« Back

Current Students Nicolle and Justin Share Internship Experiences

Justin Taiber
2006 MBA Candidate
Concentration: Finance
Internship: Medco Health Solutions, Franklin Lakes, NJ

I spent the past summer forecasting cost figures, determining cost drivers, and developing a reward system during the week. Then, on the week-ends, I enjoyed the view from the top of the Empire State Building, took in a game at Yankee Stadium, strolled through Central Park, and tried my luck in the casinos in Atlantic City. This was all possible due to the fantastic internship I landed at Medco Health Solutions in Franklin Lakes, NJ.

This finance internship in the Business Planning Department was a perfect fit for my career goals. Medco is a pharmacy benefit manager (PBM) which does about $35 billion in revenue annually, making it an industry leader and Fortune 50 company.

I learned about the opportunity through MBA Career Services (MBACS) and from one of the University of Iowa MBA alums. One of the things that makes Tippie truly special is that you are automatically tapped into the network of alumni who want to help one of their own succeed. Since the internship was located on the east coast, MBACS helped me set up a videoconference interview and were advocates for me with the decision- makers at Medco. I'd like to say it was my superior knowledge and skills alone that earned me the internship, but I know I had plenty of support.

Medco does business through retail pharmacies and their own mail-order pharmacy (Medco by Mail). My internship was with the Medco by Mail operation, specifically managing the flow of incoming prescriptions through the system. The internship was predominantly operations finance, forecasting future cost figures, determining cost drivers, and analyzing and approving project spending requests from eight remote pharmacy locations around the United States.

Throughout this experience, I drew on skills gained during my first year in the MBA program. One of my bigger projects was to analyze the effectiveness of the individual business planners at Medco's remote pharmacy locations and implement a reward system to improve performance. Several Tippie courses helped me with this initiative. In Operations Management I learned the skills needed to quantify the forecast error for each of the sites. Management in Organizations gave me insight about designing a reward system that would encourage buy-in and improve performance. The presentations that are part of many MBA classes prepared me to successfully present my program to a large group of business planners. Managerial Finance helped me to analyze project spending requests.

As I look back over my summer at Medco, I realize I have gained more than simply a strong finance experience. I visited people in many departments and gained a broader understanding of the functions at a corporate headquarters. While I don't necessarily see myself working in operations finance, I discovered a strong interest in the Financial Evaluations department. Without my internship experience I may never have discovered this, nor would I have established a network within the company. The quality education at the Tippie MBA Program and its special network of alums are what make opportunities like this possible.

Nicolle Elsasser
2006 MBA Candidate
Concentration: Marketing
Internship: Lowe's Companies, Inc., Mooresville, NC

Without my summer internship, I'm not sure I would have realized where my true passion lies. I interned at Lowe's Companies, Inc. in Mooresville, North Carolina in the Financial Planning and Analysis Department (FP&A). Lowe's is the second largest home improvement retailer, with annual sales greater than $36 billion and is currently 43rd on the Fortune 50 list.

Before starting my MBA study, I worked for a retail firm and knew that I wanted to return to retail. I met with MBA Career Services (MBACS) staff in October to find out what I needed to do to find a retail internship. They helped me tailor a networking letter that spoke specifically to my strengths and career aspirations. I sent the letter to companies that interested me and followed up frequently with MBACS about my progress. Ultimately, I landed my internship at Lowe's by applying online directly through the Lowes.com website. After an initial phone interview I flew to North Carolina for a second round of in-person interviews.

At Lowe's, I supported the merchants completing two major projects that introduced me to Lowe's and FP&A. At Lowe's, annual strategic planning occurs in late summer; thus, in the early part of the summer, FP&A compiles financial data and provides support to the merchants. For my first project, I built a financial model for merchants to plan margin and comparative sales growth. I devoted the second half of my summer to the 2005 State of the Business report, produced annually by FP&A to accompany the strategy sessions. I compiled a number of schedules for each merchandise division to analyze financial performance at different levels and by different metrics (store size, location, competition, etc.).

Throughout my internship I used the skills gained from Data & Decisions, like the use of pivot tables and regressions. The presentations I gave during that class prepared me for my final presentation at Lowe's. I saw first-hand the impact of statistics in decision making, and I'm eager to build my skills further with Data & Decisions 2 this year.

Lowe's hires approximately 30 graduate and undergraduate students for its internship program. For me, interning at a company with an “intern class” added to my experience both professionally and personally. From a professional standpoint, everyone knew about others' projects, and we discussed the status of our work, sharing ideas and experiences. For instance, I was able to think about a merchandising project from a FP&A background and share my thoughts with a merchandising intern. If I had a question or wanted a fresh perspective, I could ask any of the other interns.

From a personal standpoint, I became good friends with the other interns. There was always someone who wanted to go along on weekend excursions. Mooresville is only about 1.5 hours from the mountains, three hours from the ocean, and only 20 miles north of Charlotte. I traveled to the mountains, toured the Biltmore Estate, watched minor league baseball games, tasted North Carolina wine, and visited Charlotte 's historic sites.

After this internship, my career goals are clear. I definitely enjoy the retail industry and will pursue that field after graduation; however, I do not want to pursue finance. The most enjoyable aspect of my internship was a merchandising analysis project at the end of the summer. For the analysis, I used my finance skills, but also analyzed external factors like marketing, competition, and assortment to holistically determine the sales and margin impact. I most enjoyed immersing myself in the strategic merchandising decisions in response to the market. My full-time job search is focused on merchandising positions. MBACS helped me tailor my resume and networking efforts to obtain a merchandising position. For me, the personal attention I've received from all facets of the program has been outstanding and has made my experience at Tippie even better than I initially expected.

« Back