Success Story: Bernard Zhang ’19 lands J.P. Morgan internship
Success Stories | Dec 27, 2017 | admin
Not all business students can say they’ve been investing in the stock market since high school.
Bernard Zhang, BS ’19, can. This summer, he’ll put that experience to use as an asset management intern at J.P. Morgan.
Zhang says he gravitated toward asset management on a personal level, and he’s known he wanted to pursue finance for years.
“I’ve always been a little better with numbers, and I thought it was interesting to deal with numbers and money,” he shares.
That’s why he jumped at the chance to compete in a stock-trading contest in middle school and then turned his passion into serious business by opening his own fund as a high school sophomore.
Once he got to Fordham, Zhang learned the basics of accounting and finance in his classes and made time to expand upon what he was taught.
“I spent the whole summer [last year] pretty much cooped up in the trading room: practicing, getting better, learning more,” he says.
After completing an internship at Merrill Lynch, Zhang applied online for other positions. He says J.P. Morgan’s interview process was very structured, but his passion for asset management came through.
“I like the deep-diving process and the technicals,” he explains, “and basically really understanding where the value in certain companies is—and really analyzing it.”
Another thing that made Zhang stand out? He co-founded an investment firm in the spring.
He and some friends from high school pooled together their money so they could access asset classes that wouldn’t have been available to them as individuals. They also knew it would help them keep learning.
It’s a “good way to train ourselves so when we get to the job, we can already do the work,” Zhang points out.
Now that his next internship is lined up, Zhang is looking forward to the prospect of joining the Student Managed Investment Fund, as well as giving back to the Fordham community. He shared some tips at the Gabelli School’s fall open house and says he’s happy to speak with current students looking for advice.
“A lot of people helped me in the process, and I definitely want to pay it forward.”
