Career-focused programs steer Rutgers Business School students toward success

Rutgers Business School's signature program for connecting students to jobs in the financial industry, Road to Wall Street, leverages the power of alumni to provide students with mentoring and internships. Now, a host of programs modeled after Road to Wall Street are expanding the ability of students to get internships and full-time jobs in fields such as technology and accounting.

Road to Wall Street works like a feeder program, linking Rutgers Business School alumni who are in senior positions in some of the nation's biggest banks to high-achieving students with aspirations of being on Wall Street. The hallmark of the program's success is alumni giving, whether it comes in the form of a donation, time spent mentoring students or the willingness to open doors to help students secure internship opportunities.

The program focuses on providing students with the skills and resources to turn opportunities into full-time job offers. Cohorts typically consist of 55 students, and the program has a job placement rate of 98 percent. To get a sense of how students are enriched, consider Zach Kronheimer who spent the summer interning with MSD Partners after Road to Wall Street introduced him to an internship opportunity at the firm. Kronheimer described the internship as "incredibly rewarding."

"Without Road to Wall Street," he said, "I would not have gotten that opportunity."  

In its second year, Road to Silicon Valley is building and leveraging alumni connections in the tech industry in the same way Road to Wall Street has forged them to create paths for students in finance. By combining a tech and business curriculum, emphasizing training in soft skills like public speaking and experiential learning experiences, the program provides students with the knowledge and traits to be innovative leaders and entrepreneurs.

The program is led by founding director Mukesh Patel, a serial entrepreneur and experienced angel investor. Patel has formed an advisory board made up of impressive Rutgers alumni who are working at well-known companies such as Salesforce, Etsy, and Amazon.

For many students who study accounting as undergraduates, a CPA proves to be a valuable professional credential. The new Road to CPA program is a broad-based program intended to create a culture of CPA preparedness.

In January, Rutgers Business School-Newark invited accounting majors with a GPA of 3.0 or better to apply to participate in the first Road to CPA cohort. The 46 students chosen for the cohort will be offered annual assessment exams to ensure they are mastering technical competencies and to determine if they can benefit from tutoring or supplementary study materials. "If we do this with students in our cohort, we stand a better likelihood of having more students pass the CPA exam," said Joyce Joseph, an assistant professor of professional practice in accounting who runs the program at Rutgers Business School-Newark.

Students in the Road to CPA cohort will also be paired with industry professionals with whom they can form structured mentoring relationships that will provide them with real world insights and guidance.

Road to CPA will also provide all accounting majors – at Rutgers Business School-New Brunswick and Rutgers Business School-Newark – with mentoring opportunities, workshops, career services and CPA exam preparation resources, including the ability to take a rigorous Rutgers Capstone CPA Review Course.

Accounting instructor Sarah O'Rourke, who oversees Road to CPA at Rutgers Business School-New Brunswick, said the program's objective is to set students up to do well on the CPA exam and to thrive in their careers. Accounting majors in New Brunswick also will have access to mentors, workshops and career resources as well as the Capstone CPA Review Course.

Prospective students can find in-depth information about Rutgers Business School majors and career opportunities by visiting:

Hit the ground running at Rutgers Business School – Newark

Open House: On Demand at Rutgers Business School – New Brunswick

Two more Road to Success programs are being developed by Rutgers Business School faculty: Road to Consulting and Road to Future Entrepreneurs.

SOURCE Rutgers Business School-Newark and New Brunswick

Related Links

https://www.business.rutgers.edu