Real-World Experience

A business education is much more than just classroom learning. At the Smith School, our students have a wealth of opportunities to apply the skills learned in the virtual world of the classroom to the real world of business. Some activities are required, some are not. But all allow Smith students to take advantage of the dynamic business and technology markets in the Washington, DC/Northern Virginia/Baltimore region. Explore the opportunities available.

• MBA Consulting Program
• The Mayer Fund
• Dingman Scholars Program
• Netcentricity Laboratory
• New Markets Growth Fund
• Global Opportunities

MBA Consulting Program

The MBA Consulting Program is a dynamic opportunity for Smith MBA students to work as part of a student team to consult with leading area businesses, Fortune 500s, non-profit organizations, high-tech companies, federal agencies, and non-governmental organizations. It's a rewarding experience.

Consulting team members call on all of their skills, developed both in course work and through previous work experience, to complete consulting engagements which have senior executive visibility. You'll address real management issues, develop a deeper understanding of the interdependence of functional areas, and polish your teamwork and communication skills. Participating organizations obtain a fresh, cutting-edge perspective on a business problem and have the opportunity to observe your business savvy.

For further details about the MBA Consulting Program, click here.

Mayer Fund

The Mayer Fund yields big dividends for Smith MBAs: hands-on experience in securities analysis and portfolio management while earning course credit. The fund reinforces the finance theory learned in the classroom with actual practice in financial markets, offering a select group of students an experience few business schools can match. Established in 1993 with $250,000, the Mayer Fund now has approximately $1 million in assets.

At the end of the academic year, the Mayer Fund portfolio managers present a final report to the funds' external board of directors which includes senior executives from asset management firms, investment banks, commercial banks, venture capital companies, and Fortune 500 companies.

Running an investment fund increases the visibility and marketability of team members. Students from the Mayer Fund advance to jobs in the finance industry with companies such as Barclays, Credit Suisse First Boston, Prudential Securities, Lehman Brothers, First Union, and Bank of America.

For further details about the Mayer Fund, click here.

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Dingman Scholars Program

Dingman Scholars are full-time MBA students who receive financial scholarships and support from the Dingman Center during the launch of their business ideas. Scholars benefit from the expert guidance offered by the Dingman Center's Entrepreneurs-in-Residence, professional staff and Smith School faculty.

For more information about the Dingman Scholars Program, click here.

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Netcentricity Laboratories

Netcentricity is the power of digital networks to distribute information instantly and on a global scale. Netcentricity has changed the world as we know it, from the way we live our personal lives, our social and political activities and choices, to our approaches for conducting business and creating value. To develop, test, and share best business practices of this new networked world, the Smith School of Business launched its netcentric economy initiative of creating a unique set of R&D and teaching test beds to study the emerging netcentric world from a variety of perspectives. The vision is to create an integrated research and teaching environment that links technology research of the netcentric environment with business research, and includes training in behavior, policy, strategy, and finance.

Central to this initiative are the Netcentricity Laboratories, a sophisticated collection of facilities for researchers, students, government, and the corporate community that also serve as a hands-on learning environment. This networked environment encompasses supply chain management, financial trading, electronic commerce, and applications and research in the behavioral aspects of netcentricity. The Smith School is partnered with several major companies to develop and support the new laboratories. Sun Microsystems has donated servers, terminals, and software to create a mini-version of the company's Menlo Park, Calif., supply chain management laboratory. Through its alliance with Sun, the school is modeling the extended enterprise relationships among suppliers, carriers, distributors, and customers. Oracle Corp., Tibco Software Inc., and Manugistics have contributed software, and companies such as SAIC and Dell have contributed research funding. Commercial software from the Reuters Corporation provides the Netcentric Financial Markets Laboratory with real-time access to a variety of financial data.

In the lab, MBA students are analyzing real-time and historical data to understand financial instruments. They also are building and testing investment portfolios using professional software packages.

For further details about the Netcentricity Laboratories, click here.
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