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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
Entrepreneurial Internship Program
• Experiental Learning
Modules [ELM]
• Netcentricity
Laboratory
•
New Markets Venture Fund
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 required and
rewarding experience for every Smith
MBA.
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 Entrepreneurial Internship
Program
Smith MBAs have the opportunity each
summer to apply their business and
technical expertise to boost the
entrepreneurial success of fast-pace
growth companies in the Dingman
Entrepreneurial Internship Program
sponsored by the school's Dingman Center
for Entrepreneurship.
The program is small and select,
offering opportunities with new
technology provider firms and internet
start-ups in the Greater Washington
DC-Baltimore Area. Smith MBA interns
help move the companies forward with
their marketing, financial, IT, and
management expertise and gain experience
that pays off in the job search or in
their own new ventures.
For more information about the
Dingman Center For Entrepreneurship,
click
here.
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Experiential Learning Modules (ELM)
Smith's MBA Experiential Learning
Modules help you fortify your management
skills and sharpen your decision-making
perspective. Bringing to life
classroom-taught theories, ELMs provide
a risk-free environment in which to test
your abilities, ideas, and choices. The
result: super-fit managers.
MBA Case Competition
This is the first comprehensive test of
students' analytical skills. At the
start of the 5-day competition, teams
composed of three to five MBA students
are given a general management case that
deals with broad strategy issues facing
a company. The teams present their
analyses and recommendations in written
and oral presentations. Four teams
advance to the final round, which is
judged by a panel of business leaders
who play the role of the company's board
of directors.
Business Ethics
Guest speakers and student role playing
animate such ethics topics as workplace
discrimination, sexual harassment,
product defects, and whistle-blowing. A
visit to a federal prison provides a
unique opportunity to speak with former
executives-turned-inmates about the
serious consequences of compromising
ethical standards.
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Netcentricity Laboratory
Netcentricity is the power of digital
networks to distribute information
instantly and without borders.
Characterized by global connectivity,
real-time collaboration and rapid and
continuous information exchange,
netcentricity is a ubiquitous force
reshaping every facet of our markets,
organizational cultures, and personal
lives at the dawn of the twenty-first
century.
Under the auspices of its Netcentric
Research Initiative, Smith has created
the
Netcentricity Laboratory. This
advanced teaching, research, and
corporate resource brings together
leading scholars and practitioners to
study netcentricity as an evolving
competitive force of the Internet
economy. As the first academic center to
be a partner in Sun Microsystems'
world-wide iForce Initiative, the lab
provides the technology, the expertise
and the intellectual leadership for
applying digital networks to business,
organizations, and the economy.
The second component of the lab, the
Financial Trading Laboratory,
resembles a New York Stock Exchange
specialist post surrounded by floor
broker booths. Real-time data and
analytical tools are provided by Reuters
and displayed on Daktronics' electronic
display boards and a 20-foot electronic
stock ticker.
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 Laboratory,
click here.
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