Incoming Students

The Summer Program consists of two workshops series – one for Consulting and the other for Product Management. Both were designed with the following goals in mind:

• Help students understand the role from an experiential perspective rather than a theoretical point of view. Much of the workshops will include experiential exercises as well as homework to help you “feel” what the job is. We hope the students will get a better understanding of the core day-to-day tasks to help them decide if this career aligns with their capabilities and interests. (clue: if you are not having “fun” in these workshops, have a conversation with a career coach)
• Help students understand and practice the thinking and core capabilities of a consultant or product manager. If you embody their mental models and practice it – it will lead to better performance under stress in the interview process. Many students take on the strategy of “studying to the test” which can get you only so far (depending on your background).  In the end, the hiring manager needs to make a choice between multiple qualified candidates. To help discern between candidates at this high level, interviewers tend to use more creative challenging questions that are more difficult to “study to”. They are looking to see who are embodying these core capabilities
• Help students develop an understanding of where their capabilities are and the time they need to get “interview ready”. The vast majority of students greatly underestimate the demands on their time and cognitive capacity during the Fall semester. It is going to be tough, you will be adjusting to a variety of demands on your time – from academics, social and careers. To improve resilience in the process having a clearer understanding of your gaps will be helpful.

Haas (through CMG and the Clubs) provides resources to students when they arrive on campus. However there is a gap between the resources provided and the level of capabilities needed to take full advantage of these resources. We are aiming to close this gap and raise the core capabilities of our students.

Both Consulting and Product Management are some of the most competitive and sought after roles in the MBA ecosystem. For many it’s the primary aspect of their pivot. In addition, the current state of the US economy dictates an even more competitive market for these roles. Companies are hiring fewer and there are more candidates; creating a scarcity and requiring hiring managers to be more discerning in their choices. We hope to increase our students’ competitiveness (especially the pivoters) through these programs.

Why the summer?

Internship recruiting over the years (especially during and post-covid) has shifted earlier and earlier as well as becoming less predictable year over year. Last year some companies began recruiting near the start of the fall, thus we want to provide earlier support. We also understand that in Fall, most students won’t have time to attend these programs.

What?? Homework?? It’s summer!!

The key to really owning any capability is practice and repetition. With that in mind, we will provide a bank of homework assignments to practice these capabilities when you are not in the workshop. We have, however, designed these assignments with the idea of making them easy to start and do. Anytime you have 30 minutes you can do an exercise – you can be on the Metro, waiting for a table at the restaurant or even at the gym. Repetition is key in developing ways of thinking like a consultant/product manager.  These are traits that you cannot “cram” for nor “pull an all-nighter” to get.

Workshop Design and Expectations

All these workshops have been designed to be very interactive, it will not be a passive lecture style class with the occasional discussion. The emphasis is on “doing” so your understanding of the role goes beyond plain knowledge. We will call on you. We expect your videos to be on as much as possible.

This event is specifically designed for all incoming and current EWMBA students interested in learning more about the various career paths in Consulting, Finance, Tech and Climate Tech.

What can you expect to learn from these events?

• • Overview of the industry or function
  • Career path and life in the industry or function from alumni panelists
  • Recruiting landscape and CMG resources