Student Stories

Dave Nelson

Meet Dave, a Disruptive Strategy participant who took the course to improve his decision making.

Julian Tan

Recently completed my PhD and starting work at The Boston Consulting Group in London

As a classically trained scientist with limited business experience, I believe CORe is a fantastic way to invest in myself and help bridge the gap between being the scientist I am right now and the consultant I need to be in September.

Megan Valanidas

A designer who took CORe to understand the language of business.

It is really helpful as I apply for jobs to be able to demonstrate that I have the capability to consider economic constraints or opportunities.

Melanie Lehnert-Bechle

Strategy Execution Participant

“I was impressed by how well the course material fit my personal challenges and goals at work, and how easy it was to use the material to improve my team’s strategy execution.”

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.

Leslie Pico

A small business owner and tech entrepreneur from Arizona

Participating in the student discussions and answering cold calls was empowering. It ignited a drive within me to learn and absorb as much as I could.

I was able to use Business Analytics when a project on truck optimization for my site came up while I was enrolled in the course. I was able to apply the statistical concepts that I learned during the course to create an optimizer tool for truck usage and scheduling at the mine. This tool resulted in significant cost savings, which was highly valued by the site management team.

Carolina Ragolta

MBA Student at Stanford Graduate School of Business

I majored in engineering and minored in economics as an undergraduate, but the content of Business Analytics and Economics for Managers showed me new ways for using the theoretical foundations I already had.

CORe goes well beyond the basics, but it isn't overwhelming. The classes are structured in a way that each lesson builds on the lessons before to reinforce everything you've learned. CORe also provides you with real world examples that illustrate the concepts. It's one of the most impressively organized programs I've ever been a part of.

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

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.

I thought I knew the subject relatively well and it would be a refresher. I was in for a surprise. After the first module, I realized that I did many things wrong. The most chilling thought was about missed opportunities. The course is giving me a good structure to understand organizational behavior.

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.

The CORe program will help me to better understand the world around me…and to hit the ground running in any job after graduation.

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.

“Having the perspectives of my peers and all the constructive conversation encouraged me to think in new and creative ways. Knowing that your peers were rating your participation and reading your contributions was truly compelling.”

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.

I use my CORe training every day. Whether at work on in my private life, CORe was a paradigm-shifting event for me.

I now have a better understanding of sustainability and which companies are doing it right. I’m armed with talking points proving that sustainability is good for business, the environment and its people.

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.

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.

Enrique Garcia-Rivera

Pursuing a PhD in Chemical Biology in Boston

By learning these essential business skills, I now feel more prepared to advance scientific discoveries; raising capital, leading a team, developing strategic partnerships with established pharmaceuticals, and other crucial activities are now even clearer to me because of CORe.

Sheneka Balogun

A higher ed professional from Nashville, TN

CORe has provided me a dynamic understanding of how to measure and understand those outcomes. I can now confidently translate statistical data into a graphical presentation or employ different statistical techniques to help me better understand the pulse of student progress.

Shalini Agarwal

Professor of Radiodiagnosis at the Pandit Bhagwat Dayal Sharma Post Graduate Institute of Medical Sciences

"I loved the mixture of academic teaching, case-based review, interaction with peers who had their own experiences to recount, and application in my place of work. To me, it was a complete package."

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 of pieces from the 20th and 21st centuries.

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

Neeti Mathur

Assistant Professor of Management and Assistant Registrar (Placement) at National Law University in Jodhpur, India

The program is beautifully designed and has so much to offer. Professor Desai explains the concepts effortlessly and it’s easy to grasp and absorb them.

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.

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

Allie O'Hanley

Founder and Director of Rxhibition, a new nonprofit organization that curates, designs, and installs art exhibitions in chemotherapy treatment areas

I expected CORe to be much more of an overview. I never was expecting the depth that it truly delivered. I received a strong foundation to be confident enough to build my own startup.

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.

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.

Raj Desai

Tech entrepreneur developing mass-scale wifi solutions in India

It's like you're looking through the world with a completely different perspective altogether, yet it's so obvious. The dots were always there, and CORe made me realize the connections.

Juliana Casale

Juliana Casale is the Head of Marketing at Crazy Egg, a SaaS company that builds website optimization tools.

"I'm now more mindful of how my colleagues are experiencing me, and less averse to having difficult conversations."

Stefan Fijala

Director at Wacky Advisors

"Sharing experiences and thoughts with other learners is the greatest value. Having so many smart people in one place with different cultures, habits, jobs, and education is a huge benefit. Take the opportunity to communicate."

Andrzej Buks

Vice President at Dakota Guardian Trust

I have gotten an incredible wealth of knowledge and theories that are ready to apply. With every minute of learning, my company was better off and was setting a course for success.

As someone that does negotiations as part of my job, I found Professor Wheeler’s Negotiation Mastery course to be both thorough and valuable. This course provides fresh insight and best practices to help maintain ethical standards, while creating and claiming greater value in future negotiations: whether you will be buying or selling a home, getting a new job, working with international business partners, or anything in between.

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.

Amita Metkari

Mechanical Engineer looking to pursue an MBA

The program offers a perfect blend of three fundamental courses.

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.

Riya Dashoriya

Engineering Manager at Quizlet

"The real-world examples were the best part of the courses. While going through the examples, I thought a lot about how I would have handled it if I were them. That plays a big role in how I do things now."

Emily Stebbins

External Vendor Data Relationship Manager, Index & Data Solutions at BlackRock

"Alternative Investments provided more substantial coverage than what I previously had from school versus on the job."

Learning about concepts through real-life cases was my favorite part of the program. The cases really helped transform abstract concepts into observable situations one could learn from.

Anna Ngarachu

Data analyst for an economic research firm in Johannesburg, South Africa

I think what I took from CORe or what I enjoyed was how it shaped me to think and apply all concepts simultaneously.

Dianne Lee

Executive Director of Business Development and Strategy at Kitchell

"I enjoyed the real-life examples and stories and how they were integrated into the coursework."

William Tran

Educator interested in improving student outcomes and promoting college access

The business skills and concepts I learned through CORe will be invaluable in helping me assess the Chinese market, the demand and pricing of our service, and how to differentiate ourselves from our competitors.

Gaurang Manjrekar

A technology consultant and founder of two European football blogs based in NYC

Another aspect which I loved and cannot emphasize enough is the fact that CORe does not feel like a virtual program.

Professor Wheeler helped me to change the way I think about negotiation. Negotiation can be complex and chaotic, but if you seek to understand and embrace that chaos instead of fearing it, you can achieve outcomes better than your expectations.

So much of the business world is about working with others to accomplish a common goal; knowing that your peers were rating your participation and reading your contributions was truly compelling.

Being an entrepreneur, every concept I learned in CORe was immediately applicable to my company. My understanding of how business works got much stronger. For me, the change CORe brings about in you is extremely subtle. It's like you're looking through the world with a completely different perspective altogether, yet it's so obvious.