“Public speaking and event planning. I have a knack for organizing big events and hosting or emceeing them.”
Nandini Agarwal, who is double majoring in Accounting and Finance at the University of South Florida, didn’t even know that she liked planning and hosting events until she came to college.
“By trying new things, I got to know that I’m good at it. I always encourage other people to try things they’ve never done before. Maybe it’s their knack and they just don’t know it yet.”
Practicing what she preaches, Nandini was ready to try something new by signing up as a tutor when Knack partnered with the Muma College of Business this semester.
“I was like, okay, I have good grades, let me try this out. I’m not sure how the platform works yet, but it should be useful if Muma is sponsoring it.”
Since getting started, Nandini has quickly proven to be an excellent tutor, helping twenty different students so far this semester, while maintaining a perfect five star rating.
“I like to help people because I know that a lot of classes are hard. There are some concepts that I struggled with myself, and I went through it alone because a lot of times tutors are only available during certain hours on certain days when you can’t make it. The great part of being on Knack is that I can actually be available to students on their schedule.”
As it turns out, flexibility is one of the main reasons why Nandini was interested in becoming a tutor on Knack in the first place.
“It’s on my schedule as well. It’s my choice if I want to work with a certain student at a certain time. If I have an exam, I can communicate that to the student.”
She has also been taking advantage of the opportunity to earn more through tutoring some group sessions.
“My first session was a group session. Some subjects I like to tutor in groups because a lot of times the students help each other, but if it’s a subject like Principles of Finance or Accounting, I like it to be one-on-one because it’s easier to work at their pace.”
As for how she’s managed to tutor so many students so quickly, Nandini says it’s all about staying on top of opportunities as they become available in the app.
“Whenever a tutor job pops up, I send a simple message saying that I hope I can help. I haven’t made a lot of efforts outside of the app to ask students to request me.”
It’s easy to see why students decide to work with Nandini. She’s a senior, she’s a double major, she’s a high-achieving student, and she’s one of USF Muma’s 25 Under 25.
“I came to the United States when I was 15, so that makes me a little different from a lot of the people I’m tutoring because a lot of them are from the region.”
Despite this, Nandini sees herself in the students she helps and she encourages new tutors to be empathetic to their students’ struggles.
“Just be mindful that the person you’re tutoring was you two years ago. Remember what you were going through with other commitments, family things, clubs, jobs… If they’re taking time out for you, then you should give them your full attention as well.”
Unfortunately for future accounting and finance students, Nandini’s time at USF is almost up. After interning with PwC this spring and returning to school for one final semester next fall, she will earn her degree and move on to even bigger and better things.
However, there’s no doubt that Nandini’s legacy will live on through the organizations she has been involved with, the many events she has hosted, and the growing number of students she has helped.