Experience
At Wisconsin, you continue gaining real-world experience while pursuing your MBA.
Every good MBA program has its share of applied content. We take it to a new level with our focus on specializations. Our focus enables us to design an effective applied curriculum for students who have a clear career objective.
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Applied Programs
MBA students at Wisconsin gain hands-on experience through in-class projects for a wide range of companies. In many cases these interactions provide an additional benefit of weaving alumni connections into the curriculum with the participation of alumni as project leaders, judges and as other resources. Still more experience is gained by students through internships and opportunities to assist faculty members doing cutting-edge industry research.
In recent years, Wisconsin students have been involved with the growing biotech industry in Madison (Promega and Third Wave Technologies), explored best practices at distribution centers in Wisconsin (Trek Bicycle and Target) and researched a major real estate investment in Mexico (Equity International Properties, Ltd.).
Few business schools can match the range and depth of real-world experience we offer. These opportunities arise more naturally in our program because of our focus on career specializations.
“I can not emphasize enough how valuable the career specialization-based MBA curriculum is. It truly adds great focus to your education, but also gives you enough opportunity to learn about other disciplines. This is what sets this program apart.”
Tumay Kojasoy,
Operations and Technology Management
Class of 2006
Guidant, Field Clinical Representative, Chicago, Ill.
“It’s more than just classes and lectures. A Wisconsin MBA is a unique experience which includes both advanced course work and real-world projects.”
Norah Muenkel
Supply Chain Management
Class of 2006
Motorola, Commodity Management Professional
Chicago, Ill.
Our students:
- Manage a multi-million dollar stock portfolio
- Manage a portfolio of real estate securities
- Conceive and launch real businesses
- Conduct market research for leading companies
- Provide in-depth valuation analysis of patents or acquisition targets for real companies
And these are just a few of the notable applied projects delivered within our specializations.
“The reason why I chose Wisconsin is the Center for Brand and Product Management. The Center organizes several company visits and guest speakers throughout the year. I knew the specialized program would provide me with focused and real-world, hands-on experience.”
Makiko Daidoji
Brand and Product Management
Class of 2008
Internship: Marketing Intern, Johnson & Johnson Vision Care, Tokyo, Japan
“I chose the Wisconsin MBA program because of its sharp focus towards career specializations. The Applied Security Analysis Program is unparalleled for someone interested in investment management as a profession. It provided me with solid knowledge and experience which helped me land an internship in the Equity Research department of a global investment bank.”
Karl Poehls
Applied Security Analysis
Class of 2008
Internship: Equity Research Associate, UBS, New York, N.Y.
WISCONSIN MBAs WIN
How do Wisconsin students stack up against students from other top programs? Wisconsin students routinely compete — and win — against teams from top business schools and win acclaim for a variety of other accomplishments.
International Business Case Competition
Wisconsin MBAs took second place in the MBA International Business Case Competition in 2007, in which teams competed to present the best case concerning development of a market for private aviation in China.
Managing Portfolios
The Applied Security Analysis Program, in which Wisconsin MBA students manage portfolios totaling more than $43 million, earned national media attention for producing top fund managers. According to the January 2007 issue of Smart Money magazine: “Where are the next crop of top-rated fund managers coming from? Nope, it’s not Harvard or Wharton. Take a look at the University of Wisconsin at Madison.”
Tech Business Plan
The Wisconsin School of Business at the University of Wisconsin-Madison hosts an annual campus wide technology business plan competition. In 2007, second place and a $7,000 prize went to WindLift, a wind-powered pumping system, represented by two Wisconsin MBA students— from the career specializations in Strategic Management in the Life and Engineering Sciences and in Entrepreneurial Management— along with a teammate from the College of Engineering. The team also earned a special award for sustainability in entrepreneurship and advanced to the finals of the Wisconsin Governor’s Business Plan Competition.
Sustainability
The Wisconsin MBA program is nationally recognized for focusing on social and environmental issues. The most recent Beyond Gray Pinstripes report ranked the Wisconsin MBA 16th among U.S. schools and 28th worldwide for equipping MBAs with needed social, environmental and economic perspectives.
Giving Back
Members of the Wisconsin MBA graduating class of 2007 made a clear statement on the value they place on their business education—99 percent contributed to a class gift to benefit the School of Business.