Rutgers challenges county college students to get real world business experience in new competition

Rutgers Business School is inviting students from New Jersey’s seven largest county colleges to participate in a new case competition on April 1.

The event is open to students of any major attending Bergen, Brookdale, Essex, Hudson, Middlesex, Morris and Union county colleges. Individual teams are limited to seven students, and only half of a team can be made up of first-year students.

Each school represented by a team at NJC4 – New Jersey County College Case Competition – will receive $1,000. Prize money also will be awarded to the top two teams. Registration deadline is Feb. 26.  

"We want to give the county college students an opportunity to come to Rutgers Business School and have the experience of meeting real company executives,” said Robert Kurland, associate dean of undergraduate student and academic services in Newark.

At Rutgers Business School-Newark, more than 50 percent of students transfer from one of the county colleges.  The case competition is designed to strengthen the school’s connections with the county colleges by providing their students with a memorable learning experience.

A new financial aid initiative is being offered to eligible students who are considering attending a four-year school at Rutgers University-Newark, including Rutgers Business School. Find out more about RU-N to the TOP.

The case competition is a mainstay of the business school education, giving students an opportunity to apply skills and knowledge to a case that is designed to reflect a problem or challenge that could arise in a real business. The experience gives students a sense of what it’s like to make decisions at a corporate level.

The NJC4 will follow a similar format, requiring students to analyze demographic information as well as financial and administrative cost data to develop a case for one of several marketing options. The teams will be given 20 minutes to make their presentation followed by a 10-minute question-and-answer session with the judges – three senior executives and business professionals.

Rutgers Business School Dean Lei Lei will formally welcome the students. During the day, students will have an opportunity to interact with current business school students, lunch with RBS faculty members and tour the neighboring Newark Museum.

Susan Miller, a professor and assistant chair of the business department at the County College of Morris, said she knows a core group of her students will be very interested in the new case competition.

“They need to learn how to act in the business environment,” Miller said."This will give them a real experience. They will be engaged. They will get to work as a team, and they will get exposure to business leaders."

Media interested in writing about the competition as a feature story may contact Susan Todd at Rutgers Business School Communications: stodd@business.rutgers.edu or 973-353-5224.