There’s no substitute for hands-on learning in the real world. UNI’s College of Business takes that seriously, and the MBA program is no exception. Students are encouraged to finish their master’s degree with a capstone project working with real Iowa businesses, one of just a handful of programs across the U.S. that involves students as consultants for existing businesses as a condition of their graduation.

Not only do students get experience in the field, but they are also exposed to more than just their business specialty.

“They get to be accounting specialists, they get to be finance specialists, they get to be marketing specialists,” said Dale Cyphert, director of the MBA program. “All the communication and team skills, you can’t even pretend to simulate those.”

Justin Garretson (MBA, ’21) just finished his three-year journey in the program. He grew up in Southern Missouri but recently moved to Cedar Falls after his wife got a job in Iowa. Garretson works in banking software, and he wanted to advance his skills even further. So, he enrolled at UNI Business in 2018.

Garretson and three other team members worked with an Iowa company and was tasked with the finance, projection and business analytics pieces of the project. While he already had real-world experience through his career, he found the teamwork aspect was a big part of finding success.

“Without communication, it doesn’t matter what you’re doing, it makes everything difficult,” Garretson said. “We had a text group, and we would talk nearly every day to stay organized.”

Another benefit of the capstone project is the outreach into the Iowa community. Students perform these services for free — services that could cost between $30,000 to $80,000 with a professional consulting company. Organizers deliberately pick small or medium-sized Iowa companies, who are more likely to benefit from professional help.

“It’s a tremendous benefit to Iowa companies,” said Ronnie Chen, associate professor of finance. “These projects are based on the idea of business owners who want to do something but they don’t know if they are good ideas. Here we have the student teams devoting many hours, and professors serving as advisers, so they get inputs from both.”

Students won’t just be thrown into the fire with these companies as well. They work side-by-side with professors, many of whom have professional experience of their own. Then, at the end, students put together a report to showcase what they found and make recommendations to their partnership organization.

“It’s a learning experience. You aren’t being thrown to the wolves,” Cyphert said. “You do have a coach and a mentor. You’ve got all that stuff that can help you through all the intricacies of working with clients.”

Find more information about UNI Business’ MBA program here.