Picture this: it’s 8:00 a.m. on a Tuesday, you’re standing in the lobby of Morgan Stanley in Midtown Manhattan, and a portfolio manager is about to walk you through how he thinks about markets before the opening bell. You are not an intern. You are a finance student from Chapman University — and somehow, this is your week.

That moment — surreal and electrifying — is exactly what FIN 400: A Walk Down Wall Street delivers. This one-week travel course through Chapman University’s Centre for Global Education pulls you out of the lecture hall and drops you into New York City, the center of global finance. It was one of the most formative experiences of my academic journey.

Wall Street, Up Close and Personal

We spent our days at the Marriott in the Financial District, with a busy schedule of visits to Morgan Stanley, Bloomberg, Deutsche Bank, the Federal Reserve, Aksia, Oppenheimer and Co., Franklin Templeton, and State Street. The extraordinary aspect of these visits was not only the prestige itself but also the fact that the experience was so personal and accessible.

Top managers and executives took us through their real days, how they organize their mornings, handle client expectations, perform real-time risk analysis, and make high-stakes decisions with incomplete information. They gave us inside secrets of how to enter the industry, assured us to keep in touch with them, and did not see us as visiting students but as the next generation to join their ranks. One speaker summed it up best: “It’s not about knowing everything — it’s about asking the right questions.” I have not forgotten it.

Seeing Chapman University alumni thriving at these very firms was equally inspiring. Individuals who used to share the same classroom are now walking comfortably through some of the most gifted financial institutions in the world- it made the road seem real, possible and near. It was an eloquent demonstration of what this program has given possibility to so many graduates ahead of us.

New York Between the Meetings

The city itself became part of the experience. Mornings started at Liberty Bagel. The nights were accompanied by pizza nights, birthdays, and our final din

ner in Puglia Restaurant in Little Italy. Our schedule included the 9/11 Memorial Museum, Wicked on Broadway, Times Square, and group shots at the famous Charging Bull, a small yet ideally suited experience in the very center of Wall Street. Our professor brought life, humor, and personality to each day and made the trip as vibrant as it was valuable.

The subway incident was also there. One evening, we had a group of self-confident people on board what we were thoroughly convinced was the correct train. It was not. After a couple of stops, the landmarks we knew faded away, and we woke up to discover we were heading in the opposite direction. Mass laughter, a precipitous U-turn, and a story that saw us through to the end of the week. After the third day, we were moving around the city like experienced New Yorkers.

With students who were in the same field traveling with me, there was an actual community feeling. We outwitted each other in boardrooms, dined together, learned, and made friends based on ambition. The bonds were much more than the trip.

What I Brought Home

I came back to campus as another student. Seeing portfolio building, risk management and asset allocation in action, as they are done by the individuals who are doing it, turned the concepts of portfolio building, risk management and asset allocation into a set of tools that I can envision myself working with in an actual job. The program not only broadened my knowledge about the financial markets and stock market, but it also made me realize where I want to go and made that future a reality.

If you are a finance student, apply.

Nothing can be more valuable in your future career than FIN 400. You will enter the doors of institutions you have studied in, create actual professional connections, have an insider view of the industry, and feel New York City as a working finance student, but not as a tourist in one week. The classroom will never be gone. This opportunity will not. Take it.

To every firm that opened its doors — Morgan Stanley, Bloomberg, Deutsche Bank, the Federal Reserve, Aksia, Oppenheimer & Co., Franklin Templeton, State Street, and all the others — thank you. Your time, access, and generosity gave a group of students the chance to see this industry from the inside. It is a gift we will carry forward as the professionals we are working to become.

Wall Street did not disappoint. Not even a little.

 

Liza Rebouh
Major: Business Administration, Finance and International Business Emphasis
Minor: Leadership
Semester: Spring 2025
Undergraduate Student
FIN 400: A Walk Down Wall Street — Chapman University