Student Perspective: Favorite Kellogg Classes

Current Kellogg students weigh in on their favorite classes so far and the ones they are most looking forward to taking.

I really enjoyed Strategy & Organization with Professor Niko Matouschek. Maybe it is the Sociology major in me but I have always been fascinated with organizational behavior within a firm. I loved the way this class approached the topics of externalities and employee incentive and compensation from an individual and team perspective. These are definitely topics I will keep top of mind when leading a company in the future. Also Professor Niko is an absolute ROCKSTAR!

The class I am super excited about taking next is Comprehensive Perspectives of Leading A Sports Entity.

— Rahshiene Taha ’14

I particularly loved two classes: Leadership in Organizations taught by Professor Loran Nordgren, because it structured a lot of key frameworks around leadership and communication that I was sub-consciously aware of, and Professor Mark Finn’s Turbo Accounting class. He is so well travelled and worldly aware that it added a new dimension to the class. I am a CPA and would concede that accounting can be boring at times, but he used multiple examples from around the world, related the concepts to current and past business events, and made accounting more lively!

For the Winter quarter, I am looking forward to the Marketing class with Professor Julie Henessey. I haven’t studied marketing formally before, and I am really eager to build skills and knowledge in the area. I have heard great things about her and cant wait for the class to begin!

— Aftab Khanna ’15

I took a course called New Venture Discovery, taught by Professor Carter Cast. Since I have never had any entrepreneurial experience, everything I learned in this class was tremendously valuable. Some of the key information I learned was: how to identify a problem worth solving and translate it into a solution; discovery techniques to identify, assess, and develop new business opportunities; how to clearly articulate a concept’s value proposition and positioning; how to effectively sell the business idea; and many more. Furthermore, not only getting a taste of the real world pitching process, but also listening to other teams’ presentations and judges’ comments was a great learning opportunity and eye-opening experience. Moreover, what mattered most to me was Professor Cast. His passionate attitude and supportive advice always inspired me, and I feel very lucky to have been able to learn from such a terrific professional like him.

Another class I took was Retail Analytics: Pricing & Promotion taught by Professor Eric Anderson. This class provided me with a deeper understanding of customer behavior; institutional knowledge on many aspects of retailing, such as pricing, promotions, private labels, trade spending; and tools and frameworks for measuring, assessing and optimizing retail marketing programs. I believe it is one of the most important classes to represent what Kellogg offers and why it has been the most prominent in marketing among the world’s top business schools.

Next quarter, I am studying abroad at London Business School (LBS) as an exchange student. I am especially excited for the Negotiation and Bargaining class and I plan to take full advantage of being part of a truly diverse student body at LBS.

— Emi Yokoshima ’14

I loved Marketing 431 (Marketing Management) with Professor Kent Grayson. He’s a spectacular professor who really forced me to think of marketing in a more rigorous, methodical way. Though I’ve been doing marketing throughout my career, it was a good challenge to be forced to think and analyze tactics and strategy in a new way. I feel like I’m already a stronger marketer because of it.

— Jordana Cohen ’15

My favorite class was definitely (and surprisingly – sorry Professor Wioletta Dzuida!) my DECS / Stats class. I wasn’t expecting it to be as interesting and relevant as it was, but I learned things that will definitely be applicable to me as I go forward in my career — no matter where it may take me.

I’m really excited about Healthcare Strategy next semester with Professor Dafny. Everything I’ve heard about the class sounds like it will be incredibly interesting and informative and that the Professor has incredible experience in the industry that she is able to call upon to help make the classroom feel more like the real world.

— Sheila Shah ’15

This is like asking me to choose between my brothers! My classes have been truly stellar—some highlights from the fall: I took a really neat M&A class (taught by Mark Angelson, the former CEO of RR Donnelly and Deputy Mayor of Chicago under Rahm) in which we dissected a merger each week.. The best part? Our professor (who was sometimes the CEO of the acquiring company in the case) would bring in the banker, the lawyer and/or the operator who worked on the deal to lead the discussion.

Another dynamic course was the Startup Programming and Management class. I have had IT developers work for me in the past, but I did not know the first thing about coding. By the end of the quarter, my partner and I built a (very basic, but still functioning) website. It was neat to build something in class and walk away with:

1. A deeper appreciation of programmers/developers
2. A much stronger sense of what it takes to build, iterate, test and evolve a web/mobile application.

Next quarter: I’m excited for all, especially the Product Management for Technology Companies course (another relatively new Kellogg entrepreneurship course).

— Matthew Zafirovski ’14