In 30 years of the Markets and Management Studies certificate, we have seen many students come through the program who have learned about MMS from family members who completed the program. Two of those students are our current ambassadors, both of whom have had an older sibling go through the MMS program before them. Hearing all four of their experiences from the program illustrates the diversity of MMS student interests and paths.
One of these students is Mikaela Wellner. Mikaela is an MMS senior majoring in Public Policy and aims to work in marketing after graduation. When she came to Duke and decided what course of study she wanted to pursue, she already had some previous knowledge to help aid her decision. Her brother, Kyle Wellner, is a 2017 grad with a BA in Public Policy, a minor in History, and the MMS Certificate.
“Personality-wise, we are very similar,” she recently told us. “It is nice to know I could trust what he was saying would apply to me as well.” Kyle currently works in the technology space, specifically in the sales organization of a multinational and privately-held software company, selling B2B cloud-based software applications. Even though Mikaela and her brother have different career goals—Mikaela will be working for Wal-Mart Ecommerce after graduation—they were able to share many similar experiences in MMS.
While Mikaela and Kyle shared more similarities in their interests and personalities, MMS Junior Sonia Lau says that she and her sister Sara Lau, a 2008 graduate, were more varied in their time at Duke. “We had completely different experiences,” she says of their times at Duke, not in small part related to the amount of time that separated their times at the university. MMS is the one area where the sisters strongly overlapped, even when their opinions of courses diverged. Sara said that she loved her Financial Accounting course the most, saying it was the only morning class she woke up for. Sonia, on the other hand, described it as “a difficult but useful class--the only 8:30 I’ve ever taken and only because my sister recommended it!” Taking courses on the advice of her sister, she was able to take classes that she may not have otherwise tried, but she was still able to find value in the experiences.
Sonia learned about the MMS certificate from her sister, Sara, who has a BA in English with a History minor on the pre-law track. Sara says of her Duke experience, “It was a rigorous but exceedingly qualitative curriculum, which was one reason why I pursued an MMS certificate—I missed quantitative classes where there’s only one right answer. My career trajectory shows you are not limited by your degree, especially one from Duke.” Since graduating, Sara has changed her plans to pursue law school and gone on to get an MBA. She now lives in Chicago and works in Finance Strategy and Data Analytics for a private consumer tech company.
One of the benefits to having an older sibling who attended Duke and graduated in your program is that you get to learn from their experiences. Both Mikaela and Sonia shared that they enjoyed having a contact to go to if they wanted to hear more about courses or experiences. Here are a few of the tips and thoughts these alumni shared with their siblings that might be beneficial tips for current students as well:
What was your favorite course or instructor?
Sara: I think the most relevant MMS course I took was Managerial Finance. I still remember the professor saying if we learned nothing from his class, just remember to open a Roth IRA ASAP. Good personal finance tip!
Kyle: My Favorite professors would be George Grody and Ed Tiryakian. With Prof. Grody I had my capstone seminar in which we were to invest through a simulator over the course of the semester and see how we could grow our capital. It taught a great deal about the fundamentals of business, stocks & trading, and the accountability that comes with risk/reward plays in the business world. With Ed Tiryakian, I had a course on the business behind sports...and over the course of the semester we dove into the economics and business side of all major sports (both collegiate & professional). . . truly an eye-opening course.
Do you have any favorite memories from the MMS program?
Sara: In Marketing Management class, our final project was to come up with a marketing plan from product to the rest of the 4Ps. My group conceptualized what was essentially the first prototype of Apple Airpods—an in-ear, cordless, waterproof headphones. Our project blew the minds of our professor and classmates. Why? It was Fall 2006, one year before the first iPhone even launched and 10 years before the first generation AirPods launched. Are Duke students geniuses? I rest my case.
How do you think the certificate has helped you succeed?
Kyle: The MMS certificate has helped me in that it gave me the most exposure of any of my other coursework/experiences at Duke with regards to business. Throughout the MMS course list (of which I took a good share) each course was designed to give students a foundation, understanding, and acumen of business and real-world economics. It arguably was one of the more important preparatory course disciplines I took at Duke (alongside my Public Policy Studies work).
If you are left wishing you had these same resources to talk to as you make decisions about the program, we would love to help you get connected to MMS alumni who can talk you through their experiences much like Kyle and Sara were able to do. To learn more about this, please complete our MMS mentorship interest form.
Does MMS run in your family? If you have family members who are also MMS grads or students, we would love to hear your stories! You can email haley.warren@duke.edu to share your experience.
Markets Management Studies