Alice Ervaz ’23

I’ve been fascinated by the investment management world since a summer internship in a long-only equities fund in Spain when I read When Genius Failed, a book about the rise and fall of Long-Term Capital Management. I was intrigued, started researching graduate programs in asset management, and found Yale SOM’s. I was immediately struck by the unique coursework, data applications, and quantitative rigor. We master Python programming to analyze investment strategies and we learn advanced statistical and machine learning techniques to predict returns and volatility. These skills are very much in demand in the public markets and increasingly the private markets, too.

Quick decision-making—based on imperfect information—and the ability to establish causal relationships are very important in asset management. Being able to identify the best opportunities, assessing risk, and unlocking value are critical. So much of our classwork addresses these areas.

One of the course highlights for me was Quantitative Investing. We learned how a quantitative fund operates and what the real-world challenges are. I especially appreciated the statistical rigor and the emphasis on understanding how strategies like momentum and value perform in different market conditions. Right now, I’m enjoying Private Equity and Venture Capital, where we’re learning how to establish a venture capital fund and evaluate early-stage startups.

I was really excited about my classmates’ diverse backgrounds, and they have proven to be so valuable. We have traders, equity research analysts, quantitative researchers, investment bankers, and so much more! They all bring different insights to class discussions, and it has honestly been a pleasure to collaborate during team assignments. While I plan to continue my career back in Europe, I really want to keep this network!