By Nahom Woldemariam, MBA Class of 2015

I never imagined myself in taking part in case competitions. I was fearful in participating for two reasons. Firstly, I had a wrong perception about the judges. I thought they would just grill us in the Q&A section of the case completion. Secondly, I felt I didn’t learn enough to tackle the case competition complex problems. I was wrong in both instances. I took part in two case competitions – National Black MBA Association (NBMBAA) and Howard case competition prepared by LMI consulting. Both were the best experiences I have had and I will look for more case competitions in the spring. The judges were kind, but also wanted to understand the logic flow in our recommendation. They also gave us tough questions to make sure the recommendation was solid and understand some things they didn’t understand. Secondly, I am very confident that the first year courses have prepared students to handle most MBA case competitions. Work experience, research experience, library resources and discussion with case teammates would fill the rest of the gap. Here is my final take on why students should take part in case competitions:

You get to apply the core and elective course materials you have learned in first year. It is exciting to apply all these “fragmented” knowledge into a real world complex problem.

You will develop your communication and problem solving skills. You present a solid recommendation to experts in their field and still defend your recommendation.

It is fun and exciting. You get to spend hours analyzing a big problem and conceptually fight with teammates to come up with a solution. The discussions I had in case competitions were the best I had and I learned a lot from my teammates.

It is always exciting to represent Penn State, especially at big stages. It is a huge responsibility, but it has a huge reward as well.

If you aren’t convinced by the non-monetary incentives so far, go for the monetary incentives.