Stockholm School of Economics in Riga Students' Magazine

There are some things you just don’t want to remember. For me, Financial Economics course is one of them. You can call me weak, too sensitive, not loving challenges, but those two winter months have been my worst experience so far. And as I am not planning to become a super-cool-super-rich-investmentbanker, I hope I will never have to live in such a nightmare again. In my personal case, surviving finance was comparable to a classical psychological crisis, which followed four main stages: shock, denial, depression and acceptance.

Stage 1: Shock

Even before the official beginning of FE, students were threatened about the exceptional workloads. The course syllabus looked more like a behavior guide written by a neurotic person than simply official instructions and explanations about the course conduct. From the Syllabus I got to know that I should study at least 11 hours each day to have a slight chance to pass, that I had to start reading the compendiums straight away and that I could fail the course immediately. Actually, it was not the rules itself that shocked me the most; mainly it was the administration’s and course organizers’ attitude. They purposefully tried to make clear that “it is not only a course, it is a school of life!” and that “you will never be the same person after the finance.”  It seemed that students were encouraged to voluntarily ruin their health (“sleep less, eat faster, and study more”). So, yes, I was shocked and very angry at the beginning.

Stage 2: Denial

At first, I tried to convince myself that it is possible to complete everything (if you have a strict schedule for reading the articles and solving exercises) and there is no need to spend 11 hours per day. I tried to convince myself that I had not had any difficulties with passing previous courses, so why should FE be somewhat different? My roommates and I tried to continue our usual habits such as collective dinner preparation, lasting more than 2 hours, watching beloved TV series and having beers at least each Friday. I even tried to go out sometimes (yes, I dared to visit French bar once and attended the school’s party). However, no matter how hard I tried to retain small pieces of my normal life, I simply could not drop Finance stuff out of my head and at the moments I was not studying I felt very guilty. That is why my ‘denial’ strategy failed quite soon.

Stage 3: Depression

After approximately one month of Finance I realized how much I missed my lazy Sundays in bed or in front of TV, meaningless Skype chats with friends from ordinary universities who had to study only twice a year, my drunk Fridays, my journeys to home, my music playlist, my pulp magazines, my smile and my sleep. Then I started counting days till the exam, which meant at least the temporal end of this nightmare.

I perfectly remember that before the exam I was so stressed that I could not eat, could not sleep and even could not study. Thanks only to my roommates, I did not go crazy or jump through the window.

Stage 4: Acceptance

              After the exam you forget the FE very quickly and easily (large amounts of alcohol are involved here as well). It is not true that Finance will make you a different person. At least not in my case. Finance course did not improve my poor time management, did not boost my efficiency and did not change my understanding of human abilities. It just proved me that I am studying in a very weird school where ‘miracles’ such as Financial Economics course happen. Of course, I accept that I learned something valuable but I do not agree with the learning tools and the organization of process.

Still, for me Financial Economics was a “success” story. I was one of those 30 lucky ones who passed. Unfortunately, for the rest of Finance course participants, I could just say… I know what you will do this June. And I sincerely wish them all good luck!

A.

Tiredness, empty packs of cigarettes, liters of coffee, heartaches, and constant feeling of a nervous breakdown approaching. These are my strongest memories about THE course. What about the knowledge? Well, to my mind, the idea that the more intensive the learning is, the more information you master, is totally wrong. Vague understanding of the basic concepts and few lines of some articles are all what is left in my mind. Two months of this “challenging adventure” simply made me absolutely indifferent to everything related to finance probably for the rest of my life. Knowing that I passed was probably even more exciting than the acceptance to SSE Riga itself, and it is simply hard to find the right words to describe my happiness that this nightmare has ended. I indeed enjoyed some tiny bits of the course, but overall intensity and pressure definitely overshoots my perception of normality. All in all, my congratulations to those who “pulled themselves together and made it through”, respect for those who discovered their passion for investment banking, and best luck for those who will still have an opportunity to experience this joy once more.

Agne

It was different. Different from others. Different from what others told about it. But it was THE Course, at least one of the very best. I would not say that it was similar to hell. Though, some days looked almost as hell. 25 hours non-stop with your research paper at school may be a strong force pushing you to hate this course. And those days of data collection, well, now I know how the hell looks like or at least where the line of suicide feeling comes closer.

But look on the bright side. This course showed how good standards of teaching look like. Talis was an incredible lecturer, an example of good pedagogy. In addition, the course has fascinated me with its potential applicability, at least from the first sight. It helped us to understand many things that happen in the world, and it showed how important financial system is for a country as well as the ways how it is created and developed. It put many pieces learned from previous courses into one bigger picture. Also, tracking of gained knowledge was what I really liked - quizzes were really helpful, at least to my mind. Overall, it was a great course; a course that really pushes you to be as efficient as you can, letting you to learn many things in just two months.

However, there are still many things to improve. The hassle of finding data for the papers might be reduced by buying access for the best databases, e.g. Datastream or Compustat, at least for those two months (if that's possible). Of course, not always in life you get all the data in the blink of an eye, and it may be a huge problem, but this course may allow for deeper research and interpretation of the data itself, not on its collection.

What I also very much liked about the course and the term paper part was the examiner Alminas Žaldokas. When you hear his comments you know how a good examiner should look like. However, there are mixed feelings about that, as it is rather sad when teams get different examiners. Thus, the grading is potential to a huge bias caused by different perspectives seen by examiners. This course goes against SSE Riga standards as it is much more personal than others. Here lecturers and TAs know not only your code, but also the person who stands behind it. On the one hand, it may considered as a bad thing as it brings possibility for personal and unequal treatment of students. On the other hand, it is good to know that you are not just a number to the whole course administration. It may make the atmosphere a bit less official and warmer. There is also more personal communication with the course administration and it is closer to a high school experience: the teacher knows a lot about you and you about him. And that was the thing that I like. Finally, the report deadline may be a bit further away from the exam, so that you have to sacrifice one for another as little as possible. So that's the experience of THE Course. This experience is definitely worth living, even though you do not have much living outside the Finance during that two-month-period. 

Vytautas

In the beginning of the year all Year 2 students were participating in the reality show “So you think you can pass finance.” Was it successful? To some people - yes. Was it interesting to participate? Some people might argue, but I would once again say "yes".

 The course had everything a TV reality show should have: some challenges, some fight elements (especially when talking about booking seats before a lecture), things to love as well as something to hate, a scheduled life no matter whether you appreciate it or not, days to madden and several moments to feel happy about what you are doing (isn’t that cool to get more than average score from CAPM quiz?). And then it is for a person to decide whether it was a good show or not: 1) those who hate such type of courses would most probably see only the negative side of the experience; 2) indecisive marketing/finance people will form an opinion built on what they remember more- pain in the back on the Day43 reading the 5th compendium or information they were taught; finally, 3) nerds and potential investment bankers would share happiness when talking about differences between plain vanilla and exotic derivatives. I myself belong to the second group and the subgroup thinking about the course in a positive way. Memories about no-life times have faded away leaving what I appreciate: increased level of patience, ability to overcome myself, knowledge in the field, understood value of spending time with friends and leisure in general as well as importance of expressing your creativity.

To sum up, even though it at some points might seem that I did not like the course, I should say I liked the challenge and would recommend everyone to go through this experience: to develop your skills, personality, or just to make sure this is not your way of life.

Gina

Yes, Finance again. It was a course that everyone has always been shouting, how difficult it is. Nothing difficult, except that you have little time, I would say. And a lot of people always (ALWAYS) studying around you and talking non-stop about how many articles they have read. Awful for those, like me, who do not like to sit and study and only do it when two days to exam are left or when they are struck by lightning. Again, you actually do not have to study 16 hours per day, two weeks before the exam is more than enough to pass. And yes, you can have extracurricular activities and you MUST have them, otherwise you are dead or you are a zombie, which is basically the same. I have made the biggest mistake that every day I was thinking that I should study and very many times I was delaying the start time until I eventually went to bed. Rather I should have had two free days/evenings every week. Rest is a vital MUST for a human being. Well, the course itself... Not too good like everyone is shouting, not too bad either. I have personally gained the understanding of finance, which is very nice (truthfully). However, now I cannot even think of the finance and cannot study AaF course at all, which is appalling. And finally, the FE exam is ridiculous. 

Karolis Čekauskas