How B-Schools Are Offering Hands-On Investing For Students

If you’re interested in investing, you may want to consider applying for an MBA.

Melba Newsome, a contributor at US News, recently covered how b-schools are offering MBAs direct experience in investing.

Giving Students More Responsibility

At many b-schools, MBAs have the opportunity to run and manage real equity funds.

“Our students are responsible for every single thing a private equity fund does, such as running models and dealing with the nitty-gritty of how the assets will perform under different circumstances,” David Hartzell, a real estate professor who serves as faculty adviser at Kenan-Flagler, tells US News.

Student-run funds can offer MBAs direct, real-world experience outside the classroom learning environment.

“There has been an increase over time in integrating the academic experience of the classroom with real-world vocational involvement, particularly with the rise in student internships,” Richard Vedder, a contributor for Forbes, writes. “A large number of college students now make career decisions and obtain permanent employment as a result of short work experiences with employers.”

How Schools Are Offering Investing Opportunities

At the University of Colorado—Boulder, the Deming Center Venture Fund is managed by 15 graduate students and is overseen by a faculty board plus local venture capital and angel investing leaders.

“Investments typically range from $25,000 to $50,000 and can be in any sector but must be tied to the university or the surrounding community,” Newsome writes. “Classroom learning is enhanced by the students’ access to angel investors, entrepreneurs and industry partners who help them identify opportunities, negotiate the terms of investment and execute the deals.”

At the University of Alabama—Birmingham’s Collat School of Business, both graduate and undergraduate students can manage a $550,000 equity and fixed-income securities fund through the Green and Gold Fund.

David Lutomski, a Collat MBA grad, took part in running and managing the fund during his MBA.

“We used the Bloomberg terminals to look at financial statements and news about the companies to run them through different models,” Lutomski tells US News. “I [also] established guidelines for allocation and made sure we followed the investment policy statement.”

At a similar fund at the University of Minnesota—Twin Cities’ Carlson School of Management, a similar fund is run and managed by students.

Rebecca Blumenshine helped run the student-led Carlson Funds Enterprise, a fund of roughly $35 million in equity and fixed assets.

“I saw it as an opportunity to start building out my quantitative skills, which I wanted to use more in my (public policy) career,” she tells US News.

Sources: US News, Forbes