What makes a degree from UB different?

First, Halley, let me just say that I am incredibly impressed by the amazing experience you’ve been amassing at UB! Every day, I am so inspired by students like you who are embracing all that UB offers to the fullest, and using that experience as a springboard to make a real difference in the world. So here’s the short answer to your question: Students like you are living proof of what makes the UB experience so distinctive.

One of the things that sets UB apart is our reputation for innovation and discovery with powerful impact. Our faculty members are changing how our world responds to the big challenges of the 21st century—from aging and school violence to global warming and economic crises.

That is a huge factor in what makes our university great—and what gives a UB degree such value in the eyes of employers worldwide. But what is really unusual is the number of opportunities UB provides students to be directly and actively involved in this groundbreaking work. All that adds up to a transformative education—a distinctive edge that gives UB grads a great advantage in their professions, and prepares them to make a real difference in the world.

At many top research universities like UB, undergraduates could easily complete four years without ever meeting their department’s leading faculty or setting foot in its state-of-the-art research facilities. I think you know from firsthand experience that this is not the case at UB.

Because of this, we attract some of the best and brightest students—like you—from across the country and around the world. These students come to UB because they know they will have opportunities they aren’t likely to find elsewhere—opportunities like working in Greenland on geology professor Jason Briner’s climate change study and like the hands-on field experience of the engineering students who just took home one of the top prizes in a NASA competition to build a Mars rover. They include internship and mentorship opportunities with prominent industry leaders, and global experiences—like your own internship at Bloomberg—that are increasingly critical in today’s job market.

This kind of direct, meaningful engagement brings classroom learning to life and provides a level of experience, knowledge and global perspective that employers around the world have come to expect when they see a UB degree on a resume.

Just as important, it provides students like you with the courage and the confidence to take risks and to do big things in the world, and then to come back to UB with your life-changing experiences and share them with others—whether as an orientation aide inspiring a new generation of UB students, as a student ambassador out in the community, or as a successful graduate broadening the horizons of tomorrow’s alumni leaders.

Whatever your next steps, I know you will put your UB education to excellent use as you venture further into the international finance arena. Best wishes in your senior year and in your exciting plans for the future!

Interested in finance since childhood (she wrote “hedge fund manager” as her career ambition in her sixth-grade yearbook), Halley Davide chose UB because of its broad academic opportunities and affordable tuition. In addition to working four summers at a boutique accounting and financial advisory firm in Manhattan, the senior economics and international trade double major from Merrick, N.Y., has served as a student ambassador for the College of Arts and Sciences, studied in Florence and interned at Bloomberg Tradebook in New York, sitting on the equities trading desk.

Davide is currently applying for analyst training programs and hopes to someday work as an asset or private wealth manager. After chatting about their respective travels to Italy, Tripathi homed in on Davide’s career path, urging her to consider an MBA. Not one to turn down good advice, Davide responded, “Definitely!”