Apply for Carlson Case Teams (2026 - 2027)

We envision Carlson teams that bring the strength of diversity in backgrounds, knowledge and interests. Thus, the criteria are broad:

Personal characteristics

• A competitive spirit and a real desire to represent Carlson internationally
• Availability for team practice, roughly two to three hours per week outside of competitions
• Interest in traveling to and competing at international events

Course co-requisites or prerequisites

If you are a Carlson student, here is what we expect. The point is that you have enough business context to make sense of a case, not that you have taken any particular class.

• Every Carlson student: you should be taking or have completed Impact Core (I-Core). This is the one we hold to. If you have not started it, you can still apply, and we will look at your situation.
• If you are also an MIS major or minor: we expect you to be taking or have completed IDSc 3001.
• If you are also a Business Analytics major or minor: we expect you to be taking or have completed BA 3551.

If you are not a Carlson student, you need a declared management minor and a major in computer science, computer engineering, industrial and systems engineering, or information technology infrastructure.

If none of these describe you but you believe you are ready, apply anyway and tell us about your situation. The application has a place for exactly that. We grant special permission every year, most often to transfer students partway through Impact Core and to students whose coursework goes well beyond what a formal minor requires.

Class Status

• Expected graduation between May 2027 and May 2029
• Registered as a University of Minnesota student for both fall 2026 and spring 2027

Availability

• Able to register for IDSc 4491, a one-credit independent study, in spring 2027. This is how you receive credit for serving on the team.
• Available for team practice of roughly two to three hours per week during spring semester, plus competition travel.

1. Do I have to take IDSc 3511 to try out? No, though we recommend it. IDSc 3511, Pitching Business Strategy, is a two-credit fall A-term course, and its Individual Video Case is the tryout case. Being enrolled does not put you forward automatically, so if you want to be considered, submit the application by the deadline. That is the only extra step, because you are completing the case for the course either way. If the course does not fit your schedule, take the case on your own instead using the second route above. Both routes are evaluated on the same terms.
2. Do I try out by myself or with a team? By yourself. We want to see your own thinking. Seminars and practice material are available to help you prepare, and if you are enrolled in IDSc 3511 you will have practiced this format repeatedly before the tryout case arrives.
3. What does the tryout involve? You choose a start time, the case is released to you at that time, and you have five days to analyze it and record a video of eleven minutes or less presenting your solution. Industry professionals review the videos and recommend selections. Many of them competed on these teams themselves, so they know what a strong tryout looks like. Five days is deliberately more time than the competitions allow. At the tryout stage, we want to see the quality of your thinking rather than how you handle time pressure. You will work up to the six-hour and twenty-four-hour formats later, with practice.
4. Are international students welcome? Yes. Our international students have been key players on Carlson teams since 2010.
5. How hard is it to make the team? We build a well-rounded team, looking for strengths across finance, strategy, MIS, marketing, operations, governance, and analytics. We value your management skills, from sophomore through senior, and your teamwork. In general 35-40% of those who try out make a team on their first try.
6. What is the most common student concern? Carlson students worry about the time commitment. This is tough to address honestly. We compete not only against our American peer universities, including Indiana, Arizona, and UT Austin, but against top-tier global universities. Teams that practice more feel more prepared. We look for students motivated to balance that commitment against a desire to test themselves against the best.
7. What is the second most common student concern? Carlson students worry that their knowledge and presentation skills are not yet refined. That is exactly what our workshops and practice rounds are for, and it is the reason IDSc 3511 exists. We have had Impact Core and IDSc 3001 students on our team every year.
8. Is a high GPA required? No. As long as you are not on academic probation, we welcome your application.
9. I have never done a case before. Can I still apply? Yes, definitely. Several resources are available to you:
   • See the sections below, Practice Using a Previous Case and Interested in learning more?
   • Watch the Case 101 workshop, which covers how to read and solve competition-style cases.
   • Enroll in IDSc 3511, which teaches this from the beginning.
10. Can I request my team or destination? No. To make sure teams are balanced and well-positioned to succeed, our corporate judges place students on teams to achieve the best fit.
11. IDSc 4491 is a real class. How are grades determined? Results matter, so your team's placing in your global competition is key. We also take your attendance, preparation, and participation in the workshops and other events very seriously. Note that this is separate from IDSc 3511, the fall course, which is graded on its own coursework rather than on competition results.
12. What will this cost me? Our sponsors pay your registration fees and travel expenses. Students report spending less than $100 out of pocket.
13. If I make the team, what dates do I need to block out? Some of this is still a moving target while we accept competition invitations, and you will find a draft schedule for the year linked above. What we know now is that Carlson has been accepted to CaseIT in Vancouver in February 2027, and that team members typically volunteer with CoMIS, the competition we host here at Carlson, April 4 through 9, 2027.
14. Is this an approved University activity? Technically no. This does not carry the same status as a varsity athletic team, so you will need to work with your professors to make sure they support your absence on presentation days. Once you are placed on a team, we will help you communicate with them.

Practice Using a Previous Case

Want to practice and see some successful tryout presentations? We have posted a previous tryout case and a variety of student tryout slides. In order to get the most out of this, we recommend you first orient yourself to the case:

1. Read the tryout case.
2. Brainstorm (by yourself) a very high-level solution to the case
3. Jot down the type of analysis you are going to use (e.g., how are you going to convince your judges that your solution is a great solution)

Download and review six presentations for this case from students just like you:

• Student A, Student B, Student C
• Student D, Student E, Student F

Each student had 48 hours to prepare, and 10 minutes to present their slides on video. You might go through the decks and determine which you prefer before you read on (at the bottom, we tell you who the judges preferred). Here are some things you might look for:

1. The opportunity statement. If this is new to you, you may want to watch the Case 101 video. The students vary a lot, and many haven’t included one.
2. Timing of the solution. Each student ensured that we heard their recommendation(s) within the first 2 – 3 slides.
3. The solutions. Each student was clear about their recommendation(s), but the solutions are very different. Our judges usually put a strong priority here when they are selecting team members.
   1. Some solutions are creative and forward thinking and others are conservative ideas that are already in use today (for example, the flipped classroom).
   2. It is popular to include one creative and one more conservative solution.
4. The depth and specificity of the analysis (competitor analysis, case study, and/or technical overview). Here is where you can show your strategic, research, or technical skills.
5. Implementation details (timeline, financials, risks, KPI, etc).
   1. Implementation contains a lot of content, and you will note that only a few students did most of it.
6. Slide design: The student work varies a lot. Several of them are very wordy, and this often counts against them.

Points to Consider

Remember that this is an art, not a science:

• The quality of these presentations varies across the different criteria (slide quality, amount of analysis, solution creativity). None was perfect.
• Students with technical background and/or finance skills are very valuable, though we didn’t see much of either in these presentations.

Who did the judges prefer?

• Students A – D were trying out for the team. Judges gave strong scores to Student B and Student C. Student A barely made the team.
• Students E – F were not trying out for the team although they worked under the same rules: 48-hours to prepare, 10-minute presentation. This case served as their midterm for IDSc 3511 (“the case class”). The judges gave strong scores to both of them, and their slides can serve as examples on how to show your skills in some of the implementation details.