(Shown at top: Greg Larsen, Jason Madsen)
As a student at the David Eccles School of Business, I felt it was important to not only take advantage of the classroom education, but find opportunities where I could learn outside the classroom, with peers and colleagues, facing real-life challenges in healthcare. One thing that attracted me to the Eccles School to begin with was the abundance of experiential opportunities that existed in Salt Lake City. The University of Utah has multiple affiliations with surrounding healthcare institutions, and several opportunities existed inside their own healthcare system and medical school. Nevertheless, I wanted to look outside the state. I wanted to rub shoulders with professionals around the country and with peers in other universities; I wanted them to start hearing the name of the Eccles School more and more frequently.
It did not take long for me to learn about many case competitions around the country and realize that this would be a perfect opportunity for experiential learning. Many of these national competitions hosted students from all around the country and multiple programs. They included real-life cases from actual healthcare organizations, and the judging was often handled by industry professionals, allowing some valuable face-time with organizations for which I might someday want to work. These competitions facilitated an opportunity to showcase the strength of our students and our program by allowing us to compete alongside other students from top programs in the nation. I saw this as a way to establish a stronger name for the Eccles MHA program, and if we won, it would shine a national spotlight on the quality of our program and the students it attracts.
My classmate, Greg Larsen, and I committed to the school’s first competition with University of Alabama Birmingham. From the day we received the case to our presentation to judges three weeks later, the competition was an exceptional experience. Furthermore, we learned how other programs utilize these competitions to give students great learning opportunities so that the tradition could be carried on every single year. Both Greg and I made several great contacts through our experience and gained valuable healthcare knowledge. The Eccles School MHA program has continued to support and promote these experiences with their students. I believe the program is a better because of the continued participation. Since we attended the UAB competition in 2014, the Eccles MHA has been represented every subsequent year. Our team made the semi-finals in 2015 and took second place in 2016. I would encourage anybody who has the desire to take advantage and participate in case competitions. Looking back on all my experiences in the MHA program, this is one of my most cherished. I am grateful to have had the opportunity.
