October 27, 2003
MBA Students Earn Access, Offer Insight To Corporate
Execs During Plus
By Allison Anderson
|
For two weeks in October during this year's Plus program, life on campus at the University of Texas McCombs School of Business was anything but business as usual. MBA students stopped sweating out exams and began putting their knowledge to work in the field. Mini-consulting teams fanned out to offer real-life advice to business clients ranging from East Austin mom-and-pop shops to international high-tech giants.
During Plus, a mid-semester professional development program, all 800 of the McCombs MBA students choose an “academy” in an arena that interests them. Within these academies, they attend special seminars and work on their related consulting projects.
For the fall of 2003, academies covered everything from corporate finance and customer insight to asset management and global entrepreneurship. Some delved into the business of television and film, which certainly plays a role in Austin’s economy, while others focused on the non-profit sector. Between academy meetings and seminars students worked on their team projects.
Students themselves initiated most of the projects, although some companies requested others, especially firms like Dell and Motorola that had participated in last year’s inaugural Plus program. The projects, many of which prove valuable for organizations, help students explore career paths and connect with potential employers.
One multi-national team of seven students conducted a financial analysis of Motorola’s competitors in the automotive semi-conductor market in Japan. Project captain Kyle Simson, MBA ’05, recruited classmates with experience in investment banking, accounting, consulting and engineering. The group could have called itself “Team United Nations,” with its members from the U.S., Peru, Argentina, Mexico, China and India.
“This project was very popular among Asian students but it was an asset to have students from different countries,” Simson said. “They were used to looking at problems a bit differently.”
In addition to the academy and project activities, Plus also brings students together for workshops revolving around a central theme each semester. The program rotates four themes, each of which falls under a broad range of the “soft skills” that corporate recruiters say they seek in new hires.
First-year MBAs polish their presentation and networking skills while second- year MBAs discuss ethical decision-making and international business trends. All students conclude the two-week program by making presentations to their clients.
“I think Plus is a tremendous opportunity for students,” said McCombs MBA ’98 Tammi Valenti. “They’re solving real-world problems. It’s tangible.”
Valenti sat in on student presentations and helped evaluate project results during the inaugural year of Plus. “The more contact students have with business leaders and the more opportunities they have to present in a safe environment, the better off they are,” she said.
Career changers should find the program particularly helpful, she added, as it allows them to acquire a bit of experience in a new field. She said a Plus project could help a job candidate convince a recruiter he was ready to work in marketing, for example, even if he lacked that experience before entering McCombs.
Besides alumni, company recruiters are beginning to take notice of the program. McCombs MBA ’02 Adam Laubach, who now interviews students for Dow Chemical, said he sponsored a company project that a team of students incorporated into their Plus curriculum last year.
“It was a good experience for both sides,” Laubach said. “I recruit only at UT,” he added, “But I am familiar with the programs at Harvard, Northwestern, Cambridge and London Business School. To date, I have not seen anything similar.”
Even students who signed up for the Community Development and Social Enterprise academy got to rub shoulders with local executives. Jessica Ewing’s Ronald McDonald House team advised organizers who plan to open a second facility in Austin when a new children’s hospital opens.
Students researched local fundraising opportunities and existing capital campaigns, which brought them into contact with business leaders on the boards of non-profit organizations. They got their 15 minutes (well, more like 15 seconds) of fame when the local Fox TV affiliate aired a news segment on the MBA students and their Ronald McDonald project.
Ewing said she and project co-captain Lauren Surovik got involved with the effort when they called the charity to ask if students could volunteer to serve meals for a day. But when the Ronald McDonald House representatives understood that they had MBA students on the phone, they suggested the students skip the cafeteria line and lend their business expertise instead.
For information on specific programs at the McCombs School, consult our contacts page. For media information, contact the Communications Director by phone at 512-471-3314 or by email at CommunicationsDirector@mccombs.utexas.edu.
