Joe Clark doesn’t like to stand still. He’s constantly in motion, moving from one project to the next.
After earning a few degrees in May — finance and economics from Culverhouse and math— Clark has to find something to do until January of 2026, when he officially joins Boston Consulting Group as an associate in Dallas.
Clark is fine with it, though. It gives him a chance to take a break — possibly a short-term internship over the summer. “Something fun. Something new. Something where I’ll learn a lot,” Clark said.
That’s not the kind of break most people think of, but Clark is not most people. The West Chester, Pennsylvania native hit the ground running when he arrived at the Culverhouse College of Business and has racked up a lifetime of accomplishments in his four years: Internships with Boeing and Oliver Wynam, a study abroad experience at the London School of Economics, participation in UA’s Randall Research Scholars Program, president of Management Consulting Academy, member of the Culverhouse Undergraduate Case Team, participation in SGA, member of the Blackburn Institute, vice president with Student Alumni Ambassadors, an Honors College ambassador, and part of the Culverhouse student recruitment team.
Clark found his way to Alabama after visiting his older sister on campus when he was 14. “I remember stepping onto campus and just thinking, ‘What the hell am I doing in Alabama?’” he said. “It felt so random.”
But the scholarship offers, the energy of the campus, and the chance to stretch beyond his comfort zone won him over. “There’s a quote I like that says ‘You need to put yourself in positions where good things can happen,’” Clark said. “That’s what Alabama was for me.”
He made the most of it. Clark helped build the Undergraduate Case team from the ground up. “Our goal was simple: win competitions so people would take us seriously,” Clark said. And win they did—first in Vermont, then third in Canada, beating out top schools from around the world.
As a sophomore he interned at Boeing, which helped him land a dream internship at Oliver Wyman, a global management consulting firm, and earned a top-tier return offer.
“That was the moment I realized, ’Yeah, I can do this,’” he said. “It kind of shows how a kid from The University of Alabama can get that opportunity and do well in it.”
That internship wasn’t Clark’s only special moment while at UA, although he has had several. But one other stands out. It happened on a trip he took with the Blackburn Institute and its Burt Jones Rural Community Experience. The group visits counties in Alabama and meets with local health and government leaders and experience life in various communities. It gave him a unique perspective.
“I get a lot of appreciation for when things happen to me that I never would have seen happening to me,” Clark said. “I never would have seen me getting such a cool opportunity. That’s a good example of me being put in a situation that I would have never seen happening to myself and having my perspective broadened a lot by just being in a situation I didn’t expect.
For now, he’s letting the excitement of the next chapter settle in. “I don’t know exactly what I’ll be doing until January, but I want it to be something meaningful,” he says.
And then? “Then I go to Dallas,” he said. “And we’ll see what happens next.”