Four ISU graduate students will get to show off what they’ve learned at Iowa State when they compete on Feb. 17 in the preliminary round of the inaugural Big 12 North MBA Team Case Competition.

The four students will compete against teams from the Universities of Colorado, Missouri, Kansas, Nebraska and Kansas State. Each team will be given a strategic management case on Feb. 16 and will have 24 hours to generate a solution.

Teams will present their findings at 9 a.m. on Feb. 17, with a question-and-answer session at 1 p.m. A panel of judges led by Hugh O’Neill, professor from the University of North Carolina, will decide the winning team based on overall performance.

“It’s kind of like ‘The Apprentice,'” said Brad Shrader, team coach and professor of management, about the competition. “It’s a great experience for students.”

Team member Elizabeth Hattery, graduate student in business administration, is looking forward to gaining real-life experience through her participation in the competition.

“I’m excited about the challenge of the competition and the exposure from it,” she said.

Teammate Tharangi Ranasinghe, graduate student in business administration, agrees.

“I’m really excited about the competition. I think it will be really exciting to compete with Iowa State students and other students from the Big 12,” she said.

Shrader thinks his team is up to the challenge.

“I am exceptionally proud of the Iowa State students,” he said.

Ranasinghe is looking forward to gaining valuable insight into the postgraduation business world by working on the case.

“The time-sensitive nature of the competition will be beneficial for us,” she said. “You get a lot of exposure to how to handle real world situations.”

More than just experience is at stake for the team that advances to the next round of competition.

The top two teams will go on to compete in a “final four” round against the two best teams from the Big 12 South MBA Team Case Competition, which will be held simultaneously at the University of Oklahoma.

The final four round will take place in Oklahoma City at the same time as the Big 12 Men’s Basketball Championship Tournament.

“This is a step forward in the quality of the competition,” Shrader said.

Prior to this year’s event, students at Iowa State took part in internal competitions.

Rounding out the team for Iowa State are Michael Conger, graduate student in business administration, and Doug VanWerden, graduate student in civil, construction and environmental engineering.

The event is free and open to the public. It will be televised live via closed-circuit television for audience members in Room 2127 of the Gerdin Business Building.