Boise State’s Career Track MBA students get many opportunities to translate what they’re learning into hands-on experience, and their capstone project is no exception. Students take this 14-week project-based course the spring semester before graduation – and it can be a life-changing experience, sometimes resulting in full-time, post-graduation employment.
During the course, students complete real projects for clients, covering areas from change management and sustainability to marketing. Nicole Cundiff, clinical MBA associate professor for the Department of Management, teaches the class and spends much of fall semester coordinating with organizations to source relevant projects.
Last spring, students completed seven projects for companies including the Tiba Foundation, which supports clients in Kenya; Catch Inc, a local nonprofit; and 2nd Chair, an AI company based in Seattle, Washington.
“Having the consulting-based external project is extremely important so students can leverage all they learned throughout the program with hands-on work before they go into the workforce,” Cundiff said. “It’s a safe place for them to learn and grow and get a feel for what they really want to do after graduation.”
Once Cundiff has the projects lined up, students rank them based on their interest. Cundiff then considers these rankings alongside alignment with potential future careers before assigning project teams. The groups meet with clients in January to finalize a statement of work, then begin a semester of ideation and unstructured problem-solving. Cundiff meets with teams weekly, and clients assess the students’ work at both the mid-point and at project completion.
Cundiff reports that there’s a lot of excitement and engagement for both students and clients around the projects, and several students have been hired full-time after the projects wrap up. For example, one student worked on a marketing plan for a local winery, including a tasting room redesign and was hired as their general manager. After implementing the team’s recommendations, the winery saw sales quadruple.
Other students build their skillsets and discover new interests through the projects, including recent graduate, Margaret Tessier. She credits the capstone with helping her discover her future career.
“Before the capstone class, I wasn’t 100% sure what career path I wanted to pursue, but it opened my eyes to the world of consulting,” Tessier said. After graduation, she landed a consulting role in San Francisco, focusing on data analytics and corporate strategy at a data outsourcing firm.
“Now, I tackle various challenges every day, serving a diverse range of client needs, and I genuinely love what I do,” she said. “I can confidently say I wouldn’t be as successful in this role without the skills and insights I gained from the class.”
Follow the class’s capstone projects each spring on the College of Business and Economics social media pages.