Learning by Doing

Because all Kellogg students have work experience, they are eager to explore the ways management theory applies to the work environment. Kellogg provides students with ample opportunities to test their learning in real-world settings.

In the student-initiated Learning through Experience and Action Program, Kellogg students are matched with outside organizations that have specific management questions or problems. The students form groups and spend about 90 hours per quarter, including eight hours a week on-site, on the project. Students have worked on activity-based cost accounting for a hospital, business process reengineering for a packaging company and a marketing segmentation study for a telecommunications company.

The Global Initiatives in Management course enables students to perform fieldwork for organizations in the United States and abroad. Recent projects have included a marketing research project for the National Basketball Association in China and ecotourism in Ecuador.

With the Practicum in Analytical Finance course, students have yet another opportunity to analyze in depth and solve a real problem in the context of the marketplace. As part of Kellogg's Analytical Finance major, the practicum is designed to prepare students for careers in the more technical areas of fields such as consulting, money management and investment banking.

Class assignments also lend themselves to field studies. In Board Governance of Nonprofit Organizations, for example, students work with local nonprofits to address concerns ranging from fund-raising to strategic planning.

To ensure maximum flexibility for students, Kellogg encourages independent study projects, designed jointly by students and faculty members. Often these projects involve marketing research or strategic planning advice.