A "Duel" Threat

While Arianna Valentina-Dǎrîngǎ’s fencing prowess brought her to Hoboken, New Jersey, her drive, intelligence and curiosity have taken her to places she never imagined.

The daughter of Romanian immigrants from East Brunswick, New Jersey, Arianna arrived on the Stevens campus as a nationally ranked club fencer with aspirations of studying mechanical engineering. Nearly four years later, the three-time NCAA Regional qualifier is still a decorated fencer with almost 200 collegiate victories, but now she is engineering success as a quantitative finance major.

“I came to Stevens thinking I was going to be a mechanical engineer, work at an engineering firm and wear a hard hat and steel-toed boots,” she said. “Now, I'm wearing pantsuits, dresses and high heels walking around Wall Street.”

“With many immigrant parents, it’s either lawyer, doctor, engineer or failure,” Arianna continued. “I excelled my first three semesters here, but I switched because I was very interested in finance on a personal level.”

An internship with a biomedical engineering firm cemented her desire to pursue a finance career. In the three semesters since making the move in spring 2023, Arianna has wasted no time catching up to her peers. A dean’s list student every semester, she has worked as a data science intern at Prudential, a global markets summer analyst at Société Générale CIB and became the first woman to earn the Head of Presentation Development position for the Stevens Student Managed Investment Fund (SSMIF).

“Ever since I switched, I've been taking 20 credits, but I'm so happy I made the change,” Arianna said. “It shows that picking what you want to do with your life when you’re 18 is not set in stone. The fact that I got into SSMIF and got a job on Wall Street with all these factors just shows how this school is a place where you can succeed if you work hard. I'm grateful for having done my education here at Stevens because I don't think I would have been able to have these opportunities anywhere else.”

Arianna almost put that theory to the test. After deciding to pursue a business career, she began to explore her transfer options and applied to other schools, including Columbia. A conversation with George Calhoun, director of the quantitative finance program and Hanlon Financial Systems Center, convinced her that she could stay at Stevens, pursue her new passion and still graduate in four years.

“It just aligned perfectly,” she recalled. “Professor Calhoun looked at my undergrad coursework and was able to transfer my credits. I was also hesitant to pursue a traditional business or finance degree because I feel I have strong analytical skills and want to leverage them. I wouldn't have been able to major in quantitative finance at Columbia or the other places I had my applications open. I would have had to commit to something fully liberal arts because very few schools offer quantitative finance at the undergraduate level.”

Representation Matters

Arianna’s Romanian heritage and her pride in being a first-generation college student have been front and center in her Stevens experience. The faculty, especially in the QF curriculum, includes several native Romanians.

“A lot of the professors in the business school are from Romania,” she said. “Professor (Ionut) Florescu, Professor (Dragos) Bozdog, Professor (Dan) Pirjol, they have me taken me under their wing. They've all been really great mentors and really pushed and encouraged me. They know my background, and I think they're so proud to see someone like me doing what I'm doing. When I was about to give up, they would push me even harder because they believed in me more than I believed in myself.”

“It’s not just about being Romanian,” she continued. “Whatever culture you come from, good role models are so important. Having someone from the same background do the things you want to do, and who pushes you, gives you the confidence to do them.”

In her role with the SSMIF, Arianna can pay that mentorship forward by being the type of role model from which she has benefitted. As Head of Presentation Development, she is responsible for helping analysts prepare their financial models when evaluating stocks. She is also a teaching assistant for the undergraduate Corporate Finance class and works as a tutor in the University academic support center.

“A part of me really enjoys teaching,” she explained. “I love making sure that resources are accessible to everyone. I give analysts and students who come to my office hours 100% attention and all the tools they need to succeed. Sometimes you just need someone to explain it to you differently, and seeing that light go on is so rewarding and fulfilling.”

Quiet Confidence

Whether on the fencing mat or the trading floor, success doesn’t come without belief in your ability. Her athletic experience forced Arianna to learn how to overcome obstacles with persistence and poise, two traits that served her well during her internship experience at SocGen, an international banking giant.

“Reflecting on coming into college as a first-generation student and where my parents came from, I had doubts about being in that room where everyone came from an Ivy League school,” she recalled. “Once I got over that and started working, I realized I did belong there. I understood no one would hand me anything. I needed to prove myself, so I drew on my analytical coursework, my coding skills and my ability to do quick mental math—things I wouldn't have been able to do I wouldn't have been able to do if I wasn’t a quantitative finance major with an engineering background. The combination of where I come from, my coursework and my experience as a student-athlete has shaped me to get back up whenever I get pushed down.”

Arianna’s background in athletics, perhaps the ultimate meritocracy, helped her overcome the doubts and constant reminders of where her peers went to school. The name on the jersey doesn’t beat the talent and heart inside of it.

“I'm from Stevens. And you know what? We're at the same place and we both earned a seat at the table,” she said. “Don’t get me wrong, coming from Harvard or Columbia will help get you into the bank, but as soon as you're in, no one cares. I firmly believe that hard work will always triumph over natural talent alone. If someone really wants to do something, and they can access the same resources, they will do it.”

“I think being an athlete taught me the importance of working with people,” she continued. “You don't choose your teammates, just like you don’t choose your co-workers. As students, we always want to work with our friends, but that's not real life. You have to work with whoever and be respectful. Put aside your differences and work towards a common goal.”