FMA 2017-2018 Magazine

Financial Management
Association members
start out with an
average salary of 93K -
The Auburn Plainsman
AWARDS & SCHOLARSHIPS
The following is an excerpt from the
full article that appeared in the Auburn
Plainsman on 4/20/18
Through providing training and business
connections to students, Auburn
University’s Financial Management
Association is in its fourth year of giving
students a head start in their career.
This year, 18 FMA members will graduate
from Auburn, and their average starting
salary is almost $94,000. The average
starting salary for Auburn business
graduates is around $55,000.
“If you think about the difference in
the top students and where the average
finance student is,” Carr said. “I believe
that a large portion of that nearly $40,000
difference is from value that FMA added.”
Tracy Richard, a lecturer for the school of
business and FMA Director, talks highly
of the program: “We had a lot of talented
students that were highly interested in
careers in finance, but we didn’t have
a solid vehicle for getting them there,”
Richard said. “I get a call at least once a
week from an Auburn alumnus who wants
to turn around and help finance students
successfully navigate a career.”
Carr said that FMA focuses on recruiting
freshmen and sophomore students to
have sufficient time to prepare them for
graduation. “They’re interested in finance,
and they’re willing to put in the work to
get to next level – those are the two big
things that we look for in applicants,”
Carr said. “They’re clearly interested in
the topic, they want to put in work to be
successful and be competitive in these
career paths, and also they have the
academics to back that up”
“The resources that we offer includes
training - we bring a company down from
New York twice a year to do Excel training
for our students, we have a mentorship
program, we do case competitions, we
have an advanced modeling class, we
host seminars for the HCOB and arrange
corporate visits for our members” Carr
said. “There’s a lot of stuff that we do
beyond the classroom.”
“With FMA you really receive support in
two ways, there’s the industry exposure
where FMA helps each student figure out
what area of finance they want to pursue,”
Carr said. “FMA then provides senior
mentors and online training courses and
resources that equip members for an
internship and ultimately a full-time job.”
“I joined FMA as an energetic freshman
who had some time to devote toward
something, but I didn’t know what,” said
Jimmy Brewster, sophomore in finance.
Brewster is interning in NYC for the
spring semester, and he has already
secured another internship in NYC for this
upcoming summer. “One of the biggest
things that FMA has given me is they’re
genuinely excited and interested in my
career and my success,” Brewster said. “I
think that’s one thing that is commonly
overlooked - Tracy and Jordan and the
members of this organization care so
much about each other’s success.”
FMA 2018 MAGAZINE 35