Name: Boyang Zhou

Year: Sophomore

Major(s): Economics, Statistics

CFS Class: Business Field Studies

Employer: Dresner Partners

When I began working at Dresner as an investment banking intern, I knew that there would definitely be a steep learning curve. This was my first internship in the industry and I knew little about the tools that the firm used beyond excel. Naturally, I had expected that my first couple of weeks would be a bit slow — I would let the analysts there hold my hand and really guide me through the nuts and bolts. What I didn’t expect, however, was that most of my learning wasn’t done through talking with the analysts that had already substantial amount of time at the firm, but rather through the other interns who were working alongside me.

Shortly after my arrival, the firm had hired two more interns, one was a junior at DePaul and the other was a Michigan graduate a little over a year out of college. I quickly noticed after they started there that they were a lot more professionally developed than I was — they were better at conducting themselves in an office setting from general presentation to email etiquette. Had it not been for these guys to set the example, I honestly would have a significantly worse intern. For example, when I would leave the office originally, I would simply just walk out of the building. These other interns, however, would always aim to make sure to walk by and talk to all the analysts to make sure that they didn’t need help with anything else before they allowed themselves to take off. Simple things like this are crucial to performing well in an office environment and I truly would not have developed this understanding had it not been for the other interns at Dresner.