MBA + MS Design Innovation (MMM Program)at the McCORMICK SCHOOL OF ENGINEERING and KELLOGG SCHOOL OF MANAGEMENT

Why did you choose MMM?

I chose MMM to learn how to use human-centered design to build for impact. I’ve always been passionate about education, and before MMM, I spent five years building and launching data analytics products for higher education. Our goal was to help universities and community colleges leverage their data to improve the student experience and support student success. My favorite part of the job was working with our stakeholders to understand what they needed and then using those insights to build a user experience that worked for them.

I wanted to get deeper understanding what drove user behavior so we could create more impactful, innovative solutions, but I lacked a technical background or any experience doing design. I wanted to build those hard skills while also getting a firmer business foundation, so that one day I could launch my own company in the education technology space. When I discovered MMM, it seemed like the best of both worlds.

What is life like as a MMM student?

Being a MMM means having the best of both worlds at Kellogg. You spend the summer quarter with just your cohort of around 65 students, forming deep relationships very quickly while also getting some of core requirements out of the way. We would spend most of the day learning about business analytics and intellectual capital management, before breaking for afternoon beach volleyball tournaments or BBQs. Chicago in the summer is unbeatable! Plus, when the rest of the MBA class starts in the fall, you already have a ‘home base’ with the faMMM, while still integrating with the larger Kellogg community.

One huge part of the MMM experience is small group dinners (SGDs). Hosts sign up to cook, bringing their MMM classmates together over a great meal. You learn about people’s backgrounds and heritages, meet their families and JVs, and develop the personal connections that make MMM such a special community. I made it a personal goal to cook for everyone in my class at least once before we graduate – and am about 80% of the way there, with one quarter left!

How did MMM help you during your summer internship?

Many prospective students don’t realize the MMM skillset can be a differentiator for any post-Kellogg career, not just for product or design roles. MMM teaches you to think deeply about what your stakeholder or customer needs and identify their underlying drivers and motivations. That is a critical skill for any client-facing role, including consulting.

This summer at BCG, I was working on a data project in a highly technical industry that I was unfamiliar with. A huge part of my job was understanding who the key stakeholders were at my client’s organization, what motivated them, and how we could influence their behavior. I did customer interviews, helped design process changes, and communicated on-the-ground needs up to key leadership at our client – and MMM enabled me to bring a unique human-centered-design lens to those conversations. While the industry and content might have been unfamiliar, the frameworks and skills I learned through MMM allowed me to shine.