What would you do with three
weeks of free time in January? Read the books that sat on your
nightstand all semester? Sleep in and recover from exams? Travel to
the museums you have never seen? I chose to get up at 5:45 am Monday
through Friday to catch the 7:05 am train from Jersey into Hoboken,
to squeeze in with hundreds of other commuters onto the PATH to the
World Trade Center, and to hightail it seven blocks to downtown Wall
Street in New York City and up forty-two floors--all this in order to
work long hours and hard days at one of the country's top investment
banking firms, Goldman Sachs. It was all worth it. It only
took three short days to realize the value of my January Internship.
Interning in the Investment Management Division under Training and
Development, I was working for the company Fortune magazine rated as one of the "Nine
Best Companies" in 1999. Not knowing what to expect, I brushed up on
my coffee-making skills before my first day. I was well versed in
sugar or Equal, milk or cream. But when I arrived on the job, after a
brief rundown on the company's values, I realized this wasn't a joke.
I was orchestrating an entire
assignment for the firm. Did these people realize that they had just
delegated a project to a nineteen-year-old? But as they expected, I
rose to the challenge and worked long hours for three weeks, sending
300 emails to associates and top executives, asking them to
participate in a mentoring program. I compiled more than 100 resumes
and profiles and created professionally made packets to be sent out
in confidential envelopes firm-wide. I also called London, toured
the New York Stock Exchange, and "shadowed" at both the Fixed Incomes
Currencies and Commodities and Equities Trading floors. Part of this
unique program was the network made by the women at Mount Holyoke.
Immediately after arriving at Goldman Sachs, I attended a reception
for interns and Goldman Sachs employees who were graduates of the
interns' colleges and universities. Networking with Katherine
Bartholomaus '68, who is now at Goldman Sachs, was a brilliant way to
learn about other divisions of the firm. Young MHC alumnae such as
Analisa L. Balares '99 and S. Lale Topcuoglu '99 also contributed so
much to my experience and that of the seven other MHC students
interning at the company this year. The young alumnae helped plan
events, allowed us to shadow them in their divisions, and even took
us out to lunch! I've taken a great deal away
from this internship. It has helped guide my thinking, as I consider
whether to pursue a career in the private or public sector. I'm still
undecided, but I now know that I would happily settle into a position
as a financial analyst in a heartbeat! This summer, I will take the
public route at an internship at the United States Embassy in
Caracas, Venezuela.
Nancy Shera '78 has
provided internship opportunities for more than a dozen MHC students
at Goldman Sachs in the last two years.
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