<p>Hi everyone on CC. As a current participant of UOD HK, I want to give a full-on downlow of this program. My experiences has good and bad and take it from what you will. I will have to keep some stuff vague to stay anonymous but feel free to private message me for any questions.</p>
<p>I am a finance major and I participated in the Hong Kong 2009 program. I had a few other offers including a prop trading firm I interned with last summer (paid quite well) but I felt like I needed to diversify myself. Another offer I considered heavily is the Analyst Exchange program in NYC (unpaid). I ended up with HK because I enjoyed the city and I THOUGHT the job would be something I wanted albeit unpaid.</p>
<p>Although expensive, I was able to finance this program on my own due to the money I made last summer. Despite the high opportunity cost, I still went with this program anyway because I wanted to work in Hong Kong and felt like this program would be convenient and make my life abroad easier.</p>
<p>A little humourous note on the process of application and an example in support of how UOD tries TOO HARD to maintain a certain image: When I first applied, I was told that I was rejected and then a week later, suddenly I was accepted. This made me LOL because it was clearly a ruse as I am confident in my own credentials having gotten interviews before at Merrill Lynch IBD, Merrill Lynch DCM, HSBC S&T, etc. After finding out the caliber of people in the program, I was further convinced that it was an act they put up.</p>
<p>The job - I probably should’ve done more research but I got the impression that I would end up supporting research analysts with publishing research reports for institutional investors. Instead, I ended up more on the private banking side dealing with rich retail clients. I thought I would be able to learn valuable financial skills to help me transition into investment banking (from trading) but I have not been given any guidance in that aspect. Although they are continually impressed with my work and has changed my internship from unpaid to paid, I felt like I could have had better learning opportunities elsewhere. Most people I’ve talked to in the program have back office jobs. Notable good finance jobs include sales assistant (in S&T) at a forex company and summer analyst in a local small M&A advisory. The latter would’ve been a job I wanted, however, it was not made available until I’ve already accepted my initial offer. Needless to say, I’m pretty ****ed about this and my advice to you is to do as much research as you can about the firm on your own and DO NOT SETTLE. The HK program basically has a recruiter who liases between you and the firm but honestly, the recruiter does not know (serious lack of knowledge about financial jobs) and does not care what is best for you.</p>
<p>Value - The program includes housing (you have to room with a roommate) at the City University of HK in Kowloon, trips, and only one meal per day. City U is close to an MTR station so I can’t be picky about that. However, it was extremely inconvenient for me because all my friends and my work were on Hong Kong Island, about an hour away by MTR. I am currently living in a hotel (moved out early because I couldn’t stand my roommate) that is much nicer than the student dorm (oceanview), close to work(costs me less than a quarter USD to get to work), has people housekeeping for me, and costs $45/night. So accomodation on my own would be around $3000 USD MAX on my own. Split it with a roommate makes it $1500. The meal allowance provided by UOD per day is $30, 5 days a week, giving you $1200HKD or $200 USD. The cost of the weekend activities amount to less than $7000 HKD (1000 USD) if you do it on your own. So that adds up to 3000 USD MAX (1500+200+1000) and the rest (5000 UOD) is profits and internship placement costs by UOD. </p>
<p>UOD provides… and how much it costs them
Accomodation - $1500 USD
Food - $200 USD</p>
<h2>Weekend activities - $1000 USD</h2>
<p>Total - ~$3000 USD</p>
<p>Cost of program - ~$8000 USD
Cost of internship placement + profits = $5000 USD</p>
<p>You might think I’m exaggerating but awhile ago there was a WSJ article about how profitable these internship programs are, most notably UOD. So think about whether it’s worth it to hand all this profit to the program for the convenience and how much you actually want to work in HK (or NYC, Chicago, etc). Essentially, do you really want to pay $5000 to work for 8 weeks? $5000 amounts to almost 200 hours of work. You will definitely be able to get a job through cold calling and networking for 200 hours.</p>
<p>The people - some people mentioned that this program is for spoiled rich kids. I offer no stance on the statement but I will give a few anecdotes:</p>
<ol>
<li><p>People party a lot - this included my roommate who partied 4-5 days a week until 5AM. If you are into partying instead of actually working the internship you paid for, then this program would be perfect for you.</p></li>
<li><p>Sense of entitlement - recently, there was an email thread going out with people complaining that a dinner scheduled in Macau conflicted with their Cirque de Soleil show. Then, one level headed guy (but apparently no one knows who he is) stood up and basically told these kids to be more understanding and more mature and not be little **<strong><em>es because F up’s happen in life all the time and maybe they should get used to it. Immediately it became a witchunt of who this guy was while everyone who was complaining started calling him out and basically saying “since I don’t know you, you must have no friends, therefore *</em></strong>”. One complainer wrote the following paragraph in one of the emails:</p></li>
</ol>
<p>“But perhaps I should put my point of view in perspective for you all. Unlike GL my life actually has been pretty easy. I was born in a private hospital in 1988. When I was three I attended an exclusive private Baptist school that I hated. My mother headed the accounting department at my grandpa’s multimillion dollar moving company and could afford to buy a brand new car every two years. At 10 years old I moved to another school where I was even more happy. The campus sat on a cliff overlooking a beach but it really sucked when I had to watch in agony as my classmates were picked up in Mercedes and BMWs as I sat waiting for my Lexus. Middle school was a good time for me and I got lots of random gifts from my parents such as a moped, jet ski, a quad, and even a go-cart. This is not to say that there were never any rough patches…some days I would not eat McDonald’s for breakfast, other days our maid would **** up and not iron my favorite shirt for me to wear to school, and when times got really rough my driver stopped picking me up from and I would have to get a ride from my parents themselves. Middle school was an awesome time for me and I spent most of my time outside of school playing sports like soccer. My soccer team went 8-5 my 6th grade year, 9-4 my 7th grade year, and 13-0 my 8th grade for my school’s first all-island championship with me leading our defense. At 14 I moved to Oregon and attended the only private Catholic high school in my city. I graduated near the top of my class despite having dicked off for 3/4 of my time there. I now attend U of Oregon where I pretty much party my ass off 4 days of the week while maintaining a great GPA and being in the Honors Business Program. After I graduate I’ll probably get a job through one of my classmates from high school or a family friend (after I spend some time traveling, of course). I found U of Dreams by googling “Hong Kong Internship” and simply clicking the first thing that came up. I have also paid for this trip in cash…c-notes, *****. Just kidding, I used my credit card.”</p>
<p>Maybe he thinks he’s being funny but he just comes off as a ******. That pretty much summarizes the people who participates actively in this program.</p>
<p>Seminars - Perhaps the only redeeming part of this program, at least for me, was the seminars. Speakers, mostly finance, included an MD at an international FX firm, an Associate from a local M&A advisory, some big wig from an Asset Management firm, an entrepreneur, and an MD from a top 3 PE firm. These are actual good networking opportunities as most students don’t care and don’t show up. Thus, if you know your ****, you will stand out.</p>
<p>In general, UOD can be disorganized and provide really ****ty service despite the high cost. I was extremely stressed due to the conflicts between me and my roommate’s lifestyle, as well as because she steals food from me and borrows my things without my permission, etc. I’ve voiced my opinion on how they’re not helping out one of the top students in their program despite claiming to provide opportunities for hardworking students from unprivileged backgrounds. But I was told that if I contacted headquarters about my situation that the only response I would get is that they’re not liable for my lack of well-being due to roommate situations because it wasn’t explicitly promised. In short, nothing was done for me. So don’t come into the program believing that since you paid all this money, they would treat you well as a customer. They already have your money and they really don’t care about you as a person despite claiming otherwise.</p>
<p>I think that pretty much summarizes UOD. I’m sure there are some people who enjoy the program a lot more than I did. For everyone contemplating this program, I hope my experiences will help you make an informed decision.</p>