Welcome, Kellogg Students, to the info page for Analytical Consulting Lab (MECN-615), taught by me, Prof. Joel Shapiro.

Fall 2025 application is available here: https://reg.kellogg.northwestern.edu/experientiallearning/

Deadline: For Fall Quarter 2025, you must complete your application by 8:00 AM on Monday, July 28. If you are applying as a team, EACH team member must complete an individual application by the deadline. Admission decisions will be shared prior to the start of FT bidding later that week.

If you apply and are admitted to ACL, I will do my best to assign you to a project that you would really like. However, especially with sports clients, demand is often higher than supply. I recommend that you apply to ACL only if multiple projects sound interesting to you.

Please note: “Analytical consulting” isn’t just about primary analysis of large datasets. Many companies already have data science teams for that. What they often lack, but truly value, are business-minded experts who can help them think differently. In some of the below projects, the real value (and often, the real fun) lies in uncovering new ways to solve business problems using existing data: reframing challenges, surfacing hidden opportunities, and shaping innovative use cases that drive impact.

Project / clients for Fall 2025 will likely include the following. Check back regularly for more details, as I will update this page as details are finalized.

  • Non-profit / fundraising analytics with St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital, arguably the premier children’s health research organization in the world. This is a spectacular opportunity to help an incredibly important and worthwhile organization, especially in light of recent changes to medical research funding across the U.S. in particular.

    Students will be working with the head of data (and Kellogg alum) for ALSAC, St. Jude’s fundraising arm, to help craft strategies around how to better engage high-wealth donors and to strategize around the impact of economic conditions on donor behavior.

  • Health care analytics, with a pharmacy benefits company aiming to help employers better understand and manage their true prescription drug costs—especially for expensive, high-rebate drugs like Ozempic. The project’s goal is to build a data-driven tool that can take in an employer’s claims file, estimate current PMPM costs, and simulate how cost changes if coverage decisions are adjusted. This approach gives the client a predictive advantage to compete with larger players in the market. This project offers students a rare opportunity to work with large-scale real-world healthcare claims data to build predictive, decision-support tools that directly shape pricing strategy and competitive positioning in a multibillion-dollar industry. CEO is a Kellogg alum.

  • Sales and revenue analytics with a U.S. leader in home improvement, offering students a chance to dive deep into revenue strategy and customer behavior with a large home service / flooring company. The business has tens of thousands of customer interactions every month—each an opportunity to better understand conversion drivers, channel performance, and how pricing and promotions shape outcomes. Students will work closely with the firm’s executive team to uncover ways to optimize the sales funnel, drive profitable growth, and inform pricing strategy using real-world data. This is a uniquely hands-on opportunity to apply revenue and customer analytics to affect meaningful revenue drivers.

  • Fan insights / analytics with a professional football (soccer) team in the U.S., looking to build more personalized and relevant marketing experiences that deepen engagement and grow long-term fan value.

  • Fan consumer insights / analytics with an international football (soccer) organization, looking to understand and strategize around fan behaviors to drive incremental revenue. Their head of data is a Kellogg alum.

  • A major consumer brand is seeking fresh insights into the effectiveness and ROI of its sports sponsorship investments. This project will explore how fandom, fan engagement, and live event attendance connect to brand perception and purchasing behavior.

    Other sports and non-sports organizations are likely to participate as well.

Email me here with questions - happy to help!

What is ACL?

ACL is a 10-week experiential course where you and your team work on a real project for a real company with real data challenges. We have periodic meetings during the quarter. I also work with your team as needed / desired.

If you want to read about ACL a bit more, please check out my short blog posts at Inside Kellogg here.

How to enroll?

You must apply and be accepted to ACL.

I HIGHLY recommend that you enroll in ACL as part of a team of 4-5. Your chances of getting into the class are much improved if you apply as a team. Each team member must apply separately, are admitted separately, and all must meet the minimum qualifications.

FAQs

How often is ACL being offered this year? Currently, ACL is being offered every Fall, Winter, and Spring quarter.

What are the pre-reqs for ACL? You must have completed Business Analytics II or the equivalent. Greater analytics expertise is strongly preferred, but not required. The key to ACL success is that you know how to apply quant or computational methods to solve business problems.