With class registration for the spring semester coming up in the next month, many QUEST students must be wondering how to fulfill both major and QUEST requirements, while also attempting to make space for some cool gen-eds! As a requirement for the QUEST Honors Program, current students must take at least one QUEST elective. Luckily, I have heard nothing but positive experiences with all of the elective options. “Taking QUEST electives has helped me stay connected with the QUEST community and meet people from different cohorts,” said Mutaz Ahmed (Cohort 32). In order to relieve a bit of trouble or chaos from class registration, here is a collection of all the electives available only to QUEST students, including the number of credits, short descriptions, and even a few thoughts from past students!
Electives available this spring:
BMGT/ENES 397 – Mentoring Multidisciplinary Teams
- Credits: 3
In this course, QUEST students practice essential skills for mentoring and coaching multidisciplinary teams. These include effective communication, facilitation, conflict resolution, and the ability to motivate. Students will practice these skills as mentors for student teams from BMGT/ENES 190H. In the process, they will strengthen their knowledge of design and quality techniques. Students must apply to take this course. Applications are released each spring. You can view the syllabus for mentoring here!
The 9 selected students will be working as mentors for Cohort 38.
According to Ryan Gerbes (Q33), a current mentor for Cohort 37, “Mentors has been a great way to stay involved after completing 490H! I knew I wanted to be a mentor since QUEST Camp in Fall 2019. In 190H, my team’s mentor, Ankit Sheth (Q29), helped us understand what QUEST was all about and shared lessons he’d learned that helped us to grow academically, professionally, and personally. Being able to do the same for students in Cohort 37 has been so rewarding, and it feels great to work on a project to improve the QUEST Program while continuing to learn.” For those of you who want to have a similar experience to Ryan, passing down the knowledge of your own mentor, check out Mentors class!
Ryan Gerbes, right, and other mentors at Cohort 37’s Orientation
BMGT/ENES 491 – Scoping Experiential Learning Projects
- Credits: 3
In this course, often referred to as “Scoping,” QUEST students cultivate relationships with new and current corporate partners and prepare project scopes for QUEST’s intro course, BMGT/ENES 190H, data course, BMGT 438A/ENES 489A, and the capstone course, BMGT/ENES 490H. Students communicate independently with clients and attend class visits to a variety of potential project sites. This course is open to all QUEST students who have completed BMGT/ENES 190H and is offered every semester. You can view the syllabus for the course here. As stated by Maggie Quinn (Cohort 33), “The environment was so positive and provided a wonderful space to develop professional communication skills. And as much as it was just plain fun to find and create future QUEST projects, I also gained some truly invaluable skills. I’ve found myself going back time and again to things we discussed in class — especially email writing.” Along with that, it also gave her an insight into what to expect for 490H, in terms of navigating project scopes. For anyone interested in getting a leg up for their QUEST capstone or giving back to the community after their capstone, this might be the class for you!
BMGT 438N – Product Management
- Credits: 3
This brand-new QUEST elective is intended as a formally organized deep-dive into the field of product management. Through readings, exercises, and hands-on projects, students will learn and practice the most important aspects of product management. Guest lectures will provide students with perspectives on the variety of ways that product management is practiced in different industries. Since the course is still being designed, the list of topics to be covered is tentative but may include: roles and responsibilities, the product management process, business model designs, product roadmaps, understanding the target market, testing, and validating product concepts, market research, user experience, etc. This will only be offered in spring semesters, starting this coming spring.
Product management is a rapidly growing field, being listed as one of the top five hard skills for professionals on Linkedin in 2021. If you have the space in your schedule, definitely check it out!
BMGT 438T – Cross-Cultural Perspectives on Quality (previously ARHU390H)
- Credits: 3
In this course, students explore the differences in quality perceptions between US and non-US consumers, the sources of these differences, and the challenges they present in measuring expectations, performance, and customer satisfaction in a multinational business environment. You can learn more about this course through the syllabus, linked here. This course code was previously ARHU390H, and this year it will be offered as BMGT 438T. This course could especially be helpful for business students looking to fulfill some major electives, but anyone can gain from this interesting course topic!
Aside from these QUEST electives being offered in the spring, there are so many more out there that you may be able to experience in future semesters!
Offered in Fall Semesters – Quality Web Development in Business (BMGT 408C)
This class helps students understand the technical and business components of building a web system. From client-server computing to databases to HTML to JavaScript, this class will walk you through the full stack of web development to move beyond a wireframe into building a fully functioning web system. This course is open to all students and offered in the fall semesters.
On Hold at the Moment – Design and Innovation in Silicon Valley (BMGT 438G/ENES 489Q)
QUEST2SiliconValley students learn about design, innovation, and quality by studying the operations of Silicon Valley companies. Students learn first-hand from a number of these organizations during site visits over spring break. Students are assigned companies to research and prepare informative dossiers for their classmates before the trip. After the trip, students share takeaways from the trip as well as ideas for improving the design processes at the firms. This is unfortunately not being offered next semester due to COVID-19, but be on the lookout next year!
Winter Breaks – Study Abroad (course code changes)
QUEST offers a study abroad course each winter break. In the past few years, QUEST has traveled to various locations in Asia, including Hong Kong, China, Vietnam, and Japan, as well as Spain. Like QUEST2SiliconValley, this class is not being offered this winter, but hopefully will be brought back soon!
For those of you who are hesitant to take classes with people outside of your cohort, Quinn believes that “electives are great since everyone is starting a new subject together, but at the same time, you get the benefit of learning from students with more QUEST experience than you.” It gives you the opportunity to interact with other students and work together to create wonderful and creative solutions. In the words of Cohort 33 member Ben Lin, “I’d take more QUEST electives if I could,” so find something you’re interested in and give it a chance! Good luck with registration!