"Even though my main focus at Minerva was my Computational Sciences major, I fell in love with arts and literature after taking a few classes in the College of Arts and Humanities. Besides learning about various art theories and the process of situating art in the global context, we got to do amazing art analysis projects. One of the assignments required us to go out in London, pick an art piece, and interpret it through different historical and contextual lenses. I picked the Shahporan Mosque, which has a different shape than other mosques. After learning about the building's history, I realized that despite having a different shape, the Shahporan Mosque follows all the rules of a mosque design and thus was able to become a worship place. This project made me question the art around me—what is the deeper meaning that is not visible on the surface?”

Nina Hamidli,
Class of 2023, Azerbaijan

"I loved the exposure from the core courses to various aspects of business, like marketing, finance, operations, and strategy, which allowed me to gain a complex understanding of the business sphere, as well as to find a path the career path I want to pursue. The assignments are open-ended and allow you to focus on what you find the most relevant for your portfolio and future career. You can take every task further and learn in your desired direction. The community of business-oriented students, including professors and alums, is unique. As networking is an integral part of business, everyone is open to sharing their resources, tips, and experiences. I found myself able to learn so much from my peers, upper-level students, and instructors."
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Yaroslava Pohorielova,
‍Class of 2026, Ukraine

“My favorite Location-Based Assignment (LBA) was from a finance class I took in my second year. For this LBA, I was required to do an evaluation and analysis of one business for an audience interested in investing. By using the financial information of a restaurant I worked at during the semester, I made estimations and forecasted if the restaurant would be profitable in the future. I had to review everything I learned throughout the semester to make sure all the assumptions I used for financial forecasting made sense. I had to calculate everything from scratch. Afterward, I felt more comfortable applying the skills from my class in a real-world experience because this is what a real company does. Whenever I interview for a company, they are interested in what LBAs I have done because it proves that I can do a case study for a real business.”
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Jiyeop Kim,
‍Class of 2023, South Korea

"Throughout my degree, I interned at startups based in San Francisco and London and also worked with one of the largest advertisers in the United States. This range of experiences helped me apply a lot of the concepts that we initially learned in class, and supercharged my learning by practicing marketing for real-world companies that are working towards meaningful impact. For example, I first heard about growth hacking at Curious Cardinals as an intern and was excited to hear that one of the Brand Management courses at Minerva was essentially centered around this. I brought my industry knowledge to class, which provided a much stronger foundation for my learning throughout the semester. On the other hand, when working for the Ad Council, I got to discover concepts such as influencer marketing and events planning, which weren't detailed in our curriculum."
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Andi Bucescu,
Class of 2025, Romania

“My Capstone is about answering the question, ‘How can small enterprises in Rwanda create and implement successful digital transformation strategies?’ I was generally interested in applying the concepts I learned throughout Minerva in Rwanda, a context I am really familiar with. Additionally, I spent the last two summers interning at Autodesk and Microsoft where I focused on contributing to a company’s digital transformation strategy. My Capstone has been an interesting journey, but with the help from my advisor and Capstone classmates, I have been given a  lot of feedback, which helps with the process.”
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Mark Ndoli,
Class of 2022, Rwanda

“My first exposure to coding was through the summer assessment that Minerva sent to us prior to our freshman year. We were asked to get familiar with Python and practice a bit before starting the semester. I had never coded before and was very surprised to get an email informing me about my selection as a Python peer tutor at the end of the summer. Since then, I have been inseparable from computer science and have worked on many exciting projects. Some of them were centered around designing a network simulation on ambulance response times in Metro Manila, Philippines, and using Machine Learning in predicting whether a loan application should be approved or not. Data science classes at Minerva gave me important tools for approaching data and asking the right questions to get to the core of a problem— something I was able to implement while analyzing data about international students in Germany in regards to their preference for online VS offline classes.

It is fascinating how many insights we can get just by understanding what the numbers tell us as if every data set has its own story.”

Lance Aquino,
Class of 2022, Philippines

Daniel, Class of 2023, spent two summers interning at PWC as an Advanced Cyber Security Engineering Intern while enrolled at Minerva,

“At Minerva, we are taught to constantly think quickly on our feet, break down problems, and find solutions. Although I do not have a lot of experience in cyber security, my problem-solving and social skills will help me learn quickly. I am excited to work on this team and learn from fellow engineers on more complex problems than what I have experienced before. My concentration at Minerva is Applied Problem Solving, which is generally geared to people who want to be high-tech entrepreneurs. This internship supports my aspirations of starting my own tech company by advancing my field knowledge and helping me build a network of mentors.”

Daniel Kalu,
Class of 2023, Nigeria

"My Capstone is a combination of an IOS app and machine learning model that is used to help plant owners take better care of their plants. With a photo of the plant, the app can identify diseases, how much sunlight, water, and fertilizer it needs, and the ideal temperature for the plant. I chose this topic after taking part in the Minerva/Masason Foundation AI lab in-semester program where I focused on optimizing the vertical farming system. After learning how difficult it is to make vertical farming cost effective, I decided to focus my Capstone on individual planters by supporting them with their houseplants. Capstone is all about stretching the mind to new possibilities, which is exhausting, but it has been a rewarding experience."
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Arnav Hazra,
Class of 2022, India

“Majoring in Natural Sciences at Minerva allowed me to understand and value the complexity of life, from the smallest scales with genes and molecules, to the largest scales involving complicated interactions with different species and components of the world. One of my favorite things about Minerva classes was applying class content in real life through location-based assignments (LBAs). Those assignments require real-world interaction with the city, which often led me to amazing experiences. I observed and analyzed major rock formations, ecosystems, species, and chemical reactions in each of the cities that I lived in during the Minerva rotation program. One of my favorites involved analyzing fermentation reactions in my kitchen in London. I made kombucha and monitored its chemical reactions for several weeks. Thus, I was able to gain practical experience on the topics we were studying in the classroom.”

Sofia Villa,
Class of 2022, Mexico

"In my summer at EARTH University, I had a glimpse of the numerous ways in which waste can be helpful, either by creating compost for regenerative agriculture or creating other products for consumers. There is always something to do with what we call "trash." Waste management at EARTH is very interconnected and serves various purposes. They collect organic waste from the farms and the cafeteria and send them to the Integrated Organic Farm, so they produce compost. This compost is then used for taking care of the soil in all farms, and the cycle continues. They also feed Black Soldier Fly Larvae with the waste from the cafeteria, making great feed for animals like chicken and fish!"
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Leonardo Estrella,
Class of 2026, Mexico

Marharyta, Class of 2020, worked on advancing early breast cancer detection.

“My Capstone project was focused on early breast cancer detection. I analyzed a dataset and predicted the likelihood of a female developing cancer in the coming years, focusing on prevention rather than cure. This approach has numerous benefits, including better prognosis, improved patient well-being, and reduced healthcare spending. Right now, I am doing something pretty similar in a sense that I have this healthcare data set, and I have a goal of how we can make use of it or make it better. I learned many of these tools and techniques at Minerva. I had one very nice tutorial on deep learning at Minerva, which got me into Artificial Intelligence. My experiences now are a direct result of what I was doing a few years ago at Minerva.”

Marharyta Kurban,
Class of 2020, Belarus