Master of Business Administration

Experiential Learning

HANDS-ON LEARNING: LOCAL, NATIONAL & GLOBAL

• Open/Close Experiential Learning in the Full-Time MBA Curriculum

  The two-year MBA program is designed so that you can apply insights learned in the classroom to on-site, hands-on projects with top organizations located in Columbus, the nation’s 14th largest city, and with our partners around the world. Your MBA curriculum is enhanced with:

  • Case and simulation-based learning (Annual Fisher Invitational Case Competition)
  • Business Labs: Live on-site, hands-on projects in Columbus
  • Engage with the community during on real-world projects with local nonprofits and social enterprises in Social Impact Challenge
  • Put all of your new skills to the test in the Max Problem Solving course.
  • Electives:
    • Global Applied Projects (GAP)
      • Examples of Previous GAP Locations: UK, Germany, Belgium, Poland, France, Netherlands, China, Malaysia, Singapore, Japan, Mexico, Canada, Honduras, Botswana.Tanzania, Ethiopia, Kenya, Thailand, India, and the United Arab Emirates.
    • Global Business Expeditions (GBE)
    • Student Investment Management (SIM) - stock trading and portfolio management course that provides students with the opportunity to manage a multi-million dollar investment portfolio.
    • The Washington Campus
    • And various field studies and group studies courses
• Open/Close Student-run Organizations

  Fisher Board Fellows (FBF) is a student-run organization within Fisher College of Business. FBF brings together the Columbus community and the college by selecting Fisher MBA candidates and placing them on boards of area non-profits as non-voting members for 18-month terms. Fellows, mentored by a board member and with the full support of the non-profit executive director and board chair, contribute to their non-profit organizations by attending all board and assigned committee meetings. In addition, Fellows complete a strategic, board-level project that harnesses the Fellow’s business expertise and adds long-term value to the partner organization.

  FisherServes is a student-run organization committed to connecting students with organizations and causes that strengthen communities by facilitating consulting projects for nonprofits, as well as single-day commitment service projects. FisherServes is committed to promoting awareness of civic and social responsibilities and to connecting the Fisher College of Business with the surrounding community by leading service-based initiatives throughout the Columbus area.

  Complete list of student organizations

• Open/Close Certificate Programs

  Certificate Programs

  Fisher offers certificate programs to allow students to further development their knowledge and experience in a specific discipline. Most certificate programs involve activities with industry tools and/or work specifically in the area of study that complements the academic curriculum.

  MBA Six Sigma Program

  • MBA students are indoctrinated into Six Sigma methodology through a series of classroom experiences and online training from MoreSteam.com. The series culminates with a commissioned project from an actual company, which benefits students and participating businesses alike.
  • Six Sigma is ideal for anyone in manufacturing, health care, retail, logistics, finance, or consulting services and everyone who wants to be involved in process improvement.
  • Certificate Requirements:
    • Students work in four-person teams for 15 weeks.
    • They devote an average of 10 hours per week to the project under the coaching of Fisher team members.
  • For more information, visit Fisher's Center for Operational Excellence.

  Certificate in Enterprise Sustainability Management

  • Students that complete course requirements for the Enterprise Sustainability career track with an average grade of B or higher, and that complete two of the following four requirements, will be awarded a Certificate in Enterprise Sustainability Management.
  • Certificate Requirements:
    • Five courses beyond the career track's list of courses
    • 40 hours of volunteer service in a non-profit organization working on matters that have a relationship to sustainability
    • A summer internship involving sustainability
    • An independent study on a sustainability topic approved in advance by the faculty member

   

• Open/Close The Washington Campus

  Strategic Leadership: Business and the Public Policy Process

  Fisher College of Business is a member of The Washington Campus, a consortium of business schools that host seminars designed to equip students with the understanding necessary to anticipate, influence, and respond intelligently to government initiatives.

  This seminar is an intensive, one-week course in Washington, D.C., providing participants with first-hand exposure to the political process and its impact on business leadership.

  Preparation

  Several weeks prior to the seminar, students will be mailed a packet of brief readings that prepare for the vigorous class discussions and presentations during the time on The Washington Campus.

  Class discussion is led by a faculty member, joined by guest lecturers from government, politics, business, and the media. At the end of the seminar, students will take a two-hour exam to receive credit toward their MBA degree.

• Open/Close Case Competitions

  Academic competitions test students' analytical savvy and presentation skills while helping prepare them for the real challenges of the business world. In addition to sending teams of graduate students to business competitions around the country, we host competitions where other schools come to Ohio State's campus.

  Internal MBA Case Competitions

  • 1st-Year MBA Pre-Term Case Competition: During pre-term orientation, incoming students in the Full-Time MBA program are immediately exposed to their first case competition with a live case host to give students a taste of what's to come and to give them a chance to collaborate in teams amongst their classmates before ever attending their first class together.
  • 1st-Year MBA Fall/Winter Case Competition: Just prior to the end of the first semester, students again have the opportunity to engage with a sponsoring company/organization where the expectations and stakes have been raised since entering the program. The business challenge presented by the partnering host organization is one that requires students to apply many of the skills and concepts learned in the classroom in order to deliver a well-rounded and strategically sound set of recommendations. Teams have roughly 24 hours to dive into the case before presenting to members of the host's leadership team.

  Annual Fisher Invitational Case Competition

  • Established by Fisher College of Business in 1992, the Annual Fisher Invitational Case Competition allows MBA student teams to pit their skills against each other in friendly competition at a professional level. 

  KeyBank Foundation Minority MBA Case Competition

  • Each year 16 universities from around the United States compete in the KeyBank Minority Student MBA Case Competition held in Cleveland at KeyBank Headquarters. The annual event is considered one of the nation’s premier minority MBA student case competitions.

  CIBER MBA International Business Case Competition

  • Each year, Fisher sends a team of first-year MBA students to the CIBER MBA International Business Case Competition. This competition, held at the University of Wisconsin Madison, brings together teams of MBA students from nine domestic and international institutions for a challenging international business strategy case.

  Ohio State Business Plan Competition

  The exciting Ohio State Business Plan Competition is open to Ohio State and the community at large. Teams consisting of at least one Ohio State student or alumnus/alumna interested in creating a new business will prepare through preliminary activities, including workshops taught by executives from nationally known companies.

  Workshop topics may include learning how to develop and write a business plan, creating a new venture management team, evaluating the market potential of new technologies, making financial projections and studying legal issues in new venture creation.