The Rady School of Management is expanding hands-on learning by placing MBA students in consulting-style engagements with real clients before internships. The Rady Action Project is structured so students stop treating the work as a class, delivering project charters, detailed work plans, and weekly status reports directly to senior executives. Designed by executive director and instructor Sandy Kenny, the program emphasizes corporate consulting realism rather than academic simulation, including intentional discomfort when clients do not provide answers. A corporate outreach specialist helps source organizations across San Diego and pairs students with teams through a process that mirrors real organizational constraints. The model reinforces a growing higher-ed priority: preparing students for external stakeholder accountability and decision-maker presentations, not only classroom deliverables.