Matthew Moore
Financial Services Track
(Economics '08, Hampden-Sydney College)
"I wanted to study finance,” says Matt Moore (M.S. in Commerce '09), “but I didn’t want to dial down and do only finance.”
For Moore, who graduated from Hampden-Sydney College in 2008 with a degree in economics, McIntire’s new M.S. in Commerce Program has turned out to be a perfect fit. “The program is so comprehensive,” Moore says. “It isn’t just focused on training you to be a banker or a consultant—it’s taking a holistic approach, emphasizing speaking, writing, and leadership, along with fundamental business skills.”
Moreover, Moore says he feels that the program does an outstanding job of capitalizing on the diverse strengths and skills of its 43 participants. “I had a really strong undergraduate background in liberal arts, which helped me learn how to think analytically,” he says. “The M.S. in Commerce Program is taking my existing skills and layering new skills on top of them; we’re not throwing the baby out with the bathwater.”
One new skill set Moore says he’s finding especially beneficial is that associated with working on a team. “There’s more team-based work in the program than I expected,” he says. “It’s really good.” Moore says it’s not simply that he enjoys working with classmates whose academic backgrounds range from international relations to psychology to English, but that learning how to work effectively in a group is providing him with invaluable career preparation. “In a real-world business environment,” he says, “you won’t be judged on your individual work—you’ll be working in groups.”
Moore will soon have a chance to test out his new skills in the “real world”: Within weeks of entering the M.S. in Commerce Program, he was offered an analyst position at investment bank Robert W. Baird & Co. “My graduate Commerce degree, coupled with my liberal arts background, was a major selling point with Baird,” Moore says. “I think I’ll look back on my experience in the M.S. in Commerce Program 20 years from now and feel that it gave me a leg up.”