I was a sophomore at Loyola University Maryland, and I recently declared my major in finance when I learned about the ILTS course through an advertisement on LinkedIn. At the time, I had no significant knowledge of investing and financial markets and I wanted to find something that would allow me to learn real world applications of financial concepts. I was also looking for an experience that would differentiate myself from other students in the recruiting process for internships in the financial industry. After reading about the ILTS course, I thought it would help me to build a foundation for a career in finance and I decided to enroll in the spring of my sophomore year at Loyola. Another reason that motivated me to enroll in the course was my desire to pursue opportunities in investment banking, therefore I felt ILTS would give me an experience that would enable me to be a competitive candidate for internships in investment banking.

It was perfect because I could get instantaneous feedback for questions that I had, and that was extremely helpful as I was just starting to learn about financial analysis and did not have a background in any of the material, so having that one-on-one structure was essential is speeding up the learning process and it definitely made a huge difference in my overall progress and development. I enjoyed working with Todd so much because he was extremely skilled in breaking down the concepts for introductory level questions. He made previously unknown concepts seem like common sense and applied all of the material to real world scenarios which I found to be incredibly helpful.

ILTS played a major role in terms of my resume and overall interview success because it was a unique experience that almost every interviewer asked me about and talking about the experience and what I gained from it was a huge sticking point in almost every investment banking interview I completed. ILTS also made my resume stand out because it was directly applicable to the jobs I was applying for. The concepts and material covered in the class is exactly applicable to the jobs I was pursuing. In the end, completing the ILTS course was the difference between me receiving an offer to work at an investment bank, and it was the best decision I made by far.

Todd was an incredible resource and he was a mentor during the networking/recruiting process. I do not think I would have been able to succeed in such a way that I did if I did not have ILTS or Todd to help me out along the way. I was at a major disadvantage in the recruiting process since I did not come from a ‘target’ school, which means that major investment banks did not recruit kids from my university. Therefore, I had to think outside the box to find ways to get my foot in the door and stand out as a candidate against some of the most qualified students in the country. Todd takes a creative and unique approach to networking and interview preparation which enabled me to differentiate myself from the majority of candidates who did not have the same sort of exposure. Todd knows the ins and outs of the recruiting process in the financial industry, and he could help me out since he had gone through the process himself when he was pursuing buyside jobs, which are even more competitive and sought after than investment banking jobs. His knowledge and advice played a key role in my networking efforts.