{"id":8638,"date":"2013-04-05T04:00:00","date_gmt":"2013-04-05T04:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/business.cornell.edu\/centers\/2013\/04\/05\/building-real-world-skills-in-a-classroom-setting\/"},"modified":"2026-07-14T18:18:19","modified_gmt":"2026-07-14T18:18:19","slug":"building-real-world-skills-in-a-classroom-setting","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/business.cornell.edu\/centers\/2013\/04\/05\/building-real-world-skills-in-a-classroom-setting\/","title":{"rendered":"Building Real World Skills in a Classroom Setting"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">by Sharleyne Silcott, MBA &#8217;14<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image alignleft size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"200\" height=\"200\" src=\"https:\/\/business.cornell.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2026\/06\/Silcott_Sharleyne_3202777_ss2886.jpg\" alt=\"Sharleyne Silcott, MBA \" class=\"wp-image-8639\" srcset=\"https:\/\/business.cornell.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2026\/06\/Silcott_Sharleyne_3202777_ss2886.jpg 200w, https:\/\/business.cornell.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2026\/06\/Silcott_Sharleyne_3202777_ss2886-150x150.jpg 150w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 200px) 100vw, 200px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>I decided to attend Johnson for several reasons, one of which was the Corporate Finance Immersion (CFI). With an accounting background, I knew I wanted to stay within a similar field and felt that the MFI would provide me with the tools I needed to round out my skillset and be effective in a new role within finance.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>One of the main aspects of the Immersion that I have enjoyed thus far is the case studies. We work in groups to crack real life finance cases. This gives us the opportunity to act as the CFO of a company and give recommendations based on both quantitative as well as qualitative analysis. My previous work experiences did not allow me to work on these types of business decisions, so I appreciate the opportunity to do so now as this is helping me prepare to face these situations when I enter the workforce again.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>On top of cracking cases, we also have the opportunity to hear from industry leaders. We recently had the occasion to meet the CFO of Procter and Gamble to walk us through a case regarding the Pringles brand. We were able to learn about how companies make divestiture decisions and how the process works \u2013 from identifying a segment to divest, to determining selling price and how to structure the transaction.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>My goal at the end of business school is to land a corporate finance role in a top company and be an integral part of its decision making process. The lessons learned in the MFI will help me to be successful not only in my internship and first full-time role but also for a lifetime in finance.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>by Sharleyne Silcott, MBA &#8217;14 I decided to attend Johnson for several reasons, one of which was the Corporate Finance Immersion (CFI). With an accounting background, I knew I wanted&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":33,"featured_media":8639,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[161],"tags":[199,200,180],"ppma_author":[],"class_list":["post-8638","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-blog-posts","tag-graduate-student","tag-immersions","tag-two-year-mba"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v27.9 (Yoast SEO v27.9) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-premium-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Building Real World Skills in a Classroom Setting - Cornell Business Centers &amp; Institutes<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"by Sharleyne Silcott, MBA &#039;14 I decided to attend Johnson for several reasons, one of which was the Corporate Finance Immersion (CFI). With an accounting\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/business.cornell.edu\/centers\/2013\/04\/05\/building-real-world-skills-in-a-classroom-setting\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Building Real World Skills in a Classroom Setting - Cornell Business\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"by Sharleyne Silcott, MBA &#039;14 I decided to attend Johnson for several reasons, one of which was the Corporate Finance Immersion (CFI). With an accounting\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/business.cornell.edu\/centers\/2013\/04\/05\/building-real-world-skills-in-a-classroom-setting\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Centers &amp; Institutes\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2013-04-05T04:00:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2026-07-14T18:18:19+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/business.cornell.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2026\/06\/Silcott_Sharleyne_3202777_ss2886.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"200\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"200\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Rachel Cherry\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Rachel Cherry\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"1 minute\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/business.cornell.edu\\\/centers\\\/2013\\\/04\\\/05\\\/building-real-world-skills-in-a-classroom-setting\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/business.cornell.edu\\\/centers\\\/2013\\\/04\\\/05\\\/building-real-world-skills-in-a-classroom-setting\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Rachel Cherry\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/business.cornell.edu\\\/centers\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/483887a306c16ef5516d1fbccd06df98\"},\"headline\":\"Building Real World Skills in a Classroom Setting\",\"datePublished\":\"2013-04-05T04:00:00+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2026-07-14T18:18:19+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/business.cornell.edu\\\/centers\\\/2013\\\/04\\\/05\\\/building-real-world-skills-in-a-classroom-setting\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":291,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/business.cornell.edu\\\/centers\\\/2013\\\/04\\\/05\\\/building-real-world-skills-in-a-classroom-setting\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/business.cornell.edu\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/6\\\/2026\\\/06\\\/Silcott_Sharleyne_3202777_ss2886.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"Graduate Student\",\"Immersions\",\"Two-Year MBA\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Blog Posts\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/business.cornell.edu\\\/centers\\\/2013\\\/04\\\/05\\\/building-real-world-skills-in-a-classroom-setting\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/business.cornell.edu\\\/centers\\\/2013\\\/04\\\/05\\\/building-real-world-skills-in-a-classroom-setting\\\/\",\"name\":\"Building Real World Skills in a Classroom Setting - Cornell Business Centers &amp; Institutes\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/business.cornell.edu\\\/centers\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/business.cornell.edu\\\/centers\\\/2013\\\/04\\\/05\\\/building-real-world-skills-in-a-classroom-setting\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/business.cornell.edu\\\/centers\\\/2013\\\/04\\\/05\\\/building-real-world-skills-in-a-classroom-setting\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/business.cornell.edu\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/6\\\/2026\\\/06\\\/Silcott_Sharleyne_3202777_ss2886.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2013-04-05T04:00:00+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2026-07-14T18:18:19+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/business.cornell.edu\\\/centers\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/483887a306c16ef5516d1fbccd06df98\"},\"description\":\"by Sharleyne Silcott, MBA '14 I decided to attend Johnson for several reasons, one of which was the Corporate Finance Immersion (CFI). 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