Industry Capstone Program: For Students
For a business degree to offer true value to your career, you must be given opportunities to put your knowledge to work on a real industry project. That’s exactly what you’ll get at Stevens.
Our Industry Capstone Program is designed to enhance your education through a collaborative consulting engagement. You'll work as part of a consulting team, with faculty support, to analyze real problems and recommend appropriate actions to the sponsor organizations. The program is an integral part of the curriculum of all graduate business programs. Upon completion, you’ll have a real project and real experience to share with recruiters and hiring managers as you move your career forward.
Program benefits
Collaboration
Delegation, cooperation, communication, trust — these are the hallmarks of effective business work. Working closely with your classmates will give you the leadership perspective you’ll need in the real world.
Faculty support
Stevens professors will help you think beyond the scope of the project to emphasize actionable, future-oriented solutions that anticipate tech-driven change.
Network development
The consulting experience will help you forge bonds to classmates and faculty, but also to managers and leaders in industry, who will offer feedback and give insights throughout the course of the project.
Resume enhancement
Hiring managers want to see real projects you’ve done and hear how you connected classroom lessons to a business problem. Your capstone project will give you plenty to talk about on interviews.
How it works
The capstone program is a year-long experience consisting of two courses. Typically, students take the first course, MGT 808, in the fall. This course will teach you the essentials of consulting and project management — soft skills, communication skills, essentials of consulting and more. In the second course, you’ll actually be assigned to and work on a project. Most students work as consultants, but if you prefer, you can start a company of your own or complete a high-intensity business simulation.
MGT 808 Fundamentals of Consulting
This course introduces students to fundamental soft skills, work techniques and technologies employed by management consultants. Topics covered in this course include project scoping, creating statements of work, meeting facilitation, project planning, design of presentations and written reports, management briefs, and delivery of status reports. The course will improve your ability to present analyses of issues and organizational problems in a concise, accurate, clear and interesting manner from the perspective of a consultant. Students with consulting or project management experience may be eligible to waive this course.
MGT 809 Industry Capstone Experience
This course trains graduate students in the application of tools and methods used by management consultants to provide advisory services to clients. While working on an industry project, students will scope and plan the underlying project, develop a statement of work, and design and deliver status update presentations. Students will learn how to facilitate meetings with different groups of stakeholders over the course of the project, manage client expectations, and apply their disciplinary and technical knowledge to the project.
Prerequisite: MGT 808 Fundamentals of Consulting
Customized experiences
Some students prefer a more specialized capstone experience, depending on background, graduate program and career interests. You may substitute MGT 809 with any one of the following experiential courses, with advisor permission.
MGT 798 Application and Integration of Technology Management
This is a high-intensity business simulation course in which students manage the entire spectrum of a business as it attempts to grow through turbulent market changes. The course is designed for students enrolled in graduate management programs.
FE 800 Industry Consulting Project
This course gives students a real-world experience by putting students to work on an industry problem that is particularly focused on complex financial decisions. Students will use advanced techniques in statistics, finance, risk management and programming in service of solving the problem and presenting their findings. This course is recommended for students in graduate finance programs.
BIA 686 BIA Practicum
This course gives students real-world experience by putting them to work on an industry problem that is particularly focused on big data and analytical techniques. Students apply their knowledge in statistics, machine learning, data cleaning, data modeling and visualization, and programming in designing high-tech solutions to complex problems. This course is recommended for students in analytics-intensive programs, including Business Intelligence & Analytics and Financial Analytics.
MGT 678 Technology Commercialization Practicum
This program gives an opportunity for students to use what they've learned about entrepreneurship to start their own business or create a product. The course is conducted in collaboration with the Stevens Venture Center and is especially designed for students enrolled in graduate management programs.
Prepared for success
The biggest surprise about working these students was how much they already knew. These are big, advanced concepts, and these three just took it on as though it were second nature.
The biggest surprise about working these students was how much they already knew. These are big, advanced concepts, and these three just took it on as though it were second nature.
Each time we sat down with the students, I was more impressed. They validated some key points and brought in some great new concepts that made us think differently about the challenge at hand.
Each time we sat down with the students, I was more impressed. They validated some key points and brought in some great new concepts that made us think differently about the challenge at hand.
The recommendations provided by the students were not only thought-out and sound in strategy, but they each aligned with our bigger business strategies and initiatives.
The recommendations provided by the students were not only thought-out and sound in strategy, but they each aligned with our bigger business strategies and initiatives.
I learned so much in my other courses, but this project gave me the chance to observe industry needs close up. Without this project, it might have taken years of working in the field to put what I learned into practice.
I learned so much in my other courses, but this project gave me the chance to observe industry needs close up. Without this project, it might have taken years of working in the field to put what I learned into practice.
I didn’t expect the kind of resources the company provided to us, like experienced managers to meet with us and teach us what’s important to them and the company, and how we can get there effectively…
I didn’t expect the kind of resources the company provided to us, like experienced managers to meet with us and teach us what’s important to them and the company, and how we can get there effectively…
Every assignment has emphasized how to apply what I’ve learned – so I haven’t just heard these concepts, I’ve been taught how to use them at work.
Every assignment has emphasized how to apply what I’ve learned – so I haven’t just heard these concepts, I’ve been taught how to use them at work.