2005 Professor Harry Simons Endowed Undergraduate Scholarship for the Study of Accounting Recipient

Biography: Raj Patel is a fourth-year student at UCLA with majors in Business Economics and Political Science and a minor in Accounting. Raj is president of Beta Alpha Psi professional honors society and is an officer of the Student Accounting Society, two of UCLA’s top undergraduate business organizations. Raj is also planning to pursue departmental honors in Economics.

Future Plans: Raj wants to pursue a career in public accounting and obtain an MBA in the future. He has had an internship in KPMG, LLP’s Federal Taxation practice and will be starting full-time with KPMG as a Federal Tax Associate in Fall 2006. Raj would also like to obtain a CPA license and a Masters in Business Taxation degree.

What does the scholarship mean to me?: I have been awarded the Professor Harry Simons Endowed Undergraduate Scholarship for the Study of Accounting. This scholarship is helping pay my tuition during my final year at UCLA, allowing me to focus on my departmental honors thesis without having to work during the academic year for monetary support.