By Morgan Orangi, Career Services Ambassador
Mark Angel ’13 is a Biology major, senior admissions fellow, president of club tennis, Chidsey leadership fellow, philanthropy chair of fraternity, tutor in the writing center, private tutor, and Turner Prince Charming. He interned this past summer with Capital Group Companies, a position he found in WildcatLink that was posted at Davidson as part of its 100 Internship Challenge.
Mark Angel ’13 spent the past summer in LA interning for the Capital Group Companies, a top three investment management firm, as part of The Associates Program (TAP). He discovered this opportunity while browsing for internships on Wildcat Link. TAP intrigued Mark with the prompt “What would you change about Davidson?” rather than requesting a cover letter. After a phone interview and an interview with Capital in New York, Mark received the call offering him the position.
According to Mark, Capital is an “extremely complex organization,” whose ten-week training program is also considered by Capital as training for potential employees. One of the primary tasks for Mark and six of his fellow interns was to learn about Capital and the companies that support them. Each intern was assigned an individual project based on their interviews and personalities – Mark researched marketing for retirement plans. In addition, they collaborated with each other on three projects related to their TAP class.
In a typical day, Mark would arrive at the office at 7:30am, attend meetings for about two hours, work on his individual project, have lunch with someone who works in an area of interest, work on the group project for three to four hours, return to work on his project, and leave the office by 5pm or 6pm each day. Mark’s favorite aspect of the TAP program was working alongside such intelligent people. He reflects, “It’s very humbling to know that there are people in the room who are so much brighter than you, figuring out how you can learn from them and take their ideas and maybe add your own ‘biology major’ twist to it.”
Mark feels that his Davidson education greatly benefitted his performance. “Davidson teaches you to question, teaches you to poke holes, and teaches you to think outside of the box…I think that overall made the group project and my final presentation the best that it could be.” He adds that, “The interdisciplinary nature of the education at Davidson helps you to understand the downstream effects of something within the business world.”
During the final week of the internship, TAP employers interviewed each intern for a global rotational program that lasts two – three years after graduation. They do six rotations across various segments of the company (investment research, HR, marketing, etc.). Although he ultimately chose to start his career with another company, Mark was excited to receive an offer from Capital Group for this program.