Sales Scholars. The top 15-20 sales students at W. P. Carey.
Sales Scholars is the sister organization to ProSales Club. Application opens each spring; finalists interview with faculty and members of the Corporate Board. Highly competitive. National competitions, paid internships, executive mentorship. ProSales Club is the on-ramp. Crimson Tier is the lane.
What Sales Scholars unlocks.
A competition circuit, a mentor, a board of executives who know your name, and a resume line that moves you to the front of the stack.
National competition circuit
Scholars represent ASU at the International Collegiate Sales Competition, the AT&T National Sales Competition, and the Arizona Collegiate Sales Competition that W. P. Carey hosts every year. Real rooms, real judges from the industry.
Corporate Board workshops
The Professional Sales Corporate Board runs closed workshops for Scholars. Oracle NetSuite, Capital One, Cox Media, Microsoft and the rest of the board advise the program and teach to the cohort directly.
1-on-1 executive mentorship
Launched in 2024. Every Scholar is paired with a senior executive from a board partner for the year. Monthly touchpoints. Career guidance from someone who has done it.
Paid sales internships
Partner companies surface Scholars first when summer and full-time roles open. The program has a track record of placing Scholars into paid sales roles before most of campus has figured out recruiting.
Peer leadership
Scholars lead teams at national competitions, run clinics for ProSales Club members, and represent the Professional Sales Program at recruiting events. You come out of it with a resume line and an actual leadership track record.
Alumni network
Sales Scholars alumni are at Oracle NetSuite, Capital One, Cox Media, Microsoft, and across the enterprise sales world. That network is live and warm. Scholars get introduced in, not cold.
Who runs the program.
Two professors with deep industry track records. Dr. Montoya is the shared thread. She's also the faculty advisor for ProSales Club.
Dr. Detra Montoya
Faculty Director · Professional Sales Program
Built and runs the Professional Sales Program at W. P. Carey. Also serves as faculty advisor for ProSales Club, which is the reason the two organizations move in lockstep.
Dr. Julie Nelsen
Faculty Advisor · Sales Scholars
Advises the Scholars cohort directly. Leads competition prep, corporate / exec board programming, and the day-to-day of the cohort's work across the year.
How you get in.
Application, interview, and a standing expectation. A cohort of 15-20 from the entire university.
Application
Applications open each spring through the Professional Sales Program. Highly competitive. Most Scholars apply as sophomores or juniors. Any major is eligible, though the cohort skews business.
Interview
Finalists interview with Dr. Montoya, Dr. Nelsen, and members of the Corporate Board. The interview is the selling exercise. Scholars are picked on how they think, not just their GPA.
Expectations
Once in, Scholars maintain active participation across competitions, workshops, and program events, and hold their academic standing. It's a cohort, not a title. You earn your seat every semester.
The receipts.
Results Sales Scholars has put on the board at the national level. The program competes and it wins.
1st place · AT&T National Sales Competition
Elevator Pitch category. National field.
3rd place · International Collegiate Sales Competition
Against 80+ universities.
W. P. Carey Organization of the Year
Awarded to Sales Scholars for cohort performance and impact.
Hosts the Arizona Collegiate Sales Competition
15 universities. ASU runs it.
ProSales Club is how you get here.
Sales Scholars is application-only and small. ProSales Club is open to every W. P. Carey student. The path from one to the other is built on purpose.
Join ProSales Club
Register, show up, earn points at general meetings, corporate events, competitions, and shadow days. Every member starts here.
Get visible
Show up to corporate events, pitch nights, and competitions. Earn points. Optional Crimson Tier ($75/sem or 150 pts) gets you in front of sponsor dinners and hiring managers earlier.
Apply to Sales Scholars
With a track record, Corporate Board relationships, and competition reps already on the board, the application writes itself. The interview is the sell.
ProSales Club → Crimson Tier → Sales Scholars.
ProSales is where you build the rep that makes the Sales Scholars application a story you actually have to tell. Not a prereq — an on-ramp.