At the very beginning of my SAIF MF Program, we were asked to write down our vision, and I still remember that my version was a decent life, a career with recognition and fulfillment and a well-being family after 10 years. After two years of study, my vision becomes even clearer, that is, to stay focused and contribute my learning to the world.
As one of SAIF MF 2017 graduates, Kai YIN is known for his remarkable performance, full scholarship and the honor of “Distinguished Graduate”, who secured an offer from Huatai Securities as early as in August 2016. In this graduation season, he expresses his gratitude to SAIF MF Program and also his expectations to the future journey of financial startup.
Brand New Landscape
Recalling his enrollment in SAIF MF, Kai YIN regards it as a natural decision. Graduated from the Mathematics Department of Fudan University, he often heard about the admissions of earlier graduates at Shanghai Advanced Institute of Finance (SAIF) in his sophomore year. “SAIF is highly recognized among us. It is widely agreed that SAIF MF is one of the best education programs in Shanghai and even in China, in terms of resources and future prospect,” said Kai YIN, “and it is even a more persuasive case for me because a transition from mathematics to finance would bring me more leverage and possibilities.”
He categorized the program taught in English into three parts, two of which are more specialized and focused. The first part of quantitative finance is most challenging and time-consuming, including Derivatives, Financial Mathematics and Quantitative Finance. And the second part of corporate finance involves Accounting, Corporate Valuation, M&A and Financial Management.
According to Kai YIN, PE & VC taught by Prof. Fei WU impressed him most. In addition to classroom lectures, Prof. WU also invited experts from various financial domains to share their real-world practices. Ranging from head of investment from a listed company, former filmmaker and today’s investor through to investment director from a well-established PE, these guest speakers opened up numerous windows to the financial world, covering the profitability model of cinemas and the structured design of M&As for PEs, to name a few.
A Moment in the Classroom (Kai YIN sitting at the right end of the 2nd row)
He admitted that it was the first time for him to interact with industry experts in such depth and breadth. And such experience was valuable to his future career. “During my prior internship at a financial institution, whenever I faced obstacles, I searched relative information online and sought for answers from experts. However, it was complicated and time-consuming, while the results were full of uncertainty. But this course guided me into a world of experts and expertise.”
From Cold Mathematics to Real-world Finance
Beyond knowledge, the campus life at SAIF also revolutionized Kai YIN’s way of thinking and personality.
Kai YIN joked himself a “nerd” dealing with numbers in the past, who was poor at presentation and communication. Nonetheless, he faced a number of courses highlighting business etiquette and communication skills at SAIF. For example, the course “Presentation Skills” guided him how to make eye contacts, prepare presentations and balance his speech rhythm and tone. “These skills liberated my potentials and made me more open-minded and proactive,” explained Kai YIN with a smile.
“In many cases of group discussion, each team often contained a foreign student, which increased the difficulties and challenges of communication. We had to seek for interactions, deployment, collaboration and even proper competition in a diverse workspace.”
As the financial sector focuses on practical operations, the frequent sessions of group discussion in the course “Corporate Finance” highlighted the complexity of financial theories in hands-on applications. “In the classroom, the theories might seem to be simple and straightforward. However, when you actually get down to review a company, it’s totally different. For example, the valuation of a company involves plenty of variables and factors,” said Kai YIN, who learned valuable lessons in the process.
“For instance, there are many ways to calculate risk-free rate. Should I use 1-year, 10-year or 30-year maturity? The interest rate in US or in China? The present rate or the average of last 10 years?” To Kai YIN’s surprise, it was totally different from his previous study of mathematical theories, which drew a definite line between right and wrong.
Lifetime Friendship
Fortunately, these practices, debates and conflicts consolidated the unique friendship between Kai YIN and his peers. He strongly disagreed the common perception that the 90s generation was a self-centered and lost generation. “We came to class and hunted jobs together. We are close.” He attributed such “closeness” to highly similar values, which led to the mutual supports within and between cohorts of SAIF MF Program. “We have a lot of topics to talk about and a lot of future to anticipate. We all hope that we would have the opportunity to fulfill our dreams together.”
A New Journey Beyond SAIF
After two years of challenging study, Kai YIN received an offer from Huatai Securities before the graduation season of 2017. In the future, he will be busy providing financing services to growth businesses.
And he is well prepared for this new journey. Thanks to the sound foundation of knowledge and expertise, along with the efforts of SAIF Career Development Center (CDC), his job search was smooth and fruitful.
“We received many emails from CDC team, regarding public and private recruitment information. They also invited previous graduates and industry experts to share their internship experience and interview skills. Given the awareness of SAIF MF, remarkable academic background and in-depth and ongoing training sessions hosted by CDC, SAIF graduates often stand out in the job market,” highlighted Kai YIN, explaining that almost all of his classmates succeed to find their desirable jobs.
Though the new journey would soon start, Kai YIN will still return to SAIF at weekends and holidays for self-improvement.
Sitting at SAIF Lab on the ground floor and looking at over 10 Bloomberg terminals in the front, he considered himself as a lucky guy, who had the opportunity to access such outstanding educational resources in his youth. “As an SAIFer, we are always part of the School. My best wishes to my classmates and also to SAIF. I hope the School would continue to enhance its performance, presence and influence in the academic community, in the financial sector and among alumni.”
Today, looking back at his prior vision about a decent life and a career of recognition and fulfillment, Kai YIN is more confident in his future. His advice to himself and other students: stay focused, keep trying and leaving no regrets.
