Jeremy Wong

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I graduated from St. Michael’s College in 2015 with a degree in Mathematics and a minor in Economics. Upon graduation, I landed a position at VIA Rail Canada in my hometown of Montréal, QC as a Development and Investment Analyst where I was able to put some of the quantitative skills I obtained at St. Mike’s to good use. On the development side at VIA, I was a part of a small team looking to digitize, update and streamline the workforce management process for a large group of employees. As a part of this team, we worked closely with a team of executives to find cost efficient methods of processing payroll data through a newly acquired software and utilized various statistical methods such as regression models to optimize workforce efficiency. As a part of the investment team, we analyzed various financial reports alongside macroeconomic trends to assess investment opportunities for the company’s pension fund.

After a brief stint at VIA Rail, I decided to pursue my education further and enrolled in the MS in Applied Economics program at Boston College. At BC, I was able to use my quantitative background to truly excel in graduate level economics courses such as Data Analysis, Econometrics, and Applied Microeconomics. The big difference in graduate coursework in economics at most institutions is that the material is more quantitative and mostly calculus-based whereas undergraduate programs tend to focus on qualitative findings utilizing simple algebra. Having that strong foundation in calculus and statistics from St. Mike’s was very advantageous in graduate school and allowed me to focus more on understanding the material rather than worrying about knowing how to execute the underlying mathematics.

Upon graduating from Boston College in the spring of 2018, I landed a position in Strategy Consulting at the Maia Strategy Group in Manchester, NH. Consulting was an industry that I truly wanted to get into after getting familiar with it in my first semester at BC and was very fortunate to get the opportunity to do so. At Maia, we utilize detailed primary research and data analysis to assess new market opportunities and growth and go-to market strategies along with performing M&A due diligence and competitive analysis for our clients. While the quantitative workload isn’t all that rigorous, the problem-solving skills and ability to think creatively and arrive at conclusive solutions I obtained through my Math degree at St. Mike’s are utilized every single day. I truly believe that these quantitative and problem-solving skills I developed at St. Mike’s have allowed me to excel in both graduate school and in my brief career in the financial services.