We are pleased to announce that Duff Miller student Serena Dhanani has been awarded a prestigious internship from global finance giant Deloitte. Serena beat off competition from over 2,000 entrants to win one of only 30 places on the Deloitte Scholar Scheme.
The scheme, which starts in September 2014 and lasts for eight months, will offer Serena the chance to work on challenging projects with a wide variety of high-profile clients in the financial industry.
As part of the scheme, Serena will also receive a £1,500 bursary to go travelling after the placement and before university, as well as an ongoing financial scholarship of £500 per academic year at university.
The scheme is designed for students like Serena, who will have successfully completed their A-Level examinations and will progress to a prestigious university in September 2015. Serena has been awarded a place to study Management at London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE).
Entrance to the pre-university programme is highly competitive. The selection procedure includes two online tests, a group interview and two rounds of individual interviews with a panel from Deloitte.
In addition to success in her academic studies, Serena has gained a number of other prestigious placements. In Year 12, she attended a three day conference at Morgan Stanley called ‘Step In-Step Up’. The conference is designed to encourage young women to learn more about the opportunities in the financial services industry and to encourage them to pursue careers in this profession.
In early 2014, Serena was invited to spend the day at global financial services giant Goldman Sachs, as part of their Girls INSPIRE programme, also created to encourage more young women to enter the industry. Serena spent a day at Goldman Sachs’ London office, meeting industry professionals and attending a series of presentations, including interactive business tasks and skills development activities to assist the girls in preparation for both university and future employment.
Serena also spent last summer volunteering in Argentina with Projects Abroad (http://www.projects-abroad.co.uk/). As part of the volunteer programme, Serena worked in hospitals and an orphanage, and had the opportunity to improve her Spanish language skills.