In a post last week, we pointed out that though summer may still be in full swing, students at some schools are already hitting the books. Specifically, we blogged about the start of Fuqua’s optional pre-term programs in language and math, which are now underway.
Fuqua is certainly not the only MBA program to offer pre-term classes for incoming students. Some schools, in fact, feature a mandatory pre-term that all students are required to attend.
One such school is Northwestern’s Kellogg School of Management, which offers a required orientation for all first-year students entering each year. Called “Pre-Term,” this program features three key components that together are designed to get students off to a strong academic start, build camaraderie from day one and help foster strong leadership skills.
Kellogg’s three-pronged Pre-Term begins with Complete Immersion in Management (CIM), an orientation program launched in 1969 as part of an effort to introduce first-year students to each other and to Kellogg’s collaborative culture. Organized for first years by the second-year class, CIM features speakers, diversity workshops and team-building activities, as well as social events and a community service project.
“CIM Week set the tone for my Kellogg experience — incredible, intense and inspirational,” said recent Kellogg graduate Andrea Jackson, from Salt Lake City, Utah. In her own second year, Jackson served on the CIM Executive Committee and led a community service day in Chicago for incoming students. “Introducing the new students to the Kellogg experience and values was as rewarding to me as my own CIM Week,” Jackson added.
CIM is the first portion of Kellogg’s two-week Pre-Term program for students in the school’s two-year MBA and Master of Management and Manufacturing (MBA) programs. The other two key components are Technology Education@Kellogg and Leadership in Organizations, one of Kellogg’s core classes.
Technology Education@Kellogg, or TEKcamp, is designed to help new students get plugged in and up and running in Kellogg’s networked environment. In addition to introducing students to the technology environment at Kellogg, TEKcamp also includes a range of sessions designed to help students review and or build their quantitative skill sets.
Leadership in Organizations, meanwhile, serves as students’ first real foray into academics at Kellogg. Beginning in the second week of orientation, this intensive core class consists of 10 three-hour class sessions, complete with a final exam.
The course is designed to help students zero in on issues related to leadership, teamwork, ethics and the competitive advantage that can be gained through people and how they are organized. A full-credit core course, Leadership in Organizations serves as students’ re-introduction into the classroom while also knocking out a core requirement before the first semester even begins.
Students in Kellogg’s one-year accelerated MBA program participate in a Pre-Term that, like the rest of their curriculum, is a condensed version of the two-year program. Pre-Term for one-year MBA students begins in June. Pre-Term for two-year MBA and MMM students begins two weeks prior to fall quarter, starting this year on September 2nd.
