MBA2 beginnings & MAP overview

Hello again!  It’s been really busy over the past month and school is definitely in full swing with cases to read, companies to meet and football games to watch. 

Tailgating at The BUS before the Notre Dame game

 

There are a lot things going on outside of classes this term so I’ve opted for a lighter course load with four courses during Fall A:

• LHC 512: Intro to Business Law (always useful and a graduation requirement)
• Strategy 503: World Economy (useful, hilarious professor and a graduation requirement) 
• Strategy 669: Advanced Competitive Analysis (amazing so far, some of my classmates have even described it as mind-blowing) and
  
• Strategy 630: New Age of Innovation (a BIT/Strategy cross-discipline course taught by C.K. Prahalad and M.S. Krishnan, co-authors of a book by the same name)

Other things keeping me busy include my involvement with the Marketing Club, helping out with the 17^th annual Women in Leadership Conference, and working as a student career counselor.   This is typical of student at Ross—many things to do with little time!

As I’ve been meeting MBA1s, a lot of them have been asking about Ross’ Multidisciplinary Action Project (MAP).  If you're not familiar with MAP, it is a truly amazing opportunity that is unique to Ross that really brings the school’s action-based learning philosophy to life.  Students, in teams of four to six people, devote themselves to a single project during the Winter B term at the end of their MBA1 year.  Projects objectives vary widely, but all will challenge students to apply academic theory to a real world problem in a practical way.  In addition, don’t underestimate the emphasis on teamwork and interpersonal skills when you are working extensively with the same teammates for seven weeks—and in some cases, living and socializing with them as well!  

There are all kinds of MAPs available…last year’s list encompassed projects from corporate, non-profits and start-ups; domestic and international projects; and a wide variety of functional and industry areas.  I found the list of projects impressive and more importantly, it provides the flexibility for people to identify projects that are of interest to them.

How do students select their MAP?  Reasons will vary widely.  Career switchers may seek experience in their new desired industry.  International students may seek experience in the US.  Still others may use this as an opportunity to try something completely different.  While you are unable to specifically pick your project, each student ranks their top 10 projects and is guaranteed to receive one of these—not bad when there are over 100 projects to choose from!  Project preferences are submitted to the MAP office, mysterious things take place (no one knows exactly what goes on!), and at the end of January, project teams and assignments are announced.

So I haven’t written about my own MAP experience yet, but will next time (how’s that for suspense? :))  But in the meantime, I’ll leave you with a picture…any guesses as to our team’s location?

Hanging out with my MAP team

Comments

[Abhinav Gakhar]

Hi Erica,

Thanks for the intro to MAP...Really looking forward to your next blog about your own MAP experience :)

Regards,
Abhinav