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

Why did you choose MMM?

Before coming to Kellogg, I was working in finance, covering the software industry. I fell in love with the space but realized that my passion lied in helping create new products and services, rather than analyzing companies from the outside. I didn't think that an MBA alone would satisfy my needs and wanted to pursue a degree that felt more directed towards my career aspirations. When I first read about the MMM program, I was blown away. I couldn't have envisioned a program that was more aligned with the skills that I was hoping to develop as I pivoted careers. One thing that's really stood out to me about the program, and that has become even more apparent since I've started, was the emphasis on experiential learning. Certain skills just don't translate to more traditional lecture and case-cased courses, but given the structure of the MMM curriculum, I've had the opportunity to build tangible products, from wireframes, to websites, to ruby applications. One year in, I'm confident that this is the only program that could provide me with the right combination of skills, knowledge, and experience to help me develop into an innovative product leader once I graduate.

What is life like as a MMM student?

MMMs are lucky to be a part of two incredible communities. Starting over the summer was such an amazing opportunity to get some quality time in with my MMM classmates before things got more hectic in the Fall. But once Fall starts, and the rest of the Kellogg class comes to campus, you get to build relationships with a completely new community. I just wish I had more hours in the day to take advantage of all the of experiences that Kellogg has to offer. Being back in the classroom has reignited my passion for learning, and I really appreciate that I've had the flexibility to take so many experiential courses, both as a MMM and at Kellogg. In fact, one of my favorite MMM experiences so far has been Research-Design-Build. The class really pushed me to think about solving problems with an approach that was completely foreign to me, but seeing what we were able to create in 10 weeks and then looking back on the journey to get there was such a rewarding experience. I've continued to leverage that same human-centered research design approach to work on my own entrepreneurial venture while at Kellogg, and classes like New Venture Discovery and Development have enabled me to push the idea further, giving me the confidence and support to work on it full time over the summer.

How did MMM help you during your summer internship?

This summer, I participated in an accelerator program that allowed me to work on my startup full-time. The program consisted of some mentorship, guest speakers, and workshops to help the 10 participating teams de-risk their business ideas and set them up for more successful outcomes. It was an incredible experience to see the evolution of not only my own business but also the other businesses around me over the 10 weeks. While there were many situations over the summer where I was thankful for what I had learned in my first year of the MMM program, one of the more apparent was early on in the summer. A group of design consultants held a half-day workshop to help the participating teams apply some design thinking principles to better work through the problems that they were trying to solve. Given my experience in RDB, I had already used some of those principles to shape my understanding of my own problem and was able to get so much more out of the workshop than my peers. While I think that workshops like this are great, it made me appreciate how much investment and practice is required to truly reap the benefits. It also provided me with a great opportunity to share my knowledge with the other teams to help them further develop their ideas.