{"id":23889,"date":"2019-04-11T17:06:16","date_gmt":"2019-04-11T22:06:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp.stolaf.edu\/pipercenter\/?page_id=23889"},"modified":"2026-03-27T15:27:59","modified_gmt":"2026-03-27T20:27:59","slug":"finance-fast-track","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/wp.stolaf.edu\/pipercenter\/finance-fast-track\/","title":{"rendered":"Pre-Professional Finance Fast-Track Opportunity"},"content":{"rendered":"<div data-modular-content-collection>\n<p>The Pre-Professional Finance Fast-Track Opportunity is designed to provide incoming students with the opportunity to access an accelerated course progression in order to prepare them for certain competitive careers in finance.&nbsp; Accepted students will take recommended accounting and finance courses in their first two years at St. Olaf.&nbsp; Students participating in this opportunity must eventually choose an economics major with a finance emphasis.&nbsp; (Adding a second major or concentration or withdrawing from the opportunity is permitted.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"416\" data-attachment-id=\"49822\" data-permalink=\"https:\/\/wp.stolaf.edu\/pipercenter\/finance-fast-track\/2-2\/\" data-orig-file=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/wp.stolaf.edu\/pipercenter\/files\/2025\/09\/2.jpg?fit=2560%2C1040&amp;ssl=1\" data-orig-size=\"2560,1040\" data-comments-opened=\"0\" data-image-meta=\"{&quot;aperture&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;credit&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;camera&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;caption&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;created_timestamp&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;copyright&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;focal_length&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;iso&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;shutter_speed&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;title&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;orientation&quot;:&quot;0&quot;}\" data-image-title=\"2\" data-image-description=\"\" data-image-caption=\"\" data-large-file=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/wp.stolaf.edu\/pipercenter\/files\/2025\/09\/2.jpg?fit=1024%2C416&amp;ssl=1\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/wp.stolaf.edu\/pipercenter\/files\/2025\/09\/2.jpg?resize=1024%2C416&#038;ssl=1\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-49822\"\/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-center\"><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/wp.stolaf.edu\/management-studies\/finance-fast-track\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Course Plan for Pre-Professional Finance Fast-Track Opportunity<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-center\"><a href=\"https:\/\/wp.stolaf.edu\/economics\/planning-the-major\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><strong>Planning your Economics Major<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-center\"><a href=\"https:\/\/wp.stolaf.edu\/economics\/files\/2018\/12\/Contract-for-Area-of-Emphasis-in-Finance-121418.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><strong>Area of Emphasis in Finance<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Finance employers are increasingly recruiting students in their sophomore year.&nbsp; Many major finance firms are hiring (applications and interviews) for post-junior year summer internships beginning in the spring semester of the sophomore year.&nbsp; The Finance Fast-Track, in addition to academic advising and intentional coaching in the Piper Center for Vocation and Career, enables students to be competitive for these opportunities by providing them with the knowledge and skills needed to be successful.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The Piper Center for Vocation and Career has developed a four-year co-curricular outline that provides suggested co-curricular activities for students with career interests in finance.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-center\"><a href=\"https:\/\/drive.google.com\/file\/d\/12461I4E10lfQekij3xlh7KZJgycVgnaM\/view?usp=sharing\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\"><strong>Four-Year Co-Curricular Recommendations: Finance<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">Application Details:<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>The Finance Fast Track Application is closed.  Students wishing to join a waitlist should schedule an appointment with Bryan Shealer by email to: shealer@stolaf.edu.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p><strong><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">GPA Requirement<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Students must maintain a minimum 3.5 GPA, evaluated after J-term of your first-year, to remain in the Finance Fast Track. This standard is designed to support your success in the recruiting process.  Internships in investment banking, M&amp;A, venture capital, private equity, and\u00a0private banking\u00a0are competitive &#8211; employers typically use a 3.5 or higher\u00a0GPA\u00a0as a common minimum when recruiting students. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Please note that stepping out of the\u00a0Finance Fast\u00a0Track\u00a0does\u00a0not\u00a0prevent you from pursuing the\u00a0finance\u00a0emphasis or finance coursework offered at St. Olaf in your junior or senior year.  Many other roles in finance are available for students at all levels of academic achievement.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity\"\/>\n\n\n\n<h5 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Other Relevant Programs<\/h5>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/wp.stolaf.edu\/pipercenter\/find-jobs-post-graduate-opportunities\/on-campus-recruiting\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Campus Recruiting<\/a>&nbsp; |&nbsp;&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/wp.stolaf.edu\/pipercenter\/find-jobs-post-graduate-opportunities\/on-campus-recruiting\/fall-recruiting-showcase\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Fall Recruiting Showcase<\/a><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/app.joinhandshake.com\/edu\/events\/1796041\">Oles in Business Speed Networking<\/a><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/wp.stolaf.edu\/pipercenter\/minnesotas-private-colleges-job-internship-fair\/\">MN Private Colleges\u2019 Job and Internship Fair<\/a><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/app.joinhandshake.com\/edu\/jobs\/10261753\">New York City Connections (finance)<\/a><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/wp.stolaf.edu\/pipercenter\/financeable\/\">Finance|able<\/a>: This online course is built for students to gain technical abilities for careers in Investment Banking. The course is broken into core pillars of the role, with handouts to follow along with, check-in quizzes, and closes each segment with a test.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/stolaf.presence.io\/organization\/finance-club-2\">Finance Club<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The Pre-Professional Finance Fast-Track Opportunity is designed to provide incoming students with the opportunity to access an accelerated course progression in order to prepare them for certain competitive careers in [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2082,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-23889","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"acf":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp.stolaf.edu\/pipercenter\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/23889","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp.stolaf.edu\/pipercenter\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp.stolaf.edu\/pipercenter\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp.stolaf.edu\/pipercenter\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2082"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp.stolaf.edu\/pipercenter\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=23889"}],"version-history":[{"count":94,"href":"https:\/\/wp.stolaf.edu\/pipercenter\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/23889\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":51639,"href":"https:\/\/wp.stolaf.edu\/pipercenter\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/23889\/revisions\/51639"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp.stolaf.edu\/pipercenter\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=23889"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}