Zheng Kejia: Diligence: A Stepping Stone to Success

Major: Finance

Future: Master Degree in the University of Rochester (USA)

As her senior year is coming to an end, Zheng has received offers from the Johns Hopkins University, the University of Minnesota, and the University of Rochester. However, when you talk to her, you will feel that what lays behind her luck is her efforts and diligence.

Growing up with Startup

Although Zheng got the internship in Shenwan Hongyuan Securities Company, her inner voice tells her that perhaps what she wants is not an eye-catching internship with a big name, but an experience growing up with a startup. So her most memorable internship was in WeWork, an American company.

As a newly established American company in Shanghai, she said, WeWork needed to apply for legal entity and invoice and reimbursed various expenses. At that time, even the tax manager had not officially taken office, but she was assigned to these tasks. For a finance major, everything started from scratch.

She learned the process and knowledge required to register a business. At first, when tax agent hand the business over to her, she even cannot fully understand some professional terms such as value-added tax. For she knows nothing about business of the company, she always worried she would fail to communicate between tax agent and company because of the lack of professional knowledge. However, during this process, she gradually mastered how to run an enterprise from scratch.

Perhaps, it was this sense of accomplishment that really helped her find what she wanted. Zheng said she liked those start-up things with more space and potential. It is perhaps a risky choice for others, but a joyful one for her.

Chances and Challenges Coexist

In her junior year, Zheng and other two teammates planned to take part in the Mathematical Contest in Modeling. Although time was limited and she knew little about modeling, stubborn as she was, she could not pass up this opportunity.

The road to success has never been easy. When the team wanted to decide the topic of modeling, she and her teammates found that the existing virus spreading models cannot well summarize the topic, and original ideas were overturned over and over again. Until the end of the day, Language Division Model (LDM) was created.

After four days’ intense preparation, her team finally won the first prize. She can still remember the uneasiness when registered. “I didn’t attend this contest for award, but I just want to learn something new from it.” At that time, she and her teammates did not expect to win the prize, not to mention the first prize, but their efforts actually paid off.

For choosing a university to further education, Zheng is also decisive enough. Although the Johns Hopkins University was known as a top 20 schools in the world, she chose University of Rochester which ranks behind. She said, “I prefer a smaller and more specialized college like Simon Business School of University of Rochester, and its 36-month STEM program.”

It seems that she made a risky choice every time she made decision, but it’s actually an opportunity for the girl to follow her heart, and embrace her future.

Success is a Planned Marathon

She has won scholarships for three consecutive years, and one-year Zhejiang Province Government scholarship. Also, she is a dance lover. In the National Cheerleading League Open Youth Group C, she won the first place in the set exercises of hip-hop. In the WKU graduation ceremony, we can see her performance.

For Zheng, she firmly stuck to her plan every day in campus and did everything at right time, so it is not accidental for her to get CFA Level I and pass TOEFL and GMAT. Since her freshman year, she has already had a blueprint for her four-year college life.

When she chose the finance major, Zheng decided to take the CFA (Chartered Financial Analyst) certificate, the most stringent and high-gold-content qualification in the global investment industry. Although she did not have a systematic study, she was actively concerned about the knowledge of CFA, which laid a solid foundation for CFA in her junior year.

This girl looks quiet but achieves her own goals with tenacity for her exam and career. She always strives to realize her goals which serve as the stepping stone for her success in the future. If your career planning is well-planned and well-implemented, you will not fear your future, no matter how hard it is.

By Cui Wenjia