When planning your coursework, think about where you expect to be in 10 years. Most of you won’t have a very clear idea. This is normal, but is also my point. Since you are not exactly sure where your career will take you, you want to be prepare by developing a broad and robust set of tools that will serve you well in a variety of careers, geographies, and economic environments. You want to develop a fundamental set of skills that are necessary no matter where you go. These are the mechanics and the basic logic of finance. This is the material we teach in Finance 1 and Finance 2. The mechanics is the spelling, grammar, and reading of finance. You have to know it to survive, but no one is going to be impressed that you can read or calculate a discount rate.
Then there are the skills that set you apart. You can't pick up all of these, but you want to pick up several of them. These are skills that are scarce. These skills are difficult to acquire and thus not everyone acquires them, which makes them valuable. You want to pick some advanced courses that will give you these tools and you want to pick the ones that you find interesting and can become the expert on or at least the bridge to the expert.
The classes that I strongly urge students to take are driven by my belief, based on many years of having former students come back to visit, of what skills and concepts will serve you well in a variety of career paths. Many, many of my non-finance students end up doing finance as a portion of their jobs.
Finally, your time at Kellogg is short. When you start the program you won't believe me. It seems like a long trip. When you finish your Kellogg career, you will tell me you can't believe how fast it went. This is most likely the last time you will have the opportunity to learn in a sustained and deep way. Take advantage of it. Push yourself beyond your comfort zone. Take classes that are hard. Take courses that you might not do well in, but where you will learn new skills and learn about yourself and the world. Search out faculty that will push you. Work hard, work very hard. This is an investment and thus requires significant effort.
I hope you have found this advice useful. I have posted it on the web so you can return to it as necessary. Some of it is useful at the beginning of your Kellogg career, some of it is useful later in your Kellogg career. Work hard and have fun (in that order). Good luck.
Professor Mitchell A. Petersen
Glen E. Vasel Professor of Finance
Director of the Heizer Center for Private Equity & Venture Capital
Kellogg School of Management