Business Career Pathways

A young man stands next to a white board with the words "Supply and Demand" and a chart and equations

Business Career Pathways

��Ƶians take their degrees in many different directions. Business and finance offer a diverse and rewarding array of career pathways. If your career goals include serving the common good while solving complex problems in business, investment banking, and related fields, a ��Ƶ education will help you thrive and excel in these environments. Your communication skills and ability to work well in teams will give you a head start. And as technology evolves at an ever-faster rate, you’ll be able to adapt and succeed throughout your career, thanks to your ��Ƶ education.

Popular Majors for Students Interested in Business

Advisers at the (CLS), along with your academic adviser, will help guide your academic pathway at ��Ƶ. Possible majors for students interested in business careers include economics, computer science, mathematics, and psychology. You can also choose to pursue a concentration, such as global development studies, policy studies, or statistics.

Student taking notes on paper during class

Economics

Economics is an excellent major for students considering graduate study in finance. Economics majors have strong analytical and problem-solving skills as well as a logical framework to understand market dynamics.

Learn more about economics at ��Ƶ

Computer Science

The technical expertise gained from a degree in computer science is especially in demand in the world of finance, which is increasingly reliant on technology.

Learn more about computer science at ��Ƶ

Student studying in Burling library with ear buds in

Psychology

An undergraduate degree in psychology gives students a solid understanding of human behavior, consumer activity, and research skills, which will all be valuable for graduate studies in finance or a career in business.

Learn more about the psychology major

Explore all our majors and concentrations

Community, Advising, and Support

Wilson Center

At ��Ƶ’s Donald and Winifred Wilson Center for Leadership and Innovation, you’ll find an array of resources and opportunities to develop your abilities as a leader and innovator. The Wilson Center will help you strengthen key skills essential for aspiring business people, including a willingness to experiment, not fearing failure, and the ability to deal with ambiguity. A few of the Wilson Center programs include:

: an innovation and pitch team competition that brings together student innovators to develop and pitch a business or nonprofit plan.
: encourages ��Ƶ students to address poverty-related challenges faced by the larger ��Ƶ community.
: challenges student teams to innovate products that can help alleviate social justice issues.
: nurtures, develops, and transforms innovative ideas into tangible projects or startups, with creative input from student mentors, a network of ��Ƶ alumni, experienced entrepreneurs, and industry professionals.

The Wilson Center engages students from different areas of study and diverse backgrounds for one common purpose: to inspire and prepare students as innovators and leaders.

Business and Finance Career Community

Students interested in a business career are also a good fit for ��Ƶ’s , a group of like-minded students who are interested in a career in business. The community is advised and managed by experienced staff in the College’s (CLS). You’ll benefit from specialized advising while learning about business and finance topics with your peers, and you don’t have to be an economics major to be part of this community. In fact, any major is welcome. You’ll explore work options in the business world and how you can leverage your liberal arts degree to begin your career in a powerful way. The Business and Finance Career Community will help prepare you for work in:

Investment banking
Entrepreneurship
Logistics
Investment management
Operations
Consulting
Private equity
Retail
Marketing and advertising
Human resources
Sales and trading

You’ll also learn about opportunities for networking, case study competitions, and interactions with alumni working in business fields. In addition, your adviser can help you explore bridge programs at our partner institutions, such as Harvard () and Dartmouth (), that can help you develop essential business skills.

When you’re ready to search for an internship or job, your CLS adviser can work with you one on one to help you develop advanced interviewing skills. You can also gain knowledge and skills that lead to positions in business and finance. This includes hiring timelines and cycles, networking, building skills and experience, identifying positions and industries, and gaining experience for your resume.

Adyasha Anindita (center) with fellow members of the ��Ƶ Singers.

The College kind of portrays itself as having a lot of cultural diversity, and it’s not just advertising; it’s real. ... I’ve found a very nice group of friends here.

Adyasha Anindita ’28

Students in Professor David Harrison’s Spring 2025 advanced French seminar, Molière: Performance and Adaptation

This trip helped ground our academic work in the social world — [the trip] made [the class] more interesting, and ultimately more effective.

Hamilton Peacock ’25

I went to ��Ƶ because a wanted to be a well-rounded engineer. … I got confidence, really, in my own skills, in my own ability to learn and to lead.

Joe Beggs ’19, CEO at GENAssist and HIVE Medical

Who Hires ��Ƶians?
A Few Recent Examples

Bank of America

Bloomberg

Citadel Capital

Deloitte

Goldman Sachs

NERA Consulting

30 career coaching events

CLS hosted 26 career exploratory and 4 business-specific events in fall 2024

129 contacts

In fall 2024, CLS had 129 one-on-one contacts with students interested in business and finance

>30 cities

Cities nationwide with a ��Ƶ Alumni Regional Network representative

Clayton Burton ’23

An economics major with concentrations in statistics and science, medicine, and society, Burton was immediately accepted into Duke University’s prestigious Fuqua School of Business. His success reflects his own initiative, ��Ƶ’s strong academic reputation, and the personalized support from his career adviser in ��Ƶ’s Business and Finance Career Community.

Ham Serunjogi ’16

After graduating with an economics major, Serunjogi immediately landed a position at Facebook, where he led partnerships for some of their biggest clients in Europe. In 2018, he left to co-found Chipper Cash with computer science alumnus Maijid Moujaled ’14. Today, Chipper Cash is considered one of the most valuable startups in Africa, valued at over $2 billion.

Jen Liang ’14

Immediately after graduating with an economics major, Jen founded a highly profitable health food company. She successfully exited the space in 2018 and dived into the world of private equity investment, where she co-managed more than $13 billion in emerging market debt. She supported the growth of companies in the ESG (environmental, social, and governance) space through her expertise, carrying on ��Ƶ’s legacy of advocating for the common good.

Collapse All

Internships and Funding for Career-Building Opportunities

Want to try out a potential career? An internship offers you the opportunity to try out a job and experience it firsthand. You can explore your interests, gain valuable experience, build relationships with mentors and colleagues, and hone your skills as you prepare for life after graduation.

When you’re considering an internship, the ��Ƶ College Center for Careers, Life, and Service (CLS) is the right place to start. CLS can help you in your search for the perfect internship and throughout the application process. The CLS offers guidance, support, and resources (including financial support) to help when you’re ready to begin exploring a career in business and finance.

A few examples of recent business- and finance-related internships includes:

Aavin Equity Advisors
Bank of China
Chipper Cash
Goldman Sachs
JPMorgan Chase

Funding for Career-Building Opportunities

Interested in an unpaid internship, but can’t afford to live in a faraway city without a paycheck? ��Ƶ may be able to help. Financial support for internships, transportation, professional clothing, and more is available for students with need. Several programs on campus offer funding in support of internships and other professional opportunities, including the Wilson Center and the .

Other Hands-On Work and Research Experiences

There’s more to explore beyond internships when you’re ready for real-life work experience:

Summer research experiences — including on-campus Mentored Advanced Projects (MAPs) as well as off-campus opportunities
— spend your winter or spring break following your alumni host as they go about their workday. You’ll learn about their field first-hand; students often attend meetings, try sample projects, engage in informational interviews, and explore a new community (for in-person externships) while enjoying a homestay with your alumni host.
Job shadowing with alumni in business provides another opportunity to gain real-life experience and insights into what it is like to work in a business-related field.

Networking with Alumni and Recruiters

��Ƶ alumni in business and finance are happy to help students explore different career paths. Your CLS Career Community leader can help you connect with ��Ƶ alumni in the areas of business that appeal to you.

Connecting with Recruiters

Talking with recruiters is useful for students who want to go directly into the business sector after they graduate. Your CLS adviser can help you meet with recruiters in your field of interest.

Business Case Competitions

Apply your learning experiences by solving real-life problems in a , which gives students the opportunity to demonstrate their problem-solving skills, ingenuity, leadership skills, and career readiness. ��Ƶ students participated in these recent case competitions:

Certified Financial Analyst (CFA) Institute Research Challenge, Washington, D.C.
Tanaska Business Challenge, University of Nebraska School of Business, Lincoln, Nebraska
International Business Ethics and Sustainability Case Competition, Loyal Marymount University, Los Angeles
Quantitative Trading Competition, University of Chicago Booth School of Business, Chicago

Three ��Ƶians hold a trophy highlighting their case study win.

��Ƶ Students Win International Business Ethics and Sustainability Case Competition

The winning team of ��Ƶians offered strategies that could mold Coca-Cola into a more ethical and sustainable work environment.

Ham Serunjogi ’16 Named Forbes 30 Under 30 in Finance for 2023

Ham Serunjogi ’16 was named to the Forbes 30 Under 30 list in finance for 2023. Serunjogi is CEO of Chipper Cash, a financial technology company he founded with Maijid Moujaled ’14.

A smiling young woman poses in from of colorful flags.

Economics: The Art of Making Choices

After graduation, economics and Chinese major Jivyaa Vaidya ’23 accepted a job with Morningstar Inc., a global financial services company headquartered in Chicago.

Finding a Network of Support at ��Ƶ

Recent graduate Elainia Gupta ’22 credits professors, peers, and ��Ƶ’s resource center for her success at the Federal Reserve Bank in Chicago.

��Ƶ