The managed internship process leveraged by the Enterprise Consulting program is one of the major factors that differentiates our program from most others. A managed internship is an internship that is specifically crafted to meet the needs of each individual student. The managed internship allows students to leverage their strengths while simultaneously growing their weaker areas. Students are matched with companies whose culture and business model will expose the students to new experiences and provide them with a great opportunity for success. Additionally, each student’s specific role at their internship company is customized to meet the needs of their professional development goals.
In addition to this incredibly customized internship, students are paired with a faculty mentor for the summer. Each student meets via teleconference every week with his or her faculty sponsor. The faculty sponsor provides the student with a sounding board for his/her ideas and feedback for proposed solutions to any issues that the student is facing. Also, the faculty helps each student identify areas where they can push themselves to exceed their manager’s expectations.
One of the most unique aspects of our managed internship program is the opportunity provided to students to identify a project to bring back to the Capstone for the fall semester. Most of our fall semester projects in The Capstone Experience are brought back by our students from the companies where they interned during the summer. Students are expected to identify project opportunities that meet the criteria for a Capstone Project. Then, students must put together the business case for the project and make the pitch to management. This gives our students the rare opportunity to gain experience in pitching a project before they ever leave campus.
“My internship at Rohm & Haas allowed me to explore a new data mining process, benefiting the IT organization. This fall, my Capstone Experience team will continue the project, adding real value to the entire company.”
Reid McCreary
MS ‘08