How Would You Like to Engage?
Questrom offers several ways for organizations, alumni, and industry leaders to work with students. Start with what you hope to accomplish. Whatever your goal, the Center for Action Learning can connect you with the right opportunity to engage Questrom students and create value for your organization.
Bring a Business Project into the Classroom
What to Expect
Client project-based courses are an integral part of both our undergraduate and graduate programs. They’re faculty-led and structured around the learning objectives and schedule of a particular class helping our students translate their knowledge into action and providing an opportunity to hone their business skills while giving company partners valuable insights and a chance to connect with emerging talent in a collaborative, flexible environment.
The Center works with faculty and prospective partners to determine whether a project is a strong fit for an upcoming course.
Projects may focus on areas such as:
- Healthcare strategy
- Technology, analytics, and AI
- Customer experience and customer insights
- Sustainability and innovation
- Brand and marketing strategy, growth and go-to-market strategy
- Competitive analysis, product or service opportunities
- Operations and process improvement
Depending on the project, partners may be asked to:
- Help define the business question
- Provide relevant organizational context or data
- Meet with the student team at key points
- Answer questions and provide feedback
- Attend or review a final presentation
Recent Project Highlights
Customer Experience Client Project
Students implement solutions to improve processes such as post-purchase installation, onboarding new hires, conducting a quality audit, and qualifying new vendors.
Corporate Innovation Project
Students research and deliver solutions for companies across industries, helping them grow in an increasingly competitive marketing landscape.
Healthcare Consulting
Students uncover market insights to position healthcare clients for success via new product, technology or process opportunities.
Work with the Consulting Lab
The Questrom Consulting Lab connects organizations with dedicated teams of experienced graduate students, guided by faculty advisors, to solve strategic business challenges. Our model appeals to leaders seeking fresh ideas, added capacity, and cost-effective expertise; an alternative to traditional consulting firms. From exploring new markets to optimizing customer experiences and driving digital transformation, our teams deliver actionable, data-driven solutions with measurable impact.
What to Expect
Agility on Your Terms
No rigid semester timelines. We work on your schedule until the job is done.
Strategic Guidance
Projects are powered by oversight from former Fortune 500 executives, not just classroom exercises.
Curated Talent
Custom-built teams from BU Questrom’s diverse pool of graduate students, seasoned professionals, and cutting-edge faculty.
Affordable Excellence
Premium quality at a fraction of the cost of traditional consulting, driven by our mission to solve real-world business problems
If you ever need extra capacity for your in-house projects, the Questrom Consulting Lab can provide you with teams of experienced grad students from BU Questrom School of Business. We have AI experts, social media mavens, GA/site optimization analysts, and many more skill sets. All with professional supervision by former corporate executives and consulting leaders. And very modest fees, less than the cost of a hire.
What our clients say…
Guided by faculty expertise and grounded in real-world application, our students bring both analytical rigor and innovative thinking to every engagement. Don’t just take our word for it—here’s what our partners have to say:
“The arrival of Questrom Consulting Lab came at a perfect time for our journey at Aternity. Spinning out and re-imagining a global business takes horsepower to do analysis, form conclusions and make recommendations, and it had to be fast. The team from BU delivered on that — and more.”
“The premise that the institute could pull together a team of talented grad students to solve our problems came true. The students were skilled and also hungry to work. Questrom Consulting Lab made it easy to work together. I saw the team as a valuable agency to my marketing department.”
“Working with Questrom Consulting Lab was one of the smartest moves we made. Aside from getting the cutting-edge analytics, the team brought a youthful, outside perspective that proved invaluable in our pursuit to attract younger customers.”
Get Involved in Case Competitions
Industry partners, alumni, mentors, judges, and sponsors play a crucial role in making case competitions an integral part of the Questrom student experience. Their support helps us host world-class signature and internal competitions that reflect our institutional values, while also empowering student teams to represent Questrom at external competitions across the country and around the world.
What to Expect
Questrom student teams analyze complex, real-world business problems and develop insightful strategic solutions under strict time constraints.
How do you want to participate?
Become a Case Sponsor
Your business challenge is the subject of the case students are working on.
- Work with case competition faculty leads to produce your case and receive many possible solutions.
Become a Mentor
You’ll mentor a student team working to solve a case competition.
- Throughout the competition or challenge, you’ll support student teams with your industry experience.
Become a Judge
You’ll judge the participating teams and determine the best solutions.
- Review and deliberate student solutions throughout the case competition rounds.
More Engagement Pathways
The ways to work with Questrom students are virtually endless. Have another idea, opportunity, or question? Connect with the Center for Action Learning to start the conversation.
Mentor and advise students
- Speak in a class or program session
- Lead an industry workshop
- Serve as a student mentor
- Advise a student project team
- Join a project review or feedback session
- Share an alumni story or project example
Create career and industry access
- Host a student trek
- Recruit Questrom students
- Post jobs and internships
- Engage with student clubs
- Connect your company or organization to Questrom
Invest in the ecosystem
- Make a gift to support Action Learning
- Support student teams or competition travel
- Champion Action Learning within your network
- Sponsor a competition
Submit Your Project Ideas & Needs
Get started with Questrom’s Center for Action Learning by sharing your business challenge or consulting needs below. Our team will follow up directly to explore how Questrom talent can help move your work forward.
"*" indicates required fields
Hear from Past Sponsors, Mentors & Judges
Guided by faculty expertise and grounded in real-world application, our students bring both analytical rigor and innovative thinking to every engagement. Don’t just take our word for it—here’s what our partners have to say:
“It was an honor to judge Questrom School of Business, Boston University Sustainability Case Competition.
Teams produced innovative and creative ideas that will undoubtedly help Revision Energy’s continued impact in the world.”
Get Involved as an Alum
Questrom alumni have unique opportunities to support the next generation of business leaders through mentorship, project sponsorship, competition judging, and industry collaboration.
Learn more about how you can create meaningful learning experiences for students while strengthening your connection to the Questrom community and helping shape future business talent.
Partner with us.
Use the forms above to get involved directly with case competitions, course projects, or the Questrom Consulting Lab. For all other questions, don’t hesitate to reach out.