"I was the type of person who had a subscription to the Wall Street Journal and the Financial Times since freshman year," said Goldman Sachs product management specialist Kevin Ng (LA 99), recalling his undergraduate years at Tufts.
Though Ng was bound for success in the world of finance, his zeal for the markets was not shared by many Tufts students. "I graduated in 1999 and majored in economics, which at the time, was actually not a popular major," he said.
Ng, unlike many of his peers, was well aware of the state of the economy at the time. "In 1999 we were at the height of a bull market," said Ng, who had not considered finance as a career path until the economy peaked.
"I had owned stocks in high school and had followed the stock market," Ng said. "My family is in business, and I also had a lot of friends whose families were in business. I didn't really realize it was for me, however, until the economic climate changed."
In addition to reading financial news sources, Ng familiarized himself with finance through clubs and internships. One club he devoted a great deal of time and energy to while on campus was the Economics Society. As president of the organization, Ng instituted new policies and conceived new events for the society to host, such as the bi-annual course advising session.
Also, Ng has shared his internship experiences with his peers at events hosted by Career Services. "I was at this Tufts event a few weeks ago, and this student comes up to me and asks, 'Did you graduate in 1999?'" said Ng, who did not recognize the student. "It turns out he had watched a video from Career Services that showed me running a panel of students who had been accepted to financial jobs."
Ng was also a member of the Leonard Carmichael Society (LCS) and the Tufts men's swim team.
"I had swim practice at 7:30 in the morning -- 7:30 in the morning, in Boston, in January, is a very hard time," Ng said with a laugh.
"The most difficult part of college is to juggle it all while maintaining top grades," he added. "If I wasn't trained in time management, I wouldn't be able to do what I do today."
Ng's time management skills would be put to the test after graduation, when he joined JP Morgan in a management-training program. "I got an opportunity to rotate around different parts of the bank, all dealing with portfolio management," Ng said. "For six years, I've been doing different roles in portfolio management."
In his current job with Goldman Sachs, Ng "manages money by picking stocks for clients, and I'm the guy responsible for meeting with clients and discussing our strategies."
"There is no typical day," Ng said. "I'll come into the office with five things I want to accomplish, and I'll probably only get through two because clients have requests that you can't anticipate."
As a result, Ng finds that he has to "be very flexible and be able to think on the fly. I also have to prioritize the most critical things that need to be finished."
His busy day starts early. "I'm in the office no later than 8:30 a.m.," Ng said. "I check what happened in Asia and Europe, forecast where the market will head that day, see if there are client requests, join in on conference calls, take part in meetings, research -- and it's already 6 or 7 p.m."
Ng found the transition from college to "the real world" to be slightly difficult, but doable. "I think having internship experience helps," he said.
According to Ng, the reason students can have difficulty making the lifestyle change from campus to corporate life is because they are no longer given directions and duedates from professors.
"Before, you were spoon-fed information, and all of a sudden, you're asked to figure it out on your own," Ng said. "That can be daunting to someone who is 22 years old, but you have to adjust quickly. If you don't figure it out real fast, you're not going to last in the business."
Ng discovered that graduation requires not only a professional transition, but a lifestyle adjustment as well. "You have to make new friends and work harder to stay in touch with them," Ng said. "You don't see people in the dining hall any more."
Ng also advises students to enjoy and appreciate college life while it lasts. "Understand that life is going to change very quickly after school," he said. "Get involved -- whether it's going abroad, doing a volunteer event, meeting with professors -- these are the things that will last forever."
"All of [my fondest memories] have to do with being with friends and being in a shielded environment where you don't have to worry about life and can focus on learning," Ng said.
He recalls one day of his senior year in particular. "It was springtime -- the Tufts campus is beautiful right around April," he said. "I had already gotten my job, and it was a Tuesday afternoon. I was done with classes around 2 p.m., and was thinking to myself, 'This could be the last time I could sit on the lawn at 2 p.m. on a Tuesday and read a book.'"
