Experiential learning opportunities: Full-time MBA

Gain hands-on experience tackling the toughest business challenges

Your MBA is about so much more than required readings and exams. It’s a time to push yourself out of your comfort zone, develop your unique leadership style, and work closely with clients to solve their pressing business challenges. Experiential learning is built into your MBA curriculum to give you ample opportunity to put skills learned in the classroom to work while making an impact at a client’s organization.

You will graduate having completed at least three client engagement projects. With three required experiential courses and the option to take more as electives, personalize your MBA with experiential learning courses built for your career goals. Learn to strategically address business opportunities, including identifying critical business needs, conducting rigorous research and analysis, developing innovative solutions and plans that work.

In October 2021, Carey Business School was recognized with the Innovator Award for General Excellence from the GBC Roundtable for its Full-time MBA experiential learning curriculum.

Gain real-world experience with leading corporations

Experiential Learning: Innovation Field Project

The Innovation Field Project at Johns Hopkins Carey Business School is the full-time MBA program’s signature experiential learning project providing students with real industry experience. Student consultants are paired with a corporate sponsor to identify challenges and offer innovative solutions to solve the business’ complex problems.

Your experiential learning curriculum in the Full-time MBA is built sequentially and with the intention to help you become a leader in business. As you gain skills and experience, your courses grow with you, presenting increasingly challenging scenarios and opportunities.

STEP 1 – Partner Engagement and Compelling Communication

Business Communication Project

Partner with venture start-ups across industry sectors spanning biotechnology to social impact groups, helping them develop default communication behaviors, deliver impactful presentations, and write compelling, influential business documents intended to persuade audiences.

STEP 2 – Teaming and Data Analytics

Big Data Consulting Project

Analyze a business partner’s large dataset, derive managerial insights, and use your findings to inform business challenges and opportunities

STEP 3 – Applying MBA Skillset to Create Innovative Solutions

Innovation Field Project

Work in teams using rigorous data analytic methods, creative problem-solving, and the leadership skills learned in the first year of your full-time MBA to evaluate a complex business issue. Working in teams and alongside a faculty advisor, spend eight weeks addressing a business challenge, including spending up to five days on-site at your client’s organization.

Advising Project Teams

Organizations commonly rely on teams to get work done. At the same time, the effectiveness of teams can vary greatly depending on their leadership and processes. In this experiential course, further develop your capacity to lead teams by advising an Innovation Field Project team.

Applied Behavioral Strategy for Organizational and Social Impact

Work with a company or non-profit organization to gain a theoretical and practical understanding of consumer and employee behavior. Embark on a team project to learn about the power of incentives as well as “choice architecture”—altering the context in which individuals make decisions.

CityLab

Partner with existing economic and community development initiatives to position yourself for a career in urban innovation and entrepreneurial business with social impact.

Health Care Strategy Consulting Practicum

In this two-course series, work as a consultant to address the client’s existing and emerging challenges in the health care space.

Discovery to Market

Transform a scientific discovery into a viable commercial enterprise.

Global Immersion

Travel abroad or work on cross-cultural project teams to learn more about international trade policy, sustainable business, financial markets, crisis management, and entrepreneurship first-hand.

Strategy Consulting Practicum

Learn the analytical techniques for diagnosing the competitive position of a business and how to evaluate strategies. Then partner with a client organization to analyze their business problems or opportunities and share your recommended strategic business solution.

Note: Course offerings vary by term and may change

Earning your degree at Carey Business School offers so much more in addition to the curriculum. Choose the co-curricular (non-credit) experiential learning opportunities best suited for your career aspirations or join a student organization to build your own opportunities.

Explore all co-curricular opportunities.

Co-curricular highlights

Commercialization Academy Fellowship

An incubator for innovation at Johns Hopkins, the Commercialization Academy connects you with faculty, staff, and students across the university to bring over 300 new ideas to fruition and technologies to market each year.

Hexcite

At the Hexcite early-stage medical software accelerator, match with Johns Hopkins care providers who have an idea to create and market a software solution that improves patient care.