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Josh Goldstein ’21 is among a select cohort of 25 students - including peers from Boston College, Bentley University, Babson College, College of the Holy Cross, Princeton University, Yale University, and the University of Southern California – that are working this summer with global investment banking and wealth management leader, UBS Financial Services.
While initially planned as a traditional internship in their Rockland office, when the coronavirus pandemic struck, the program was adapted as a virtual mentorship. Beginning in June, Josh has attended his mentorship from home via two Zoom calls each week. Some days, the Business Management major gains key exposure by sitting in on a daily briefing with financial advisors to review critical market developments, while other days he gets critical hands-on experience by collaborating on research projects. Each student is matched individually with a mentor at UBS to review assignments, ask questions or consult with on career aspirations or advice. Goldstein says the immersive learning experience has helped him gain further understanding of a potential career in the financial services industry.
“The Virtual Mentorship at UBS is a hugely valuable experience,” says Goldstein. “We have the opportunity to work under some of the most senior people on top of meeting new guest speakers and leading research projects and presentations each week. The program provides a level of exposure to the work in the field and highly-accomplished financial advisors that is simply unmatched.”
Goldstein hopes to pursue a career path in the industry after graduation next spring because he likes helping people with their financial goals and has had an interest in the stock market since high school. The potential future investment manager from Canton, Mass., selected Curry not only for its first-class business program but also because of the dedicated faculty, many of whom teach practice and theory, as executives and industry leaders in the field. In Dr. Michael Bennett’s Investments course, Goldstein learned best-practice investment strategies by building and managing his own investment portfolio. Designed as an in-class contest between students, the exercise allowed them to use Stock-Trak to track the market and manage their portfolio’s performance. “I won the competition with the highest portfolio return on investment at 148 percent compared to the performance of negative 13 percent of the S&P 500 index over the same period. It’s been one of my favorite classes at Curry.”
Outside the classroom, Josh also leads in many campus roles, including President of the Class of 2021, Business Students Association President, a DECA Founding Member and Development Chair, and Secretary of Politics & History Club. He was only recently named to the Alexander Graham Bell Honor Society and the Sigma Beta Delta Honor Society in Business. The senior describes his time at the College as nothing short of exceptional.
“The faculty at Curry care deeply about their students. They work to get to know students on a personal level, and it’s that guidance and encouragement that sets you up for success. If you want individual attention from world-class faculty, then Curry is the school for you.”
Now through early August, Josh will continue his mentorship with UBS and hopes to further expand his knowledge of the wealth management industry, to add to the new networking and presentation skills he’s gained with them. “I feel fortunate for the mentorship at UBS and couldn’t be happier with the experience. Between this opportunity and my collective experiences at Curry, I feel more than prepared to start my professional life next year.”