Thomas Melton '06 Interns at JP Morgan

Tom Melton ’06 profited from an internship in New York City

WHILE MILLIONS of American college students were spending their summer either vacationing or in summer jobs that had little relevance to what they would be doing later on in life, Thomas Melton ’06 was working long hours and assisting high net-worth individuals in investing their money, as one of a handful of summer interns for JP Morgan’s division of wealth asset management.

Tom is an economics major who wants a career at a major financial institution like Morgan. He is certain that the internship will prove crucial to getting the job he wants. “You can’t get a first-year analyst position without an internship,” he says. “I didn’t want to do a generic internship, and I didn’t want to go with a smaller name. I really wanted to get out there with the major players.”

He interviewed with Morgan over the telephone from England, where he was studying economics. “They had never hired anyone over the phone before, so it was a stretch for them,” he says. The program included a weeklong training program in New York before spending nearly ten weeks in the company’s Atlanta office. He began researching potential clients, but that soon changed. “When they realized I was more interested in finance,” he says, “I started getting more responsibilities. I was doing basic asset allocation, proposing certain investment vehicles for a portfolio, which we would take to the client.”

After a summer of 10- and 12-hour days, Tom returned to New York to give a presentation about his experience. He had learned a considerable amount about finance, corporate structure, and general business while showcasing his education from Hampden-Sydney.

“I am so thankful for this internship, and it is unfortunate that more of our students don’t have this kind of opportunity,” says Tom. “We need to make our students more aware of the importance of having a quality internship. I hope the College can make more of them available.”

October 4, 2006