Meet MIT Sloan’s MBA Class Of 2023

P&Q: What are two biggest differentiating features of your MBA program? How do each of these enrich the learning of your MBA students?

MH: “Most MBAs aspire to make a professional transition to a new job function and/or industry. MIT Sloan’s Tracks and Certificates provide the roadmap for students to successfully prepare themselves for successful transformation through tracks in Entrepreneurship & Innovation, Enterprise Management and Finance; and certificates in Business Analytics, Healthcare Systems, and Sustainability. Students acquire necessary skills, knowledge and practical experience through courses including action learning as well as building a network of like-minded peers.”

P&Q: In recent years, there have been several areas that have gained increased prominence in business school programming, including STEM, analytics, artificial intelligence and digital disruption. How does your full-time MBA program integrate these concepts across its curriculum?

MH: “MIT Sloan is constantly evolving both the content of core courses as well as the range of electives offered to ensure that we are preparing leaders to be successful in a rapidly changing marketplace. For example, our traditional core statistics and modeling class includes multiple modules on AI and machine learning, and our core communications class includes sessions dedicated to communicating effectively with data. Students can also take advantage of the entire MIT ecosystem of classes and activities, ranging from leading the Water Innovation Prize Competition to taking classes at MIT’s innovative Media Lab.

P&Q: What have you learned during the pandemic and the shift to hybrid or remote learning and how will they impact the MBA experience going forward?

MH: “This continues to be a learning experience! For the coming academic year, to complement our return to in-person learning, we will also continue to offer recitations for several classes in a full remote format to make better use of student time. During a year where all career recruiting had to be virtual we innovated, creating new ways for students (and recruiters) to have easier access to more opportunities.  I hope we can maintain some of this new flexibility while also reinstating some of the important IRL connections between recruiters and students.”

P&Q: Sloan MBAs are given a lot of flexibility, such as an Independent Activity Period to pursue personal interests. What are some passions that Sloan MBAs have pursued in the past during IAP and why is this period so important to MBAs.

MH: “Independent Activities Period (IAP) is one of the gems of MIT. For a full month, the Institute encourages exploration across the richness of its five schools with a robust set of offerings ranging from workshops and classes to exhibits and contests. In addition to accessing MIT-wide offerings, MIT Sloan MBA students use the time to work on startups, complete the international travel component of our Global Entrepreneurship Lab (G-Lab), or plan spring conferences. First year MBAs typically dedicate part of the month to on-campus recruiting for internships.”

P&Q: MIT Sloan was an originator of the action-learning approach, an extension of the schools “Mind and hand” philosophy. How is this approach integrated across MIT Sloan’s programming.

MH: “MIT Sloan offers 15-20 Action Learning “Lab” classes annually, all of which focus on experiential learning with a real-world organization. Whether it’s a startup in an emerging market or a well-established corporation, students work on team projects that focus on areas such as analytics, operations, strategy, finance or marketing. Outside the classroom, MIT Sloan students utilize the 80+ clubs and 12+ conferences as additional learning-by-doing skill development opportunities. These provide opportunities for students to innovate and lead in an area of personal or professional passion.”

P&Q: MIT Sloan takes a very interdisciplinary approach to business. One of the reasons is the MBA program’s connections to the larger university. Give us some examples of how Sloan taps into other schools at MIT. How does these relationships enhance the experience for MBAs?

MH: “MIT is an opportunity rich environment that rewards the curious.  Students can take classes anywhere at MIT,  which includes the MIT Media Lab,  Center for Real Estate, or any of the engineering or computer science departments.  Aspiring entrepreneurs engage across the institute through the MIT Trust Center for Entrepreneurship , the Innovation Initiative and the MIT $100K Entrepreneurship Competition.  Focused on international development?  Find like-minded people, expertise and resources at the Legatum Center.  Additionally, students can enhance their personal and professional networks through participation in MIT-wide affinity coalitions, interest groups, intramural sports, and community service.”

5 REASONS TO CONSIDER MIT SLOAN

1) Action Learning Labs: “The USA Lab caught my attention early on in my evaluation of the MIT Sloan program. My hope is to build communities that put forward solutions addressing the societal issues analyzed throughout this lab. To build home environments that empower communities, I need to deeply understand that community’s needs, the challenges they face and the types of solutions they want to see. This lab will offer an opportunity to flex muscles of working directly with communities to brainstorm and implement solutions that they want to see for real problems and challenges.”
Bryn Coughlan (’23)

“The E-Lab is definitely where I see myself becoming deeply involved in. As someone interested in creating my own venture, I’m excited to get paired with emerging startups and gain first-hand experience on the various product strategies that founders use and learn directly from their successes and failures.”
Sean Oh (’23)

2) Teaching: “The diversity of teaching methods—through a combination of lectures, the case method and Action Learning Labs—led me to choose MIT Sloan. I am an individual who loves participating in the classroom but also strongly believes that the knowledge learned in the classroom needs to be applied in real life to become more useful. The diversity of MIT’s teaching style was a big part of the reason why I applied to Sloan.”
Mert Can Yavuz (’23)

3) MIT Sloan Sports Analytics Conference: “As a budding Applied Mathematics major, I loved reading the papers that were published as a part of the conference. I even made my degree capstone a sports-related analytics project as a result. Watching this conference over the past ten years evolve to include discussions on topics not previously thought to be sports is inspiring and just continues to showcase MIT Sloan’s dedication to diversity, equity, and inclusion. While I do not intend to go into sports post-MBA, I cannot wait to work on this conference and continue to be a lifelong learner in the world of sports and analytics.”
Justin Mueller (’23)

4) Entrepreneurship: “I was really drawn to MIT because of the entrepreneurial spirit that just permeated in every interaction I had. There is a palpable sense of people trying to think outside of the box to tackle tough, important problems. I’ll be pursuing the Entrepreneurship & Innovation track, which will allow me to meet other similarly-minded individuals looking to innovate in different spaces. I’ll be focusing on trying to find ways to change the status quo in our education system using technology, potentially starting my own education technology venture. There is no better place than MIT with its wealth of resources available to students who want to pursue an idea such as the Martin Trust Center, the Sandbox Innovation Fund, the 100K competition, the delta v accelerator, and much more.”
Christina Peña (’23)

“I’m most excited to (hopefully) be a part of delta v. The summer accelerator helps young founders take their startups from inception to launch and I can’t think of a program better fit for my interests. The access to mentorship and coaching is significant on its own, but it’s the community of like-minded entrepreneurs that I’m eager to learn from and contribute to.”
Sean Oh (’23)

5) The Yarn and Sloan Follies: “I am a fun-loving person and Follies is one of the lighter-hearted moments at Sloan where we poke fun at aspects of Sloan. This year, I was part of a skit called “Queer Eye for the Sloan Guy,” which was epic! The Yarn is also such an intimate space where Sloanies share very personal stories. Despite the rigors of the MBA, the Yard reminds us of our humanity. I am cheating at this point, but I also really enjoy Spring Gala—I will never miss an opportunity to dress to the nines and go dancing with friends. I think these things reflect the great community that is Sloan.”
Rhett James (’21)

ADVICE TO FUTURE SLOAN APPLICANTS

1) “It’s OK if your path is not linear; it’s about the development and evolvement of your passions that really speaks volumes. What could you read about for hours or debate about in any conversation? Show that story. And if you’re unsure, allow yourself to explore and be a beginner – something we often forget to do as an adult.”
Ragini Bhattacharya (’23)

2) One thing I did during the application process that I believe gave me an edge was to not only talk about what I get out of attending MIT Sloan, but also the ways in which I wanted to contribute to the school and community at Sloan. A thoughtful elaboration of the diversity and perspectives that an applicant brings to their classmates can help an admissions committee see how they might fit into this the new class they are building.
Riana Shah (’21)

3) “MIT Sloan pioneered action-learning – the Institute’s motto of mens et manus (Latin for “mind and hand”) is a philosophy of creativity and intelligence coupled always with action. Show us how you execute your ideas. Are you someone who can help advance ideas and work collaboratively to benefit others and the world? Share examples of how you have taken action that improved a process, an organization, or even a group or person. Be specific and concrete – what did you do and learn?”
Patricia Robinson, Fortuna Admissions

MBA Student	Hometown	Undergraduate Program	Last Employer
Ragini Bhattacharya	San Jose, CA	UCLA	Nike
Mert Can Yavuz	Ankara, Turkey	Northwestern University	Narrativ
Austin Cole	Springfield, OH	Brown University	Blue Meridian Partners
Bryn Coughlan	Setauket, NY	Brown University	RubiconMD
Rebecca Durr, Ph.D.	Portland, OR	University of California, Berkeley	Columbia Sportswear Company
Anna Eckhoff	Elmhurst, IL	University of Chicago	Bain & Company
Justin Mueller	Missoula, MT	U.S. Naval Academy	U.S. Navy
Sean Oh	Cerritos, CA	Dartmouth College	Microsoft
Christina Peña	Houston, TX	Duke University	Ascend Public Charter Schools