Economics DepartmentFrom an undergraduate who participated in DFE's extracurricular competitions:
"The competitions gave me the chance to better understand key processes like valuation, fundamental analysis, and buyout transactions, but I value them mostly because I learned these and many soft skills in a team, alongside my best friends."
From a sophomore in DFE Executive Director John Caccavale's fall semester course, ECON 370 Global Capital Markets:
"Thank you so much for a great semester! I feel a lot more confident now when talking about the markets and reading the WSJ, and I specifically enjoyed learning about options."
From a student who took advantage of the courses and office hours of DFE Teaching Director Emma Rasiel:
"Your classes and guidance throughout my time at Duke were absolutely instrumental in helping me land [a job after graduation]. When I was interviewing with the company [that made the job offer] a couple months ago they were particularly impressed with my internship [....] that you helped me get when I was a sophomore and the real estate class that I took with you in the fall. Thank you so much for all that you have done to help me prepare for a job in this space."
From Eric Little '21, a 2020-2021 winner of the DFE Leadership award:
"Without the resources of DFE, I certainly would not be in the position I am today. One very important event was the Diversity Reading Group [now called the Markets Discussion Group] led by John Caccavale. This helped me grow because it started to teach me how to connect the dots between the world of finance and news stories. It also taught me how to discuss these topics in both a formal and informal setting, which was very valuable."
From another participant in the Markets Discussion Group:
"I have loved listening to the alumni who have spoken at the [Markets Discussion Group] meetings and have found their insight to be informative as I try to decide which sector of finance I want to pursue."
From a student who took DFE's fall semester course for sophomores, ECON 256 Practical Financial Markets:
"With no prior finance knowledge, I decided to take ECON 256 to give me some insight into the industry. I truly knew nothing about investment banking or markets before taking the class. This shouldn’t stop anyone from taking it. Throughout the class, I began to understand the different roles within finance and how the market moves with current events. Different group projects helped me decide which aspects of finance were most interesting to me, which set me on the right track when searching for an internship. I would recommend this class to anyone who thinks they might be interested in a career in finance or just wants to learn more about the industry! By the end, I was much more confident in my decision to pursue a career in finance and felt knowledgeable about the different paths."
