Finance Degree

My name is Jacob Irvin and I am a major in finance and a minor in accounting. So I'm originally from Dothan, Alabama. I came here because UAB is known for its research and for its medical school, and I was actually going to be a biology major. My roommate at the time, he was a finance major.

He just kind of was explaining his classes to me and it just sounded like things that I was more interested in. In my sophomore year, I decided to change and become a finance major, it was cemented by the UAB Green and Gold fund. They have a program where it's a student investment fund, where we manage as students, solely by students, $600,000 of real money.

One of the first things they have us do as analysts in the UAB Green and Gold fund is to become Bloomberg certified. Essentially you get all the bases you need to be able to operate a Bloomberg terminal. You can put that on your resume, which I have it on mine, I think that's been invaluable.

So I'm a finance major and an accounting minor, I see that accounting is the language of finance. It takes some degree of knowledge in accounting to be able to even understand the research that you're trying to do. And one of the ways that Collat School of Business allows me to stand out to employers.

In the Collat Business Honors Program, I've met different professionals. I met the CEO of Coca-Cola Bottling Company United the other day, and I got to talk to him after class. It's a very physical way that you can stand out to employers. 

I would describe my friends here, just general finance students that I've been in my classes with. They're all approachable, friendly, and fun, but most of all, I think they're very motivated. Any time I start to feel like I'm not motivated to do something, there's always my friends. Who, just by being around them and their motivation, it kind of pushes me to work harder. 

The new Collat School of Business building is very impressive, I actually sometimes spend my entire day here, from 8 AM to 11 PM.It's a great atmosphere to work in. To have these breakout rooms that have TVs for you to put up your displays, if you're working with a team. And even a whiteboard, if you want to work things out, so just kind of having it all available to you is just an invaluable tool.

My ultimate goal is to become a manager at a hedge fund. I think that my work here on the UAB Green and Gold fund and my classes, it's going to translate very well to help me get there.