A University of Texas McCombs School of Business senior has won the Jeopardy! National College Championship.
Jaskaran Singh, who is a double major in finance and economics, took the title prize of $250,000 and will now compete in the Jeopardy! Tournament of Champions. UT News recently caught up with Singh to learn more about his passion for “Jeopardy!” and what he’s been up to off-screen.
FROM FAN TO CHAMPION
Early on in his childhood years, Singh was a big fan of “Jeopardy!” He credits his mother for encouraging him to apply for a spot on the show.
“I watched ‘Jeopardy!’ when I was a little kid, and my mom had me apply when I was 13, but I didn’t make it past the audition stage,” he tells UT News. “She encouraged me to try again last year, saying, ‘What’s the worst that could happen?’ So much of this stuff is up to chance, but obviously, it worked out.”
While Singh hasn’t watched the show much since his childhood, his interests naturally led him to the “Jeopardy!” stage.
“I’ve been tangentially involved with trivia since high school,” he tells UT News. “I was on the Quiz Bowl team, and we won the national championship. I’m also on UT’s Quiz Bowl team, and we’re competing in nationals in April, in person for the first time in years, which should be a lot of fun. I’m a normal guy, but I like to read the news to keep up with what’s going on, and I especially like learning about history. The videos YouTube recommends for me are pretty nerdy based on my preferences. Just now, I was watching this video on Luigi Cadorna, an Italian World War I general. So there you go.”
FUTURE CONSULTANT IN THE MAKING
Off-screen, Singh is just a regular college business school student. He recently wrapped up an internship with Boston Consulting Group in Dallas and will start a full-time position at the firm after graduation.
For now, Singh says, he just wants to keep things “low-key.”
“I’m taking just one computer science class to finish out my minor, Russian as an adjunct to my economics double major, and a bunch of history classes I’ve wanted to take,” he tells UT News. “I had 250 requests on LinkedIn last week, and I have to find time to go through those. I’d prefer to keep everything low-key, but my parents are urging me to post and get people watching.”
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