Extracurriculars and Events
Spring semester activities kicked off with the DFE Finance Book Club led by Lecturing Fellow Lee Reiners and Instructor Steve Columbaro. The first session centered on Michael Lewis' 2023 exploration of Sam Bankman-Fried, Going Infinite: The Rise and Fall of a New Tycoon. For a second session later in the semester, students chose to delve into 1980s Wall Street with Lewis' Liar's Poker.
Our long-running recruiting prep program for sophomores, Mock Interview Days, took place January 18-23. Alumni from nine firms conducted a total of 270 mock interviews with participating sophomores.
DFE sponsored the second annual Digital Assets at Duke Conference in early February. Over 40 speakers, including industry experts, regulatory officials, and researchers, participated in two days of panel events and fireside chats.
Through February, seniors led the Demystifying Finance Series for first-year students, organized by the DFE Student Advisory Committee. Over four sessions, first-years were introduced to roles in the financial markets and encouraged to lean on their older peers for support. Following the series was DFE's annual finance info session, a joint effort with the Duke Career Center to spread the word among first-year students about DFE and other finance resources on campus.
Students from all class years were invited to take part in two additional spring activities, the Centerview Partners Merger Proposition Competition and the Blackstone Tactical Opportunities Model Investment Committee. Seventy-six students participated in these opportunities, which were designed and run collaboratively by alumni at the host firms and seniors Valerie Deligiannis and Abhinav Kolli.
Our final event of the semester primed juniors for successful summer internship experiences. In the "Converting Your Internship into a Full-time Offer" session, DFE Directors John Caccavale and Emma Rasiel and three seniors offered wide-ranging advice, from ensuring accuracy in work assignments to meeting challenges with equanimity.
