Recruitment for UCLA’s William Sharpe Fellows Program is in full swing, with industry leaders from the fields of investment banking, finance, consulting and tech/startup coming on board and students vying for one of 40 places in the 2018 cohort. The program celebrated its 10th anniversary on Sept. 14, and, as the flagship entry, occupies a distinguished position in the suite of programs that has become “Partnership UCLA / Alumni Career Programs.”

Named in honor of Nobel Laureate and UCLA alumnus William F. Sharpe ’55, M.A. ’56, Ph.D. ’61, the creation of the Sharpe Fellows program was spearheaded from the department of economics by Professor Andy Atkeson, director of business economics, and Kevin Albert ’74, M.B.A. ’78, member of the Department of Economics Board of Visitors, both of whom recognized the need to draw business leaders to UCLA, which had traditionally not been thought of as a powerhouse in this area. The program’s founders felt that success in the business world required the critical thinking skills developed through a liberal arts education. “We knew UCLA had bright, capable students that could make a positive impact to their chosen industry – we just had to get them the exposure to the right people and coach them into how to put their best foot forward,” said Albert. “Partnering with the economics department to launch this program was not only a great way to give back to my alma mater, but a way to make a contribution to my industry.”

The program was created to address the needs of three groups of people, to the benefit of all:

• employers who liked the academically ambitious students UCLA produces but who had stopped coming to campus simply because it was too expensive to sift through the hundreds of applications they would get for each job opening;
• students who had the raw talent to succeed in those industries, but not the exposure to the industry that may come from family or other connections, nor the polish needed to ace an interview;
• alumni who had succeeded in these fields without extensive connections but wanted to establish the kind of network that, for example, is present at Ivy League schools.

Crucially, Atkeson saw in these alumni a “remarkable eagerness to come back and get involved. They know that even a brief meeting can have a huge impact on the course of a student’s life.”

Program administrators, working with the Board of Visitors, leverage connections and partnerships with both alumni and industry leaders, thereby providing targeted mentorship, training and industry introductions, and assistance in securing a summer internship in a field of interest to the student. “Now we have a brand name, so employers are learning to look for resumés from Sharpe Fellows,” notes Atkeson. Program participants have interned at top companies including Goldman Sachs, PWC, J.P. Morgan, EY, Deloitte, KPMG, PIMCO, Credit Suisse, Google, Apple and Intel, with nearly half continuing on to full-time employment at their chosen firm.

UCLA’s status as a large, public university might lead some to think it is without the tightly knit alumni community for which private universities are renowned. However, echoing Atkeson’s observation, Gloria Ko ’06, M.ED. ’07, director of Partnership UCLA / Alumni Career Programs, says “there is a culture and tradition of Bruins reaching back to help other Bruins succeed. A lot of our alumni want to give jobs to students, they want to hire Bruins. The Sharpe Fellows program is a great example; it has been facilitating this for 10 years.”

In his role as senior associate director of Partnership UCLA / Alumni Career Programs, Paul Savage builds alumni relationships, manages student aspects of the program and works in collaboration with academic departments to decide on areas of focus. Savage observed, “The size the university presents so many opportunities that it can be hard to find your place – programs like this help you do that.”
The Sharpe Fellows program, whose participants are selected at the beginning of each academic year, is open to all juniors with at least a 3.2 cumulative UCLA GPA who expect to graduate in the following academic year, as well as incoming transfer students and sophomores who will graduate early. (The recently created Simon Fellows program is an extension of the Sharpe Investment Banking portion for candidates interested in later-stage careers on the buy-side of the industry.) During the school year, Fellows attend “meet and greets” with employers, and have opportunities to connect with industry mentors, alumni, other students and new this year – peer mentors – students from the previous year’s cohort.

Among the program’s alumni are Brandon Watkins ’10, a vice president in Goldman Sachs group and one of Forbes’ 30-under-30 brightest young entrepreneurs, innovators and game changers. Atkeson knew during a trip to New York with Watkins that the student had a brilliant future ahead of him. “We visited around 30 companies; he was talking to CEOs and felt right at home.”

Kareem Aly ’14, a 2013 program graduate, is still involved in helping it thrive. “I helped many UCLA students get summer internships and jobs in Deutsche Bank’s Investment Banking group, and I’ve also been influential in getting a UCLA student an internship at my current firm for this incoming summer. I am proud to say that I was able to open a door there and pay it forward.”

Ritesh Gupta ’12 credited the mentorship provided by his Alumni Affairs program director as being one of the most important parts of the program, valuing her guidance and advice as much as any he received in the workplace.

While the program is certainly beneficial to its student participants, mentors also reap rewards, such as access to top students whom they might target for internship and/or post-graduation recruitment; access to the expertise and research of UCLA faculty and students; and increased opportunities for networking and renewing connections with alumni and friends.

These nurturing and interconnected relationships - involving students, alumni, industry leaders, former students and even program staff - are the key to building the community of support, mentorship and partnership that makes the Sharpe Fellows program a great success and a shining example of what UCLA can offer students as well as alumni.

For more information about the William Sharpe Fellows program, please see http://partnership.ucla.edu/sharpe-fellows-internship-program.

To get involved with the William Sharpe Fellows program as an employer, email partnership@partnership.ucla.edu.