The Lauder Magic Carpet Ride

Professor Mauro Guillen is director of the Lauder Institute

‘YES, YES, YES. THAT’S ME!’

“The group of people in Lauder is more international than any other program I was considering,” says Mila Adamova, a Bulgarian national who came to the U.S. to attend Colgate University, where she majored in economics and Spanish — and years later learned about the Lauder program via Wharton’s Twitter newsfeed. “I said, ‘yes, yes, yes, that’s me.’”

The Lauder program begins in May. Students choose from nine different languages — Arabic, French, German, Hindi, Japanese, Mandarin, Portuguese, Russian, and Spanish – and then specialize in the parts of the world that speak those particular languages.

They take international strategies courses, then spend two months traveling abroad, where they enroll in classes at local universities, visit local businesses, and network with Lauder alumni in the area. Although, Smith chose Portuguese, he ended up spending a month in Argentina and a month in Spain. Lauder students travel to, and study, many geographic areas, not just those related to their specialization. Smith went to 30 countries.

EXPOSURE TO DIFFERENT CULTURES AND COMPANIES AROUND THE GLOBE

“During that time, you’re being exposed to different cultures and visit different companies,” Smith recalls. “There was a meeting with a Lauder alum in Spain that really impressed me, and I looked through Lauder database and found a Lauder alum that ran a private equity firm. My cousin was in HBS and I thought we should start thinking about having a business overseas. The program reassured me that, hey we could this.”

Between the first and second years, students receive $3,000 each for more travel, to research their Global Knowledge Labs, in-depth “multi-continent” research projects ­– “Is the End of the German Beer Industry Near?” — completed by teams of students.

Other notable Global Knowledge Labs include a study done in conjunction with the United Nations on using mobile phones to facilitate health care in rural areas of Africa, an exploration of capturing energy from space (NASA requested a copy of the report), and a collaboration with Goldman Sachs Foundation on women’s health in developing countries.

LAUDER GRADS TOTAL BETWEEN 50 TO 60 A YEAR

Interspersed amid the travel, of course, the Lauder graduates, who number 50 to 60, are taking classes among Wharton’s general MBA population, which encompasses some 800 students. “What is great about Lauder is that it gives them a mini cohort,” says Mauro Guillen, director of the Lauder Institute. “They take advantage of the scale of Wharton but at the same time they get this intimate relationship with the others.”