All freshman year finance meetings are run by the Villanova Finance Group. We support VFG to give freshmen the opportunity to learn about different areas of finance before ultimately picking an area of interest at the beginning of sophomore year. We help run general weekly meetings and hold a few investment banking specific sessions for members. After freshman year, students can join our society and other more advanced finance clubs.

During the fall semester, sophomore students learn about the investment banking industry as well as the work of an investment banker through weekly one-hour meetings. In addition to providing more industry context, students learn about different technical interview question concepts (i.e. valuation methods, accounting), the recruiting timeline for investment banking internships, and further review of networking.

Concurrent with fall training, teams of four to six students work on a strategic alternatives pitchbook case competition that details a hypothetical M&A sell-side transaction. Each team will conduct industry research, analyze both the target and acquiring company, assess the M&A market, and reach a valuation range using several different valuation methods.

At the end of the fall semester, students apply for the M&A Society Investment Banking Workshop, which is an intensive program to prepare students for investment banking summer analyst recruiting. The interview process includes coffee chats, an application, and in-person interviews. For the 2020 spring semester, there were over 60 applications received for approximately 30 spots.

The Investment Banking Workshop goes into greater detail regarding technical questions, behavioral questions, interview preparation, networking etiquette, and the recruiting timeline process. This program also pairs each IBW member with a senior and junior student who have either just completed their junior year summer analyst internship or have just successfully went through summer analyst recruiting and received an IB internship offer.

In addition to student mentors, each IBW member receives two alumni industry professional mentors who provide support throughout the recruiting process. Each member also has his or her resume reviewed word-for-word multiple times by M&A Exec. Board members until it is finalized.

IBW graduates stay involved with the society through a series of advanced training sessions designed to prepare for both summer analyst and full time positions. These trainings cover a variety of topics including advanced Excel and PowerPoint skills, capital structure, financial forecasting, networking, strategic assessment, and valuation.

Additionally, IBW graduates serve as mentors to sophomores. In the fall, former IBW members use their experience to help with the case competition. During the spring semester and into the summer, IBW members serve as mentors to IBW members going through the investment banking recruiting process.

Each year, we host an Investment Banking Panel with Villanova alumni who work at various banks across Wall Street. This past year's event featured 5 panelists and was attended by over 220 students. The alumni panelists who participate range from the Analyst to Managing Director level. Featured banks include: Barclays, BMO Capital Markets, Citi, Credit Suisse, Evercore, Goldman Sachs, Guggenheim, J.P. Morgan, Jefferies, KBW, and Morgan Stanley.