Chi Tong (Sonia) Chao

Studying MSc Investment and Wealth Management

Why did you choose to study MSc Investment and Wealth Management and why specifically at Imperial College Business School?

The modules within the programme interested me because it included both technical analysis skills and practical financial evaluation skills.  

What was the most important learning point you took with you from the Business School?

The teaching of the complexity in mathematics and statistics trained me to be agile in technical and analytical tasks. A lot of the topics learned were also useful for CFA examinations.

What was the most surprising thing about the programme?

I had classmates coming from many different backgrounds and working with them in group projects could trigger critical discussion and different method of analysis. The programme also greatly enhanced my technical skills and I began to realise the importance of data analysis in a lot of aspects.

How did you find living in London?

It’s a great hub to make connections and meet people from various industries.

Career & professional development

How has your programme contributed to your career success?

Financial modelling knowledge that I learned from the programme has contributed greatly to my current job, especially when I was working in the Corporate Finance department at MGM Resorts, engaging in potential acquisition deals. The final dissertation on company valuation reinforced the knowledge learned throughout the year.

How do you plan to use the skills and knowledge you gained during the programme within your career going forward?

I would like to continue to make use of corporate finance knowledge when there is a need of assessing refinancing channel.

What is your current role like?

My role involves writing business analysis of the company operation, updating corporate financial models, and building forecast models. Besides, I assist in tasks relating to Investor Relations, such as analysis on consensus estimates and making analysts’ comparisons to internal forecast.

What do you enjoy most about your work and what are the main challenges that you face?

I enjoy having the ability to understand the operations of the whole business, from casinos to Food & Beverage. The kind of analysis could be different every day as business environment changes rapidly. Challenges could be that the uncertainty in the economy could adversely affect business and sound sensitivity analysis would be critical.

What is your proudest achievement in the job so far?

The opportunity given to work in the parent company in Las Vegas.

The alumni network

In what way is remaining connected to your alumni network important to you?

It is a good way to keep up-to-date on how the Imperial experiences have shaped your classmates’ career.

Advice for future students

What advice would you give to a prospective student considering studying the same Business School programme as you?

 It is essential to attain some foundation statistics knowledge, and certain level of programming skills would ‘make life easier’!