Meet Minnesota Carlson School’s MBA Class Of 2024

A CLASS PROFILE

Beyond its enterprises, Carlson is also celebrated for its institutes and centers. Nida Yamin lists the Analytics for Good Institute, Center for Integrative Leadership, Carlson Global Institute, and the Medical Industry Leadership Institute, She is particularly enthused about the latter and its accompanying Medical Valuation Lab. Over the past 15 years, Carlson MBAs have completed over 400 assessment projects through the lab, which have covered, in Yamin’s words, “the potential of upcoming healthcare innovations, develop go-to market strategies, formulate partnerships, and work on scale-up strategies.” She believes such resources will position her for the next step in her career.

“The specialization in the medical and healthcare industry will provide me with unparalleled access to industry innovations and intellectual leadership. Courses on Healthcare Market Analysis, Process Improvements Methods, Big Data Analytics, Enterprise systems, and Project Management will educate me with all the necessary skills to become a future healthcare industry expert.”

By the numbers, the Class of 2024 features 67 full-time students, with the school accepting just 35.83% of applicants during the 2021-2022 cycle. Class members averaged a 682 GMAT, where scores ranged from 570-740. Overall, 15% of the class submitted GRE scores. Here, the average was 317, the low being 305 and the high hitting 330. The undergraduate average GPA came in at 3.47, including 2.45 as the low. Women and international students represent 40.3% and 32.8% of the class respectively.

In terms of undergraduate studies, the largest segment majored in Business and Commerce (31.3%). However, Science and Math (26.9%) and Social Science (23.9%) trail closely behind. Engineering majors (14.9%) also make up a sizable share of the class. As a whole, the Class of 2024 brings 6.25 years of work experience to Carlson. Looking at their most recent jobs, 16.4% of the class last worked in the public sector, including public administration, government and the military. Healthcare accounts for a 15% share, followed by Education, Manufacturing, and Science and Technical Services.

AN INTERVIEW WITH THE ASSISTANT DEAN

Long ranked among the top business schools for producing influential research, Carlson announced big news last December with the appointment of Jamie Prenkert as dean. The executive associate dean for faculty and research at Indiana University’s Kelley School, Prenkert is slated to take the reins on July 3rd. That’s not the only development at Carlson. This spring, P&Q reached out to Phil Miller, assistant dean for the Carlson School MBA and MS Programs. Here are Miller’s thoughts on what MBAs can expect along with some of the unique advantages of the program.

P&Q: What are the two most exciting developments at your program and how will they enrich the MBA experience for current and future MBAs?

Miller: “We are excited to be launching our first Ascend program cohort of MBA students. Ascend is a national program funded by JPMorgan Chase to support high-potential business owners of color. Carlson School Ascend Fellows will be partnered with businesses to provide business consulting support scaffolded by training delivered by the Carlson School and the Twin Cities Metropolitan Economic Development Association (MEDA). We are honored that the national reputation of our Gary S. Holmes Center for Entrepreneurship has led to this collaboration opportunity.

For students, it extends our practical and applied learning model into a new space that furthers our diversity, equity, and inclusion vision. The opportunity to work with business owners on real-world challenges creates more mature professionals and leaders.”

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

Miller:

“Location: The Minneapolis-St. Paul metro is an important part of the Carlson School’s identity. The Twin Cities is the 16th largest MSA in the nation according to the U.S. Census Bureau. It has a dynamic, global business community.

The Twin Cities are home to 15 Fortune 500 firms and are among the most economically diverse cities in the U.S. with prominent corporate or business unit headquarters in financial services (Ameriprise, Securian, Thrivent, U.S. Bank, Wells Fargo), food and agribusiness (Cargill, CHS, General Mills, Land O’Lakes), healthcare (United Health Group), medical technology (Abbott, Boston Scientific, Medtronic), manufacturing (3M, Cummins, Ecolab, Polaris), and retail (Best Buy, Target). This impacts our programs in several ways including experiential opportunities, access to varied leaders (speakers, networking, etc.), and diverse placement opportunities.

MSP has also become a dynamic start-up location. The Carlson School is at the heart of it in many ways. The Minnesota Cup is the largest statewide business plan competition in the nation. It is housed in the Carlson School’s Holmes Center for Entrepreneurship. The school is deeply engaged in the wider University and statewide. This creates many opportunities for students to engage and take courses.

Experiential Learning: A hallmark of the Carlson School is our focus on experiential learning. The school pioneered project-based learning in the 1960s and has embedded in-depth, client-facing work in the Full-Time MBA program for decades. Our Enterprises (Brand, Consulting, Funds, and Ventures) put all MBA students in challenging environments with professional mentoring. Students indicate the enterprise path they prefer in their first year and spend two semesters working on strategic and operational consulting, asset management, social enterprise, or B2C/B2B marketing. These opportunities prove pivotal in students’ career development and placement journey.

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?

Miller: “We have addressed these trends in several ways. First, we have launched a STEM-designated MBA credential. Our Management Science MBA has attracted significant interest in the market. It has addressed a desire on the part of many students for a more overtly quantitative path through our MBA. It has assisted our international (non-U.S. work authorized) students with improved placement outcomes and our us work authorized students with improved traction in competitive fields.

Second, our faculty have worked to create a clear analytics suite of courses across disciplinary areas. Starting with a foundation of baseline courses (Business Analytics for Managers 1 & 2), students can choose from a menu of MBA-designated analytics courses. Students with strong capabilities may also take graduate courses in our Analytics and Finance programs to enhance their MBA options.”

P&Q: What makes the Twin Cities such a great place to earn an MBA? How does the Carlson MBA program connect students with expertise and opportunities in the larger Twin Cities region?

Miller: “I mentioned the breadth of opportunities our location offers above. I’ll expand on it here and offer a concrete example. Our Medical Industry Leadership Institute (MILI) is focused on engaged scholarship and education. The Twin Cities is a medical hub with prominent large and start-up firms across the payer, provider, and technology spaces.

The Carlson School has built on this regional strength by developing comprehensive curricular offerings, such as courses on anatomy for managers, the payer landscape, the healthcare marketplace, medical technology evaluation, and more. Our experiential DNA shows through in the MILI Valuation Lab. The Lab is a project-based course connecting graduate students with entrepreneurs to develop concrete evaluations of very early-stage intellectual property. The course enrolls MBAs, law students, and students from multiple programs in our academic health center and engineering school. Teams are mentored by seasoned executives-in-residence.

This is just one example of the level of engagement and connection our students experience.”

P&Q: If you were giving a campus tour, what is the first place you’d take an MBA applicant? Why is that so important to the MBA experience?

Miller: “We would show students our Enterprise spaces during a peak period. They would see many project teams working collaboratively with faculty to drive practical and innovative solutions to client problems. Examples of what they might see include:

* A team wrestling with a challenging client meeting where the client leader changed the scope in the meeting. How do we pivot?

* A team working on how to creatively develop market research to answer an important question. How do we move beyond common thinking? Just fielding a survey doesn’t answer the question. So how does ethnographic research to identify important insights into underlying patterns and opportunities?

* A team working on building a financial model outline and structure to support improved decision-making for a non-profit client. How to make it meaningful and correct, but manageable by the staff they have?

These are just a few representative examples of what a guest would see going on every day in one of our Enterprise program experiential learning spaces.”

P&Q: What have your employers told you are the two biggest strengths of your graduates and how does your programming bolster these differentiators?

Miller:

“Working with clients (internal and external): Due to the nature of the Enterprise program, each student has experience working with a client prior to their internship and full-time position. This has been instrumental in students’ ability to work closely with internal and external clients and stakeholders, ask for what they need in projects, discern the right information when problem-solving, and present to all levels.

Teamwork: The cohort model and small class size has enabled students to strengthen their teamwork skills and work with a variety of classmates well. Employers often comment on how this ease of working with others is evident in interview answers and in internships.”

P&Q: Where are some of your students’ favorite hangouts? What do they do and why do they gravitate there?

Miller: “Several themes and locations come to mind.

For after-class socializing, several locally owned breweries are popular. Town Hall Brewery, the Corner Bar, Fulton Brewery (alumni founded), Day Block, and a few others all are popular for unwinding and connecting. Area sporting events (Twins, Wild, Vikings, Timberwolves, Minnesota United, Golden Gophers sports) are all popular. Our Outdoor Adventure club also hosts a variety of fun events like an annual camping trip and active winter festival trips are all popular.”

MBA Student	Hometown	Undergrad Alma	Last Employer
Angela Botiba	Douala, Cameroon	Skidmore College	NYU Langone Health
Ryan Denenberg	San Francisco, CA	Carleton College	U.S. Marine Corps
Jill Hancock	Rexburg, ID	Brigham Young University-Idaho	Lincoln Financial Group
Celina Her	St. Paul, MN	University of Wisconsin-Madison	Wallin Education Partners
Veronica Johnson	Inver Grove Heights, MN	University of Minnesota	Timberland Partners
Cryspin “Kavaar” Kavaarpuo	Nandom, Ghana	University for Development Studies	Black Star Group
Morgan Kerfeld	St. Paul, MN	University of Minnesota	UnitedHealth Group
Abhay Mane	Mumbai, India	University of Bedfordshire	Lupin Ltd
Gabriel T. Richardson Carcaño	Mexico City, Mexico	Reed College	Minerva Prep, Ciudad de México
Christian Willman	Rosemount, MN	Hamline University	U.S. Army
Nida Yamin	New Delhi, India	Jamia Hamdard University, India	Dure Technologies Pvt Ltd.
Charlie Zamastil	Rochelle, IL	Augustana College	Hotter’N Hell 100