Investment banking: two words that strike fear into the hearts and minds of economics students everywhere. The words conjure up images of exhausted businesspeople in fine attire, pacing Wall Street late into the night. This world can seem so elusive and intangible to the average college student, and the big question circling the minds of those interested in pursuing this career is clear: “What’s my in?”
In 2023, Aoife Reynolds ’24 and Uri Lurie ’24 sought to find a solution to this problem. Having secured internships at the Bank of America and J. P. Morgan, respectively, they wished to guide others through the strenuous process they navigated on their own. From this drive came Foss Hill Financial, a group that describes itself as “aimed at providing education, mentorship, and resources to students with a passion for finance.”
Currently, the club is headed by co-Presidents Daniel Lurie ’26, Honor O’Donnell ’26, and Will Miller ’26, as well as co-Leaders Colin Tsay ’27, Ella Morrison ’27, and Tomo Ishikawa ’27.
The structure of the organization works in tandem with the banking recruitment process. Foss Hill releases applications to join in early September for incoming sophomores, followed swiftly by interviews and acceptances. Recruiting for investment banking internships begin early: really early. By the winter of their sophomore year, students interested in pursuing a career in banking are already in the thick of the recruiting process.
“To get an interview, it’s a lot about who you know, not what you know,” Tsay said. “And to get those interviews, you need to have spoken to multiple people at these banks, whether they’re Wesleyan alumni, high school alumni, [or] whether they play the same sport as you.”
So, how does one learn how to access these connections? Foss Hill Financial has many answers. They place accepted students into small groups, each led by one of the co-Leaders.
“The way the recruiting process ultimately works is that everyone kind of has a different story, right?” Lurie said. “Everyone has a different background and different interests. That’s why we think the mentorship program is so important.”
A typical meeting in a Foss Hill cohort covers information including how to network and prepare for interviews. Furthermore, as a result of the small number of students that comprise each of the groups, the information disseminated can be more individually tailored to the needs of each student.
“The way I usually structure mentor–mentee meetings is…[by going] over the progress that they’ve made in networking [and] go[ing] over the people that they’ve reached out to [and] whether they’re on track,” O’Donnell said. Furthermore, O’Donnell uses these times to check in about the milestones she and her groups set and provides advice as to how to continue moving through the complex recruitment process.
“There’s [been] a lot of times where a bank will actually meet with our cohort as a group, which will ultimately help more kids place and actually get these offers in general,” Lurie said.
Foss Hill Financial has also produced impressive results when it comes to placement numbers. In 2023, the inaugural year of the organization, five of its members received investment banking internships. The following year, that number more than doubled to 13 placements.
“So this year, we hope to see probably around 75% of kids placed,” Lurie said. “[Last year] was a huge jump, and something we were extremely proud to see.”
The organization is also very aware of the pertinent issue of gender discrimination within the finance industry, and leadership figures such as O’Donnell and Morrison hope to serve as examples to women interested in pursuing the financial field.
“I also am close with the girls in the cohort…and I really make an effort, because it can be daunting to navigate the recruitment process, specifically as a woman, because finance is a pretty male-dominated field,” O’Donnell said. “There are way more male Wesleyan alumni in the industry than female, and so it can feel more difficult to stoke that connection during the networking process.”
While O’Donnell acknowledged the challenges that come with being a woman in the financial world, she also addressed her passion to help others in similar positions. One of the most exciting aspects of the club, members said, was to watch the fruits of their labors.
“By far the coolest part is watching kids go through this very challenging process, and at the end of it, be very, very comfortable with guiding future students through it,” Miller said.
“[Mentees] call me and tell me that the things that I told them to put into practice worked, and they were able to get the success,” Tsay said. “It truly is very fulfilling.”
Moving forward, the organization hopes to spread its outreach.
“We plan on having a series of events open to everybody in the spring of this year, specifically for freshmen who might be interested in finance,” Tsay said. “They’ll basically be introduced to the industry, so that they can begin to think about whether it’s something that they want to pursue.”
“Every year, [we want to be] a better and better resource for all of these kids,” Lurie said.
Willow Simon can be reached at wsimon@wesleyan.edu.
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