Monica Sung
Rutgers Business School (New Brunswick)
“Always hungry for delicious foods, great travels and juicy yields.”
Fun fact about yourself: I can count from 1 to 10 in 7 different languages!
Hometown: Old Bridge, New Jersey
High School: Old Bridge High School
Major: Finance
Minor: Art History, Political Science, Business Analytics
Favorite Business Course: Global Money Markets and Institutions
Extracurricular Activities, Community Work and Leadership Roles During College:
Activities, leadership roles:
Beta Gamma Sigma Honor Society – President
First Year Interest Group Seminar Peer Instructor
Rutgers University Student Assembly- Academic Affairs Chair, Campus Senator
School of Arts and Sciences Honors Program Student Advisory Board
School of Arts and Sciences Honors Program Peer Mentor Programming Board
School of Arts and Sciences Honors Program Peer Mentor
School of Arts and Sciences Honors Program Senior Honors Ambassador
Women BUILD – Member
Road to Wall Street – Member
New York Society of Security Analysts (NYSSA) – Member
Honors and Awards:
National Diversity Case Competition – Runner Up
ODE Macroeconomic Fed Challenge Forecasting Competition – Winner
AT&T 2014 Digital Life Case Competition – Winner
Goldman Sachs Quant Quest Competition – Rutgers Finalist
Roslyn Kurchin Scholarship
Rosa Oppenheim Award
Where have you interned during your college career?
J.P. Morgan, New York, N.Y., Public Finance Investment Banking Summer Analyst
Moody’s Investors Services, New York, N.Y., Corporate Finance Ratings and Covenants Research Summer Associate
AT&T Corp., Bedminster, N.J., Sales Execution and Operations Intern
Where will you be working after graduation? After graduation I will be working at J.P. Morgan as an analyst in Residential Mortgage Backed Securities Financing.
Who is your favorite professor? My favorite professor is James Winder. He does a great job making financial concepts and numbers come to life, connecting areas of finance and economics I never thought would be linked. He also promotes an environment centered around thought and intellectual development rather than just grades and assignments.
What did you enjoy most about your business school? The thing I enjoy most about Rutgers Business School is the culture. Students are constantly taught the importance of integrity and hard work. I especially like the emphasis on scrappiness and determination, as I’ve always believed that these traits are essential for success.
What is the biggest lesson you gained from studying business? The biggest lesson I’ve learned from studying business is that at the end of the day, the most important thing is the connections you make with people. At work but also in life, nothing beats genuine connections with people who have similar goals as you and want to see you succeed.
What advice would you give to a student looking to major in a business-related field?
I would tell them to keep their minds open. When thinking of business, people generically imagine finance or Wall Street, but there are really so many other great majors and areas of business to explore. Being open minded allows you to be a better business person – you can develop more of an understanding of how the industry works as a cohesive system as well as how you can improve that system.
“If I didn’t major in business, I would be majoring in or studying…Political Science or another pre-law major, with the hopes of becoming a lawyer.”
What has surprised you most about majoring in business? I was surprised most by how much of business isn’t just numbers. Coming from a family of accountants and computer scientists who worked in business, I assumed that all of business involved technical analysis. Through my education I’ve learned that while those numbers are important, the story they tell, the impact they have, and how they create change are really what drives businesses.
Which academic, extracurricular or personal achievement are you most proud of? I am most proud of my experience as a First Year Interest Group Seminar (FIGS) Peer Instructor. Through this experience, I created and taught a 10-week class to 25 freshmen students interested in business. The experience was absolutely transformative. I really developed my communication and public speaking skills from the experience, but the best thing I got out of it was learning how to better handle uncertainty and changes. As a very organized person, I used to get easily flustered when things didn’t go according to plan. Through teaching my class – and by facing the constant and unexpected diversions from my lesson plans – I learned how to better deal with unpredictability and randomness and now I enjoy the opportunities to explore the novel perspectives that they bring.
If you were a dean for a day, what one thing would you change about the business school? If I were dean for a day, I would encourage more writing in classes and in the curriculum. I think that written communication is crucial. It is a skill I’ve attempted to further develop through my liberal arts minors, which involve lots of analysis through writing. I believe that business students would really have a more robust and well-rounded skill set if our technical skills were complemented by stronger written communication skills.
Which classmate do you most admire? I really look up to and am constantly impressed by my good friend Dylan Herman. Dylan wants to be a high school science teacher one day and is graduating with an Ed. M. and a B.A in Physics and Mathematics in four years. Beyond just academics, I’m constantly amazed by how he constantly goes out of his way to be the best teacher he can be. He takes every opportunity to tutor fellow students at every level, even taking extra time out of his busy schedule to help students on weekends or during stressful exam times just so he can get the most experience teaching. He endlessly gives his time to ensure the success of others and to improve his craft, and he upholds these very admirable traits not only in teaching, but in life.
Who would you most want to thank for your success? I would have to thank my sister Sophia. My whole life, I’ve had the benefit of learning from her successes and failures, from the best way to tie a pony tail and how to study for the SATs, to what to do and what not to do on an interview. Through every tough time in my life, she has been there to give me the pep talk I need to go back and try twice as hard. I joke that she was my first “mentor,” as she really taught me how to be a sponge for information and learn from the experiences of others.
What would your theme song be? “Keep your Head Up” by Andy Grammer. Whenever I hit hard times or get stressed out about things, I think about this song, and I remember that sometimes just changing your mindset and keeping your head up can change how you see things.
What are the top two items on your bucket list?
Going on (and winning!) “The Amazing Race” with my sister and attending the Met Gala.
Favorite book: The Joy Luck Club by Amy Tan
Favorite movie: Rush Hour
Favorite vacation spot: San Sebastián, Spain
What are your hobbies? For fun I love to cook and try new foods, work out, play tennis, travel and check out new exhibits at all the great museums in New York City.
What made Monica such an invaluable addition to the Class of 2018?
“Monica Sung is an individual who combines academic success, community service and competition skills to achieve personal success. Academically, she had an almost perfect grade point average while gaining experience at internships and making an impact on campus. She had challenging internships at J.P. Morgan Securities, Moody’s Investment Corp. and AT&T. As the mentorship chair of the Beta Gamma Sigma honor society, she created a 200+ person mentorship program that helped underclassmen connect with upperclassmen for professional and academic advice. Monica also was a peer instructor in our First Year Interest Group Seminar where she developed a curriculum and instructed a seminar-style course that explored themes of professionalism and macroeconomics. As the current co-president of Beta Gamma Sigma, Monica has done outstanding work for the honor society’s overall success. As captain, she led a team of her classmates to win the Economics Honor Society’s Macroeconomic Forecasting Competition in New Brunswick, N.J. She is the recipient of the Rosa Oppenheim Leadership Award for 2017-2018.”
Martin Markowitz
Senior Associate Dean
Rutgers Business School-New Brunswick
DON’T MISS: THE BEST & BRIGHTEST BUSINESS MAJORS OF 2018 — THE COMPLETE LIST
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