Program Experiences

Focus Firm

It's not enough to have business knowledge, you have to understand how and why to use it.  Our Focus Firm class helps students achieve that understanding through an experiential learning project. Baylor MBA has partnered with a wide variety of companies for the Focus Firm class, including Fortune 500 companies such as 7-11, Lockheed Martin and Coca-Cola; non-profits such as One Heart Project and Waco Art Center; and entrepreneurial projects with Durango Midstream and Eljun, LLC.   

What does success look like by the end of the Focus Firm class?
For Students:

1. The ability to immediately apply knowledge learned in class to a real-world challenge. Students perform quantitative analysis to develop solutions based on data.
2. Access to company executives who provide real-time feedback, while being coached by a practicing professional on industry expectations. Students are mentored on how to solve a business problem with time constraints, ambiguity and asymmetric information.
3. Development of teamwork and presentation skills to demonstrate effective management. Students learn and practice in teams to accelerate the path from classroom learning to leadership-readiness.

For Partnering Companies:

1. Evaluation of MBA talent. Executives interface with students for a short, high-impact project to assess knowledge and skills.
2. The opportunity to career opportunities. Executives offer insights into corporate culture and required skills that MBA graduates will need for career success.
3. Delivery of actionable solutions. Executives receive an outside perspective of an internal issue that could impact their business today.

Leadership Summit - New York City

MBA students participate in an off-campus educational experience, as part of their Career Development courses. Faculty from various disciplines travel with students, challenging them to seek the most out of the experience. The interaction between students and faculty outside the classroom strengthens the educational journey at Baylor. During the one-week trip to New York City in the fall semester, students meet with corporate leaders from companies such as Trenchant Capital, Xylem, Deloitte, AMEX, Hudson Executive Capital, Bessemer Trust, Fleishman Hillard and the Federal Reserve. They also participate in a case study and a community service event, where they apply classroom learning to real world problems.

Case Study

Students spend a day working in small groups with a specific company to work on a case study. The companies identify specific issues they are facing and ask the students to analyze the situation and to provide ideas on how to resolve the issue. Previous partnering companies included Adecco, Aviva Investors, Deloitte, Ernst & Young and Goldman Sachs.

Portfolio Management Practicum

MBA students enrolled in the Practicum in Portfolio Management class manage an investment portfolio valued at $10.5 million. The class meets in the Southwest Securities Financial Markets Center to learn the tools and techniques used by investment professionals to analyze and select individual stocks.