Student Learns About Banking at Internship in Florida

Tell us about your internship.

I’m an operations intern at the BNY Investment Management office in Lake Mary, Florida. We manage a private equity fund, and in operations we’re on the back end, taking care of the paperwork, making sure the money that comes in from investors is accurate. We also help the fund manage its investments.

Are you from Florida, or did you move there for this internship?

I moved here for this internship. This is my first time in Florida. I’ve been pretty much all around. I was born in Denver and I stayed there for about six years, then I moved to India with my family and stayed there for about 12 years. And then I came back for college at USF.

Why USF?

USF is in the epicenter of opportunity.

How did you find this internship?

I was part of a program called AI4All, which ignited my interest to attend an event with BNY called AI in Banking. During the event, I heard about internships in operations and engineering at BNY.  I applied to both, and heard back from operations. Most of the interns here are from schools in Florida. I think I’m the only one from the Bay Area.

What’s your career advice to students just starting at USF?

First, join clubs and go to networking events on campus, because that’s how you make friends and build a community. It’s also something that you might talk about during an interview, or add to your resume. At USF, you’ve got all sorts of company and industry events available to you, both on campus and off. You can meet with recruiters and learn what employers are looking for. Coming into my first year, I wanted to do investment banking and I joined a get-acquainted program, and after a month I left because I found that investment banking is truly something I don’t want to do. College is all about exploration until you land on something you like.

Are you saying it’s OK to arrive on campus without a major?

I think coming in undeclared is possibly the best thing you can do at the age of 18, because you don’t really know what you want to do. I mean, I came in as a finance major, and then I added accounting for a while. I dropped both. Then I added a computer science minor. And then I made business analytics my major. Keeping an open mind will help you during your journey at USF because you’ll have more options. And then, as you go along, you can discover what you’re leaning towards and make that your major. I actually find that the learning is more important than the major, because I can tell you, the people at BNY come from all different majors. I’ve seen English majors in senior positions — one is the head of AI and data analytics. So people from whatever major can reach wherever they want to go.