Manning School of Business student Shaymus Dunn knew he’d get plenty of real-world experience during his summer accounting internship at EverQuote, an online insurance marketplace headquartered in Cambridge, Mass.
Standing on the floor of the NASDAQ stock exchange in New York City during the company’s initial public offering, or IPO, was an added bonus.
“I’ve always been interested in the stock market, but to experience it firsthand is something I never expected I’d get to do,” says Dunn, a junior business administration major with a concentration in accounting and a minor in psychology. “It was really awesome.”
A native of Lowell, Dunn thought he wanted to get out of his hometown for college. But after one semester at UMass Amherst, he had second thoughts and transferred to UML. As a commuter student living at home, he found ways to be involved on campus by joining the Accounting Society and Beta Gamma Sigma. He also worked as a front desk associate in the business school.
During his full-time internship at EverQuote, Dunn learned about accounts receivable, including running reports on open accounts and collecting payments from customers. He also assisted with several projects as part of the IPO filing.
“I lucked out with this internship. I gained a lot of experience that I don’t think I would have elsewhere,” says Dunn, who learned about the opportunity from Assoc. Prof. of Accounting Stefanie Tate. One of her master of science in accounting students, Nam Dinh, is a controller at EverQuote and was Dunn’s boss.
Standing on the NASDAQ floor as the EverQuote leadership team rang the opening bell, Dinh encouraged Dunn to look around and absorb the moment.
“It’s an overwhelming place,” Dunn says of the trading floor. “There’s a lot going on at once.”
Dunn, who plans to pursue a career in public accounting, already has an auditing internship lined up for next summer at RSM in Boston.
“Internships give you experience that you can’t get in the classroom,” Dunn says. “And you’re also taking what you learned in the classroom and applying it to real-life work. It works both ways.”