Student Profile: Alexa Rozelle '16 MBA

For second-year MBA candidate Alexa Rozelle, Isenberg has been a ticket to new analytical skills and hands-on problem solving. “I’ve also gained a business and social network that should prove an asset throughout my career,” she adds. Alexa attributes that to the small size of her MBA class and the program’s cooperative, team-focused culture.

“In that setting, everyone gets to know everyone else both professionally and socially,” she explains. “We complement rather than compete with one another. Five or ten years down the road, I wouldn’t think twice about reaching out to any of my classmates for professional advice and leverage.”

After graduating from the University of California at Berkeley with a bachelor’s degree in Environmental Economics & Policy, Alexa spent a year selling houses with Coldwell Banker, in Sudbury. “I really liked the analytical side of the work,” she confesses. “I joined Isenberg to expand those skills, including a broader perspective in investments. And I also wanted to transition to corporate and commercial real estate.”

Alexa’s timing couldn’t have been better; the school was rolling out a new undergraduate sequence of three integrated courses in real estate. Last fall, she teamed up with its professor, Robert Wilson, as his teaching assistant. In that role, she advised undergraduates on analyzing, acquiring, and financing commercial and residential properties. She also gained ARGUS Enterprise Certification, which she describes as a crucial “Excel-like tool for analyzing properties.” This spring, she will help undergraduates master that software in her teaching assistant role.

Alexa also expanded her skill set in a summer internship through Isenberg’s alumni network. Working in Milford as a financial analyst with Waters Corporation, she deployed spread sheets, analytical smarts, and creativity to help the company rethink its metrics for allocating and adapting internal facility budgeting. Back at Isenberg, Alexa gives high points to the course, Business Intelligence. “It changed my focus from traditional finance to analytics,” she emphasizes. “I learned to appreciate the importance of framing questions; of incorporating Big Data insights about buyers, sellers, and trends. Without question, I’m more insightful and marketable thanks to that course and my many experiences at Isenberg.”

UPDATE: In May 2016, Alexa landed a great career opportunity as a Real Estate Analyst at Duff & Phelps Corporation in Boston. She will be putting her analytics courses to work performing in-depth industry, market and competitor research for the company.