Student Profile

Christopher Munro

Where are you working?

I currently work for Aspirion Health Resources as an operations development analyst, reporting directly to the COO and CFO. Aspirion Health Resources is a revenue cycle-generating company that manages and processes complex insurance claims for large hospital networks.

Why did you decide to sign up for CORe?

The power of social media marketing is alive. Harvard was never on my radar. Coming from a low-income, Title One school located in South Texas near the border of Mexico, I never believed a Harvard education would be within my reach. I came across an ad on Facebook for CORe and asked myself, “Why not?” After reading about the program's mission, I knew it was something I wanted to do. At the time, I was finishing up my last two semesters at Texas A&M and knew if I wanted to be competitive in the job market after graduating, I would need to have something on my resume that set me apart. I didn’t have time for internships; I was working a full-time and two part-time jobs and taking 21 hours of classes per week at school. So, you could say that my intentions when deciding to take CORe were primarily for resume-boosting.

What was your favorite part of the program?

CORe proved to be so rewarding. I went in with the mindset of something to set my resume apart and came out with a broad and detailed understanding of business fundamentals. I quickly learned that CORe was not like a normal class where if you didn’t understand a concept, you could move on and still do relatively well. I found that CORe was designed to force you to understand the foundations of the previous module before moving on to the next. If I had to say what my favorite part was, it would be the realization of the importance of building a strong foundation.

How are you applying the skills you've learned in CORe?

I'm applying CORe to my everyday work life. As an operations analyst, I'm using the skills I learned from Business Analytics to make predictions based on data. I'm using the skills I learned in Financial Accounting to provide financial reports beyond the pre-generated basic reports you receive from an off-the-shelf industry standard accounting software. I'm using the skills I learned from Economics for Managers to make educated predictions on industry behaviors and trends. These three fundamental courses tie in so closely together, and I find myself using all three subjects together at the same time for just about every decision I make.

Any advice for people who will be taking CORe?

I would advise anyone taking or considering taking CORe not to become too concerned if you don’t fully understand a couple of cold calls or miss a few quiz questions. Additionally, make sure you set aside a decent amount of time to commit to the program. It's an intensive and time-consuming program, but it’s worth every minute.