UNT’s full-time MBA has established a way to create winning solutions for both students and industry.

In a recent class project for TimelyMD, the leading virtual health and well-being solution for colleges and universities and fastest-growing company in the DFW area, students were challenged with introducing new ideas and business processes for the company to implement.

With a mission to improve the well-being of college students by making virtual medical and mental health care accessible anytime, anywhere, TimelyMD serves nearly one million students at 200 campuses across the country. Company executives, including Zac Fleming, 2017 UNT MBA graduate, understood the value of listening to the ideas that its target demographic could develop.

“Students need access to more care and to do that demands new, innovative solutions. The UNT MBA students brought fresh ideas, validated by student surveys & research, to help propel us forward.”

As an industry partner, TimelyMD benefited from the insightful research and presentations that the student groups developed, while students also gained the invaluable opportunity to bridge classroom learning with practical application.

“Our work experience enabled us to relate business theory and insights to a practical application with which we have been professionally connected since we watched and experienced the demands of a corporate workspace,” said Saarah Rahman, MBA candidate. “It provided us with the opportunity to build on the business programs in our curriculum that we are now studying and enabled us to put them into practice more immediately.”

From identifying scalable ways to drive engagement, to determining optimal pricing models for their target market, students tapped into skills learned in the classroom to apply solutions in the real world.

The insider perspectives that Zachary Morse, MBA candidate, gained from the project was what also made a difference for his industry experience.

“Throughout the process, we learned how complex running a start-up can be, and ultimately, how important it is to fully understand your target market and surrounding environment,” explained Morse.

Fort Worth-based TimelyMD is not the only industry interaction that UNT’s full-time MBA students received this semester. Other nationally (and internationally) recognized companies, such as Keystone, Toyota and Peterbilt all gave students the opportunity to serve in a consultant role as they navigated the modern challenges of today’s business world.

“The industry interaction that our students engage in throughout the entirety of the MBA program is truly what sets it apart,” said Cathy Westurn, lecturer for the G. Brint Ryan College of Business. “Our full-time Cohort MBA includes a rigorous curriculum, but at the end of the program, our students are set to succeed, in large part because of these immersive industry experiences.”