The students in Professor Milligan’s ASAP class listen intently to guest speaker and board member, Jeff Van Harte ’80.
Imagine conducting countless hours of research, taking work home, preparing buy and sell reports and giving presentations to a board that oversees your investment activity.
While this may sound like the life of an investment trader, it is actually the day-to-day life of the students involved in Professor Michael Milligan’s Applied Security Analysis Program (ASAP) at Mihaylo College of Business and Economics.
In this program, students spend two semesters gaining real-world experience in securities analysis and portfolio management using real money – about $200,000 contributed by donors, including a $100,000 gift from Jeff Van Harte ’80 (finance).
Launched in 2010 by Milligan, the ASAP class is a two-semester course, and students learn what the volunteer ASAP advisory board will approve and what will be rejected through student presentations and buy and sell reports. The students explain their choices and receive feedback.
In the ASAP Program students are able to gain real-life experience buying, selling and trading stocks with real money.
If the board does not approve the sale or purchase of a stock, students may revise their proposals with the feedback they receive from the board and Professor Milligan, and students either change their decision or come back with a stronger case.
Once the board gives the okay, the students do the buying, selling and trading and gain priceless hands-on experience.
The board, which consists of four professionals (three of who are alumni) and three faculty members, gives not only their “yes” or “no” decisions, but also provides what Milligan believes to be the most educational aspect of the year-long program: They explain why they either approve or disapprove of the students’ buy and sell suggestions.
Milligan believes that the “why” of everything they are doing and learning is crucial. He says they need to know the reasons they made or lost money.
“My goal for the students is to learn how to make money in the market. That’s first and foremost,” he says. “My second goal is to help them get jobs.”
Milligan adds, “If you don’t understand how it works, then you don’t understand how to work it.”
Some of Milligan’s former ASAP students now work for companies such as U.S. Trust, Pacific Life and State Street Bank among others.
Within the program, there are two teams of six or seven students each, and while Milligan is open to creating a third team it would depend on having seven more qualified students in the program.
Professor Milligan sits at the back of his class and listens to guest speaker and ASAP board member, Jeff Van Harte.
Each spring, a letter is sent to the business and finance students inviting them to apply for a position in the ASAP course. Some of the requirements and details spelled out on the application include a commitment of one year, an expected 10 hours of work outside of class per week and an intense classroom experience.
Students who are interested in applying for next year’s ASAP will need to include standard information, like finance courses taken, GPA and any relevant internship or work experience. However, students will also be evaluated largely on whether or not they can “play nice with others.”
According to Milligan, the ability to be a team player is more relevant than a student’s GPA, because the duration of the program involves extensive teamwork and the ability to communicate and rely on one another. Switching teams or working alone is not an option in this class, and switching teams probably isn’t a likely scenario in the real world either.
Students who would like to apply for a spot in next year’s program should look for the invitations next semester.
