When Li Qiu '09 was hired by Merrill Lynch this summer, he not only bagged a position as an intern, but he was put in charge of other interns. Qiu worked for the management team of Merrill Lynch's Foreign Office this summer and had duties which ranged from providing support to his Financial Advisor (FA) to organizing intern training and activities.
Qiu was one of more than 20 Hamiltonians who received college funding to participate in a summer internship. Work experience is becoming more and more necessary for college students but many opportunities are unpaid and require students to fund their own housing and living expenses as well as working for free.
Thanks to alumni and parent donations, Hamilton students can apply for funding to support them while they work in a field of interest with an organization that cannot pay them. Though Qiu worked in an unpaid internship, he received a stipend from the Monica Odening Student Internship and Research Fund in Mathematics, a competitive grant which is awarded to one or two students every year by the Hamilton Math Department in order to pursue an off-campus study opportunity (or, this year, internship) in mathematics.
Qiu worked mainly for the Sales Management team, which aims to increase the productivity of FAs by providing support and incentive programs. He aided his FA by working on client portfolios and sorting data. He also worked as an intern manager and "helped out extensively" in organizing logistics of intern training and programs. His greatest achievement for this job was developing the "Daily Bull," a newsletter designed to keep the other interns informed about meetings, conferences, and social events.
Part of Merrill Lynch's intern program is the intern projects, where teams of students used $1M to manage in a portfolio of exchange trade funds for the duration of the internship, competing with other intern groups to determine the "winner." The second project required each group compete to improve the productivity of the office. He also took advantage of other opportunities offered by Merrill Lynch; Qiu was one of a small number of interns chosen to meet with a trader who handled structured bonds on the trading floor.
Working for the summer is familiar to Qiu, who spent last summer doing research. "I wanted to step out the academic world and immerse myself in the corporate landscape," he said of his decision to apply for an internship. What was it like moving from a lab to a cubicle? For one thing, there is more to do. "I feel as if the pressure has kept me going and accomplishing more than I would otherwise have if I was working self-paced," Qiu added.
Like many of his intern compatriots, Qiu commented on the exhilarating and fulfilling experience of working in the real world. "I came with the impression that this would be a run-off-the-mill kind of internship where we would sit behind cubicles and crunch boring numbers and do data entry all day long," he said, but "besides learning a ton about the finance industry…I am also learning more about myself – my strengths and weaknesses, and how I can better improve and reposition myself for future work opportunities."
Qiu is as busy on campus as he is in the Merrill Lynch office, working as an RA, grader and peer tutor. He is also active with the orchestra, the Student Assembly where he serves on the Diversity and Accessibility Committee, the International Students Association and HAVOC. A rising junior from Shanghai, China, Qiu is strongly considering working in finance after graduation.
-- by Lisbeth Redfield
Qiu was one of more than 20 Hamiltonians who received college funding to participate in a summer internship. Work experience is becoming more and more necessary for college students but many opportunities are unpaid and require students to fund their own housing and living expenses as well as working for free.
Thanks to alumni and parent donations, Hamilton students can apply for funding to support them while they work in a field of interest with an organization that cannot pay them. Though Qiu worked in an unpaid internship, he received a stipend from the Monica Odening Student Internship and Research Fund in Mathematics, a competitive grant which is awarded to one or two students every year by the Hamilton Math Department in order to pursue an off-campus study opportunity (or, this year, internship) in mathematics.
Qiu worked mainly for the Sales Management team, which aims to increase the productivity of FAs by providing support and incentive programs. He aided his FA by working on client portfolios and sorting data. He also worked as an intern manager and "helped out extensively" in organizing logistics of intern training and programs. His greatest achievement for this job was developing the "Daily Bull," a newsletter designed to keep the other interns informed about meetings, conferences, and social events.
Part of Merrill Lynch's intern program is the intern projects, where teams of students used $1M to manage in a portfolio of exchange trade funds for the duration of the internship, competing with other intern groups to determine the "winner." The second project required each group compete to improve the productivity of the office. He also took advantage of other opportunities offered by Merrill Lynch; Qiu was one of a small number of interns chosen to meet with a trader who handled structured bonds on the trading floor.
Working for the summer is familiar to Qiu, who spent last summer doing research. "I wanted to step out the academic world and immerse myself in the corporate landscape," he said of his decision to apply for an internship. What was it like moving from a lab to a cubicle? For one thing, there is more to do. "I feel as if the pressure has kept me going and accomplishing more than I would otherwise have if I was working self-paced," Qiu added.
Like many of his intern compatriots, Qiu commented on the exhilarating and fulfilling experience of working in the real world. "I came with the impression that this would be a run-off-the-mill kind of internship where we would sit behind cubicles and crunch boring numbers and do data entry all day long," he said, but "besides learning a ton about the finance industry…I am also learning more about myself – my strengths and weaknesses, and how I can better improve and reposition myself for future work opportunities."
Qiu is as busy on campus as he is in the Merrill Lynch office, working as an RA, grader and peer tutor. He is also active with the orchestra, the Student Assembly where he serves on the Diversity and Accessibility Committee, the International Students Association and HAVOC. A rising junior from Shanghai, China, Qiu is strongly considering working in finance after graduation.
-- by Lisbeth Redfield
