Classroom to Industry: Advanced Master in Financial Markets Internship Experiences

What was the process like finding your internship? How did you decide which path you wanted to take on, and what role did your professors and instructors play? 

"Before even starting the master's, I already had a pretty clear sense of where I wanted to go: private equity, M&A, corporate finance. The courses really just confirmed what I already felt, and from the start of the year I decided to combine work and studies simultaneously. It was demanding, no question, but the learning curve on both sides made it genuinely worthwhile.

In terms of finding the internships themselves, the two came about quite differently. The first one came through relationships I had already built with people inside the firm. The second came through a more unexpected channel: our Private Equity professor actually reached out directly and flagged the opportunity to me. It was a good example of how being present and engaged in the programme opens doors that you wouldn't find on your own."

- Maxime Takacs, Private Equity Intern at Trajan Capital

"I came into Brussels and Solvay after five years' experience in capital market regulation. Behind me were regulatory investigations and enforcement. I knew what financial markets looked like from a regulator's desk, and I knew it well. But that familiarity was also the point: I didn't want to spend my internship somewhere that felt comfortable.

Financial Market Infrastructures were an area I'd watched closely throughout my career, but always from the outside—as the supervised, not the supervisor. When Solvay organised a visit to Euroclear, something clicked. I wanted to understand how an ICSD of that scale actually operates from within, not from a regulatory report. That visit was the beginning of the conversation, and the internship followed from there." 

- Sena Nur Tekeş, Credit Analyst Intern at Euroclear

What company did you intern at, and what were your role and responsibilities? Did you have a chance to apply what you learned in your curriculum?

"During my master's, I completed two internships, which gave me exposure to different sides of the finance world. The first was at RSM International, in their corporate finance department, where my responsibilities covered financial due diligence, company valuations through DCF analysis, and preparing materials for clients.

The second, which I am currently doing, is at Trajan Capital, a lower mid-market private equity platform backed by Edmond de Rothschild. The work there revolves around deal screening and execution, so financial analysis, market mapping, LBO modelling, and preparing investment committee materials for transactions in the €10–100M EV range.

In terms of applying what I learned in the AMFM, there was definitely a lot of overlap. The valuation frameworks and financial statement analysis we covered at RSM translated pretty directly into the day-to-day work. At Trajan, the LBO and leverage structuring concepts came up early on in deal contexts. The classroom work gave me a good base to build from, even if practice always adds a layer of complexity that you only really get from doing it."

- Maxime

"I joined Euroclear Bank as a Credit Analyst Intern. Day-to-day, that meant assessing the creditworthiness of relevant entities; working through the internal rating model, checking exposures against limits, and making sure any gaps or vulnerabilities were properly understood and flagged.

What I didn’t expect was quite how much of the AMFM curriculum I’d actually use. The Financial Market Infrastructure course was an obvious fit, but the banking analysis and banking regulation coursework showed up just as frequently. The Risk Management course, which focuses on identifying vulnerabilities inside an entity, was probably the most directly transferable thing I’d studied. It’s one thing to learn a framework in a classroom; it’s another to find yourself reaching for it almost instinctively at your desk." 

- Sena Nur

What was a challenging moment during your internship, and how did you address it/what did you learn from it? 

"For me, the biggest challenge was not specific to the internship itself but more the combination of everything at once. The programme is already demanding on its own, with classes running five to six days a week, and adding a full internship on top of that meant I was essentially living for those two things for the better part of a year. There were stretches where it was genuinely tough to keep up with both.

But looking back, I have no regrets. The things I learned, both technically and from the people around me, made it worth it. The professors brought a lot of real-world perspective into the classroom, which made the material click in a way it might not have otherwise. And the people I met throughout the year are probably one of the best takeaways from the whole experience. I came in with a decent network, and I am leaving with a much stronger one."

- Maxime

"Starting an internship during exam season is, in hindsight, not the most obvious choice. There was one particular week where an end-of-month deliverable and an exam deadline arrived at roughly the same time, and I genuinely did not know which direction to face first. I felt stretched in a way that wasn’t productive.

What got me through it wasn’t anything sophisticated; it was just learning to prioritise properly, and to be honest with myself about what actually needed my attention that day versus what could wait. You can’t do everything well at once. Once I accepted that, it became easier to make decisions without second-guessing them."

- Sena Nur

What was a highlight/your favourite part during your time with the organisation?

"Being in the room during actual deal discussions. There is a level of texture to how decisions really get made that you simply cannot get from case studies. Hearing how an investment thesis gets challenged, refined, or sometimes scrapped entirely in real time is something else. What also struck me is the depth of thinking required before any decision gets made; every angle gets covered: financial, strategic, operational. It pushed me to be much more thorough in how I approach and frame my own analysis."

- Maxime

"The people. Genuinely. Euroclear brings together colleagues from across the world, and what struck me most wasn’t the diversity itself; it was how naturally everyone just got on with things together, across all the differences in background, language, and perspective. There’s something quietly impressive about an institution that operates at that international scale and still manages to feel human. That, and watching up close how smoothly Euroclear functions as a global infrastructure with a very clear sense of where it’s headed."

- Sena Nur

Was it manageable to balance your internship with your studies?

"It required organisation, but yes. The evening class format helps a lot as it is clearly set up with people who are working in mind. There were weeks where it got tight, particularly around exam periods or when a deal was at a critical stage, but it never felt completely unmanageable. If anything, running both at the same time meant the course material felt more concrete and immediately relevant, which made it easier to stay engaged on both sides."

- Maxime

 “Manageable” is doing a lot of work in that question. It was demanding, and personal time was essentially the first casualty. But what I found, once I started being deliberate about how I structured my time, was that the two things were reinforcing each other in ways I hadn’t anticipated. Something I’d covered in a lecture would surface in an analysis I was working on at Euroclear, and suddenly it stuck in a way it hadn’t before. I was tired, but I was also learning more than I would have been doing either thing on its own."

- Sena Nur

 What was the impact of the internship/programme on you personally, and on your future professional steps? 

"The combination of the two has been meaningful. The AMFM gave me a stronger technical foundation and the internships gave me the context to understand what actually matters in practice. One of the main reasons I did this master's was to deepen my knowledge of finance but also to build new connections that could open doors, and it has delivered on both. The people I have met and the experiences I have had this year have only pushed me further in the direction I already wanted to go. I came in with some experience but still piecing things together, and I am leaving with a much clearer sense of where I am headed and why."

-Maxime

"This was the first time I’d lived outside Türkiye, and Brussels is not the best introduction to international life; it’s multilingual, fast-moving, and completely different from anything I’d known before. That adjustment alone taught me something about myself.

Professionally, the internship filled a gap I’d been aware of for a while. My regulatory background gave me breadth and investigative instinct; what I built at Euroclear was depth on the credit and risk side, from the institution’s perspective rather than the supervisor’s. I think the combination of those two angles is what I want to keep building on in the roles I’m now pursuing."

-Sena Nur

Overall, are you satisfied with your internship? Is there any advice you’d like to offer to future participants about this part of their studies at Solvay? 

"Very satisfied. In terms of advice, the main thing I would say is do not wait for opportunities to come to you. Reach out proactively, even to firms that are not actively advertising. In private equity and boutique M&A especially, a lot of placements happen through direct contact rather than formal recruitment processes. And when you do get in, be willing to do the groundwork and invest time in understanding the business beyond your immediate tasks.

On the programme side, make the most of the people around you. The connections you build with your classmates can turn into something that lasts well beyond the year. And enjoy it too, the school organises some really great moments, the trips in particular were a fantastic experience and not something you want to miss.

Visiting ING concluded the trip to London as far as the educational part is concerned, but some of us could not get enough of London and therefore stayed a few days longer."

- Maxime

"Yes, completely. My advice to future AMFM students would be to resist the pull of the familiar. Think about what you haven’t done yet, not just what you’re already good at. If you’ve always worked in large international institutions, try a small local asset manager or a family office and see what that teaches you about yourself. If you’ve never experienced an international environment, step into one. The internship works best when it takes you somewhere you couldn’t have predicted from where you started."

- Sena Nur

 Anything else you’d like to add that we didn’t ask? 

"The AMFM has been worth it. It's an intensive commitment on top of a full-time role, but the combination of the network, the academic rigour, and the practical grounding it provided has been genuinely valuable. I'd encourage anyone considering it to go for it, particularly if, like me, you're looking to make a meaningful step forward in your finance career."

- Maxime

"If there is one thing I did not expect to take away from this year, it is how much the setting itself taught me. Brussels is not a neutral backdrop, it is the centre of European financial regulation, and being here, living it rather than reading about it, changed how I understand the way markets are governed on this side of the world. The classroom gave me frameworks; my internship gave me practice; but the city, the people, and the European way of building consensus and thinking in long institutional timelines. Coming from a different regulatory culture, I found that difference genuinely illuminating. I leave with better technical skills, yes, but also with a much more grounded sense of how European finance actually thinks." 

- Sena Nur

Solvay Brussels School’s Advanced Masters have been developed to create a breed of ‘out-thinkers’ ready to tackle the continual changes of the business world. They are designed as full-time programmes for one academic year and represent 60 ECTS each.

With a placement rate of nearly 90% for our graduates in finance, including a 3-month placement even before graduation, discover how our Advanced Masters can help you launch your career!

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