Fisher students invest millions
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In 1990, Ohio State took a leap of faith.
The university gave a group of Fisher College of Business students a $2 million chunk of its endowment to invest, independent of professional financial advice.
Turns out, Ohio State had gone with a savvy group of investors.
In the past decade and a half, the students' decisions--buy, sell, and hold--have increased the stock by 10 times. The students now manage a $20 million fund, often besting the S&P 500, a benchmark measure of stock market performance.
The Student Investment Management class is open to undergrads and grad students. One grad student--currently, MBA candidate Rafael Canario--serves at the helm for the year, reporting to the university treasurer every month and organizing quarterly trips to financial centers that have included the New York Stock Exchange and Chicago Mercantile Exchange.
Students must take some business classes before signing up for Student Investment Management, but they don't need stock market experience. By the end of the quarter, students have learned how to research stocks and industries, how to write reports analyzing their findings, and how to gracefully present those findings to a group.
"It's not an elite course," said Professor Andrew Karolyi, who directs the program. "In the Ohio State tradition, we have made it broadly accessible."
"It was intimidating at first," said Sara Smith, a senior who had no stock market experience when she signed up to take the class last fall.
But: "Midway through the quarter, I felt confident about the things I was saying, and my opinions about the market."
University officials have stepped in to overrule the students' decisions only three or four times since 1990--a tiny fraction of the class's work, considering students make 10 to 15 trades per quarter.
Each quarter, Professors Karolyi and Royce West bring in speakers from the field of finance, who offer students job-seeking tips and serve as valuable career contacts.
"The class helps students find jobs in the industry," Canario said.
Take Smith.
Not only did she win the a prize for her classwork, she has an investment banking job at Key Bank lined up for after she graduates in June--quite a feat for someone who was so recently a novice.
Said Canario: "It's really a crash course."
Related links:
Student Investment Management at Ohio State.
(text/images: University Marketing Communications)
