Full-Time M.B.A., Accounting, Finance

The University of Rochester’s 3-2 program, with its opportunity to complete both a bachelor’s degree and an M.B.A. in five years, attracted Joan Lavis to the Simon School. As a student, she found her professors as good as she could have hoped to encounter at the best of the top-ranked schools. She sees the present Simon faculty staying current through their research, keeping up with the changes in business so that they can most effectively prepare students for today’s environment.
 

“The finance and accounting background I got at Simon were instrumental for my career. For starters, my auditing skills were second nature by the time I started my first position at Ernst & Young. At UBS, I then leveraged my finance background to land the more interesting and technically complicated assignments, which eventually led me into structuring transactions. The principles I learned are still relevant today, more than 20 years post graduation. I use my analytical and valuation skills daily to screen acquisition candidates. You also need leadership, tenacity, the ability to get along with others, self confidence and solid communications skills. My advice is to build solid analytical and finance skills, but do not underestimate the necessity for developing the ‘softer skills’ as well.”