The Notre Dame Wall Street Club is planning trips to New York, Boston and Chicago to allow current members to visit firms, connect with alumni and increase the University's presence on Wall Street.
Although the club is in the early stages of planning, the trips will be daily trips for small groups, and include visits to four or five financial firms in each city to form a network for Notre Dame students.
Senior club co-president Lauren Baldwin said the club wants to keep the group small in order to facilitate personal communication between group members and Notre Dame alumni working on Wall Street.
Senior Shawn Cappello, another one of the club's three co-presidents, said these trips will "take the club to the next level."
"These trips are part of a larger plan to legitimize the club and increase Notre Dame's presence on Wall Street," Cappello said.
The club, which was founded in 2010, currently has an estimated 300 active members and 880 students on the email list, making it the largest undergraduate business-oriented club.
Three co-presidents and 9 vice presidents make up the club structure. These members communicate with the Investment Office, Career Center, Notre Dame alumni and senior mentors in order to form a network for group members.
Sixty percent of members are freshman and sophomore, which Baldwin said is an emphasis of the club.
"We're connecting freshmen and sophomores with firms they will potentially be interviewing with," Baldwin said.
Cappello said the club's rapid growth is proof of its necessary role it serves for so many students.
"The club is a long overdue resource for students," Cappello said. "This allows for students to get internships and receive great support from Notre Dame alumni."
Baldwin said weekly club meetings are divided into two halves. The first half is devoted to teaching financial skills and the second half focuses on interview skills.
"This club helped me so much in the past two years," Baldwin said. "This is the reason I have become so involved."
Cappello said senior members of the club conduct mock interviews to help improve underclassmen's interviewing skills.
The club also plans to introduce workshops to teach members financial modeling skills, like comparable companies analysis, discounted cash flow, and LGO modeling skills, that are not taught until senior year.
"These are skills I had to teach myself like other finance majors," Baldwin said. "This will give freshmen and sophomores important skills they need."
The club has also introduced new initiatives in order to attract non-business major members, a group that makes up 8.3% of the group.
"Executives want a wide array of experiences," Cappello said. "We've gone to non-business related classes and let students know about the resources we have."
Cappelllo said the club will begin its speaker series in the second semester, which will include information on topics like real-estate, private equity, and hedge funds.
Contact Ben Horvath at
bhorvat1@nd.edu
