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Ross Team Wins 2019 Deloitte Case Competition

A team of four MBA students from University of Michigan’s Ross School of Business has won the 2019 Deloitte National Case Competition, taking both first-place honors and the People’s Choice Award. 

This year’s finals, held at Deloitte University near Dallas, Texas, brought together 16 teams comprising 64 students. The finals were the culmination of a process that began with regional competitions involving over 1,000 students.

When the finalists arrived in Texas, they were tasked with creating proposals for the restaurant chain sweetgreen, which aims to provide healthy and sustainable food.

The teams, which included students from other top business schools like UC Berkeley’s Haas School of Business and Northwestern University’s Kellogg School of Management, were given ten hours to complete the challenge.

The Ross team’s suggestion, for a takeout dinner service called sweetnightin, was ultimately selected as the winner by a panel that included judges from sweetgreen, Deloitte and other companies.

That victory netted the four Ross MBA students – Andrea Schiff, Jake Corness, Jason Rock and Jess McClain – $20,000 in prize money and summer internship offers from Deloitte.

McClain described how the team’s proposal “allows busy professionals and families to get quick, convenient, family-style entrees to help host occasions like family dinners, date nights, and girls’ nights.” 

Of the competition overall, she added that “It was an awesome learning experience and we were happy to bring home the win for Ross!” 

In a press release from Deloitte, Deloitte Foundation board of directors member Seán Morris said that the foundation created the MBA National Case Competition to provide “a real-world extension of the classroom setting, allowing students to apply their knowledge, and ultimately growing the pipeline of future talent.” 

Deloitte refers to the competition as a “bracket-style tournament” in which teams “test their critical thinking, business knowledge, and strategic problem-solving potential through case simulation.”

The competition has been held since 2010, when Duke University’s Fuqua School of Business became its first champion. Last year, New York University’s Stern School of Business was the winner. 

Ross’s success in the competition highlights the collaborative benefits of being in a top MBA program. Being at a school like Ross means being able to team up with other MBA students and combine forces to take advantage of opportunities like Deloitte’s National Case Competition.

Of course, being in a position to do that means winning another competition: the competition of gaining admission in the first place!