Student Stories

Sheneka Balogun

Meet Sheneka, a CORe participant who took the program in order to advance her career and to begin an Ed.D. in Entrepreneurial Leadership.

Daniella Patrick

Meet Daniella, a Disruptive Strategy participant who took the course to become a disruptor and innovator.

Colin Meagle

CEO of Continuum Group, a Global Digital Agency

From the moment I started studying I knew there were theories and methodologies that I could apply to the Continuum Group. From a macro scale, it helps me understand where the different elements of the group sit in their respective markets and how they interact, grow, compete, disrupt, and really nail the job to be done for our customers.

Anindita Ravikumar

Working for a consulting firm to help design business models that serve low-income populations

Another aspect of CORe that greatly added to my learning was the diverse cohort I was able to interact with - the stories and instances from their lives added more color to each topic we learned.

This is the closest you come to experiencing a Harvard Business School classroom without actually being there. Participants can interact with each other while being part of the case discussions with faculty.

CORe was much more than a tripod of rigorous courses. The sense of community that developed from all the various social platforms that were unique to Harvard Business School Online that provided me the platform to interact with other students from all over the world in various industries were instrumental in my application and understanding of the concepts.

The course surpassed my expectations…I actually regret not having more time to fully utilize all the optional features!

Jackie Lender

Jackie is a student at Harvard University studying Government and Slavic Studies. She explains how CORe helped her develop an interdisciplinary skill set and build upon her liberal arts education to become a more effective leader.

The excel I learned from Business Analytics has become useful as I started working as a data analyst for an economic research firm, BMI Research. The techniques I learned make it easier to comprehend the more complex functions. In addition, the integrated learning I took from the case studies allows me to apply “total analysis” in my everyday work and assessments, which is in fact the core business of my company.

Michael Colletti

Working for a cutting-edge SaaS startup in Boston, MA

My goals also include applying the knowledge learned in this program to my professional life, really soaking it in, and learning from the experiences and perspectives of my peers in the course.

Ryan Dumlao

Electrical Engineer in Pharmaceuticals, pursuing an MBA in the fall of 2016

I had never experienced such an immersive platform online, and could argue that it was more effective at building and solidifying knowledge than some of the in-class courses I took in college.

Ivan Seah

Third year undergraduate medical student from Singapore

At the end of the day, hospitals still have to be sustainable businesses. I am confident that CORe will impart the necessary fundamentals to understand and analyze such concepts.

Fernando Garces

Meet Fernando, a Negotiation Mastery participant who took the course in order to more effectively communicate with different teams in his workplace.

Ozgur Taskaya

User Acquisition Manager at Adcash

We live in an ever changing world and in order to keep up and become successful, continuous education is a must-do.

Shrutesh Lati

Petroleum Engineer in Texas who took CORe to expand his knowledge

By the end of the program I realized that CORe was a total game changer on how I see and understand things around me.

Natacha Godoi

Meet Natacha, a CORe‬ participant who took the program to help advance her career in finance.

The conversations, the dialog, and the team huddles were so enriching and engaging and exciting, really exciting.

Desirée Kaplan

Writer looking to pursue a career as a chief sustainability officer

"I am early in my career and am looking for a path to becoming a chief sustainability officer or sustainability manager with a company I can align my values with. This class seemed like the perfect opportunity to give me the right tools to learn more about this field."

Jacqueline Ryan

Integrated Marketing Manager at YumEarth

Weekly, I negotiate strategic partnerships for my company, and Negotiation Mastery has given me additional skills that I have put into practice and have resulted in much more successful agreements.

This was absolutely the quality I would expect from a Harvard Business School Online experience—I loved everything about it. The technology was amazing—love the different camera angles, the option to raise your hand, etc.

Sam Gant

Pursuing a career in International Development

I think CORe may be the extra push I need to connect with jobs that really interest me.

Evan Roth

Former United States Air Force Captain now working for GE Aviation

CORe has prepared me with a basic knowledge that will hopefully show employers I am ready to learn a new career and will be capable of excelling.

Nicholas Grecco

Educator and Healthcare Administrator

The course has made me think more carefully about how I could create a competitive cost structure and make appropriate plans before entering the market. [Conjoint analysis] has also helped me think about what product features my consumers would really value and how to highlight those features. Having a better business vocabulary and understanding the underlying concepts has really helped me to contribute more productively to conversations and decisions.

Learning from Professor Wheeler is a once in a lifetime opportunity. A superb teacher, he shows students how to become masterful negotiators.

Thanks to Business Analytics, I learned to apply statistical analysis to real world problems. For instance, I am currently doing a research project using regression analysis to see if we can predict emergency department demand on any given day - important for staffing and resource allocation.

A few weeks into the course, accounting terminology came alive as I realized why accounting is the language of business. I can now talk confidently with clients and understand the business aspect of their problems.

...it's beyond the value I could have ever expected for such a small investment, life changing

Aranzazú Martínez Galeana

Aranzazú Martínez Galeana is a Senior Project Coordinator at ERM, a provider of environmental, health, safety, risk, and social consulting services.

"I got promoted to a Senior Project Coordinator role just weeks after finishing the course, so I have had the chance to apply many of the topics covered."

I interviewed for my current role the day before the CORe final exam and talked with my now-manager about how much I learned about accounting, reading financial statements, and data analytics, and how I could apply that to my current role. My job is project-based, and I'm currently leading the operational functions of a system-wide IT implementation, a project that affects the daily work of a few thousand employees. Knowing how to read financial statements or look at data sets and understand them has helped me make major decisions on future state reporting.

Yefei Jin

An entrepreneur improving education for English language learners

By recognizing that every student brought with her or him a wealth of lived experiences, HBS Online empowered me to learn much more from peers than I had imagined.

Danilo Salazar

Entrepreneur researching education and solar energy technology in Ecuador

Now I see how to take control of the financial part of my business and also how I can apply strategy when I enter into a new market.

As an entrepreneur, mentor and educator, I can safely say that Harvard Business School Online has shown me the future of education. It is worth every penny and is definitely something I'd recommend to anyone looking to enrich their business education.

Amy Wallens Green

Senior Manager at WGBH Educational Foundation

I'd never taken any official coursework in negotiation. I was drawn to learning to master a skill that would help me in both my personal and professional life.

Suhaib Ibrahim

Project Engineer from Syria currently working in Chicago

CORe is not an ordinary online learning platform; it is an amazing learning experience that will probably surprise you (as it did to me).

Eric Black

Director, Production & Technical Operation at Scholastic Entertainment and Co-Owner of Lyla Tov Monsters

In my job at a publicly traded corporation, I have been able to change my viewpoint of daily goals and accomplishments. Instead of just completing tasks to achieve an end goal, I now look at that end goal and consider how it affects the company as a whole and if there are financial goals and benefits that will increase the value of the company.

Randy Nguyen

My favorite part of Entrepreneurship Essentials was the financing and equity module. It taught me the basics of how to look at spreadsheets and make sense of them—one of the most vital things for any company or start-up to understand.

I feel like now I can speak more high-level about where we want to take the company and what strategic initiatives we want to put in place….It has given me an entirely new set of tools.

Mayank Dubey

Marketing and communications professional looking to learn about sustainable business practices

"The course has completely changed me today. I feel like a new person, with a new thought process, driven by purpose, committed to doing the right thing."

Diego Terceros

Live felt like a real classroom or even like an enhanced classroom. The experience is so well designed and supported that I felt like I was in the same room as classmates. I even liked it more than a regular classroom!

Monica Higgins

Public relations Account Director who took Management Essentials to augment her management knowledge with a practical, case-based approach.

Being able to break down real-life scenarios, and look at the management processes within each - what worked and what didn't - provided a unique method of learning, and incomparable to other course offerings available.

Dr. Patricia Hewston

Dr. Patricia Hewston is a post-doctoral fellow at the GERAS Centre for Aging Research in the Department of Medicine at McMaster University. Her research aims to optimize care pathways and develop tailored interventions for older adults with complex care needs.

"Leadership Principles has helped shape my unique leadership style. One of the most influential lessons for my leadership development was the HBS four-step process for delivering effective feedback and coaching—a process that I now apply on a daily basis."

April Chye

Project Manager for Bloomberg in Hong Kong

"My favorite part would be Professor Anand's jokes in some of the videos. You'd have to watch pretty carefully (but you would since you have to take notes anyway), and they'd always make me laugh."

David Bergin

Chief Technology Officer at Nantucket Technology Partners

As a consultant running a boutique management and technology consulting practice, I have already started applying what I have learned in Disruptive Strategy towards my own business.

Christopher Munro

Operations Analyst who took CORe to further a career in business

CORe proved to be so rewarding. I went in with the mindset of something to set my resume apart from others and came out with a broad and detailed understanding of the fundamentals of business.

Eoghan Martin

Computer engineering student in Ireland seeking to develop a tech startup

I loved the regular use of visuals and videos to fully build up the user's understanding of a new concept.

Anita Umoh

Making the shift from the corporate world to entrepreneurship.

I loved the case study on Intuit and the Quickbook App. It was something I could relate to, and it helped me to understand and know that fear can be good because it fuels your passion to keep you moving forward.

Jennifer Moret

Jennifer Moret is a Financial Analyst working in the trust industry in Switzerland.

"The course has given me the confidence to know that my suggestions have a solid business basis."

I found the overall CORe experience to be…eye-opening. Each of the courses took deep dives into companies of all shapes and sizes to exemplify how core business concepts are applied…CORe took the idea of learning business principles to the next level