TORI.TIMMONS
Finance 450, title Problems in Corporate Finance, was one of the finance electives I chose to take my junior year. It was taught by Professor Jennifer Koski; a rarity considering she is typically an MBA professor. Contrary to many finance courses, this class was case based. This meant that we would read a case scenario of a company, and use financial statements and metrics to identify the company’s problems and make suggestions of how to solve them.
This class made me more confident in my passion for finance. This certainly does not mean that it is not wavering, but it reassures me that I didn’t choose a completely different field of study from what I’d like to do after graduation. In addition, Professor Koski is the person I want to grow up to be. She is an intelligent, experienced, kind individual who has pursued many roles in corporate finance and academia. Professor Koski gave the class this intangible factor that made me feel good about what I was putting my time and effort into. Her influence in the class was my favourite part and made the biggest impact on my learning and experience.
Before this class, I really didn’t feel prepared to enter any finance role. This class had overlap with others I have had, but something about it made it more impactful. When I look at the nuts and bolts of the class, I find a few were concepts I had learned previously. The content of Finance 450 made me feel prepared for real-world problems and was actually memorable. What I learned in the class, outside of the course material, was more about how I functioned in an environment that was similar to what I want my career to look like. In sum, I found it to be challenging but satisfying and I learned how to lean out of the capital “L” leadership role in order to foster my learning further. These competencies seem like supporting ones in my leadership; however, they are fundamental to the foundation, even if they are not as easily seen than other skills.
CORPORATE FINANCE
September - December 2016
"STUDYING" FOR AN ADMISSIONS PHOTOSHOOT - JUNE 2015
COMPETENCIES
I wasn’t a leader with a capital “L” in my group. In many groups, due to the big gaps in personality and opinions, I usually find myself in a unifying (and in turn leading) role. In this group, all my group members were smarter than me and we all got along, so each member of the group led in a different setting. It was a good group of people in my opinion because everyone was driven and collaborative. It made me realize that, while it required me to swallow my pride, it was more beneficial to my learning when I was not the smartest person in the room.
As a method of accountability, we would work on the cases individually and then come together as a group to go into greater depth and check our answers. It was humbling to come in with ideas that I thought were solid and to be proven wrong or to hear a different and deeper analysis of my viewpoint. After our first few meetings, I realized that I would learn much much more by listening to each of my group members, and by asking questions. Our grades improved significantly throughout the quarter, as did our understanding of the way each individual member could impact the group.
Twice a week, we had to read a case study of a company and examine the information given, analyze the numbers, and formulate a solution to the problems the company is facing. When we began a case discussion, we would always begin with the strengths and weaknesses of the company, the current situation they are in, and major concerns to address. We’d move slowly through the main feature of the case, whether it was an issue of changing production levels, evaluating the members of upper management, or deciding to invest in a project. With Professor Koski’s guidance and support, we meticulously executed every level of analysis to gain a comprehensive understanding of the company, their problem, and potential solutions.
It is easy to have a positive attitude about something when the environment is a positive one, fostered by a vibrant, passionate professor and smart, eager peers. The class reinvigorated my love for finance. The part that I love about finance is the problem solving through the lens of numbers. Professor Koski was the most open to others ideas of all my other professors. She was respectful and encouraging of input. In the very rare cases in which there were wrong answers, she dealt with them in a way that made the student feel reassured about their thought process, but also was clear about where the mistake was made so that it did not get repeated. I was able to sustain a positive outlook to this class because I always looked forward to listening to my peers and professor tackle the case. I loved feeling competent when I discovered I viewed the problems in the same light as others. I was optimistic that my passion in finance was restored.
Professor Koski focused on learning. There was little busy work. There was no emphasis on grades, despite there being some deliverables. She didn’t scare us into participating. She was upfront about her intentions and they were successful in making the class effective and impactful. This made me feel like I actually took something away from the class. Instead of dreading the cases and the lectures, I was interested in what the next case would be and what I could learn next. The tools that I learned in this class are the most practical and relevant to a career in finance, and many others. Furthermore, these tools are things that I have not pushed out of my brain the minute the class ended. I have been able to use these in my classes this quarter and at work. I have been able to help my friends who are struggling with similar types of cases. I feel more confident, competent, and passionate after taking this class.
The class also highlighted the value propositions I don't bring to the table. In my mind, this doesn't mean that I can't complete a certain task or harness a certain skill, it just means that it isn't something that I add that no one else can contribute. For example, I realized quickly that I do not glean all relevant information from a case when the first time I read it. It took me anywhere from 2 to 5 read-throughs to get the same level of detail that my group members did. I used this as another way to learn from my group members, both in how to read more efficiently and what level of detail was appropriate. My scope of competence has expanded from the course, but I have also gained a better understanding of my limitations in this context. This helps inform my decisions about my self-development and my approach to learning and collaboration for the future.
This class caused me to reflect on my experience with classes in my major. Coming into senior year, I was excited to delve into more finance-specific classes. While that was the case fall quarter, I also had to take some required program courses that I detested. For a variety of reasons, I found it very difficult to care about and put effort into a particularly challenging and boring course I was in, especially in comparison to Finance 450. This made me realize that the professor has a major impact on my curricular experience. It changed how I look for classes, because I finally understood the gravity of that factor to my entire learning experience. Additionally, I found it difficult to jump from case to case. We had cases that focused on that were related to business decisions in marketing, operations, and more. I found this to a be a great opportunity to reflect on work that is very similar to consulting work, and to think about whether or not I wanted to pursue consulting as a career after graduation.
ARTIFACTS
I think my improvement in financial literacy and my ability to solve these types of problems has increased by leaps and bounds. But this is difficult to see without a benchmark. To give you an idea of how much I gained from this class, here is an old example of a similar analysis from a previous class.