Short Feature with Men's Soccer Junior Greg Bellwoar

Junior Greg Bellwoar, an finance and accounting major from Devon, Pennsylvania, answers a few questions about student life at Carnegie Mellon, what he's enjoyed about the spring semester, an internship he had, why he selected his major, and what he enjoys about Pittsburgh. Look below for images of Greg during semester in Spain.

1. What do you enjoy about campus life?

I love having the option to live off campus after freshman year. The area and houses around the campus are really nice and it is really easy to get to school by walking, biking, or taking the bus. After freshman year, most guys on the team live together in houses off campus, so after my freshmen year I moved into a house with other guys on the team and I have loved it. In addition to having the option to live off campus, I also love the layout of CMU because everything is close enough that you can easily get from one building to another. Most buildings have places to eat too, which makes it easy to meet up with friends for lunch or if I am running late I grab a quick bite to eat before class or practice.

2. What do you get involved in outside of soccer?

Outside of my sport I am involved in a few different clubs on campus, intramural sports, and volunteering. Also, outside of soccer I had the opportunity to study abroad this past semester in Barcelona. I spent four months studying in Barcelona, Spain, and over the course of four months I visited nine different countries and 17 different cities. Barcelona was a great place to study abroad because there are many things to do and see, the food was amazing, the weather was really nice, and I had the opportunity to watch FC Barcelona play multiple times. While my time in Barcelona was incredible, one of my favorite things about studying abroad was having the opportunity to travel. During the four months I went to Munich, Florence, Amsterdam, Dublin, Madrid, and many other cities, but my favorite trips were to Morocco, Budapest, and Southern Spain. Seeing so many different places and experiencing so many different cultures really made studying abroad one of the greatest experiences of my life.

3. Describe an internship you've had?

This past summer, I worked in the Philadelphia area at Centurion Group, an independent Registered Investment Advisory firm maintaining $14 billion of assets. At Centurion, I had the opportunity to assist a Managing Partner analyzing 401(k), 403(b), and 457 retirement plans. Throughout the summer, I researched and wrote internal reports on mutual funds held by retirement plan clients and provided recommendations on whether to retain, replace, or put the funds on an internal watchlist. My final project of the summer internship was to work alongside the Managing Partner to create and present a pitch book to B.F. Saul's Investment Committee with recommendations on how to improve their 401(k)-plan containing $200 million of assets. This internship was a great experience and reassured my interest in a career in finance.

4. What are you excited about as you return to campus in the fall?

This upcoming semester I am excited for the new Tepper Quad. I have heard remarkable things about the new building and expectations are high, so I am looking forward to taking some classes in it and seeing how it affects campus life.

5. What are your summer plans?

This summer I am interning in New York at Sandler O'Neill + Partners, a boutique investment bank as an investment banking analyst. I will be working in the mergers and acquisitions group researching, analyzing, and valuing companies in the financial services sector.

6. Why did you select your course of study – what class have you enjoyed the most?

Since high school I had always been interested in business and economics, so I came into CMU as an economics major. After joining the Tartan Student Fund, however, I became really interested in the markets and how to value companies, so I decided to transfer into Tepper and become a finance major. One of my favorite classes was Financial Statement Analysis because it gave me the opportunity to learn how to research and analyze companies and learn how to value these companies. Another one of my favorite classes was my Interpretation and Argument class, The Culture of Sports Fandom. I am a huge sports fan, which made this class both interesting and fun because we discussed different sports and the impact they have on people and communities around the world.

7. What class has been recommended by your teammates or friends as a MUST TAKE class at CMU?

A lot of people have recommended taking a computer science class because it makes you think in a different way and CMU has one, if not the best CS programs in the world. I have not taken a programming class yet, but this upcoming fall I am scheduled to take Principles of Computing (the intro to programming course) and I am very excited to take it.

8. What do you like about Pittsburgh?

I have really loved the size of this city. There are so many things to do and great places to eat in Pittsburgh and because it is not that big of a city compared to a New York, Chicago, or Philadelphia it is a lot easier to get to events and try different restaurants.

Greg with family at an FC Barcelona match		Greg with friends at an overlook in Barcelona		The parliment building in Budapest		Greg at an FC Bayern Munich match

For a soccer fan like Greg, he was lucky to be in the stands when Messi scored his 600th goal - and he got it on film.