Ashley Shaffer credits business school's internship program with helping her land a position at marketing strategy company
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When deciding to go for an MBA at Rutgers, Ashley Shaffer, like many in her generation, was trying to figure out what to do with her life.
No matter the fame winning Miss New Jersey 2009 had given her, Shaffer knew she needed an edge to compete in the business world.
Now, 60 hard-earned credits later, the former beauty queen will cross the stage at NJPAC in Newark to receive an MBA diploma from Rutgers Business School-Newark and New Brunswick May 14.
“Getting an MBA was the most difficult thing I have ever done,” said Shaffer, who grew up in Millstone Township in Monmouth County. “Of course there’s pressure on you when you compete in beauty pageants. But it doesn’t come close to the scrutiny you face in the real world.”
Shaffer joins 14 other Miss America or Miss USA contestants who have earned their MBA in the last decade according to a Bloomberg Businessweek feature on MBA Beauty Queens.
“Ashley is one of the only beauty queens in the country with a ‘big engine room,’ which is how we describe the practical skills necessary to succeed in a corporate environment,” said Farrokh Langdana, professor of finance and economics.
While her MBA colleagues averaged over four years work experience entering into the Rutgers traditional full-time MBA program, the 25-year-old had worked as Miss New Jersey for a year and also in sports media at the MLB Network and the College Sports Network .
“I have been just blown away by my classmates,” she said. “They come from so many diverse backgrounds, industries and experiences, I was fortunate to be able to learn so much from them and have them in my personal network for life.”
Shaffer and 328 students from the MBA Class of 2012 join the Rutgers Business School alumni network – over 36,000 strong. She accepted a position at Brand Engineers, a marketing strategy company with clients like Starbucks, Pfizer and Yahoo, based in Teaneck, New Jersey, as manager of positioning strategy.
She credits her internship at Church & Dwight, Co., Inc., a $2.6 billion consumer goods company best known for the brand Arm & Hammer, with headquarters in Princeton, for igniting her passion in marketing. “I saw the impact you can have. How what you do matters and affects the company’s performance,” she said.
Through its Office of Career Management, Rutgers Business School has made summer internships with its corporate partners an important part of an MBA student’s experience earning 100 percent placement in 2011. “There is no question these internships help students become better job candidates,” said Dean Vera, Assistant Dean/Director of the MBA Office of Career Management.
After the internship Shaffer approached her MBA classes with a clearer goal in mind. “The professors made the class work applicable to the real world and made me excited about a career in marketing.”
Shaffer, who graduated from Marist College in 2008, said there is no road map on how to compete with so many college graduates with great degrees from great schools. But, she added, “I can say to future Rutgers MBA students, it’s not going to be easy, but Rutgers students are just as good as NYU or Columbia. We just won’t be saddled with as much debt.”