Name: Maja Dulic ’27 
Majors: Applied economics and finance 
Hometown: Kecskemét, Hungary 
Student-Athlete: Water polo 

Maja Dulic, an international student at Pacific, sharpened her business skills by tackling real-world challenges during her summer internship helping run a program and event center in her hometown in Hungary. A double major in applied economics and finance, Maja chose Pacific for its close-knit classes and rigorous academics that encourage critical thinking. 

With the goal of interning near her hometown, Maja worked with her faculty advisers to secure funding through Pacific’s Nathan Scholars program, which provides economics majors and minors the opportunity to earn academic credit and a stipend while gaining first-hand experience in professional settings. Thanks to the program, Maja worked in a financial and operational role at Tanyacsárda Ltd., a restaurant and program center nestled in the countryside just outside her hometown. 

“I wanted to find something close to home so I could stay near my family. I searched in my local neighborhood and came across Tanyacsárda Ltd,” Maja said. “They were really interested and excited about the opportunity to have someone studying in the U.S. intern with them.” 

An internship with range and responsibility 

Maja says the program center offered her a wide range of responsibilities across departments and gave her a holistic view of operations. She managed the company’s online presence and ensured that their website and social media platforms were running smoothly. Maja also supported the finance team, where she was able to apply the skills she gained as an economics and finance major. 

“I assisted with financial tasks and got a first-hand look at the company’s accounting systems,” Maja said. “It was really insightful to compare those processes to what I had learned in school, and I gained a much deeper understanding of financial operations in a real-world context.” 

Maja says working with the restaurant’s economic and financial director was one of her internship highlights. She collaborated with him to analyze data and apply it to strategic decisions that boosted revenue and efficiency. Drawing on her economics education, Maja applied data-driven thinking by analyzing situations, adapting in real time, and transforming theory into action.  

She gained a behind-the-scenes view of daily operations through handling phone calls, responding to customer questions, and drafting proposals for group bookings and events.  

In addition to gaining valuable business operations experience, Maja also welcomed the chance to meet customers and practice her English with visiting tourists. 

“Every day was a learning opportunity,” she said. “Having multiple roles at this job has helped me discover so much about patience and practice. It takes a lot of teamwork and communication.” 

From classroom theory to career-ready confidence 

Before exercising her skills in her internship, Maja gained the practical knowledge she needed for the internship through her coursework at Pacific. 

“The classes I took gave me practical knowledge I could apply during the internship, especially in understanding business operations, decision-making, and analyzing real-world situations,” Maja said. 

Pairing her applied economics major with a finance degree ended up being a powerful combination. Economics gave her the analytical tools to understand the ‘why’ behind market trends and policy decisions, while finance taught her how to apply that knowledge to make smart financial choices, manage risk, and create value in real-world business settings. 

“In economics, we’re always looking at real-world problems, understanding situations, analyzing causes, and searching for practical solutions. That mindset has taught me to think critically and make smarter decisions in everyday life,” Maja said. “By adding my finance studies to that foundation, I not only understand the bigger picture but also know how to apply it, whether it’s making sound investments, managing risk, or saving wisely for the future.” 

Advice for students 

“You learn how to act and to carry yourself in a workplace, which is so important before graduating and entering the real world,” Maja said. “Every connection you make and every challenge you face will help shape who you become.” 

Maja says the first step of finding a position towards your career goals can be the hardest, but it is one of the most important. She sees an internship not as a brief job but as a glimpse into your future career. 

Pacific encourages Haakon Mathieson ’24, an international student from Oslo, Norway, to pursue both his passions: playing golf year-round and studying applied economics to become a finance industry professional. His Pacific coursework provided Haakon with a strong foundation and a diverse tool set. Over the summer, he secured an internship at Accord Capital to experience working in the finance world hands-on.

How I found my internship

My internship is with a private equity firm called Accord Capital in San Diego. It will last eight weeks. Accord Capital focuses on the small to mid-cap market and companies growing organically.

Basically, I reached out to a couple of my fellow Norwegians who are now working in investment banking in New York City. I was looking at what kind of opportunities they had and what they did to get into that segment in finance. They told me to start doing as much networking as possible and applying anywhere I could find opportunities. As a sophomore with no relevant finance work experience, it was pretty hard, but I was lucky that one of my connections offered me an internship in private equity, which is a great start to my career in finance.

How I prepared for the opportunity

Going into the internship I had mixed feelings. I was very excited to experience the finance industry and private equity because it is something I ultimately want to work in after I graduate from Pacific. However, I was also nervous since the only experience with finance I had was from the classroom. For instance, I have taken financial accounting at Pacific and learned the basics of financial statements, but not how to use it as a tool to look at different investment opportunities.

I obviously learned a lot of hard skills at Pacific, like Microsoft Excel shortcuts, pivot tables and formulas which were a big part of my everyday experience. Understanding how to do research, writing reports and understanding economics at a macro level also helped a lot with comprehending everything I did at Accord.

I already had strong time management skills which I learned through playing golf and traveling a lot during high school. Of course, it has been more challenging at Pacific because when you’re on the golf team and you have 25-plus hours of practice every week, you still have to do all the coursework like other students.

The skill that helped me become a successful intern

I think the ability to ask questions, which is a skill I learned at Pacific in our small class settings, really helped me during the internship. Because Accord is a smaller firm and they do not have a special intern program, I help them on a running basis which gives me a better insight in what they do. I collaborate with the analysts on their projects, and they always take time to answer my questions. This is great for my learning curve!

One of the reasons why I chose Pacific was the small classrooms. Coming from Norway, I thought it cannot get better than having only 20 people in the classroom and the teacher knows you almost personally. So, you can always ask teacher questions if you don’t understand something or if you want to know whether you’re on the right track.

Specific projects I’ve worked on during my internship

I had one portfolio company where I worked closely with the value creation team and the analyst. I downloaded cumulative daily reports and made projections of what our revenue would be for that month and compared it to last month which was then sent to the CEO. Since this company is a young startup, we would constantly look for areas to improve to increase our revenue. This includes research, go-to market strategies and implementing ways to acquire more customers.

We also perform several analyses such as discounted cash flow, comparable company analysis and precedent transactions. To justify the assumptions made in the forecasting, there is a lot of research needed and this is an area Pacific really helped me to become good at.

What I learned through the experience

Because I hope to work in finance and banking, what I gain the most from this internship is probably an insight into the dynamics in the finance industry and how, at least on the private equity side, it works on a day-to-day basis. I’ve done a lot of health care research, so I have a better understanding of the overall health care sector; different investment opportunities, how the different programs work and the overall expected growth in the sector.

I think I got a lot more hands on experience at this internship than what I originally thought I would. What´s cool to think about is that what I did there actually had an impact on the company. I came in with an open mind, I obviously was not entirely sure what I would be working on. However, I got a lot of different exposures to different sectors, sub-sectors and niches which I found extremely rewarding. Pacific has provided me the basic skills of understanding accounting, corporate finance and economics courses. But the internship taught me how to apply those concepts into the real world.

My advice for future Pacific students

I think my tip for those who want to get internships is to reach out to a lot of people and try to understand the different career paths you can take. The more people you talk to, the easier it gets to land an internship.

Learn more about Pacific’s applied economics major

Sharmila King is the chair of University of the Pacific’s Department of Economics and specializes in monetary and macroeconomics as well as international finance. She been teaching at Pacific for 20 years. We caught up with Professor King for our faculty spotlight.

Q: Where are you originally from?

King: I grew up in England and I am half Indian and half Chinese. I came to the US for grad school (UC Davis PhD).

Q: What brought you to teaching?

King: I discovered my love for teaching when I was working as a tutor while completing my MA Economics. That’s when I realized I need to complete a Ph.D. to teach at the college level. Knowing that I could help others better understand math and economics, how the world works, to help them succeed and make a difference in their lives is so fulfilling and gives my life meaning.

Q: What has been a highlight of your teaching career?

King: I have so many, every time I see how successful our graduates are and the amazing things they go on to do, whether its grad school or starting their career, is so satisfying. I was thrilled to be awarded the Alex and Faye Spanos Award for Distinguished Teaching in Fall 2020. We have so much accomplished, dedicated, and dynamic teachers in the College, to be the recipient of the Award was just absolutely incredible and humbling.

Q: Do you have any hobbies? What do you do in your down time?

King: I love to cook and share food with family and friends, mainly Indian (Punjabi) and Chinese (Cantonese) food, and like many others, I started making sourdough bread during the pandemic. I like to spend time reading in my garden. I am a bit of a WWII buff.