Women at MIT Sloan

Jenny (JingPing) Chen, SB ’08

Major: Marketing or Finance

Poised to make an impact

This past summer I did an internship in the healthcare retail group on the investment side of JP Morgan. I am concentrating on finance at MIT Sloan, and I wanted to try something in investment banking, and I actually didn't think that I was going to enjoy it as much as I did. I had obviously heard about the lack of work/life balance and the amount of hours, but when I got the job I realized my learning curve was really steep. A lot of the things I learned in the classroom hadn't stuck as much until I started connecting them with things that I was doing on the job. It was the direct application of things I was learning in the classroom.

I also really liked the culture of my group. The people that I worked with were the most laid back people I had ever met in business and did not really fit the stereotypical investment banker personality. So at the end of the summer when they gave me an offer, I signed almost right away.

At the age of 21, 22, or 23 years old it is very difficult to find another industry where you have as much impact on the projects that you are working on. On most of the projects I was involved with I was the only analyst working with an associate and sometimes directly with a VP, so there was a lot of senior contact. I leaned not just the analytical aspects of things, but also the qualitative and strategic things behind the recommendations that were given.

Leaving a mark on the culture of MIT

I am part of the GPI, the global poverty initiative that was started by a MIT senior named Anne Liu. The initiative brings MIT's first global poverty week to the campus in the spring. I am the academic relations director for the group, working with another student to reach out to MIT faculty and departments to see how they can get involved in raising awareness on campus about global poverty, and how the faculty can help with the workshop that we will be holding at the conference.

I really felt like this was the right time for me to get involved and contribute something to MIT before I leave. I have had a really great experience here and it was the best decision I could have made in terms of choosing a college. MIT has opened up so many doors for me and I feel like being involved is a way to give back to a community that I really like.

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