Aryan Sharma’s senior year has been a whirlwind of successes. The business administration student at the Naveen Jindal School of Management was named to the Dean’s List this past fall, placing him among the top 10% of all undergraduate students. In addition, after completing two successful internships, one with global investment bank and financial services firm Goldman Sachs, he will begin a full-time job as an analyst with Bank of America in July. This comes after receiving full-time employment offers from both. Sharma’s successes belie the challenges of his freshman year.

“I was an introvert and was afraid to speak in class,” he said. “I always sat in the back, didn’t turn in all of my assignments, and didn’t always pay attention.”

Sharma had a packed schedule that year, too. He has been on the roster of The University of Texas at Dallas tennis team since his freshman year and trains three hours a day. He enrolled in five classes and did volunteer work to gain experience.

His academic transformation was a gradual process. Thanks to encouragement and support from professors and staff in the Jindal School, he began to take advantage of the tools and programs the school provides, including the Career Management Center (CMC).

Mike Press, a career development specialist in the CMC; Megan Harrison, director of corporate relations for the Jindal School; and Dr. Dale Albrecht, an associate professor of practice in the Jindal School’s Organizations, Strategy and International Management Area offered Sharma advice and guidance.

“They have helped me so much,” Sharma said. “I consider them to be my mentors. They have always been available to answer any of my questions. I regret not taking advantage of things like the CMC in my first two years. Also, the CMC has been invaluable to me. It is a phenomenal benefit.”

Through the CMC, Sharma has had opportunities to network with potential employers and other business professionals, attend workshops and training sessions, and take part in competitions, including receiving second place in the 2024 Texas Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM) Student Case Competition with teammate Vivian Qian, who graduated in December with a bachelor’s degree in Human Resource Management. Sharma obtained career coaching from the CMC that he credits for a large part of his success.

As a freshman, he likely would have avoided taking part in anything requiring him to speak in front of others. That has all changed.

“I’ve enjoyed being a small part of Aryan’s journey at JSOM, watching him transform from a tentative freshman into a confident, business-savvy strategic thinker,” Harrison said. “Like many first-year business students, he was hesitant but stepped out of his comfort zone to seek constructive feedback, built relationships with faculty, and engaged in student organizations. I hope he will be an example to other students of the benefits of using the resources available at JSOM, such as the CMC and Finance Lab.”

Sharma applied for internships through CMC. His first was with Dallas marketing firm MAC Partners in sales, where he was an account manager with five account executives reporting to him.

“Our team met or exceeded our sales goals,” he said. “I enjoyed working there and I learned so much. I was offered full-time, but sales wasn’t what I wanted to do.”

When the time came to apply for his next internship, he almost passed Goldman Sachs by, thinking he didn’t have much chance of being accepted.

“I decided to go ahead and apply, but I didn’t expect to hear from them,” he said. “There were 315,000 applicants for 2,500 openings.”

He was on a flight to India to visit his hometown when he got the notification that Goldman Sachs was interested in interviewing him.

“I did an AI interview and I was given 24 hours to complete the analyst’s operations questionnaire for a nine-week program,” he said. “I had two weeks to prepare for a Feb. 6 interview. I was intimidated. It was cold when I went for my interview, but I was perspiring. I got my offer letter on Feb. 14.”

Recognizing the incredible opportunity he had been given, Sharma approached his internship with determination to absorb as much knowledge and experience as possible. During his June-August 2024 internship in Goldman Sachs’s Transaction Banking program, he gained a comprehensive understanding of transaction banking, including payment processing and liquidity management. He said the experience gave him valuable insights into essential financial operations and their global connections.

His experiences at JSOM and his internships helped Sharma overcome his fear of speaking up and having conversations. Now, he considers his strongest business attributes to be communication and problem-solving skills. Sports also played a role by giving him exposure internationally and helping him understand and connect with people of different backgrounds.

“I was drawn to finance because it requires problem-solving and, being a sports person, I get an adrenaline rush from the challenge of encountering new problems and solving them,” he said. “It’s like solving a puzzle for me.”

Sharma chose to attend JSOM based on the school’s rankings and its tennis team’s rankings.

He has volunteered with ACEing Autism, the National Association For The Blind, UTD Society of Sustainable Business, and UTD’s Business Communication Center. He also has been a full-time event coordinator for Dallas Formula Racing.

In addition to being a member of the UTD NCAA Men’s Tennis team, he is a member of the ASC All- Academic Conference team, plays golf and soccer, and watches “a lot of soccer,” he said. He also enjoys playing electric guitar, something he has done since age 11, and he invests in stocks and bitcoin.

“In my next chapter, I am going to step into the world,” he said. “I’m looking forward to that. I’m also looking forward to being able to use my problem-solving skills for a finance company.”

Sharma has come a long way from that introverted, under-achieving student who first entered the Jindal School. He is already planning to return for his master’s degree.