Every August, the Boise State Career Track MBA program kicks off with an inspiring full-circle moment. A handful of second-year students volunteer to speak to the program’s incoming students cohort and share about their summer internship experiences. Many students also reflect on starting the program and feeling intimidated but excited about what was to come. Now, they not only have impressive additions to their resumes, but they’ve represented Boise State at organizations across the country and around the world like Christine Nguyen who interned at Boeing in Washington and Josh LaPine at the U.S. Embassy in Peru.
“The MBA internship experience is an integral part of the Career Track MBA curriculum,” said Trisha Stevens Lamb, senior director of the program and specialized graduate programs. “Its focus is career readiness, and an internship enables our students to practice what they’re learning, build their resume in an area of interest and try out a field to see if it’s what they want to pursue for their career.”
LaPine was interested in international business and diplomacy, so after devoting two years to learning Spanish alongside his normal coursework, he spent three months this summer working for the U.S. Department of Commerce in Peru as a commercial services intern. While there, he worked with U.S. businesses interested in exporting goods or services to Peru. LaPine helped connect them with partners to complete everything from organizing trade shows to infrastructure projects. He also helped research the Peruvian investment climate for U.S. companies. LaPine said the MBA program has been a valuable experience.
“It’s been so great being around the other students,” LaPine said. “It’s like training for a race. You can run all you want, but when you start running with other runners, it will push your pace faster. Students in the cohort help you see how much potential there is, and the program and those connections have given me so many opportunities.”
Here in the U.S., Nguyen interned at Boeing in Everett, Wash., for 10 weeks this summer. She worked in supply chain management where she shadowed procurement agents and visited a Honeywell supplier in Olathe, Kan., following the parts from manufacturing to installation. One of Nguyen’s big projects focused on importing a jumbled mess of procurement information into Tableau, a data visualization software, to organize the data and make it easier to understand and analyze.
“I’d learned how to use Tableau in my classes and I liked seeing the skills I’m learning transferred into my actual work,” she said. “I also didn’t realize how much I enjoyed supply chain management. When I applied for internships at the beginning of the MBA program, I was in the mindset of applying to every industry possible. As a first-generation student, I didn’t know if I’d be hired as an intern – I felt like I wasn’t good enough. But I ended up enjoying my supply chain class that first year, and getting an internship in supply chain management felt like it was meant to be.”
Providing value to organizations of all kinds
The Career Track MBA program is for early career professionals or recent graduates. And, as LaPine and Nguyen’s experience shows, these students build on their work experience and business knowledge after only a year in the program. They also contribute to the global and local communities. With the energetic support of the College of Business and Economics Career Services and the program’s staff, every student found an internship this summer with many of them interning at Treasure Valley organizations including St. Luke’s, the City of Boise, Downtown Boise Association, Micron, Boise Hawks and J. R. Simplot Company, as well as at Boise State.
“At the end of the summer, we survey the companies that provide student internships and the overwhelming feedback is that our students exceed expectations and 100% of the companies want to hire another Career Track MBA student next summer,” said Lamb. “Not only do our students get invaluable work experience, the companies essentially get a three-month job interview and often make students a job offer, which means full-time employment is waiting for the student when they graduate in the spring.”
Advancing through internship opportunities
What words of advice do Nguyen and LaPine have for the new cohort?
Nguyen recommends using the internship as a way to explore your interests. “When you’re looking for an internship, apply early,” she said. “Explore all your career possibilities, and don’t self-eliminate. Once you have your internship, be sure to network with people within the company.”
For LaPine, his internship in Peru followed another internship he did with the Idaho Department of Commerce. He discovered the internship in Idaho through the College of Business and Economics Career Services BroncoCorps program.
“Using the resources the school offers keeps you from being just a number,” LaPine said. “At first I was intimidated to use Career Services, but then I met the staff and they’ve made such a big difference – and helped me find great opportunities. I’d encourage other students to take advantage of all the college’s resources and the whole university.”
The Career Track MBA is open to all majors. On average, 50% of enrollees are non-business majors seeking business skills to augment an undergraduate major. The class of 2026 started this fall at near capacity with 40 new students. Visit the College of Business and Economics website for more information on the Boise State’s four MBA programs.