Student Stories

…the CORe program will help me transition from being a liberal arts student with a humanities major to being a successful consultant…

Lindsay Stanley

Non-profit fundraiser applying CORe to her career and using it as inspiration to pursue an MBA

Reflecting on my experience, I would say my favorite part was realizing that even though I studied the arts and have picked a career where I work for cultural institutions, I am just as capable as every other person of understanding and applying the subjects taught in CORe.

Lauren Hall

Part-time MBA student working in energy efficiency

A year after finishing CORe, all three courses have been invaluable in my first two quarters in business school. I'm able to get more out of it because I have the fundamentals.

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.

Erin Knight

Founder & Chief Product Officer at Flume

I feel confident and prepared by the ‘science’ of startupland while also appreciating—and being more prepared for—the art of it.

Bernardo Tortolero

Design Thinking and Innovation Participant

Dean Datar’s pedagogy was an absolute pleasure. The way he considered all aspects of innovation through a unified process with actionable tools and concepts was simply brilliant.

Shovna Panigrahi

Vice President of Asset Management at RMZ Corp

Getting the perspective of a problem from various departments brought more solutions to the forefront that could be explored.

Through CORe, I have uncovered a love for analytics, made valuable connections with people in several countries, and gained a strong foundation that will serve me well in MBA or PhD studies, which I am considering for the future.

Bernardo Castro

Student & Entrepreneur

I was pleasantly surprised by how informative, applicable, and helpful the course was. Its interviews and content were great, and the teaching method’s social element was a refreshing way to learn.

Laura Wingate

Strategy Execution Participant

I’ve found HBS Online's courses to be immediately applicable to my work, and they’ve made me a more productive member of our strategic team.

Gaurang Manjrekar

Meet Gaurang, a CORe participant and avid football fan who is applying CORe to his day job and entrepreneurial pursuits.

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.

[With Business Analytics], I discovered a new-found love of data analytics. I was fascinated to learn about ways we can use data to systematically seek an answer to a specific business question or predict the outcome of a scenario given past behavior. This new interest has motivated me to pursue a career in data science (a field that combines statistics, analytics, and business knowledge), which I have begun to work toward since I finished [the course].

Professor Sahlman’s careful observation of the best and brightest entrepreneurs over the last 30 years has given him a perspective and insightfulness that few others can rival. He keeps his students eager to dissect and analyze the situation and range of solutions.

Emilie Billaud

Emilie Billaud, Research Associate at Harvard Business School

The program gave me a framework and a great toolbox for the cases that I am currently developing.

Jenna Pollack

Dance professional armed with business knowledge to complement her career as a performance artist.

The notion that economic stability is mutually exclusive from creativity, from non-profits at large, is something I have recently committed myself to debunking. I took CORe to arm myself with the tools and language of business for this reason, to move my art forward responsibly.

Jocelyn Johnson

Working in Marketing/Social Media for an edtech startup in NYC

But in the few years I have been out of school, I have found that being able to understand key business principles is essential, especially in the startup world.

Daniela Fierro Touché

Daniela Fierro Touché is an administration and registration analyst at the FEMSA Collection in Monterrey, Mexico, a Latin American art collection comprising pieces from the 20th and 21st centuries.

I've been able to understand the macroeconomic policies that are being implemented by and imposed on my country and the implications they have on our lives. This has equipped me with more tools to make overall better decisions.

After taking Professor Wheeler’s course, we step back, slow down and discuss strategically and thoughtfully what our counterparts may be thinking on the other side of the table. We have a better cadence for our preparation.

Nupur Kohli

A doctor and healthcare entrepreneur from the Netherlands

I have also applied what I learned in setting up my own health company, LeadInShape. CORe helped me in interpreting data, researching different markets, and how to do my finances. Also, when I have to make decisions in my work or in business, I think of what I have learned in CORe.

Paul Accornero

Paul Accornero, International Commercial Director (MD) Asia Pacific & Americas

I use what I learned on a daily basis. Even though I'm not in a finance role and operating in a general management position, I need to make decisions utilizing the principles we learned on a daily basis. The course empowered me to do that with confidence.

Alvina Chan

Sustainable Investing Participant

The course is a comprehensive introduction filled with dynamic case studies that I found fascinating.

Liz Taylor

An advertising account director in NYC applying CORe to better serve her clients

I honestly use something from CORe nearly every day. In general, I have a much better appreciation for my client's business.

Roman Ignatenko

Launching Tech Ventures Participant

It’s an eye-opening course that enlightens the path for future founders, joiners, or investors.

As an in-house counsel at a multinational for two decades, I’ve reached two conclusions about negotiation and business. The first is that it is the core of everything we do; it is a shared language of business around the world. The second, surprisingly, is that so little attention is given to developing skills in this field. In fact, often people with important responsibilities do not even realize that they are about to enter a negotiation and, as a result, fail to prepare for it. Working with Mike Wheeler has been a critical part of a continuous process illuminating my colleagues so that they, and our business, are more skilled and confident negotiators and deliver better results. What Mike brings to our trainings has been the depth of his years of experience teaching and writing about the subject, and his studies of leading negotiators in difficult situations, all of which have played a critical role in driving a cultural change that puts competency in negotiation front and center where it belongs.

Kyle Rosenmeyer

Boise State University Graduate, Engineer, and Photographer

For me, that connection from textbook to reality made the courses memorable, enjoyable, and interesting. Case studies were absolutely my favorite part of the program.

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.

Exceptional. It's about as good as online learning can get.

CORe Student Testimonial

Hear what students are saying about the Credential of Readiness (CORe).

…it was a great experience being able to interact with so many intelligent students all over the world…it's a perfect combination of teaching from the professors and help from all of your classmates.

Conor Blute

Currently teaching English in Vilnius, Lithuania

The subjects taught in CORe are brand new for me. This first week has been a real challenge. Yet, that is part of the fun.

Tyler Sonsalla

PhD candidate studying molecular sciences and nanotechnology and interested in learning about utilizing sustainability within a business model

I enjoyed hearing from top executives of large firms and their sustainable initiatives. Additionally, speaking with individuals that lived in different countries was very enlightening. Lastly, I enjoyed the ability to complete at my own pace because I liked to step away and think about each question.

Danielle Mitchell

Marketing and management graduate who took CORe to transition into entrepreneurship

I am applying what I learned in CORe every day!

Saad Hashmi

Associate Corporate Relationship Manager at HSBC Bank Middle East Limited

In an ever fast-changing world, it is important to keep abreast with how people around the world tackle finance-related issues and the experiences they go through.

Felix Alaita

Business Strategy Participant

I believe anyone looking to better understand business strategy would gain a lot from this course.

Yashvardhan Gusani

Design Thinking and Innovation Participant

I’ve taken many courses from HBS Online because they’re either directly applicable to my career (like this course) or can help me get to where I want to be. This particular course has been the best among them all.

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.

Karun Chatpattararoj

Data and Finance specialist using CORe to garner additional sales and revenue in his career

Unarguably, there are many courses offered on the internet. However, HBX CORe stands out due to its seemingly interactive experience similar to that of the in-person business schools.

CORe gave me a new lens through which I could look at the world. I applied what I learned right away at work and continue to apply it now in business school.

Jingning Ao

Jingning Ao, Space Tourism researcher and PhD student at Middle Tennessee State University

After summarizing what I learned from this program, I introduced finance in a 90-minute class to junior and senior college students in order to show them different ways of doing business plans in the leisure and sport domains.

Professor Sahlman’s careful observation of the best and brightest entrepreneurs over the last 30 years has given him a perspective and an insightfulness that few others can rival. He keeps his students leaned in and eager to dissect and analyze the situation and range of solutions.

Fernando Garces

The Negotiation Mastery course has taught me that everyone has their own motivations. Even though we may all be working towards the same goal, there are different priorities depending on who you talk to.

I immediately applied the concepts…I highly recommend the program to students who always had an interest in business and economics but never had the time to devote to course material in their traditional academic curriculum!

Kaushal Khodifad

Senior Systems Engineer at Infosys

The virtual, interactive platform was unique. I was continuously engaged with the course's material and learned a lot from my peers.

The People, Opportunity, Context, and Deal framework is now in the back of my mind. Also, I have learned how to quickly assess and network with other companies and panelists at the hundreds of meetup events I've attended.

I'm using regression analysis and other statistical concepts from Business Analytics to build predictive models, analyze trends, and conduct surveys and hypothesis testing. Business Analytics has helped me pursue a career in data analytics and land a job as a Business Intelligence Analyst at Ministry of Justice New Zealand. I'm leading a few modelling and reporting projects across the Ministry using the knowledge I gained from the course.

Economics for Managers was immensely valuable. Hearing from founders and seeing the power of network effects through various case studies helped me see market opportunities through an entirely different lens. The market knowledge I acquired helped me refine and expertly craft research reports.

Having a deep understanding of finance is crucial to effectively lead a business, and Mihir Desai’s engaging delivery of rich content through the case study method has given me the confidence to clearly message important financial updates and decisions to our key stakeholders.

Trevor Tan

Commercial disputes lawyer working in London

Already, knowing the fundamentals of business has deepened my understanding of the context and consequences of the commercial disputes I manage daily.