Maria Morozova: “ICEF and Princeton Taught Me That Nothing Is Impossible”
Meet Maria Morozova, a member of the ICEF class of 2022 who graduated from Princeton University in 2024 and is currently a Financing Trader at UBS New York. Here’s Maria talking about studying at ICEF, courses and exams at her Ivy League school, how Princeton differs academically from ICEF, best books to read for a career start, and...horseback riding.
Maria, what led you to enroll in ICEF? What guided your choice?
There were several factors. First, I had a passion for economics and finance and I had no doubt HSE would best fit my academic needs.
Second, and most importantly, ICEF seemed an attractive choice because of its international reputation and the opportunity to earn a degree from the University of London: it was my plan to continue studies abroad. What ICEF offered was an English-taught degree, a wide array of courses, and instruction by professors with PhD degrees from top schools abroad. All my friends spoke very highly of ICEF and its degree programme.
What do you remember best about your time at ICEF?
First and foremost, people. I was lucky to make wonderful friends here who were with me through my ups and downs during those four years. We shared many happy moments. It was an intense and challenging study, but at the same time exciting and highly interactive, with many courses that were truly captivating.
Some seminars were always overcrowded. They were so in demand that we had to get ourselves extra chairs and tables. I remember a Saturday evening at 7 p.m. — I was in my first year and the campus was based in Shabolovka back then — when students gathered for Professor Piotr Lukyanchenko’s extra consultation in math analysis and had to sit in the aisles.
There was something special about ICEF’s academic environment: everyone was looking for those little pieces of information they knew would get them through homework and exams. That passion for knowledge was what I missed at Princeton. I encountered far fewer situations at Princeton where students were eager to sacrifice their Saturday nights.
There were many moments that I now remember with a smile – Professor Olesya Kondrakhina's fancy dress exam in Accounting, which invited New Year’s outfits and use of an abacus, and Professor Alla Friedman’s lectures and seminars in Micro and Macro that were giving a really hard time to many of us.
And the out-of-class activities? Did you join any?
My classmates and I spent a lot of time together outside of class. We went on a lot of trips — to Siberia, Sochi, Yekaterinburg, Kaliningrad, and Turkey.
My best memories of ICEF are from its iconic Anniversaries. The first one I attended was in 2018 and I was amazed with its scale. Every subsequent Birthday was a much-awaited event ever since. There seems to be no other celebration like that anywhere else.
In February 2020, I joined the organizing team of the TEDxHSE Conference. It turned out to be an exciting event with many wonderful speakers from both ICEF and external organizations that we managed to get onboard.
Your most important takeaways from ICEF, what are they?
I think the most important thing I learned at ICEF is the ability to be a high achiever even with limited time and knowledge. When you follow a study programme that is intense and challenging, staying on top of everything at all times is just impossible. But, during my four years at ICEF, I learned how to make the most out of my knowledge. For example, whenever there was an exam question I didn’t know the precise answer to, I would write what seemed logical and made sense. This often earned me points.
This strategy — when you know how to allocate your time and resources wisely and use analytical thinking to get you through new situations — translates to everyday life. We can’t excel in everything we do, but we can try to make the best of what we have. That’s what I learned at ICEF.
What piece of advice would you give to your ICEF student self?
I would advise myself to keep moving towards my goals, enjoy life, and worry less about things beyond my control. I would surround myself with people who believe in me and my future, and learn to ignore negativity and critics.
Maria, you got into Princeton. How challenging was it?
I applied for master’s programs in different countries, including the USA, England, Switzerland, and even Australia. My key requirement was for the programme to be interesting. It had to be a finance program with a focus on quantitative finance and mathematical sciences. And to be honest, Princeton was the one I expected the least to be accepted to. Getting into the Ivy League sounded like something unreal, but I did it.
Princeton has a highly selective admissions process, which involves filling out a complex application form, enclosing it with a motivation letter and three letters of recommendation, taking a math test, and passing two interviews. My class had only 23 students selected from approximately 800 applicants, meaning that the acceptance rate was under 3%. The programme I pursued at Princeton is ranked number one globally among quantitative finance degrees, which for me personally was an important point from the perspective of career and recognition: having a ‘big name’ school on your resume is indeed a significant advantage when building a career abroad.
How does studying at ICEF differ from that at Princeton?
One thing I found challenging and wasn’t prepared for at Princeton was its academic format. It was completely different from ICEF’s. While ICEF offered plenty of seminars, Princeton offered merely a handful. Instead, they offer precepts, i.e. mini-sessions where senior or graduate students help their younger peers understand the material. But those aren’t quite the same as seminars the way we know them at ICEF. Here, the main focus is on lectures, and most of the material needs to be handled independently at home, which can, of course, be challenging. Add to this the higher level of complexity — we studied advanced mathematics and stochastic calculus. Those are really challenging courses.
What is the most important thing you learned at Princeton?
Princeton taught me that nothing is impossible. I could have never imagined myself studying at an Ivy League school – but here I am, already graduated. What once seemed unattainable turned into a reality. My most important takeaway from it is that no mountain is insurmountable if you keep taking steps towards your goal.
How has your career been unfolding for you after Princeton?
My career has so far been unfolding smoothly, because my programme required every student to undergo an internship between year one and two. Mine was luckily with UBS, the bank I am currently working at. In the summer between my first and second year, I completed a 10-week internship with UBS and my strong performance there earned me a full-time job, which I started in August 2024 after graduating from Princeton.
Also, I considered interviewing with other companies in the time between my internship and job offer. I did it mostly out of curiosity. But I realized I really liked the place and team I had interned with, so I opted to stay with UBS. My second year at Princeton was a total joy: with a job offer already secured, I could fully concentrate on studies and student life.
Can you tell us more about your job at UBS? What are your responsibilities and what are you in charge of?
It will be quite difficult to explain exactly what I do — sometimes even to people in the industry. It may sound a bit ironic, but what I do at work has little to do with what I learned at college. My position is officially titled Financing Trader. I’m part of the Funding team – we’re essentially a bank within a bank. We provide financing to other teams that trade securities.
My team handles secured funding. We trade repos, collateral upgrades, and collateral swaps. We also ensure the bank maintains adequate liquidity levels by monitoring and optimizing the effectiveness of its asset usage and ensuring compliance with all applicable regulations. We also work closely with other teams — one of them being Delta One Derivatives, which trades forwards, futures, swaps, and other instruments.
My responsibilities are diverse. They include not only trading funding instruments but also streamlining team processes, which involves programming and data analysis. I oversee a wide variety of tasks.
What are the current trends within your industry? What should the students of today pay more attention to in order to qualify for jobs in two years’ time?
As one very wise person told me during my internship, “If you can’t handle uncertainty, this industry is not for you.” This perfectly describes all trends in the financial industry. Anything can happen, making finance both an exciting and stressful industry to be in. Uncertainty is inherent in the finance industry; this is something we all need to be prepared for.
As for the trends, there is definitely a growing demand for tech skills. Getting into finance will be difficult for those without, for example, Python skills. Strong math skills are a requirement as well. These skillsets are now essential in quantitative finance, unlike earlier. Even banks and hedge funds, whose jobs never required advanced math skills, now hire candidates with bachelor’s or master’s in mathematics, statistics or physics. The demand for economists in the classical sense of today is decreasing.
So, if I were to give advice to students of today, I would tell them to focus more on mathematics and programming, especially Python or R, which are both taught at ICEF. I wish I had used every opportunity available in ICEF to perfect my math skills. Those who are planning to pursue a master’s can be advised to concentrate on areas like quantitative finance, financial engineering, and financial mathematics. These are the skills that will help secure jobs in the future.
Are you already planning a career move or does your current job role suit you just fine?
At the moment, I’m not considering any career moves. I have been working in my full-time job for just six months and I am still adjusting to my team. I’m genuinely interested in what I do. For now, I’m happy with both my role and my team.
In the future, I would like to be promoted vertically, of course, which is my ultimate goal, and maybe also horizontally — for example, within delta one derivatives. This team also sits in Financing, so I would be open to explore that field too.
ICEF’s strong alumni community isn’t a myth, it’s real. How connected are you to it? Do you keep in touch with other members of your class or maybe even work for projects together?
The ICEF alumni community does exist. It has many members and a wide global base. I was amazed to find out that it covers so many countries: many ICEF alumni are currently studying in England and France, staying in touch with one another. I have personally met junior undergraduates of ICEF who are now at MIT, Yale, and I also met some in Boston and at Princeton. Some now live in New York. We’re still in touch and it's great.
I am also in touch with my classmates and some current students, the latter turning to me for advice on admission and other matters on my Telegram channel where I share my recommendations. I know many ICEF students and alumni follow me there, even some I have never met. It’s incredibly nice to feel their support and know that ICEF alumni can be found in all countries. This creates a special atmosphere of support and mutual collaboration.
What books would you recommend students to read in order to prepare for career?
There is no one perfect book or movie to prepare one for a career. Things will always be a little different in reality. Still, there are two books I can recommend.
One is Alan Blinder’s After the Music Stopped. Alan Blinder was my professor at Princeton. His book is a compelling account of the financial crisis of 2007-2009. Although it only touches on corporate life indirectly, it perfectly highlights the downsides and pitfalls of the industry, while also focusing on unpredictability as its inherent feature. The book also offers a broad understanding of the world of finance, its various instruments and their application. It’s an easy, captivating read.
The other book is The Black Swan by Nassim Taleb. It does not relate directly to finance, but it’s worth reading for the sake of understanding its message. As I have already mentioned, finance is a highly unstable industry. You never know what’s going to happen tomorrow or even in an hour. This book teaches how to put the emphasis in the right place and, to some extent, mentally prepare to work in a field as uncertain and changing as finance.
And my last question. What are your passions and how do you relax away from work?
I go by the rule that work is not everything in life, so I try to actively navigate my life outside of work. I go horseback riding every week, exercise regularly, and take 3 to 4 private classes of Spanish per week. I also have a lot of friends here in New York who moved here after Princeton. We eat out together or play board games when we meet. I appreciate our time together. It makes me feel I have a balanced and fulfilling life that is not consumed by work.
