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Bentley University student Samantha Lovering

Even before she was a teenager, Samantha Lovering ’23 thought she had it all planned out. “Since I was 12, I’ve known that I not only wanted to do finance, but that I wanted do investment banking,” she says. 

Growing up in the town of Colchester, Conn., Lovering’s mother was an executive at Travelers, so insurance and financial services were on her radar. Once the 2008 financial crisis hit, investment banking and “too big to fail” suddenly became front-page news. And Lovering was hooked. Bentley University student Samantha Lovering

Her high school had a strong business program, giving her three years of accounting studies. She was accepted into Bentley’s Women’s Leadership Program — a selective four-year experience that focuses on talented women and offers $40,000 in scholarships. Bentley’s career services success rate also played a factor in her decision. 

“Honestly, I was looking at job prospects,” says Lovering. “Bentley really pushed that if you come here, do the work and excel, you will not just have a job when you leave, but you’ll have the job that you want.” 

Lovering entered Bentley planning to focus solely on finance. But sometimes plans change. And as Lovering started her first year, she soon discovered there was much more to Bentley than she had imagined. 

“We have programs in health sciences, and you can take biology and chemistry, and you can learn about sustainability and the environment,” she says. “For me, that was really eye-opening. It’s been a much more holistic experience than I thought it would be.” 

To expand her learning, Lovering added minors in Law and Sociology.  

“My entire experience at Bentley has been a great fusion of the arts and sciences,” says Lovering, now in her third year. “I started to be more interested in the thought process behind deals and what really motivates people on Wall Street. For me, sociology really helps with that.” 

In high school, Lovering served as a student representative to the local board of education. She loved the role, so at Bentley she ran for student government and is now the Student Government Association chair, a position that also involves a seat on the Faculty Senate and advisory role with the task force revising Bentley’s curriculum. She’s excited about the opportunity to make the curriculum even more diverse for future Falcons. 

If you come here, do the work and excel, you will not just have a job when you leave, but you’ll have the job that you want. 
Samantha Lovering  ’23

Lovering’s expanded area of studies along with her extracurricular activities (she’s also student research manager at the Jeanne and Dan Valente Center for Arts and Sciences) have proven to be an advantage in pursuing that investment banking career.   

“You don’t have to do what you think your set track is,” she says. “I didn’t get involved in typical finance clubs on campus like the Bentley Investment Group but I found things that really fueled me. That has made me more successful in the interview process with investment banks because I had something else to speak to.” 

It’s paid off. Lovering will spend this summer working at William Blair, a financial services company, in its health-care investment-banking internship program.  

“I’m excited about joining a company that I feel passionate about their mission and values of diversity and inclusion,” she says. Lovering says she was motivated during the interview process by a woman on the company’s health care team. "It was a great experience to see, OK, here’s a role model who I am inspired by, and I want to do what she is now doing.” 

So, while her path to an investment banking career has taken some unexpected turns, Lovering is still headed toward the dream career she envisioned nearly 10 years ago. 

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