Behind a glass door on the second floor of Cox is a quiet hallway that leads to the ‘Encap Investments and LCM Group Alternative Asset Management Center,’ a gateway to SMU’s most exclusive finance program.
William Maxwell, professor of the Alternative Asset Management class, is one of four people with offices in this exclusive wing.
“I’m the most demanding professor that they’ll ever have,” Maxwell said. “And, I’m the most laid back.”
SMU’s Alternative Asset Management, or Alts, is considered the most rigorous finance class on campus, according to Cox students.
Alts is SMU’s honors finance program. The single spring-semester class introduces students to investment banking through weekly case studies.
Case studies cover a range of business deals, from mock mergers and acquisitions to leveraged buyouts and modeling, where students learn to divest, sell off parts of a company.
Enrollment for Alts has grown. In spring 2025, 83 students took the class. Next spring, enrollment is expected to reach about 90 students.
Unlike most SMU classes, not everyone can sign up for Alts, explained Katherine Wirskye, an Alts alum.
“You first have to get accepted into the program through a pretty intense interview process,” said Wirskye.
The process begins with mock interviews, where Alts alumni ask candidates technical and behavioral questions.
Alts alumnus and senior finance major Juliana Lu said that these interviews prepare candidates for ‘super day,’ a term coined by finance majors and ALTs students.
“Super day is a whole weekend of interviews that you do with members of Alts, finance professors within Cox,” Lu said.
Parker Stevens is a junior who participated in the mock interview back in Sept. 2025 to prepare for his interviews.
“It’s very helpful to have the mocks,” Stevens said. “They go through your resume and how you can structure it. It’s great for when you have the actual interviews.”
Alts’ rigorous interview process, along with Maxwell’s tough-love approach, is designed to mirror the realities of investment banking.
“To get in, they’re going to go through seven to eight interviews. One is going to be with an academic myself or a few other people we designate, and then the rest are going to be alumni,” Maxwell said. “The question I asked the alumni is simple. Can I place this person in a first-tier finance position or not? And truthfully, they’re more critical of the students than I am.”
Students who make it through the interview process and get accepted into the program should be prepared to work. Students spend anywhere from 30 to 40 hours a week on this class alone.
“It’s a demanding class,” Maxwell said. “I’m giving you a service. If you’re not willing to put that in and still keep A’s in all your other classes, then you’re going into the wrong field.”
For Maxwell, the program teaches students to manage priorities while recognizing the “work hard, play hard” mentality.
“You can go to Homebar, but you have an accounting test at 8 a.m. on Friday. What’s your choice?” Maxwell said with a laugh.
The workload can be intense, but the concepts of the class are built on previous knowledge and its application.
A senior finance major and Alts alumnus, Ethan Li, explained that Alts builds upon what students learn from previous classes.
“You’re taking what you’ve learned in all your previous classes, like intro finance, corporate finance, investments, and you apply it with real work,” Li said. “You’re working on cases, using the conceptual things you learn about in intro to finance and trying to value them and figure out ‘How much is this company? Where should we invest? What should we do?’ That’s what Alts is at the highest level.”
Unlike lecture-based classes, Alts is structured around trial and error.
“Alts is one of those classes where you learn by doing and you learn by failing,” Wirskye said.
Throughout the semester, students sharpen the skills they develop in preparation for their final case.
Students are divided into groups of three and have 56 hours to complete a project that would normally take a week.
From the moment the assignment opens, students are grinding around the clock for the next two and a half days to get their project completed by the deadline.
“Our company was Zoom,” Wirskye said. “We had to look at Zoom’s financial statements and build out a model for if we were to hypothetically acquire Zoom and then hold it for a period of time and then sell it off.”
Once the final project is over, students who receive a grade of A- or higher get to stay in the network.
As intense as Alts is, the rewards are worth it. Even for the students who don’t go into investment banking, Alts help them develop skills they will use in their future careers.
“The main benefit is getting the most out of your finance education at SMU,” Wirskye said. “I feel like I learned more in Alts than I have learned in any other class at SMU. Part of the reason is just because it’s so much work, you’re able to get so much exposure and get so much hands-on practice.”