few clothes I brought with me for the summer.)

Matt was a finalist in BU’s New Venture Competition based on a mobile product to increase parent engagment in K-12 education. He is focused on technology strategy and developing new media products and services. Outside of class, Matt bounds around Boston visiting tech networking events, applies strategies from his Negotiations class while planning his upcoming wedding and is the reigning champion in his Fantasy Congress League.

A Peek into the Summer Lives of 10 BU MBAs!

The majority of Boston University 2-year MBA students complete full time summer internships as a part of their experience - ranging from management consulting to working with start-ups. Here is a sprinkling of internships from the class of 2014!

Trading on the Beach

Two semesters down and one to go. The Boston University MS in Mathematical Finance program has been a challenging yet rewarding endeavor for my academic and professional career. I was fortunate to receive an amazing summer internship offer at NextEra Energy as an Options Desk Analyst located in tropical Juno Beach, Florida. Through the invaluable help of our Executive Director, Ahmad Namini, and Corporate Relations Director, Cristine Nigro, 98% of first year MSMF students secured summer internships with high-quality firms across the country and abroad.

Aside from the white sandy beaches, sky blue ocean and perfectly groomed golf courses of Southeast Florida, life on a trading floor was quite the opposite of the relaxing scenery. NextEra Energy is a leading producer and marketeer of renewable and clean electricity. With the worlds largest wind power generation fleet along with natural gas and nuclear generation, they operate 43,000 MWs of electricity across the country. That is enough electricity to power around 40 million homes! The job of the trading floor at NextEra is to optimize the margins of their assets as well as take advantage of our leverage in the electricity and natural gas markets.

Arriving on the first day, the trading floor was exactly as I imagined it with rows of desks, traders with headsets talking with exchanges and clients, along with up to ten computer screens at each station stacked on one another. It was certainly an intimidating experience especially not knowing much about the electricity market.

However, within days, I was knee deep within different projects and analytics on the Options Desk. By applying many of the learned concepts from the MSMF program, I was able to derive implied volatility skews, deltas of our bullet options and price unit-contingent deals for counterparties across the country. Beyond that, I also spent the majority of my time working on a proprietary trading model for electricity futures at the Mid-Columbia power hub. This model backtested extremely well and the company is looking to implement it in their trading book this Fall.

Near the end of my internship, I felt accomplished with the value that I was able to bring to the company over the three months. As a part of the program, all of the interns presented their summer work to the CEO and CFO of the company. Shortly after my presentation, I was offered a full time position at the company as a trading analyst on the trading floor. I have accepted the offer and am very excited about starting my career with NextEra Energy in January.

When I arrived back at Boston University in late August, I have heard many great internship success stories from my colleagues. The program at BU has equipped us with the tools it takes to be successful in the industry. With the technical skills and the soft skills, we become an invaluable asset to financial firms who are striving for students to be able to both produce and explain the complicated quantitative work we do. This semester will be exciting as my classmates interview and select which company they will be taking their talents to. I am confident graduates of the Boston University MS in Mathematical Finance program will continue to be leaders in the quantitative finance industry for years to come.

Justin Tyo is a second year Math Finance student who spent his summer at NextEra Energy in Juno Beach, Florida. Academically, Justin is interested in taking advantage of misprices across the term structure of energy futures. Outside of the classroom, he enjoys cooking Italian food, University of Michigan football/basketball games, trading options and playing golf.

Living In the Far East

The Boston University One-Year International MBA (IMBA) program has found a great recipe for creating strength amongst a diverse group and expanding leadership acumen. This past summer, my twenty-five classmates and I lived in China, in the same apartment complex, engaging in rigorous course study. We were provided the opportunity to live in Shanghai, one of the fastest growing cities in the world, and Beijing, a city steeped in history and tradition. My cohort is comprised of students from Chile, Panama, Mexico, Peru, India, Indonesia, Thailand, Hong Kong, Taiwan, China, Russia, Israel, Germany, and the USA. Even though the IMBA is an accelerated program, we always found time to have fun and explore all that China had to offer while also getting to know each other’s cultures. Afterwards, we had a group that considers each other to be a “second family” due to the incredibly unique experiences we have shared.

Before going to B-school, I was extremely passionate about working on and with diverse teams, which is what attracted me to the BU IMBA program. After arriving in China, my international teammates taught me that I needed to adjust my management style in order to better understand the strengths and challenges of working with a truly international team. My classmates spoke English as their 2^nd, 3^rd, or 4^th language. In addition to language differences, there were also cultural differences that we needed to learn about in order to become an effective team. As an American, slowing down and taking pragmatic pauses have become a part of my repertoire after this experience. I learned the benefits of this firsthand when my team was able to come up far better ideas after we had fostered a culture that allowed everyone to comfortably participate.

My second takeaway from my China experience was the art of negotiation. I always felt a little uncomfortable negotiating but I knew it was a valuable asset in the business world. I found that my international classmates are extremely good at negotiating because often it is a regular part of their culture. They taught me that negotiation requires a thought out strategy and having an understanding of when to walk away. My classmates coached me through leveraging the power of indifference to negotiate a fair price. In my time spent negotiating for goods, my classmates also taught me that there is always a real decision maker. Whether it’s a business owner or club promoter, pinpointing the person in power makes negotiations more productive.

Mark Twain said, “Travel is the death of ignorance.” After 3 months of immersion in China, I am more knowledgeable about the complexity of Chinese life and the beauty of interconnection among truly diverse cultures. I developed relationships that are so deep it’s hard to imagine these people haven’t always been a part of my life. I acquired skills that I never knew I could. I saw some of the greatest wonders of the world and I learned about China firsthand, this social and political powerhouse that previously I’d only perceived from afar. The International MBA program is challenging, but I can guarantee its academic and social recipe will make your life much richer than you ever expected.

Jessica is interested in internal consulting for retail supply chain as well as leading teams through creative solution processes such as idea labs and 6-sigma methodology. In her free time, Jessica enjoys watching Alabama football, traveling to new places and learning from diverse cultures.

Final Thoughts from Outgoing Graduate Student Council President, Sonal Dhingra

This time last year I was ending my internship and summer adventures and anticipating the start of my last school year at BU GSM. Today, I am enjoying the remainder of my first summer vacation in a long time and reminiscing about all the great memories and where all the time went.

Serving as Graduate Student Council President was challenging but also rewarding. I had the opportunity to serve a community that has given me so much and developed and strengthened friendships that will last a lifetime. Council is the voice of the students and we worked very hard to remain true to this during the year, though it was not always easy. As a team, we were able to do small things, like getting a coffee maker put in to the grad lounge, to more impactful things, like increasing student and club funding dollars by over 60% from the previous year. We hosted successful events, broadened our connections with surrounding schools and even managed to have some fun along the way.

If I could leave you with one last piece of advice it would be to remember that you do not need a title to be a leader. I know this may sound a bit hypocritical, but trust me, you can always find ways to add value and be of service if you truly desire to.

Thank you to all of those that gave of themselves during their time at SMG. It has been an honor to serve this community that we are all forever connected to. To the Class of 2013, congratulations on all your accomplishments - thank you so much for an amazing two years! 2014, best of luck on your internships, we know you’ll do big things in the coming year. And last, but certainly not least, 2015: welcome to the family – we are thrilled to have you and look forward to seeing how you will make your mark when you arrive in August!

Sonal Dhingra is a dual degree MS-MBA and served as Graduate Student Council President for the 2012-2013 academic year.

P&G Gillette Sustainability Challenge

Post by:
Gilberto Millares
IMBA 2013

Some of Procter &Gamble’s sustainability goals for the future include completely eliminating the waste they currently generate, using only renewable energy in all their facilities, and having environmentally-friendly products and packages. As you might guess, such endeavors present an extremely difficult challenge for a global company, so they are constantly looking for ways to make marginal or disruptive changes in their operations that allow them to be closer to achieving these goals. One of these ways is to sponsor the P&G Gillette Sustainability Challenge, which brings together multi-disciplinary teams from different Boston University schools and challenges them to come up with ideas that might be applied in their operations.

On April 12, eight teams, consisting of undergrad and graduate students from the schools of Engineering, Public Policy, Management and Biomedical Engineering, among others, had the opportunity to showcase their findings to a group of managers from P&G Gillette, Veolia and NSTAR. We presented different ideas that would allow P&G to increase their renewable energy consumption at the South Boston Gillette site by making a business case for each proposed project.

The judging panel from P&G Gillette, Veolia, and NSTAR

While the format differed a bit from the standard case competition, the results were just as meaningful. Rather than diving into the project for 48 hours, we were given two weeks to find different approaches to help them achieve their goals. And even though it might sound like more than sufficient lead time, we had to fit several seminars into our busy schedules to learn about energy projects throughout the country and the world, research technologies that are being implemented in the industry, and find ways to link business and engineering aspects for each submitted idea—no easy task!

The winning team and judges pose for a photo

Finally, after all the teams had presented their ideas, we had a small reception as the judges were making the final decision. First place was awarded to a team consisting of MBA and IMBA students, as well as LEAP, Mechanical Engineering and Public Policies students, who will now have the opportunity to present their pitch to a group of Gillette’s top managers. However, I think the most rewarding aspect of the competition was working with a truly diverse group of people that mimics the diversity and complexities of the business world.

Gilberto Millares is an International MBA student with experience in strategy and operations consulting. In his spare time he loves watching indie movies and cooking “real” Mexican food.

Broomball!

Post by:
Sapna Saxena
MS-MBA 2014

We spend a large portion of the day at SMG – whether in class, team meetings, the library, or at the SMG Starbucks grabbing much-needed coffee. We connect with our classmates through class discussions and over a drink during Thirsty Thursdays and other social gatherings. Conferences are nonstop and networking builds professional connections that further our experience here at Boston University.

But let me tell you where the magic really happens.

Broomball.

I didn’t realize many universities do not offer broomball as an intramural sport – and so when my classmates asked what broomball is, I jumped at the opportunity to explain it to them.

For those of you who don’t know, broomball is a sport similar to ice hockey. You wear a helmet, carry a stick, and, along with your teammates, you aim to score goals by hitting a ball into a tended net. There is just one thing...

You play in your sneakers.

Shreya Shah (MBA 2014) passing the ball to either Kyle Adelman or Vineesh Plakkot (both MBA 2014)...you can’t really tell.

The result: Everyone falling on top of one another and crashing into the boards. Never played before? No need to worry, as you’re essentially on the same playing field as your teammates-- hardly anyone comes to the game better than a beginner. Your athletic prowess has no bearing on how well you’ll do at broomball because, frankly, just about everybody wipes out and lands on the ice as they attempt to one-time the ball into the net (the bruises show up the next morning).

Falling hard on the ice. Yep, that’s me.

Tempting, I know.

In all of its ridiculousness, broomball is some of the most fun I’ve had since business school started.
After spending hours performing marginal benefit analyses, preparing strategy cases or researching a company for my summer internship, it’s a nice feeling knowing that we can all get together, run around on an ice rink, play against the undergraduates and have a TON of laughs. It’s a great way to bond, relieve stress, exercise and connect with classmates from other cohorts.

To me, broomball offers up another opportunity to get to know the people who are joining the network you develop in business school – just not with the formality of conferences or the feel of most standard organized networking events. Competition is always healthy, and to take to that competition as a united team (albeit bruised and sore) against the undergrads is a necessary and, well, gratifying experience.

Mark Grimm, Mike Greene and me (all MS-MBA 2014) at the bench.

You go to business school because you want to expand your networks, acquire skills you don’t have, and move forward along your personal and professional paths. Interviews and case-prepping are important, and will always be a part of the b-school life. But it’s good to have to an outlet to remind you that fun, regardless of how old you are, is also important. For me and many of my classmates who make the weekly trek to Walter Brown Arena, that fun lies on the broomball ice.

Team picture: Kyle Adelman, Shreya Shah, me, Nina Desai, Marisa Porter, Vineesh Plakkot, Mark Grimm, Paul Uncanin and Mike Greene (all MBA 2014).

Sapna is a first year MS-MBA student concentrating in Marketing. Her most recent experience comes from the startup world, where she spent two years as a market strategist exploring new growth opportunities for her company. When she's not getting her classmates to come out to Cohort Cup events (she's the Cohort B representative), she continues her search for the best Indian and Sichuan restaurants in Boston.

Grand Business Challenge in Digital Health

Post by:

Lara Wasowski

MS-MBA 2013

On the weekend of March 21-23, our school hosted the first Grand Business Challenge in Digital Health (formerly the Tech Strategy Case Competition). Sponsored this year by Merck IT, the GBC brought together 16 teams from around the world for a weekend of competition and collaboration. The event is organized jointly by the Graduate Programs Office and the MS-MBA Program. The first round of competition pitted four teams against each other to offer their ideas for how Merck can leverage technologies to solve some of the biggest problems in the industry: Soaring health care costs, poor patient adherence and non-standardized treatments across the globe. Judges from Merck and Microsoft picked a winner from each group; that team went on to the final round on Saturday.

While this format is rather familiar from other case competitions, the GBC is unique in offering multiple opportunities for collaboration among and across the teams, and including representatives from our sponsors. The first collaboration round happened within the groups of four teams, before the winner was announced. Everyone in the room was invited to question, build on, challenge, and adapt their own and other teams’ ideas in a two-hour session.

Next, on Sunday, the teams not presenting in the final had an opportunity to create an entirely new business idea for the Microsoft BizSpark Challenge. Participants could form new teams across school lines, and all received input from Merck mentors. The BizSpark ideas were submitted as presentations or papers.

The finalist teams on Saturday presented to a nearly full auditorium of students, alumni and employees from Merck and Microsoft. The ideas ranged from a “clinic in a backpack” to a platform for linking together patients, caregivers, healthcare providers and other participants in the ecosystem. The judges asked tough questions during the Q&A sessions, challenging the teams’ ideas and abilities to think on their feet. We incorporated two new elements into the final presentations this year – live streaming of the presentations, and an audience choice vote.

After all of the teams presented their ideas, we all enjoyed a wonderful reception as we waited for the judges to make their decisions about both the Grand Business Challenge and the Microsoft BizSpark challenge. Finally, the moment arrived. The team from The Fuqua School of Business at Duke University won first place – congratulations! Second place went to University of California, Los Angeles Anderson School of Management, the team from Boston University School of Management took third, and University of Calgary Haskayne School of Business won fourth place. Microsoft was impressed with many of the ideas submitted in the BizSpark Challenge and awarded five grants in kind.

Congratulations to the team from Fuqua!

Neil Yajnik was the student chair of the event, and he did a fabulous job of working with everyone to develop the new format, as well as ensure that everything ran smoothly all weekend long. I was involved as the Volunteer Coordinator, and really enjoyed working with both our student volunteers and the teams and judges.

Lara is a 2nd year MS-MBA student who has lived most of her life in Norway, despite having an American passport. Before coming to BU she worked in IT, Sales and Marketing and is hoping to find an opportunity to do something cool in a technology firm - UX, product development, or something in those veins. One of her biggest surprises over the past two years is learning how fun it is to play broomball!