Student Stories

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

Shane Sabine

International Business & Communications Consultant

The rich variety in content differentiated this course as a uniquely high-quality, fully engaging learning experience.

Professor David Garvin is so sentient and poignant in his discussions of process and decision-making. The case studies of significant historical events are like looking back through a time machine. People lost their lives because of faulty processes. I know this is a dubious feeling, but I can't get the thought out of my head that with more and more case studies, you could swell your brain with a better recipe for living as well as running a company. So if you are on the fence about taking this course, get off on the correct side. Take the course so we can talk about it.

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.

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.

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.

Megan Lacy

Engineer and varsity athlete working towards her master's in Athletic Leadership

I was considering taking economics and accounting classes on the side while completing my master’s degree. However, I realized that through Harvard Business School Online I could get the same experiences I could get in a classroom over time all in only a few months.

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.

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

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

I can't say enough about the energy and motivation I gained from taking this course. I felt a renewed commitment to my life-long pursuits and left each class with introspective thoughts and ideas for my future.

The content and approach to Finance offered by Professor Desai is a unique, engaging and powerful way to not only look at numbers, but more importantly, understand the story they tell.

I found the overall CORe experience to be…challenging, enjoyable, eye-opening.

Doug Kinsey

Meet Doug, a Leading with Finance participant who took the course to advance his career and deepen his understanding of essential financial concepts.

Bethany Larsen

An aspiring MBA student planning for a career in social entrepreneurship

Those skills are all very useful, but I think my biggest takeaway from CORe is a new perspective on complex business challenges. This lens has given me a more balanced perspective on sensitive topics like LIFO reserves, minimum wage, and drug pricing that will make me a more informed citizen and wiser leader.

Maggie Oh

An animator with dreams of starting her own company

I feel that I am no longer wary of entering into business conversations; my confidence has gone way up with regards to accounting, economics, and analytics.

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.

Alberto de la Rivaherrera

Product Manager

The cases were phenomenal. I got engulfed in the videos; they made you feel like you were in sort of a planetarium, right in the tea fields in Asia, learning about the dangers of palm oil. And hearing from the executives at huge companies about their strategies solving their problems was amazing.

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

I would be very surprised if the concepts that we talked about in the course are not core to our strategic planning process this year… I expect that we will have a lot more conversation about the course going forward.

Richard Pitts

Medical professional looking to learn about sustainable business practices

As always, the case studies are eye-opening. The content is superb, and the presentation of the case is superb as well.

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.

Willemijn van Woerkom

Studying Cognitive Neuroscience in Amsterdam, The Netherlands Education

I am not sure many people agree with me, but I found composing a balance sheet quite satisfying and relaxing!

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.

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.

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.

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.

Bharat Anand’s Economics for Managers course has proven to be the most influential for my career. Understanding the basic concepts of economics from the course really broadened my approach to various planning-related problems I tackle each day. My ability to identify details related to business efficiency and performance that I may have missed in the past was fine-tuned in the program, and my understanding of the business is now much stronger.

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.

Daniella Patrick

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

The platform was engaging, innovative, and allowed me to interact with the material in a way I never expected from an online course.

Andrew Buks

Instructor of Management & Business Policy and Strategy at the School of Business, Black Hills State University

I think it's the best online course on Sustainable Investing.

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.

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.

Brooks Wallace

Public relations professional looking to learn about sustainable business practices

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.

Akanksha Davera

Sustainable Investing Participant

The course content is well designed and helps investors get a basic understanding of what sustainable finance is, its challenges, the path forward, and its key players.

Mirza Mahmood ul Hasan

Chief Financial Officer at Alsulaiman Group

The course, through its excellent design, has given me an approach and the confidence to deal with disruption either as an opportunity or a business risk.

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.

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

Jason Bender

President at Lomont Molding, LLC

I decided to sign up for Leading with Finance because I not only wanted a refresher on the principles of finance, but also wanted to take a more proactive and deeper approach to my company's financial positioning.

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.

Peggy Dau

Founder & Managing Partner at MAD Perspectives LLC

I am paying more attention to how my clients perceive the value of my services. I find myself rephrasing their statements to confirm their true needs.

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.

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.

Gaurang Manjrekar

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

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.

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.