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Rishil Sheth, a Next Genius Scholar got a golden opportunity to work at Charles River Development.
Rishil Sheth graduated from Wheaton College, Massachusetts, with a major in finance and technology. He’s currently working as an Implementation Consultant at Charles River Development. Rishil also became the first Next Genius Scholar to donate to the program. Rishil supported a recent Next Genius Scholarship winner with her to and fro flights, making it possible for her to get to her college.
During his grade 12 at Jamnabai Narsee School, Rishil learned about Next Genius Scholarship Program from Wheaton College’s website. He decided to apply immediately because he saw it as a life-changing opportunity. The best part about being a Next Genius scholar is that the scholarship helped with the networking that came along with it.
On being interviewed about his journey at Wheaton College, Rishil shared, “The college has a great education system. You can create your own major here. Besides this, people from different countries with diverse cultural backgrounds meet and interact with each other. We celebrate all festivals together and like to learn more about each other’s culture.”
Rishil felt that Wheaton has helped him decide on his major and even contributed to his future plans. He said, “Getting to design my own major was my greatest help. I joined Wheaton with a major in religion because I was curious about philosophy and what life is, which was a chance to learn a lot. After a few classes, I realized that this is not what I want to work on later, I want to do something more concrete. That is when I switched to majoring in business. I started doing more courses in economics and a few courses in technology as I began to look for jobs. In my Junior year, I did a course on software programming and found it interesting. I finally decided to major in a mix of stock computer science, finance, economics, business, and math. The college and professors have been supportive highly throughout.”
Rishil also faced a few challenges during his time at Wheaton. His biggest challenge was to choose the right major for him. Throughout that time, his friends and family motivated him. He believed, “Peer-to-peer relation is a great resource because someone who is going through the same thing as you will be able to help better. I had to get out of my comfort zone, reach out to people and prepare myself for what is coming next. Wheaton, as a liberal arts college, helped me to get exposed to various cultural aspects of the USA and learn beyond what I could in India. It broadened my outlook on certain issues that need to be addressed all around the world. It made me more sensitive about other people’s needs and my own.”
While concluding, he gave some advice to upcoming students who want to study abroad. He said, “Try everything once so that you know what is right for you because learning is a process for yourself. Meeting people is the best way to learn, speak to everybody, and not have pre-decided notions in mind about how certain people are. To manage your finances effectively, spend money on experiences that you have not had before, rather than on expensive items. Be open to new experiences and search for some jobs. Just be yourself.” To apply for the Next Genius Scholarship Program, visit www.next-genius.com.