What’s Your Story?

When you come out of any MBA program you will be armed with the business skills you need to help you get ahead. You will know more acronyms than you ever thought existed. You will be able to talk about the current economic situation with special insight. You will be able to manipulate an Excel spreadsheet with all of the short-cut keys and you will be able to whip up a first-rate PowerPoint presentation in minutes.

With an MBA degree you will get ahead – but what about that special something that you need to stand out from the crowd? That’s where The Smith Experience comes into play. We took the rigorous toolkit that will always be fundamental to the MBA curricula and added experiential learning projects that will let you customize your MBA experience and build deep competencies – and give you a story to tell.

The Smith Experience has five different focus areas – consulting, global, social value creation, investing, and entrepreneurship. The projects will give you hands-on experience with businesses and organizations nearby in the diverse Washington, D.C., metro area and also with partners around the world that you can point to when an interviewer asks you to describe your leadership, teamwork, analysis, and communication skills. For Smith students, the D.C. metro area is a dynamic mecca of economic and social resources, offering abundant opportunities for connections on all levels – business, personal and humanitarian.

The Smith Experience is six credits of experiential learning that can be taken across the five areas, which starts in the spring semester of the first year. Students can satisfy the six credits by either participating in one of the investment funds, which are worth six credits each, or by completing two of the other projects/courses, which are worth three credits each.

1. Consulting CIBER Consulting Projects CIBER Global Business Projects MBA Consulting Practicum
2. Global Global Study Courses CIBER Consulting Projects CIBER Global Business Projects China Business Plan Competition Technology Commercialization Summer Fellowship
3. Social Value Creation Grassroot.org Social Venture Consulting Practicum MBA Consulting Practicum
4. Investing Mayer Fund New Markets Growth Fund
5. Entrepreneurship Technology Commercialization Course Technology Commercialization Summer Fellowship China Business Plan Competition