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How has the program helped you create value in your current role or organization?

I lost my job amidst the government’s reshuffling of funding priorities, and this program is a way that I hope to retool and regroup to dive deeper into a career path that I hope is analytically intensive. I am not sure where I am going to go from here, whether it will be in the private sector or deeper somewhere in the international relations space, but I am confident that this program will give me the skills I need to land in an exciting position wherever I end up.

What strategies have worked best for balancing coursework with your full-time job and personal life?

I am still working to hone my balance, but one thing that stands out is to use the time leading up to the program start date in order to get ahead on assignments and readings. With all the things that happen in life, it is inevitable that some weeks are going to make it hard to focus on school. Once you are behind on the readings and concepts, it can feel like you are drowning in new information. All of us current students have felt that at some point. It is a recoverable position, but starting the material ahead of the course means that you’ll have more cushion for when that inevitably happens. There are a lot of concepts that come fast in this program, and the more you can do to spread the load out or reduce the volume per week or lower the overall stress factor, the more capable you will be to absorb what you are given.

How have your classmates’ experiences and backgrounds enhanced your learning?

Not only do my peers bring relevant experience into the classroom, but they also offer touchpoints on so many different opportunities I can explore. The experience in the classroom ranges greatly—some people come from big four firms, while others come from small NGOs and others come from government. People incorporate their specific skill sets into the group projects, which makes each of the projects a unique learning experience depending on who you have on your team.

At a broader level, the students get close to one another in this program. So if you are in a position like I am, there are so many different ways to shop around different industries and companies by talking to classmates and learning about their experiences.

Which course or module has had the greatest immediate impact on your thinking or work?

We just finished up our second module, which is mostly built around the Data Analytics I course. I am astonished with the growth we have all experienced through the course. I am told that this module has the steepest learning curve, which feels true from where I stand. Being on the other side of it, however, I feel amazed with all our growth. We covered the fundamentals of regression models and python coding, and I already feel leagues more confident than I did walking into the program.

What made you choose a program like this at this point in your career?

The program is highly flexible and responsive to the needs of students. I wanted to make my career pivot and gain new skills without sacrificing precious time gaining more work experience. This program is specially designed for students who are like me in this way. The hybrid format offers the best of both worlds with in-person and online class schedules. And the whole program feels like a well-run summer camp where the administrative staff have put in huge amounts of effort to smooth the experience and foster a culture of connection and learning within our close-knit cohort.

What has surprised you most about the learning experience so far?

It is amazingly effective. One uneasy sentiment that all students feel is that the work comes at you fast. This is a sentiment shared by one of our professors. In the face of this challenge, it is easy to fear that retention will suffer. But the saving grace, as echoed in my conversation with that same professor, is that the case-based learning methodology offers numerous chances to engage with the same concepts over and over. With each iteration, the concepts sink deeper. So you come out on the other side having faced a great challenge, and when you have a moment to reflect on what you’ve experienced you appreciate just how much you have learned and retained.

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How has the program helped you create value in your current role or organization?

This program has given me a stronger toolkit for making data-driven decisions in my career. I approach problems with a more structured, analytical mindset and feel more confident breaking down complex questions into actionable insights. It has also elevated my presentation skills and my ability to translate data into clear, compelling stories for stakeholders.

What strategies have worked best for balancing coursework with your full-time job and personal life?

I’ve had to become much more intentional with my time. I block out specific windows during the week for coursework, professional responsibilities, and personal time. Each week may be different with life events, but the program has forced me to be deliberate with my time. When I’m traveling for work, I plan ahead and adjust my schedule so I can still keep up with readings, assignments, and group work. Overall, I’ve become more disciplined and flexible with how I manage my evenings and weekends.

How have your classmates’ experiences and backgrounds enhanced your learning?

My classmates bring a wide range of professional and personal experiences, and that has been one of the best parts of the program. Every team member contributes a different perspective and skill set, which makes our group projects stronger and more dynamic. Hearing about career paths has also helped me think more broadly about my own goals and the types of roles I’d like to pursue in the future.

Which course or module has had the greatest immediate impact on your thinking or

Marketing Analytics has had the greatest immediate impact so far. I’ve really enjoyed the presentation and visualization tools we’ve used in that course. It has pushed me to be more creative in how I communicate results and helped me see new ways to translate data into opportunities and recommendations in my professional work.

What made you choose a program like this at this point in your career?

After transitioning from the military, I wanted a program that would deepen my technical skills and give me a stronger foundation in analytics. I felt there was a gap between my operational experience and the data skills needed in the roles I aspire to. This program offered exactly what I was looking for, a deeper understanding of data, hands-on practice with tools and techniques, and the ability to better visualize and communicate insights so I can lead future teams and projects more effectively.

What has surprised you most about the learning experience so far?

I’ve been pleasantly surprised by how engaging the case-based, hybrid format is. The combination of pre-work and in-person sessions keeps the pace fast and focused. I come to class already familiar with the material, and then we use that time to deepen understanding through discussion, problem-solving, and critical thinking around the case studies. It’s been a very interactive experience, and I’ve enjoyed seeing how each class builds on the last and how quickly the concepts connect back to real work.

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How has the program helped you create value in your current role or organization?

I’ve been able to apply analytical tools (like dashboarding) and critical thinking directly to our financial reporting, improving quality, visibility, and decision-making. It’s also helped me bring a more data-driven mindset to strategic conversations with leadership, not just operational reporting.

What strategies have worked best for balancing coursework with your full-time job and personal life?

The strategies that have worked best for me are treating school like a standing weekly commitment, blocking calendar time the same way as critical meetings. I also lean on my support system at home as well as at work and am transparent at work about peak school weeks.

How have your classmates’ experiences and backgrounds enhanced your learning?

My cohort comes from different walks of life; their diverse industries and roles broaden the way I think about solving business problems beyond my current role. Group work also exposes me to new tools, approaches, and teamwork styles that elevate my own execution.

Which course or module has had the greatest immediate impact on your thinking or work?

Data visualization has had the greatest impact. It has helped complement reporting with quality insights that persuade.

What made you choose a program like this at this point in your career?

I wanted to enhance my reporting capabilities by applying deeper analytics, building more impactful dashboards, and elevating how insights are communicated with stakeholders and senior leadership. I’m at a stage where I want reporting to not only show results but also help guide collaboration with other areas that are data heavy and elevate strategic decisions through smarter use of data. The program bridges that gap—expanding technical skills while strengthening leadership and business judgment.

What has surprised you most about the learning experience so far?

How quickly I’ve been able to translate what I’m learning into real business value. The strong relationships built through collaboration. It feels like a community, not just coursework.

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How has the program helped you create value in your current role or organization?

The program has significantly strengthened my strategic thinking by giving me clearer frameworks for diagnosing problems, evaluating alternatives, and making evidence-based recommendations. It has also given me the technical confidence to experiment with machine learning models in my role. By applying those techniques at work, I have been able to generate more accurate forward-looking predictions that improve our planning cycles and provide leaders with insights that were not previously available. Overall, the program has elevated the quality of analysis and decision support I am able to deliver.

What strategies have worked best for balancing coursework with your full-time job and personal life?

The strategy that has helped me most is staying highly organized and planning ahead. I map out major deadlines early, break the work into smaller pieces, and schedule time during the week to make consistent progress. I also try to anticipate busy periods at work so I can adjust my study plan before things get hectic. Being intentional with my time and keeping a clear structure in place have made it much easier to balance coursework with my full-time role and personal life.

How have your classmates’ experiences and backgrounds enhanced your learning?

My classmates’ diverse experiences have added meaningful dimensions to the program. Hearing how people from different industries approach problems has broadened the way I think about data, strategy, and decision-making. Their examples often highlight blind spots I would not have seen on my own, and their questions push our discussions to a deeper level. Learning alongside people with such varied backgrounds has been one of the most valuable parts of the program and has strengthened my ability to apply concepts in new and practical ways.

Which course or module has had the greatest immediate impact on your thinking or work?

Enterprise Decision Analysis and Data Analytics have had the greatest immediate impact on my work. Enterprise Decision Analysis reshaped how I think about complex problems by giving me structured frameworks for evaluating scenarios, weighing tradeoffs, and making more defensible recommendations. The Data Analytics course had an equally strong effect by strengthening my technical skills and giving me the confidence to build and test machine learning models. Together, these courses have directly improved the quality of the forecasting and strategic planning work I do every day.

What made you choose a program like this at this point in your career?

I chose this program because it aligned perfectly with where I am in my career. I had reached a point where I was taking on more complex analytical and strategic responsibilities, and I wanted a stronger academic foundation to match the opportunities in front of me. The program offered the right mix of technical depth and strategic thinking at exactly the moment I needed to elevate my skills. It has given me the tools to contribute at a higher level and to grow into the next stage of my career with more confidence and clarity.

What has surprised you most about the learning experience so far?

What has surprised me most is how quickly the material has translated into my day-to-day work. I expected to learn new concepts, but I did not expect to be able to apply them immediately in such meaningful ways.

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How has the program helped you create value in your current role or organization?

The program has enabled me to approach my current role with a more analytical and strategic perspective. While I am not presently in a formal analytics position, I have applied concepts from the coursework to develop strategic plans that better align our team with organizational goals. These improvements have increased operational efficiency and helped reduce the risk of burnout.

What strategies have worked best for balancing coursework with your full-time job and personal life?

The most effective strategy for me is to have one consolidated calendar while minimizing changes in my personal and professional life. I have fixed working hours where it is seldom going to change, so many of my academic preparations and deadlines are written into my calendar around my working hours. I ensured to maintain my usual personal items such as spending time with family and friends, doing household chores, and self-care, which I would normally build into my evening prior to starting my academic requirements or on the weekends, when time is more flexible.

How have your classmates’ experiences and backgrounds enhanced your learning?

My classmates are the most important aspect of this program. Everyone comes from different industries and is at different stages of their careers. We learn collaboratively, drawing on each other’s strengths to support collective growth and success. Personally, I seek out classmates with strengths in areas where I’m still developing, as their expertise and knowledge help me grow.

Which course or module has had the greatest immediate impact on your thinking or work?

Although challenging, Module 1 [Enterprise Analytics] had a significant impact on me. Module 1 develops a foundation well for successes in future modules and the course itself. It also sets expectations for us as students in this program and was the module where we got to know our fellow classmates and each other’s strengths.

What made you choose a program like this at this point in your career?

I wanted to enhance my capabilities and increase my marketability as I look to transition out of the military. Having primarily completed my undergraduate degree online, I also wanted to build in-person connections and professional networks to better prepare my entry to the civilian workforce.

What has surprised you most about the learning experience so far?

The faculty, MSBA team, and cohort collectively create an environment dedicated to our success. Everyone involved in the program prioritizes both our mastery of the material and our overall development. The professors consistently make themselves available—day or night, weekdays or weekends—to review course concepts, answer questions, and ensure our understanding. The MSBA team is equally supportive, offering prompt assistance with any needs beyond academics and responding quickly to all communications.

The cohort itself is one of the program’s greatest strengths. We rely on one another to deepen our understanding of the coursework, and we are mindful of each other’s time and commitments as working professionals. This mutual support significantly enriches the experience of being part of the MSBA program.

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How has the program helped you create value in your current role or organization?

The program has sharpened the way I approach decision-making within a very complex research and innovation environment. I’m now able to translate questions from faculty, trainees, and leadership into structured analytical problems, and then use data to guide strategic choices—whether that’s allocating funding, refining trainee programs, or identifying patterns in stakeholder behavior. It’s given me a stronger foundation for scaling the systems and resources our center provides, and it’s helped me articulate the “why” behind decisions in a far clearer, more evidence-driven way.

What strategies have worked best for balancing coursework with your full-time job and personal life?

Two philosophies have kept me sane: disciplined prioritization and radical transparency. Each week, I map out deliverables from both work and school, identify the genuine non-negotiables, and let the rest fall into a smart order of operations. I’m also open with my team and collaborators so expectations stay realistic. And rather than trying to study in heroic marathons, I use focused 60- to 90-minute sprints. It turns out your brain performs better when it isn’t treated like a poorly maintained rental car.

How have your classmates’ experiences and backgrounds enhanced your learning?

The cohort is effectively a living dataset, diverse, dynamic, and full of insights I never would have encountered on my own. Their industries, technical abilities, and problem-solving styles constantly push me to reconsider my assumptions. Someone who works in consulting looks at ambiguity one way; someone in finance another; someone in healthcare, completely differently. That variety has made every discussion richer and every assignment more grounded in the real world.

Which course or module has had the greatest immediate impact on your thinking or work?

Enterprise Analytics fundamentally reshaped how I diagnose organizational challenges. It pushed me to think about workflows, incentives, and data architecture as interconnected systems instead of isolated pain points. That shift translated immediately to how I structure new initiatives within my center, especially in designing scalable processes, defining KPIs, and using analytics to support translational research pipelines.

What made you choose a program like this at this point in your career?

I reached a stage where my leadership responsibilities were growing faster than the analytical tools I had to support them. I knew I needed a deeper quantitative foundation to guide our center’s strategy and to better advocate for resources on behalf of trainees and faculty. The MSBA program offered exactly the blend of analytical rigor, business framing, and applied learning that matched where I wanted to take my career next.

What has surprised you most about the learning experience so far?

The immediate applicability has been the biggest surprise. I expected theory; what I got was a toolbox I can use the same day in meetings, strategic planning sessions, and program design. I’ve also been pleasantly surprised by how collaborative the environment is. Everyone shows up with the goal of making each other better. That’s rare, and it has made the learning experience feel both energizing and deeply relevant.