Links to Useful Websites:
http://moneycentral.msn.com/investor/finder/customstocksdl.asp
Career Center Resources:
http://career.studentaffairs.duke.edu/undergrad/find_job/search_tools/eRecruiting/index.html
http://career.studentaffairs.duke.edu/undergrad/find_job/research_tools/vault.html
http://career.studentaffairs.duke.edu/undergrad/find_job/research_tools/wet_feet.html
Suggested Reading List:
Books
The Intelligent Investor by Benjamin Graham
The Essays of Warren Buffett: Lessons for Corporate America by Warren Buffett
The Alchemy of Finance: Reading the Mind of the Market by George Soros
Bill Gross on Investing by Bill Gross
Capital Ideas: The Improbable Origins of Modern Wall Street by Peter Bernstein
One Up on Wall Street by Peter Lynch
Beating the Street by Peter Lynch
Reminiscences of a Stock Operator by Edwin Lefevre
A Random Walk Down Wall Street by Burton Malkiel
Common Stocks and Uncommon Profits by Philip Fisher
Against the Gods: The Remarkable Story of Risk by Peter Berstein
Liar’s Poker by Michael Lewis
When Genius Failed by Roger Lowenstein
Monkey Business by John Rolfe and Peter Troob
Wall Street Journal Guide to Understanding Money and Investing by Kenneth M. Morris
Barron’s Dictionary of Financial Terms by John Downes and Jordan Elliot Goodman
Periodicals
The Wall Street Journal (daily, Mon. - Sat.)
Barron’s (weekly)
Investors Business Daily
Suggested Class List:
Econ 83 - Accounting with Professor Skender
This is an essential class for those interested in finance. All employers like to see people who have a basic knowledge of accounting. Professor Skender is a very smart and humorous teacher; and although the class covers a large amount of information, it is not exceedingly difficult.
Econ 157 - Financial Markets and Investment with Professor Rasiel
This is another essential class for those interested in finance. You will learn the basics of the risk-return relationship, the capital asset pricing model, fixed-income, options, and other derivatives. Professor Rasiel is widely considered one of the best professors in the economics department. She also teaches at Fuqua and has had several years of real world experience working as a fixed-income trader for Goldman Sachs.
Econ 158 - Applied Financial Economics with Professor Burmeister
This focuses on the actual applications of portfolio management theories—including risk-return models and various stock selection models. This involves a significant amount of math and you do most of your work on computers, as you would in the real world. Students develop their own portfolio selection strategies based on existing theories, then create a well-diversified stock portfolio, and finally see how well their portfolios would perform in the real market. Instead of merely inundating you with layers of theory, this class actually allows you to apply the things that you have learned in a real-world situation.
Econ 141 - Applied Econometrics
For those of you who actually enjoyed Econometrics, this is a great class. You learn more advanced econometric and modeling techniques and you get to do several projects where you use the theory you learned in Econ 139 by applying it to real-world data. This class would be useful for those intending to write an honors thesis—which may involve advanced regressions or financial data modeling.
Econ 181 - Corporate Finance with Professor Fullenkamp
Along with Econ 157, this is another essential course. You will learn about the interactions of corporate firms with the financial markets. Topics include borrowing and issuing stock, dividends, as well as mergers and acquisitions. You will also learn basic techniques for analyzing a company’s financial performance. Professor Fullenkamp is a very popular teacher, and although the workload is not light, students always enjoy this class and come away with the feeling that they learned a lot.
Econ 195 - Global Capital Markets with Professor Rasiel
This is a great class for juniors or seniors who plan on pursuing a career in finance. The class will expand your understanding of financial markets and securities valuation. The class will also expose you to various jobs within investment banks and the financial services industry in general. There are also several guest speakers, which can provide students with the opportunities for networking. Professor Rasiel is one of Duke’s best professors and she brings the real-world experience she acquired during her years at Goldman Sachs into the classroom.
Econ 200ES - Financial Derivatives and Financial Engineering with Professor Tauchen
This is a very advanced class with lots of math, analysis, and writing. You will learn about financial derivatives, such as options, and study the details of derivatives pricing models—including Black-Scholes. We would recommend this class for seniors who may be going into complex areas of finance that necessitate a strong understanding of financial derivatives. Despite its technical and quantitative nature, this class also involves a significant amount of writing for several large papers. But if you are considering an honors thesis, this class is an excellent way to find a possible topic and get a jump-start with a 20-30 page paper. Professor Tauchen is a good teacher and his is an expert on the options market.
Econ 1__/History 1__ - American Business History with Professor Balleisen
This is an excellent class for anyone interested in studying the evolution of American business from the post-Civil War era to the present. After an overview of the major changes and developments in the strategy and structure of American businesses throughout this period, the class chronologically explores individual cases within the context of two thematic units: 1) innovation and the creative destruction cycle, and 2) labor relations. Each class focuses on a different case, such as innovations in grain marketing in the late 1800s and the development of futures markets, conglomerization and the LBO movement of the 1980s, and the sweatshop controversy at Nike. This course involves a significant amount of reading; however, the material is usually quite interesting. Professor Balleisen is an excellent teacher who fosters dynamic class discussion.
Soc 147 - Business in Literature with Professor Hull
This is a great class for those interested in reading literature in which business is the main topic. The class focuses on the image of business and the businessman in literature and the impact of these portrayals on business in society. You will read both The Jungle and Atlas Shrugged as a means of comparison because one book portrays business as evil while the other portrays business and good and essential. Professor Hull is a great professor who facilitates interesting class discussions and is very enthusiastic about the material. However, be forewarned, Professor Hull is a notoriously harsh grader.
Soc 159 - Entrepreneurship
We would recommend this class to anyone interested in starting their own business in the future. The class looks at research on new business formation and the likelihood of success.
Math 215 - Mathematical Finance
This is a good class for those who are very good at math and either want a more technical understanding of financial models or who may be going on to graduate school in economics or finance. Topics include modeling security price behavior, Brownian motion, the Black-Scholes formula, and other option pricing theories.
Comp Sci 1 or 6 with Professor Ramm, Duvall or Astrachan
A basic understanding of computers and computer programming is essential. While this may not be directly applicable to many of your other econ/finance classes, this is a very useful course because it will make you more comfortable with computers and allow you to understand some basic programming languages.