With Hands-On Learning, Turn Ambition into Action

At Babson, we know experience is the best teacher. Why wait until graduation to begin making an impact on the world around you?

Here, you can expect to learn by doing alongside a community of expert faculty, inspiring peers, and dynamic external partners in our immediate community and around the world. We believe experiential learning allows students to enhance their knowledge by learning through real-world experience, team-dynamic skill building, and career insight.

From your first to final years at Babson, you’ll be taking experiential learning courses that will give you hands-on learning experiences through peer-led projects and external partnerships with businesses and organizations. Beyond our designated experiential learning courses, you’ll continue to take a hands-on approach in courses across business foundations and the liberal arts and sciences, engaging with a variety of subjects through active research and writing, labs, and projects.

The ample hands-on learning opportunities built in throughout the Babson curriculum will give you a well-rounded education rooted in practical real-world experience.

Grow Beyond the Classroom

Experiential learning is the cornerstone of Babson’s academic curriculum. Our academic offerings combine the theoretical and practical knowledge you’ll need to foster business and entrepreneurial leadership, as well as ample hands-on learning opportunities that will allow you to experience intellectual, professional, and personal growth.

You’ll hit the ground running during your first year by launching and managing a new venture in the yearlong Foundations of Management and Entrepreneurship (FME) course with a team of peers and dedicated faculty. You’ll cap off your college experience by tackling a company or nonprofit’s actual business challenge through our advanced experiential courses. In between, you’ll test the skills and knowledge you’ve picked up in classes in numerous other real-world situations, ranging from on-campus opportunities facilitated by our centers and institutes for business and entrepreneurship, to global education experiences that will send you to different corners of the world.

When you leave Babson, you’ll be armed with real-world experience that will give you the knowledge and confidence to achieve your career aspirations and become a successful business leader.

From pitch competitions to mentoring, from entrepreneurs in residence to building prototypes, our centers and institutes will change the way you think about and solve problems. Our international opportunities also will help you explore new business environments, gain practical work experience, and otherwise leave Babson ready to catch the eye of global employers.

By engaging with Babson’s centers and institutes, you have the opportunity to participate in fellowship and leadership opportunities, engage in special projects and programming, and take advantage of the vast network of business and entrepreneurial leaders who engage with us.

The Blank School also offers extended opportunities through its Entrepreneurial Leadership Village (ELV), which is a physical and virtual space where the Babson community, extended ecosystem, and people around the world come together to learn, collaborate, and take action. You can engage with a community of entrepreneurs through programming and engagement opportunities, and find mentorship and support for venture building.

Internships and Cocurricular Offerings

The Hoffman Family Center for Career Development (CCD) facilitates internship and job shadow (or externship) opportunities that help foster early-career growth and exploration. Starting in your first year, you’ll have resources to help you explore career and internship opportunities, such as access to Peer Career Ambassadors, First-Year Friday career programming, and introductory career workshops.

As you continue your career exploration journey, you can speak with CCD advisors about your career interests, discover internship opportunities that align with your passions on our Handshake job board, and participate in CCD’s Externship Program to shadow professionals in various fields.

Babson offers unique classes and additional resources to serve as springboards to your potential. Here are just some of the offerings you can take advantage of to gain real-world experience as an undergraduate student.

• Start or accelerate your business. Immerse yourself in the FME experience, participate in our annual Rocket Pitch competition, make an impact through the B.E.T.A. Challenge.
• Consult to the C-suite. Take full-credit courses such as the Management Consulting Field Experience (MCFE) and International Consulting Experience that give you the opportunity to do research and advise on real-world problems faced by global and domestic companies and organizations.
• Contribute to financial decision making. Make a direct impact through courses like the Babson College Fund, where students manage a portion of the college’s endowment, and the College Fed Challenge, where students present monetary policy recommendations to economists at the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston.
• Learn and apply design thinking. Collaborate with students across the Babson-Olin-Wellesley (BOW) college partnership at The Weissman Foundry, where you can access design tools and training to bring your entrepreneurial ideas to life.
• Gain global experience and insights. Expand your horizons and take part in global education programs offered by the Glavin Office of International Education.

Global Experiential Learning and Study Abroad

We believe that the best way to prepare to enter the global business landscape is to experience it fully. That is why Babson offers various international education opportunities that result in over 60% of each graduating class studying abroad. Babson’s Glavin Office of International Education will serve as your partner in connecting you with exciting and challenging academic experiences abroad. We partner with top international business schools and organizations to offer you an academically rigorous and culturally engaging experience abroad while earning Babson credit toward your degree.

There are so many options for you to integrate global educational experiences into your time at Babson. You can opt to spend an academic year, semester, or summer abroad through one of Babson’s 100+ approved global study opportunities. You also can participate in an intensive global “classroom” experience during your academic break on an Elective Abroad, where you’ll travel with students and faculty to explore a new culture and build your global network. You also can take the semester-long International Consulting Experience courses to hone your consulting skills on an international consulting project, and immerse yourself in a foreign business landscape. 

The Glavin Office of International Education also provides additional support and opportunities for students who want to further integrate global education into their Babson experience, and can connect you with relevant courses and on-campus programs to support your goals.