Iftesham Rahman Sami’25, an international student from Bangladesh, is a senior at Beloit studying quantitative economics. After taking the Civic and Community Engagement class at Beloit and working with the Boys and Girls Club, Sami realized that he enjoyed empowering the youth and extended his internship through the first half of summer. Working with the kids and observing meaningful differences in them was endlessly rewarding. Sami especially enjoyed helping kids build confidence through coaching the Junior Knights middle school basketball team in Monroe, Wisconsin. Coaching taught Sami about leadership and community engagement, values that he plans to carry into his plans to work in investment banking.

Halfway through summer, Sami was offered an internship with Bay Street Advisors in Manhattan, New York. With the offer being sent on a Thursday and Sami’s expectation in office that Monday, he had to arrange travel and accommodations in the city quickly. This pushed Sami to be adaptable and trust his gut.

Sami’s time in New York offered him experience that directly aligned with his academic pursuits and goal of pursuing a career in finance. Sami’s role provided him with hands-on experience in analyzing market trends, assessing firm performance, and understanding the key competencies that top executives in these fields must possess.

Iftesham Rahman Sami’25 at his internship at Bay Street Advisors in New York.A highlight of Sami’s internship was undertaking technical work such as using Python and VS Code to develop web projects. These projects were instrumental in analyzing large datasets regarding market intelligence, firm reputation, and executive profiles. Automating these data collection processes allowed Sami to streamline research efforts so the team could make quicker and more informed decisions.

Sami advises students to plan and meet with Career Works if they would like to apply for common grant funding for their summer experiences. He also advises building strong relationships with your advisors, as they will likely be the ones writing letters of recommendation.