Why Intellectual Humility Matters in Finance: Ethan Bohnert ’27

For Ethan Bohnert '27, confidence did not come from always having the right answer. It came from becoming more comfortable with getting an answer wrong. Throughout his time at the University of Arizona’s Eller College of Management, Ethan learned that speaking up, making mistakes and asking questions are an important part of mastering complex finance concepts. That mindset carried him from an accelerated undergraduate finance degree into Eller’s Master of Science in Finance (MSF) program.

After completing his undergraduate finance degree in three years, Ethan continued at Eller in the one-year MSF program. Today, he experiences finance from several perspectives: as a graduate student, a participant in the Student Endowment Program and a graduate teaching assistant for FIN 360L Quantitative Financial Management Techniques.

Ethan’s MSF Experience at a Glance

• Graduate program: Master of Science in Finance, Eller College of Management
• Undergraduate degree: Finance, completed in three years
• International internships: Sydney, Australia, and Amsterdam, Netherlands
• Professional interests: Asset management, hedge funds, and corporate banking.
• Eller involvement: Student Endowment Program and Graduate Teaching Assistant for FIN 360L
• Professional development: Preparing for the CFA Level I exam

From San Diego to International Finance Experience

Originally from San Diego, Ethan considered both academic quality and affordability when choosing a university. A University of Arizona merit scholarship made Eller financially competitive with public universities in California. He was also looking for a place where he could build relationships that could become part of his long-term professional network.

“I wanted to graduate with not only a strong academic foundation, but also relationships that could become part of my long-term professional network,” Ethan says. “Looking back, Eller has delivered on each of those goals.”

His undergraduate experience eventually took him well beyond Tucson. Ethan completed two international finance internships in Sydney, Australia, and Amsterdam, Netherlands, focused on private equity and private markets.

Private markets appealed to him because evaluating privately held companies can require a different kind of analysis than evaluating public companies. Public companies operate within established reporting and regulatory structures, while information about private companies can be less standardized.

“It requires a lot more thought put into it,” Ethan says.

Those internships also helped him refine what he wants from his first full-time role. While he enjoyed the responsibility that came with working at a smaller boutique firm, he is now interested in pursuing opportunities in asset management, hedge funds or corporate banking.

“Smaller firms offer significant responsibility early on, but I want to first build a strong professional foundation, learn from established systems, and continue developing my technical abilities,” he says.

Putting Finance Theory into Practice

Returning to Eller for his master’s degree gave Ethan the opportunity to experience graduate finance education in a more applied setting. His undergraduate coursework provided the theoretical foundation, while the MSF program has allowed him to see those concepts connected more directly to real-world business situations.

Faculty members frequently connect textbook formulas with corporate case studies drawn from their professional backgrounds. For Ethan, that has changed the way he experiences the classroom.

“They are incredibly skilled at treating you as an equal corporate peer,” Ethan says of his professors.

Ethan is also preparing for the Chartered Financial Analyst Level I exam and plans to sit for the exam around the time he completes his graduate degree.

Learning to Be Wrong—and Keep Going

One of Ethan’s most important takeaways from Eller has less to do with formulas and more to do with how he approaches uncertainty. As his technical knowledge expanded, so did his awareness of how much there was still to learn.

“You get to a certain point where you’re presented with so much information that you kind of feel very small,” Ethan says. “But Eller gave me an environment where I could speak up, test what I knew and be corrected without feeling discouraged.”

He credits Senior Lecturer in Finance Balint Horvath with reinforcing that mindset. Ethan took one of Horvath’s advanced courses, which he describes as one of the most mathematically demanding challenges of his academic career, and frequently volunteered answers even when he was uncertain.

“When I made a mistake, he wouldn’t ever do it in a way that felt like he was talking down to me,” Ethan says. “Instead, he broke down why an answer was incorrect and how the concept could be applied differently.” That experience taught Ethan to become more comfortable taking academic risks and learning through mistakes.

Graduate Teaching Assistant Experience in Finance

Ethan also serves as a graduate teaching assistant for FIN 360L Quantitative Financial Management Techniques, alongside his studies in the Master of Science in Finance program.

Ethan’s Advice for Future Finance Students

Ethan’s advice to incoming business students reflects the same philosophy that shaped his own experience: keep participating, even when the answer is not obvious.

“Anything worth working toward will not always be easy,” Ethan says. “What matters is continuing to get your repetitions in, taking the opportunity to speak up and trusting that the real growth happens when the answer isn’t perfect the first time.”

For Ethan, those repetitions have taken him from an accelerated undergraduate finance degree to international internships, graduate study and continued involvement at Eller. Just as importantly, they have taught him that confidence in finance is not about always knowing the answer. Sometimes, it starts with being willing to get one wrong.

Ready to Learn More About the Eller Online Master of Science in Finance?