Firms seek consulting advice from ASU students

Imagine getting the chance to work with chief executives on real-world projects in your career field, before you even have a degree.

That’s what students at Arizona State University’s W. P. Carey School of Business are doing, thanks to the school’s New Venture Group, which turns students into consultants and charges clients for their advice.

The group is structured like a professional consulting firm “and we function in the same way,” Daniel Brooks, associate professor in charge of the program, told Times Higher Education in an April 16 article, “Student-consultants: cut-price advice from campuses.”

W. P. Carey School alumnus Nicholas Amaroso took part in a consulting job as a student at the school, then went on to an internship at KPMG in Malaysia, ultimately securing the lead role in a project overseeing other interns.

“It gives you a head start if you’re going to go into anything that requires solving problems,” Amoroso said. “Satisfying the client is a bigger motivation than a grade.”

Last year alone, the W. P. Carey School was approached by 60 prospective clients, Brooks said, and agreed to work with 15 of them.

“The demand for services far outstrips our ability to respond,” he said. “It all of a sudden dawned on companies that they can get a team that’s focused, motivated and educated, and who, six months from now [after the students graduate], they couldn’t afford … This is going to be a trend a lot of universities look into.”