Finance Student Shares COB Experience
COB Finance Student Shares Experience and Accomplishments
Niklas Augustin I was born and raised in Germany and after high school moved to the U.S. because I believed that American universities provided more student services and on average have smaller class sizes. At CSULB, I tried to gain a broad range of experience. During my junior year, I started tutoring statistics and calculus and became the Supplemental Instructions Leader for ‘Business Statistics’, which gave me first insights into teaching. I then completed an internship at Halbert Hargrove, a local Investment Management and Wealth Advisory Services firm, as well as Boeing, an aerospace company, to give me an idea of what working in investments or corporate finance would look like. After that, I started conducting academic research, which I still do remotely because of COVID-19. I concluded that I could utilize my strengths best in a combination of research and teaching and hence chose to do a Ph.D.
*Niklas Augustin will begin his Finance Ph.D. at the University of Missouri, Columbia in Fall 2021.
CSULB College of Business Experience and Accomplishments
At California State University Long Beach (CSULB), my fellow students, student resources, and professors contributed most to my growth. It is crucial to be surrounded by ambitious students with high goals that hold each other accountable and create a network of shared knowledge. The College of Business (COB) organizations create an amazing combination of both social learning through organizations such as the Financial Management Association as well as academic learning through programs such as weekly math study sessions teaching Linear Algebra and Differential Equations or the coding boot camp. Through these programs, I was able to exchange ideas with my classmates that greatly enhanced my big picture understanding of the world of finance. Seeing the changes that they have made in my life and the lives of other students makes me proud to have been a part of creating these programs and hopeful to see them flourish even after I leave CSULB.
Additionally, I know that students benefit greatly from the student resources at the College of Business. Most notably, I believe that the Student Center for Professional Development (SCPD) is one of the most influential organizations on our campus and I recommend any business student sign up for their programs. It was the COB resources that made me aware of the openings for each of my first three jobs. First, I was notified of “Supplemental Instruction” through the COB newsletter. Then, SCPD advertised the internship at Halbert Hargrove. Finally, again through Student Center for Professional Development (SCPD) as well as the CSULB Career Fair, I was able to get an internship at Boeing.
Most importantly, it was the professors at CSULB that made a difference. Without a doubt, some of the people who have touched me the most, aside from members of my family, are professors at CSULB. Specifically, I must mention Dr. Mena and Dr. Ziemer from the Department of Mathematics and Statistics, Dr. Steimetz and Dr. Saboori from the Department of Economics, and Ms. Anke, Mr. McEnulty, and Dr. Gibbs from the Department of Finance. Each of them has either inspired me through their teaching or went out of their way to aid me in reaching my goals. For example, Dr. Gibbs was kind enough to set up the infrastructure that allowed me to teach the coding boot camp and Dr. Steimetz allowed me to audit his graduate Econometrics course, even though I was prohibited from enrolling in courses because of my unit cap. Many of them have referred me to professionals who were able to share their experiences and shed a light on some of my questions. Without a doubt, I would not be where I am today if it were not for these incredible people who created a sense of purpose in me to use my chance and do good in the world
