Because growth happens inside and outside of the classroom, and because your interest in a subject deepens when you actively engage in it, the MBA experience is elevated and enhanced when you pursue organized club activities. We’ve looked at some of the coolest clubs offered at top MBA programs and are highlighting them in a series of blogs.
Dartmouth Tuck
Tuck Case Competition Club
Cold calls giving you the chills? As case studies are a cornerstone of the MBA experience, the Tuck Case Competition Club focuses on making students aware of opportunities to refine their case-crackin’ skills. Members help each other hone their abilities to analyze, synthesize, hypothesize, and every other kind of “ize” you could imagine. Club activities include debriefs by successful teams, useful strategies for getting ready for a competition, and social mixers with the larger Tuck community.
Dartmouth Energy Collaborative
Here’s a jolt for your education! The mission of the DEC is to educate and connect the energy community at Dartmouth and throughout New England. With over 100 members – including students from Tuck, Thayer School of Engineering, Dartmouth College and Vermont Law School – this group organizes educational lectures and lunches and arranges for attendance at technical discussions led by Thayer’s Dartmouth Energy Journal Club (DEJC). Throughout the year, DEC invites companies to Dartmouth, hosts events and conferences, and organizes power plants and manufacturing facility tours. DEC members also participate in business plan competitions and provide consulting services. Rubber-soled shoes are optional but suggested!
Tuck African Ancestry Business Association
TAABA asks: “What have you done today to leave a lasting legacy?” This group works to build a sense of community among students of African descent at Tuck. Activities include social events for members and their partners, academic assistance, and opportunities to “use one another as a sounding board for concerns and ideas, both personal and business related.” TAABA members also see it as their responsibility to work with the admissions office to increase the number of African Ancestry enrollees. TAABA sponsors social and networking events with the Dartmouth Black Business Association.
UVA Darden
Turnaround & Restructuring Club
Today’s teetering economy makes this club a natural for MBA students from all industries. Melding Darden’s leadership development, finance, consulting, and general management curriculum, this club has the mission of fostering financial and operational restructuring careers. Members have access to skills development programs as well as professional networking and employment opportunities. Highlights include the New York City Job Trek, opportunities to work with distressed businesses, and collaboration with other professional schools.
Outreach at Darden
At UVA, “giving back” and “paying forward” are more than just buzzwords featured in admissions essays. Darden’s community service group organizes activities that leave a positive impact on the world outside of Darden. Members join this club in order to get to know Charlottesville and make an impact, to focus on something OTHER than their MBA for a while, and to grow as leaders. Make time to make a difference.
JD/MBA Society
No, this isn’t another “lawyer” joke. This organization seeks to facilitate, improve and strengthen the experience, profile, and alumni network of the JD/MBA program of the UVA School of Law and The Darden School. This is achieved by creating connections between students and faculty from both programs as well as local law firms and businesses. Okay, so a lawyer and an MBA walk into a bar…
Oxford Said
There are over 200 registered clubs and societies at Oxford University. The best-known of these are:
Oxford Union
Famous for its formal Thursday evening debates, which have been taking place since 1823, these competitions were founded on the concept of Freedom of Speech, in an era when religion and politics were off-limits within the University. Twelve British Prime Ministers have honed their skills in the Union’s Debating Chamber. Members are European and even world champions in competitive debating. So, step right up whether you want to compete at the international level or just brush up on your public speaking skills.
Oxford Entrepreneurs
The Oxford campus is located more than 5,300 miles from Silicon Valley. But for members of this club, the “start up” spirit is in abundance – UK style. OE has as its mission “to encourage and support student entrepreneurship by providing inspiration, education, networking and the chance to learn by doing.” OE hosts compelling events on campus including the Changemaker Speaker Series of lectures. Ideas2Market consists of a boot camp prior to “startup weekend,” then two “Matchup session” can help you find a mentor for your project. Practical workshops and networking events are standard practice in this, the largest student entrepreneur society in the UK, with some 1,200 members!
To learn more about each of these schools, and to request a free evaluation of your MBAcandidacy, click here.
