Living, working and experiencing the endless possibilities of New York City is the dream for many students at the Whitman School of Management. Luckily, Whitman can help make that dream come true – at least for a few months – as juniors can apply for the Whitman Semester in NYC program. Through this program, students can have real-life business experience at a top internship and connect with countless Syracuse University alumni – all while staying on track with their coursework. 

In the spring, Julia Fein-Ashley ’23 took advantage of the Semester in NYC opportunity and landed an internship as a global investment researcher at Goldman Sachs. She stayed on track for her accounting and finance double major by taking classes online.

After hearing about the program, Fein-Ashley knew that she wanted to learn more about it. She met with her career advisor and decided that the program would be a good match for her career aspirations. She had also decided to take an internship as an investment banking analyst at Stifel Financial Corp. in NYC over the summer following her experience, giving her an opportunity to learn what it is like to live and work in the city. 

As a student in Orange Value Fund (OVF), a program that allows students to conduct research in finance, she believes that this opportunity, along with Whitman’s Orange alumni network, helped her secure her internship at Goldman Sachs. 

“Syracuse University has been able to send one student each year to work at Goldman Sachs in its Global Investment Research Department. I think one of the great things about the Semester in NYC program is that all three students that have been selected for the Goldman Sachs Equity Research Internship have been a part of the Orange Value Fund,” says Fein-Ashley.

In the Global Investment Research Department at Goldman Sachs, Fein-Ashley found her true calling in finance. Every day, she would be assigned tasks such as listening in on analyst phone calls with clients to see what a career in equity research could look like for her. 

Finding her passion in equity research, she urges students to find out what they are interested in so that they can find a career they enjoy. “After this summer, I appreciate my experience at Goldman so much more because of the work environment and how you’re able to work on meaningful tasks from day one,” Fein-Ashley adds. 

Being from Colorado, Fein-Ashley enjoyed a new environment, where she learned that she could someday see herself living in New York City. “I just genuinely enjoyed being thrown into city life. I loved the hustle, the people and the architecture,” she says. 

Fein-Ashley’s advice to students who want something that will advance their education beyond a normal internship is to apply for the Whitman Semester in NYC program. She adds, “If you want to work in New York City post-grad, this program is the way to go.”

By Rylee Pohancsek ’24