From classrooms to boardrooms in Germany

Each student was responsible for curating a preparatory document for at least one company. The purpose of these documents was to prepare the team to make the most of each of the company meetings by asking quality questions. A common challenge for everyone was bringing the rest of the team up to speed on the company each person had researched. 

To tackle this challenge, the team took advantage of sporadic opportunities for learning before the meetings. For example, the team mixed the cruise sightseeing on Frankfurt’s River Main with a pop-quiz of company information. Additionally, conversations while commuting between destinations often included summarizing completed meetings, or reviewing for upcoming sessions.

Supported by the preparatory work, students gained insight into a variety of concepts across the company meetings. Topics were a mix of those that were out of the scope of coursework and in-depth extensions of prior course learnings.  

Katherine (AFM’28) shared that a memorable learning topic for her was fixed income from Bankhaus Metzler. For Ishaan (AFM’28), it was the topic of credit from Munich Re. These meetings required students to draw from prior knowledge and build connections to applications in the industry. For example, understanding the foundational mechanics of debt instruments in the classroom is notably different from analyzing how a private bank like Bankhaus Metzler tackles interest rate risk during macroeconomic volatility, with nuances such as navigating client relations. 

For lessons more specific to the companies, Rachel (AFM’28) noted Digital Euro as one notable topic she learned in the meeting with the European Central Bank (ECB). Ishaan (AFM’28) found lessons on Adidas’ shift back to direct-to-consumer sales particularly interesting. Students had the invaluable opportunity to ask professionals insightful questions for these harder-to-research topics.