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Abir Chawla, a Next Genius Scholar fulfilled his goal of working at Jefferies.
Abir Chawla pursued his graduation from Texas Christian University in 2022 with a double major in Finance and Computer Science.
While studying in grade 12 at Pace Junior Science College, Mumbai, he applied for the Next Genius Scholarship Program. After winning the scholarship, he had a huge transition when he moved from India to USA. Coming from a metropolitan city like Mumbai, where everything is available nearby, Abir found it challenging to move to a place where even a retail store was about an hour away from the TCU campus.
On being interviewed about his journey at TCU, Abir shared, “TCU made it pleasant for all the international students by organizing a special orientation for us. All international students are given the same opportunities as the American students, without imposing any restrictions on them. There is an ‘International Students Centre’, which comprises of a few staff members who guide them. The professors value the perspectives of students from different cultures and welcome us to share our experiences. Apart from this, TCU has made it mandatory to stay on campus for the first two years, which was a huge advantage for me as an international student. I became a resident assistant on campus at the end of my freshman year, which involved me staying on campus for all the four years. There are great food options available in and around TCU. Moreover, I had a great experience at the Neeley School of Business through TCU, where I got exposure to basic finance.”
Moreover, Abir said that he had an unforgettable experience with the staff and faculty of TCU. He got familiar with the Head of the Career Centre really well and got to develop a good relationship with her during one of the trips of his honors program. He even got the chance to have dinner with the College Chancellor multiple times, which most of the others did not get to do. The entire staff and faculty were always available for the students. According to him, “There are some things that distinguish and popularize any university like TCU, which helped me in my personal development.” Besides this, he shared that his favorite spot on campus was the football stadium, where he got to learn about American football. There was a match on every Saturday during the fall, and he took great joy in spending time with his friends there and cheering for the college team.
Abir talked about his biggest achievement during his time at TCU. He said, “I got into the Neeley Fellowship Program, which is a three-year business honor program. It consists of the top 30 students in the business school. In this business honors program, we took honors program classes as well as regular business classes, so we double-dipped. I got exposed to several different opportunities inside as well as outside the class, unlike the majority of other business schools. I was even able to go on trips through the honors program, to places like San Francisco, and visited different companies there. It was memorable because of the interactions I had with professors and the faculty. This program was the cornerstone of my experience at TCU and the basis of my business degree.”
Abir has been very productive and ambitious while at TCU. He was passionate about investment banking. The ‘Transactions and Investment Professional Program’ (TIP) of TCU helped him in being recruited for different investment banking roles. He applied for the program in the middle of his sophomore year and got paired with mentors who were working in investment banking, including a few of the TCU alumni. He began to practice interview skills and started networking. He got to do interviews with some renowned firms and gained interest in energy investment banking. He added, “When I was in Houston, I interviewed at two places, the City and Jefferies. I preferred Jefferies because it is a technical bank and the best at energy investment banking. The TIP program of the university helped me prepare and one of the TCU alumni helped me to seal the deal with Jefferies. I got an internship offer from them and I spent one summer interning there. In 2021, they gave me a full-time job offer to work as an Investment Banking analyst, which I gladly accepted. I would not have gotten this opportunity if not because of TCU.”
Lastly, Abir shared some advice for aspiring Next Genius scholars. He said, “In the Next Genius Level 2, categorize the universities offered to see which one serves your interests best and helps with your major. Do your own research to see if your preferred college is the
best fit for you. You should not feel limited by the ranking. Remember that you make your own experience.” To apply for the Next Genius Scholarship Program, visit www.next-genius.com..