Finance Club has attracted 40-50 new members this year with an educational curriculum based on active learning, access to influential club speakers and trips, and the ability to build skills that can be applied beyond finance itself.

This year’s membership has surpassed numbers from previous years. The club’s emphasis and ability to learn actively is a big part of what makes it so unique, according to Danesh Patel. 

“No other school that I’ve heard of gets active management experience,” said Danesh Patel, president, referring to the fact that the club manages real money each year, with a $110,000 portfolio.

According to Danesh, access to the University of Chicago’s Booth School of Business and the Kenneth C. Griffin Department of Economics allows for the same kinds of opportunities a student would get at top colleges. 

Finance Club members will visit Morningstar, a financial services company, in November and plans to bring in Nobel Prize winner Lars Peter Hansen as a guest speaker later in the year. 

Danesh explained that the curriculum of the club is not solely exclusive to finance and said a majority of club members aren’t necessarily interested in pursuing finance as a career. However, he claims that the skills gained through the experiences offered in finance club are ones that can be applied later in life in virtually any career.

“We don’t necessarily just focus on finance,” Danesh said. “We also learn about a lot of other cool things that are related to finance in some way.”