Alright, so the reason I have been MIA for so long is I have been working on our final project for my HADM 429 - Investment Analysis and Portfolio Management class. There is no final exam and the majority of our semester grade is based on our performance on the project.

This year, the assignment was: you have 1 billion dollars, design and execute over the course of the past year, a hedge fund.

So, two weeks, nearly 150 hours of work and multiple consecutive all nighters later we still did not have a functioning excel model but we were ready to present to the class (we are given one more week to complete the model and write a 15 page report.) The presentations are actually a competition, called the "Mug and Shot Award." Now, it seems silly but the professor actually takes the award quite seriously - the winner is engraved on the plaque which hangs in his office. His excitement in the award flows through to us students and as a result everyone is gunning for the award. The class is quite competitive and truly represents the best finance minds Cornell has to offer; there are students from every undergraduate college and quite a few grad. students as well... 

 After toying around with a few ideas for macro based funds I started doing some reading about convertible arbitrage funds. Although it was a difficult undertaking, we decided to plow ahead designing a convertible arbitrage fund. Collecting the data and sorting it took nearly a week alone. Let alone the fact that it was an incredibly complex model to design. Basically, we were in way over our heads but put together a compelling argument for the presentation to the class. We presented in the evening section and during the section one group is voted by the class to the finals (one group from the morning section is also voted in.) Finally, one group is chosen by a panel of the teaching assistants and the professor as a "wild card" bid to the finals. Luckily, we were chosen as the wild card and to my surprise headed to the finals. We had strategically only had one group member present in the initial round (since each group member, of three, can only present once.) I knew the most about the concepts we based the fund around so I presented in the finals along with our third group member. The other two groups had used the tactic of having their two strongest members present initially.

The finals was truly something to be seen. I came out with so much energy that people actually asked me if I was drunk. I wasn't, in fact I was just delirious on so little sleep. I made quite a few jokes, some even a bit crude, and through it all I literally screamed with excitement. Let's just say that the tactic worked. I got everyone's attention and when it came time to vote it was clear we would come out as the winners. It was still surreal when the professor called our names as the Mug and Shot winners and I can't explain how happy I was that night. It was incredibly rewarding having the one pinnacle project of my Cornell career end with such success. I was on cloud nine as the entire class moved down to the Regent Lounge in the Statler Hotel for a bar tab thrown by the professor.

Alright, so the reason I have been MIA for so long is I have been working on our final project for my HADM 429 - Investment Analysis and Portfolio Management class. There is no final exam and the majority of our semester grade is based on our performance on the project.

This year, the assignment was: you have 1 billion dollars, design and execute over the course of the past year, a hedge fund.

So, two weeks, nearly 150 hours of work and multiple consecutive all nighters later we still did not have a functioning excel model but we were ready to present to the class (we are given one more week to complete the model and write a 15 page report.) The presentations are actually a competition, called the "Mug and Shot Award." Now, it seems silly but the professor actually takes the award quite seriously - the winner is engraved on the plaque which hangs in his office. His excitement in the award flows through to us students and as a result everyone is gunning for the award. The class is quite competitive and truly represents the best finance minds Cornell has to offer; there are students from every undergraduate college and quite a few grad. students as well...

After toying around with a few ideas for macro based funds I started doing some reading about convertible arbitrage funds. Although it was a difficult undertaking, we decided to plow ahead designing a convertible arbitrage fund. Collecting the data and sorting it took nearly a week alone. Let alone the fact that it was an incredibly complex model to design. Basically, we were in way over our heads but put together a compelling argument for the presentation to the class. We presented in the evening section and during the section one group is voted by the class to the finals (one group from the morning section is also voted in.) Finally, one group is chosen by a panel of the teaching assistants and the professor as a "wild card" bid to the finals. Luckily, we were chosen as the wild card and to my surprise headed to the finals. We had strategically only had one group member present in the initial round (since each group member, of three, can only present once.) I knew the most about the concepts we based the fund around so I presented in the finals along with our third group member. The other two groups had used the tactic of having their two strongest members present initially.

The finals was truly something to be seen. I came out with so much energy that people actually asked me if I was drunk. I wasn't, in fact I was just delirious on so little sleep. I made quite a few jokes, some even a bit crude, and through it all I literally screamed with excitement. Let's just say that the tactic worked. I got everyone's attention and when it came time to vote it was clear we would come out as the winners. It was still surreal when the professor called our names as the Mug and Shot winners and I can't explain how happy I was that night. It was incredibly rewarding having the one pinnacle project of my Cornell career end with such success. I was on cloud nine as the entire class moved down to the Regent Lounge in the Statler Hotel for a bar tab thrown by the professor.