Rossi has his older brother to thank for putting him on the path to success at Quinnipiac, he said. 

“My brother had an internship at Pratt & Whitney and when we came from Florida to move him to Connecticut, I toured colleges in the area," said Rossi. "What really caught me was the 3+1 program at Quinnipiac."

Rossi said that he liked the School of Business's accelerated dual-degree program and that it led him to obtain two degrees in fields he is passionate about.

“It usually takes two years to get your MBA and you’re paying an increased price compared to the regular tuition,” said Rossi. “I definitely think that getting into the workforce as fast as possible and developing my skills and being able to prove that I’m hard-working and dedicated through having the increased amount of credits, gave me a leg up over my competition for this internship.” 

Rossi moved to Plano, Texas, to begin with Boeing on May 19, less than a week after receiving his bachelor’s degree in finance from the School of Business on May 13. He will be returning to Quinnipiac in the fall to complete his Master of Business Administration in 2024. 

Within his finance and strategy internship role at Boeing, Rossi has already leveraged his business education to make an impact on his value-added responsibilities. 

“My role involves a lot of market research and intelligence," he said. "At Quinnipiac, I used a market intelligence software called Capital IQ and pretty much immediately I asked to get the software at Boeing. A couple of people in my group didn’t really know what it was and they didn’t understand how to use it; and they told me all this information is publicly available. But, I said, ‘This is a software I used at college and I think it will definitely speed up my work.’ And they let me have it. So having experience using Capital IQ at Quinnipiac has allowed me to get my job done more efficiently.” 

Rossi landed the internship by setting an ambitious goal to secure a spot with a Fortune 500 company.  

“My strategy for finding this internship was looking at the S&P 500 and looking at the top 500 companies and applying to every one I’ve ever heard of," said Rossi. "I sent out about 200 applications and got some interviews. The best opportunity seemed like Boeing and I stuck with it."

Rossi is finding that applying his finance knowledge to a job within the aerospace industry is a good fit. 

“It’s kind of cool to be creating spaceships and planes and really feel like you’re giving something more to the world than creating paint, chemicals or something like that." 

Last summer, Rossi interned with technology corporation Collins Aerospace, one of the world's largest suppliers of aerospace and defense products. There, he focused on supply chain in new product innovation (NPI). Both internship experiences have been valuable in shaping his future plans, he said. 

“When you’re in an NPI, you’re assisting products for supply chain as part of the purchasing department," said Rossi. "Meanwhile, being in a financial strategy role at Boeing is more applicable to my finance major, in that we did a lot of financial information and analysis. So, while I do have my bachelor’s focus in supply chain, which I decided to undertake after my time with Collins, I think corporate finance is more what I’m interested in for a career."

Rossi expressed gratitude for all that the School of Business has helped him with, especially in building his networking skills which he plans to utilize should he receive a rehire offer from Boeing.