Today was a bit of a crash course to the world of Investment Banking for me: I had my second Advanced Corporate Finance class, spent an hour with a careers advisor discussing my resume's suitability to American employers (specifically investment banks and VC firms), had my first Investment Banking class, and attended a recruitment presentation by UBS Warburg, a European investment bank that is making inroads into the US market and was recently rated the world's "best [overall] investment bank."
Continuing with my plans to provide an overview of all the subjects I'm undertaking at Columbia, here's my take on Jim Freeman's Investment Banking course:
B8317 - Investment Banking (Professor James L. Freeman)
Considering I'm so far behind the eight-ball as far as knowledge of the investment banking industry goes, Jim Freeman's aptly titled Investment Banking course should prove very suitable to my needs. Jim spent 17 years as an investment banker with Credit Suisse First Boston before founding his own firm, Freeman & Co. which specialises in management consulting and strategic advisory services for the financial services industry. The intention of his Investment Banking course is basically to impart as much of his knowledge about the industry as he can within 13 three-hour classes. Specifically, the course covers what an investment banking firm does, how it is structured, how the various components function together, how investment banks solve problems (bring on the cases ;-), and how investment banks make money. For our first lesson today, Jim provided an excellent overview of the industry as it stands today - which firms are dominating the market, which divisions are making money, where the jobs are, etc.
Interestingly, the class is no where near full capacity - there are only around 35 students (compared to 104 in my Introduction to Venturing class). My theory is that if someone has already been at Columbia Business School for a year, they've probably had the opportunity to obtain most of this knowledge through on-campus events and discussions with their network. Coming in as an outsider, I'm hoping this course will help me come off as a knowledgeable prospect when (if ?) I get some interviews with these firms. Indeed, Jim states that his main objective for the course is "to inform students; so they can hit the ground running day one at an investment bank and never be asked 'what rock did you come out from under?' "
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