Program Reviews

I was a Sage Corps 2017 Chicago fellow, and these are my thoughts on the program. Sage Corps gave me exposure to the world of entrepreneurship from a first hand perspective and gave me a new direction for my professional life. Sage Corps is so much more than just a study abroad or work abroad program—the program will present opportunities to advance your professional goals through access to the best of the best entrepreneurial communities in the various cities where programs are offered. The Sage staff are personally motivated and involved to enhance your experience and to ensure that you are taking away skills that long outlive the program duration. At this point, being exactly one year removed from the program I can confidently say that Sage Corps has opened more doors for me than I can count, and the connections that I made during my time in the program have benefitted me greatly and will continue to do so. From access to exclusive networking events to introductions with big players in the startup space, Sage Corps can boost your career path tremendously. The brand name is well known in entrepreneurial circles globally, and this has not only connected me with people and opportunities that I would not have access to otherwise, but the experience has also been a great talking point in interviews and conversations. I had an overwhelmingly positive experience!

I had an incredible experience with Sage Corps over the summer. Not only did I learn the how's and whys of tech startups, but I also stepped out of my comfort zone at the networking events after work which instilled me with greater confidence. The Sage Corps team provided a welcoming community for all of the fellows and was always available for questions, advice and mentorship. On a day to day basis, I worked with the founder and CEO of the tech startup I was with who was a great mentor and teacher to me. Sage Corps truly prepared me for the business and tech world! I am happy to say that after my experience with Sage Corps I received multiple job offers in fields I was very excited about.

I've learned so much from my internship about tech startups and venture capital. I did many projects in data analysis at the startup i was matched to and I had a great working with my teammates. I also had a great number of friends who are also Sage Corp fellows. I now better understand what I wish to do and I hope Sage Corps can continue to help me in the future

I spent my time with Sage Corps abroad in Dublin, Ireland. I was matched with the tech startup Novaerus where I worked as a research and development engineering. Here I was in charge of my own individual project that will actually be further developed into a final product. The experience I gained here will be extremely valuable for getting hired in the future. While the job was great, the best part of the program by far was the people and the living environment. I had an amazing time in Dublin and spent all my weekends traveling the country, the UK, and even got over to Denmark. The CEO of sage corps, Matt, was extremely devoted to us and truly cared about our experience. Living and working in Dublin really made me feel part of the culture rather than just being a study abroad tourist. I would recommend this program to anyone. You are in good hands with Sage Corps.

Over the two months I worked at a tech startup on software development and maintenance. I did not know much going into the internship but was able to build a fully functional website (mainly back-end) for my startup in the end. I also wrote test cases for a web app. Besides, I learned a great deal about entrepreneurship and startups in Asia in general. Singapore has amazing food, tourist attractions and night life. It is also easy to travel abroad to see the completely different cities in Southeast Asia.

Sage Corps provided me with the opportunity to work abroad without having to feel lost. They placed me in a startup that perfectly matched my professional aspirations and made sure everything was going smoothly. The staff based in Chicago was very present over email and the country managers on the ground in Buenos Aires were amazing. They planned interesting events for us every week. The social component of the program was also very helpful as it gave me opportunities to meet people at first when I didn't know anyone there. I feel like I learned all the professional skills I wanted to acquire during my internship and I got an incredibly enriching experience. Working alongside Argentine entrepreneurs was the best way to exchange every day and learn about the culture. The true differential factor of Sage Corps is that you have a frame that provides lots of reassurance while also being fully immersed.

I'm currently a student at Penn and I am very passionate about entrepreneurship. I had the chance to go back and work at a bulge bracket bank, and set myself up to work for them and make great money. I turned it down because I wanted to experience abroad life and working at a startup and I happily now know I made the right decision.

First, Dublin is an amazing city with great social life and startup culture. Everyone is a hustler out there, looking for the next unicorn. That gives you the chance to learn from everyone you talk to. Secondly, Matt and the Sage Corps program did an awesome job setting up events and activities for us to meet the right people in the VC/startup community and have fun. We got to visit and speak with people from a top VC firm, the NDRC, and the Google office. On top of that, the quality of startups that Sage Corps is partnered with there are the best of the best.

Sage Corps made the introduction very easy and placed me somewhere they knew I would succeed. The startup where I was placed as a Business Development intern, Popdeem, is a social rewards platform. They not only had the most potential out of all the startups I saw in Dublin, but they are an amazing team which was always willing to help me learn. I learned everything from day-to-day operations of startups, culture, financing, business development, etc. I even became a pro at using Adobe Photoshop for design!

Sage Corps also has a program coordinator based in Dublin that you speak with every week just in case you ever need anything and he also helps coordinate great social events. There is also great opportunities to get jobs at the startups you work. Many of the fellow Sage Corps I went with either got return offers, one ended up even starting her own company there. Overall, Sage is an amazing program and it's a program I would recommend to anyone and everyone. Great job, Matt, it was an experience I enjoyed so much.

I loved working with Parsimotion this summer. I learned a lot of Twitter Bootstrap, Jade, Sass, Angular JS, and basic software programming while working with a team of inspired and passionate entrepreneurs. It was a once-in-a-life-time opportunity to learn, grow, and expand my professional skill set.

The work was very rewarding and fun, I made a lot of very close friends in the Sage Corps cohort in Singapore. And the city of Singapore was the best of all - it was clean, safe, efficient, diverse and had so much to offer. And the Sage Corps staff was very helpful as well.

Growth and comfort rarely coexist. I warmed up to my very patient and intelligent roommate, Adam, immersed myself fully into CoCoon's ecosystem, backpacked through Hong Kong's mountains alone, and fell in love with the district's culture. For these wonderful events to happen, I left friends back in Chicago, lived with once a complete stranger, arrived to a country that silos me as a foreigner despite similar cultural roots, and embraced loneliness in a busy city. I now carry with me lessons learned then to my internship with Freshwater Advisors led by David Weinstein, Chicago's seriel entrepreneur. Then, I dream to jumpstart a traditional yoga studio and physical therapy clinic that integrates appropriate cutting-edge innovation to better my community's well-being.