The Plus Program
Connecting MBAs and Opportunities
The student-focused Plus Program continues to evolve with the needs of our Texas MBAs. Recent updates include more ways to work with Communication Coaches for our students to improve their clarity and confidence. More projects are available with organizations that Texas MBAs say they most want to connect with, and these projects are available in more formats across the calendar year. Workshops and speakers address topics like personal strengths productivity, dealing with stress, seeing inside a consumer packaged goods role, understanding with venture capitalists look for, and how Wall Street determines the value of companies being bought or sold.
For those who want to explore, connect, lead and go . . . Plus provides the room and opportunity to showcase and develop those skills. We’re here – join us. Here are just a few of the things that Texas MBAs and others have to say about their experience with the Plus program:
I always had the dream of working for Cirque du Soleil. Through the Plus office, my team was able to put together an amazing project within a matter of weeks that allowed us to work on the launch of a new show. Over the coming months, we should see the impact of our project.
- Ed Wiedemann, MBA ’09, Cirque du Soleil project leader
The Texas MBA students delivered an excellent presentation today. With the little background information and briefing that they received, their presentation was in line with what we have planned internally. So it was reassuring to know we are on the right path in terms of harnessing new online technologies and networking platforms. In addition, they presented some very interesting creative ideas, one or two of which we hope to be able to implement for the launch of our new show next year.
- Anita Kelving, Director of Public Relations, Cirque du Soleil, Las Vegas Resident Shows
I now have two second round interviews pending and one third round interview. Working with the two communication coaches by far has been one of the best learning experiences I’ve had during my MBA!
- MBA ‘08
This StrengthsFinder workshop was the most eye opening experience I have had in the MBA program so far
- MBA ‘09
I knew that a Plus project would be the best way to explore two major career changes: industry (from financial services to travel and tourism) and function (from operations to marketing). I also wanted to work with a socially responsible company, so REI Adventures sounded like a great fit. This Plus project allows me start applying my MBA right away in my first semester!
- Christie Ariate, MBA ’09, REI Adventures project leader
Overall, we were very impressed with the team’s quality of work, depth of thought, and eloquence of presenting their ideas during the mid-project and final discussions. The team was grilled pretty hard on some of the project’s economics and held their own very well during the problem solving questioning.
- Chris McClung, McKinsey Associate
I want to thank you -my communication coach- for your invaluable help in structuring the presentation with my team on our PLUS project presentation to NBC Sports. We presented this past Friday and it really went well. To quote Michael Worden, our primary contact there, "I've seen lots of presentations and yours was really well structured and easy to follow. I understood your logic."
- Helena Madriadason, MBA ’09, NBC Sports Olympic Marketing project leader
The experience I gained through the Plus project with Abercrombie & Fitch was a great talking point during interviews. Employers wanted proof that I was serious about leaving the technology industry for the world of finance. My participation in the project helped make that clear. Furthermore, my project-based examples of recent team work and communication with upper-management were great for answering interview questions regarding my timely experience with finance. I would highly recommend that everybody, especially career-switchers, participate in a Plus project if possible.
- Bill Lucas, MBA ’08, Abercrombie & Fitch project leader
Three weeks after I pitched the idea to Plus, I was with my project team waiting for our first conference call with the Executive Vice President and Marketing Director at ESPNU. The dream of working with a senior executive at ESPNU and creating a nationwide sports marketing strategy was real!
- Tony Laurel, MBA ’09, ESPNU project leade
Our project with the Boston Consulting Group had the visibility of three partners, a principal, and project leader. Additionally, they even discussed having us deliver presentations to their clients. It is empowering to know BCG entrusted us with this level of responsibility and that we would be addressing an issue which truly affects their clients.
- Norman Tang, MBA ’09, Boston Consulting Group project leader
My coach helped me with a specific action plan in order to alleviate my speech anxiety. It was great working with her!
- MBA ‘09
The PLUS office helped us facilitate the first meetings with Bear Naked and gave us the credibility we needed to be taken seriously. To our surprise, Bear Naked was excited to work with us and gave us a meaty project from the start. It’s been great to be connected to the real world of business while in school, and utilize the concepts our project team is learning in our core MBA classes.
- Caroline Ewing, MBA ’09, Bear Naked Granola project leader
One of the best things I did to make my MBA experience richer was to take full advantage of the Plus program. The communication coaches really made the difference in improving my communication skills, especially for interviews. And being a career switcher (finance to marketing), leading a team of fellow MBAs on a marketing Plus project with a small design firm allowed me to test whether this was the career change I wanted – it was! The project also provided my target company (Dell) with more confidence in my leadership and marketing ability. I’m completely certain that my hands-on experience with that Plus project and my refined communication skills courtesy of the communication coaches is what secured me my dream job.
- Claudia Davila, MBA ‘07
