Chidinma Chigozie-Nwosu

Rutgers Business School – New Brunswick

“Passionate about making my mark on the world while also staying true to myself.”

Fun fact about yourself: I once had my photo up on a billboard in Times Square!

Hometown: Hillside, NJ

High School: Union County Vocational-Technical High School

Major: Finance

Minor: N/A

Favorite Business Course: Business Ethics

Extracurricular Activities, Community Work and Leadership Roles During College:

Extracurriculars & Leadership

• Girls Who Invest Summer Intensive Program Scholar
• Resident Assistant
• Rutgers Road to Wall Street Program, Cohort 11
  • Member
  • Mentor
• Business Student Transition at Rutgers Program
  • Member
• Student Coordinator for RBS Pre-College Enrichment Program (PREP)
• Women Business in Leadership Development Program
  • Member
  • Mentor
• Student Staff at Post Office
• Little Investment Bankers of Rutgers (LIBOR)- Alumni Columnist for LIBOR Financial Newsletter

Awards & Honors

• Dean’s List
• MSD Scholarship Recipient

Where have you interned during your college career?

• KPMG- Embark Scholars Program (New Jersey)
• Morgan Stanley- Wealth Management Summer Analyst (New York)

Where will you be working after graduation? Morgan Stanley- Wealth Management Rotational Analyst

What is the biggest lesson you gained from studying business? The biggest lesson I learned is that the financial world is ever-changing. Even if you think you know everything, there is always something more to learn, which I find very exciting.

What advice would you give to a student looking to major in a business-related field?  My advice would be to do things outside of your major. Join clubs and do activities that help you build soft skills that can’t necessarily be taught in the classroom or tested on an exam. It helps make you a more rounded student and employee. I think networking with as many people as possible to understand different career opportunities is also very important.

What has surprised you most about majoring in business? I think I was most surprised about how much business is less about Excel sheets and financial statements and more about people and the connections you make. Networking and building relationships are big parts of the finance world because you can learn valuable advice from professionals or make friends with classmates who end up becoming your support system. I learned so much through my classes, but I think the relationships I’ve built in college are as valuable, if not more.

Looking back over your experience, what is the one thing you’d do differently in business school and why?  If I could do things differently, I would have been more confident in myself and my abilities. As a first-generation immigrant, no one in my family has pursued any career in business, so I had to navigate the finance world all on my own. At the beginning of college, I would always talk down about myself and wouldn’t apply for opportunities because I knew very little about the finance industry, so I assumed I would automatically get denied. It is also very easy to compare yourself to others, but I used my work ethic and determination to drive me to be better and to catch up to my peers, so it all worked out in the end!

Which academic, extracurricular, or personal achievement are you most proud of? I started my first year of college during the pandemic. It is already a tough transition from high school to college, but navigating college virtually made it more difficult. I am incredibly proud of how I handled the situation I was put in. I was able to still do well in my classes, interview and land an internship at KPMG for my freshman year summer, and make friends through club events. I had to learn to be organized and ask many questions to ensure that I knew how to navigate college life. I attended a lot of upperclassmen panels and kept a notebook with all of the advice they shared so that I was aware of not only the many opportunities that Rutgers had to offer, but also those that were available outside of Rutgers. My freshman year experience taught me to be adaptable and to not be scared of big life changes that are out of my control.

Which classmate do you most admire? The classmate that I admire the most is Serena Simpkins. During the Business Student Transition at Rutgers Program, Serena came in to speak to the members of the program about LIBOR, a finance club on campus, and encouraged us to join. I reached out to Serena afterward, seeking college advice since she was a senior about to graduate. She quickly became a mentor to me and was the person who encouraged me to shoot for a career on Wall Street. I thought my dream of working on Wall Street was unrealistic, but she was my biggest supporter and one of the biggest contributors to my success. She would sit on Zoom calls with me and teach me finance concepts, look over my resume many times, and check in on me to see how I was doing with internship recruiting and school. Her work ethic, big heart, and leadership spirit set the blueprint for me to try to embody.

Who would you most want to thank for your success? I want to thank my parents for being my biggest cheerleaders throughout my life. They supported me so much throughout my journey in college. Coming to America by themselves and during the years since, they have shown me what true resilience, hard work, and optimism look like. They taught me the importance of being humble and thankful for the small milestones in life. I am blessed to have such strong role models as parents, and I hope that everything I do continues to make them proud and prove that I am forever grateful for the sacrifices they have made for my siblings and me.

What are the top two items on your professional bucket list?

• Establish a non-profit academic learning center, catering to under-resourced youth
• To go to a high-ranked business school to get my MBA

What made Chidinma such an invaluable addition to the Class of 2024?  

“Chidinma is the kind of person that any organization would be lucky to have on their team.  What sets her apart are things that cannot be learned from a book nor taught in a classroom.  She has a refreshingly positive attitude and a genuine desire to continuously improve. Her inquisitive nature is a breath of fresh air, and she wants to be the best that she can be. She has an insatiable desire to learn and grow and wants to understand how organizations operate and function and what role she can play in helping those initiatives. I am very excited to see what the future holds for Chidinma because she will vastly improve any company that is fortunate enough to hire her.”

Ken Freeman, CFA
Assistant Professor of Professional Practice, Finance & Economics
Director, Road to Wall Street Program

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