The Path to Treasury

I've been asked by email and your comments about how I got to be an intern at Treasury. I think it's an interesting story and one which demonstrates the value of networking.

More than a year ago in August, I flew out to New York for the first time to meet investment bankers. I was part of a larger group flying out, and the guy hosting all of us students was a vice president at Morgan Stanley. I only talked with him once over the three-day period, and he probably wouldn't have been able to pick me out of a lineup.

In October, I went back to New York and this time met with my Morgan Stanley friend one-on-one. He only had time for a five-minute chat and a bagel, but it was better than nothing. I went to New York two more times (one trip alone and one with a group), and both times I stayed in touch with this guy. I never asked him for anything, and just enjoyed learning from him and hearing stories about his work.

I interviewed at various banks and worked at a bulge bracket over the summer. It was while I was in New York again that I heard that my friend had been asked to go to Treasury to head up the housing and mortgage markets team. It seemed like a really cool role given the turmoil in the housing markets.

About a week after my internship ended, I heard through the grapevine that the intern currently at Treasury (an HBS first-year) was just finishing up and going back to school, and my friend was looking for another intern for the fall. I sent him my resume and told him I'd like to be considered for the spot. I believe that because he knew me and had kind of watched me progress and learn over the past year, he felt good about giving me a shot. I interviewed with him and another guy at Treasury, and a week later got the call that I had been chosen to be the intern!

At first I was solely focused on housing and mortgage markets, but when Fannie/Freddie/Lehman/Merrill Lynch/AIG/etc happened and TARP popped up, my friend, another guy on our team, and I all hopped on the TARP team and I spent the rest of my time at Treasury working on TARP.

I had an absolutely amazing experience. I met with over 65 CEOs of various companies of all size, did work directly for Neel Kashkari, went to industry conferences, and sat in meetings with Paulson, Bernanke, Kashkari et al. I learned a TON about the housing markets and the economy in general.

I feel like I have been very lucky to have done an internship like this. Because of the fact that I took classes during one summer while doing a local internship, I was able to skip classes during this fall semester and go out to Treasury. It's not a requirement for my school, but more just a great opportunity that I was able to take. For three months I was the only intern working on TARP (for the last few weeks another intern at Treasury did some work on the Capital Purchase Program).

It was an amazing semester, and I loved being in DC during the election. It was awesome to work in the actual Treasury building, right next to the White House. Every night I would walk out past the statue of Alexander Hamilton and look back to see the view on a $10 bill.

Being at Treasury has really got me interested in policy, and I won't be surprised if I end up working for the government again someday.