Inside the Immersive Format Now Shaping Career Preparation at Texas Tech's School of Financial Planning
A follow-up to our March 2026 feature on Spring Career Days' move to Dallas-Fort Worth, with new reflections from participating faculty, employers, and students.
Building the Case for What Comes Next
This past spring, Texas Tech's School of Financial Planning took a chance on a new approach to Spring Career Day by moving the annual recruiting event from Lubbock to Dallas-Fort Worth, the heart of the financial planning industry. Over the course of several days in March, more than 40 students connected with 11 employers, completed over 100 interviews, and toured five financial planning firms. They also attended the Financial Planning Association (FPA) DFW Conference, where they heard from industry leader Michael Kitces and sat in on sessions covering artificial intelligence, charitable giving, fiduciary responsibility, and innovation in the profession.
The shift represented more than a change of venue. It was a test of whether trading a single day of interviews on campus for an immersive experience inside working firms could better prepare students for the profession—and better serve the employers and faculty invested in their success.
Six months later, with a first round of outcomes to point to, the School of Financial Planning has already made its decision: Spring Career Days will return to DFW in 2027, using the same immersive format. A faculty member who helped design the format, an employer who opened her firm's doors, and three students whose careers were shaped by it explain why the results made that decision an easy one.
Why Make the Move? A Faculty Perspective
Jesse Jurgenson, Ph.D., AFC®, Assistant Professor of Practice in the School of Financial Planning, was closely involved in shaping the new format. He said the goal was to give students something the traditional on-campus career day couldn't: a firsthand look at the profession itself.
“We wanted students to do more than meet employers,” Jurgenson said. “We wanted them to picture themselves working in these organizations, ask deeper questions, and better understand what different career paths actually look like.”
Visiting firms in Dallas-Fort Worth also exposed students to opportunities and business models they might not otherwise encounter in West Texas.
“In many ways, the shift was about moving from bringing the profession to our students, to taking our students into the profession,” said Jurgenson. “Rather than trying to describe their culture, team structure, or client experience from a table on campus, they can actually show students what their organization looks like,” Jurgenson added.
For students, Jurgenson said the immersive format did more than build career clarity—it helped many see themselves as future professionals rather than students preparing for one. And for the program, he sees a deeper benefit still: broadening access.
“Students come to us with different backgrounds and different levels of prior exposure to the financial planning profession,” Jurgenson said. “By taking students directly into firms and creating opportunities for meaningful conversations with professionals, we can help ensure that access to those experiences is not dependent on who a student already knows.”
An Employer's View: SFMG Wealth Advisors
Devin DeLapp, CFP®, CDFA®, Wealth Advisor and Stakeholder at SFMG Wealth Advisors, saw the shift from both sides—as a firm that hosted students and as a professional plugged into the broader DFW financial planning community.
For SFMG, the appeal was practical as much as it was strategic, finding it it easier to involve more of their team, including recent graduates and younger professionals who might not otherwise travel to Lubbock.
“We saw an opportunity to provide students with exposure to a regional financial planning conference, access to industry networking, and site visits to local firms,” DeLapp said. “Once we knew we could get over the logistics hurdle, we recognized this as an innovative way to get our students in front of the industry.”
That investment paid off in ways beyond recruiting. SFMG's summer interns, DeLapp said, arrived “noticeably more comfortable on day one,” having already visited the office and gotten familiar with the area.
“Welcoming students into our office for the first time and showing them what SFMG is really about was truly special,” she said.
Through Students' Eyes
Eli Waddle, an undergraduate in the personal financial planning program, points to the SFMG site visit as the moment that changed everything.
“Actually walking through their office in Plano and seeing everyone working together gave me a real feel for the culture, something you just can't get from talking to someone at a booth for five minutes,” he said.
That visit turned into a 10-week summer internship at SFMG and, this coming January, a full-time offer to join the firm as a paraplanner after graduation.
“That one site visit literally led directly to my first job out of college,” Waddle said.
He credits the format's lower-pressure, conversational style for helping him find the right fit: “Instead of trying to deliver a perfect 30-second elevator pitch in a crowded ballroom, we could actually have real, two-way conversations.”
For Adam Reed, the standout moment came at the FPA DFW Conference while reconnecting with alumni.
“While catching up with one of our alumni, I was talking about my internship application and interview process with other firms, and found out a potential opening at that firm,” Reed said. “After going through the interview process, I secured an internship offer!”
It was the contrast between firms that stuck with Austin Powell—seeing multiple offices up close sharpened his sense of direction.
“Getting to visit all of the different offices made me realize how much I want to be a financial planner,” Powell said. “Seeing the firms and getting a glimpse of what my future career could actually look like made me even more excited about it.”
An Easy Decision for 2027
The consensus among students, employers, and faculty is clear: the 2026 pilot wasn't a one-off, it's the template Spring Career Days will build on in 2027.
As one of the program's earliest student voices, Nolan Galyean, put it after the inaugural DFW event, “I can confidently say it was one of the most energizing and formative experiences of my time at Texas Tech.”
Six months on, that sentiment has only been reinforced by results: Waddle's internship-to-job pipeline at SFMG, Reed's alumni-driven internship offer, and Powell's on-site glimpse of his future career all trace back to a single trip to DFW.
“I recognize that this is a meaningful investment of time and resources for the School of Financial Planning,” DeLapp said. “That said, given the breadth of benefits this format delivers—for students, employers, and the program alike—I hope this initiative becomes a lasting part of what makes the TTU financial planning program stand out.”
That hope is now well on its way to becoming a tradition that helps shape the next generation of Texas Tech financial planners