Spiders in the Battle of the Beltway

UPDATE: The University of Richmond team Beltway Bandits won 2nd place in Deloitte's Battle of the Beltway 2012 competition.

With the students’ interest in consulting on the rise at the University of Richmond, so is the interest in the Deloitte Battle of the Beltway Case Competition that takes place in Washington, D.C.  The case competition challenges sophomores and juniors at eight top East Coast universities to compete against each other, while learning about different consulting practices. In the fall of 2011, two teams were selected to represent the University of Richmond and one team, European Power, placed fourth in the overall competition.

“Battle of the Beltway is a great opportunity for our students to gain consulting experience,” said Erin Lowery, Assistant Director in the Office of Alumni and Career Services. “Due to the increased interest in consulting, our Career Services team has also increased related programming such as the Spiders in Consulting Road Trip to D.C. to prepare students for careers in consulting and for case interviews.”

With the support of faculty, such as Professor Jonathan Whitaker, Assistant Professor of Management and Professor of Leadership Studies Joann Ciulla, five teams of Richmond students entered the preliminary round of the competition, held at UR.  Two teams advanced to the main competition: European Power and Best Case Scenario.  

All students who participated speak to the value of this learning experience.

“Participating in the Battle of the Beltway has been a real eye-opener for me in terms of consulting,” said Christoph Bernd, a member of the European Power team. “Using concepts learned in the classroom helped me link my knowledge to the actual business world. Also, the feedback I received from professors and judges helped me to gain a lot of confidence.”

Other members of his team, Frederik Hendriksen and Ottar í Hjøllum, found working in a team incredibly rewarding and motivating. In addition, they now both see consulting as a possible future career.

“For me, this competition not only provided hands on experience in consulting, but also helped me be better prepared and ask better questions in interviews and while networking,” said Audra Meade, a member of the Best Case Scenario team. “ It was also great practice presenting publicly.”

For Deloitte, the case competition is an opportunity to expand their partnerships with universities beyond recruiting.

“One of the reasons why we do this competition is to provide students with a day-to-day lifecycle of what consulting is all about,” said Rick Zullo, a UR graduate and a Senior Consultant at Deloitte. “Secondly, when Deloitte partners with schools, we aren’t there just to recruit, we want to make sure we have a positive impact on students, whether they choose to pursue consulting as a career or not.”

The fourth annual Battle of the Beltway Case Competition will take place this fall.