Tag Archives: MBA Class of 2015

Quantico Leadership Immersion

Posted on by
Reply

group photoOn April 23rd and 24th, a group of 15 Smeal MBAs attended a leadership immersion trip to the US Marines Officer Candidate School (OCS) in Quantico, Virginia. Joining other MBA students from UPenn and Cornell, the group got to experience first-hand some of the training required for Marine officers. The immersion is designed to demonstrate some of the leadership principles instilled through the OCS, understand how decision-making is affected in high-stress environments, and teach the group more about the philosophy of the Marine Corps. Continue reading →

ACG Cup

Posted on by
Reply

ACG photoBy David DeFelice, MBA Class of 2015

The 9th annual ACG Cup is a competition for graduate students focused on the field of mergers and acquisitions, investment banking, financial advising, and private equity. ACG stands for The Association for Corporate Growth and is a global organization with over 14,000 members that is comprised of middle-market dealmakers and business leaders who invest in growth and build companies. Continue reading →

Managing the MBA Stress

Posted on by
Reply

By Neha Bareja, MBA Class of 2015

Overwhelmed doesn’t come anywhere close to explaining the state I was in during the first few weeks of the full time MBA program. The hoard of demands from family and school left me with very little time for anything else, including sleep. Supposedly, I lied to myself that I could actually do it all. Sure enough, I started dropping some balls – forgetting to respond to phone calls from my family back in India, skipping meals, and one day I even microwaved watermelon by mistake!!

Continue reading →

My APEX experience

Posted on by
Reply

By Ravi Bose, MBA Class of 2015

Helping a start-up could be a very challenging task at times but definitely a rewarding one. As part of my APEX (Applied Professional Experience) project, I and four other second year MBA students helped a tech start-up based in State College. From this experience, my two key takeaways are:

1. Every MBA student should test her/his skills before graduating
2. Helping a Start-up is the best way to do that

Continue reading →

What to expect from MBA in the two years?

Posted on by
Reply

By Nahom Woldemariam, MBA Class of 2015

Most incoming students might be probing what MBA School is like? I asked the same question roughly two years ago. Here is my MBA experience and hopefully you find this helpful.

–       Know what you want to achieve out of MBA School. You won’t have a lot of flexibility in the first 3 modules in the courses you select, but you will have 5 modules to take courses that interest and challenge you. Don’t settle for the “easy A” courses; challenge yourself by taking difficult courses in areas you are focusing on, and also on courses that will help you in the future even if those courses aren’t within your concentration. E.g. you may not concentrate in finance, but taking financial valuation course will definitely help you in whatever concentration you have. Continue reading →

WMBA Samsung Visit

Posted on by
Reply

By Lauren Rizzo, MBA Class of 2015

As January came to a close, the WMBA traveled across Pennsylvania to visit Samsung America’s headquarters. The 4 hour drive to Ridgefield Park, NJ was worth it as the group was greeted in the lobby by enormous wall displays with welcome signs that scrolled through photos of each attendee. They were also greeted by Ms. Susan Kim, a Penn State alumna whose bubbly personality and explanations escorted the group throughout the visit. Continue reading →

Smeal MBA: A small community with access to a giant university.

Posted on by
Reply

By Scott Robbins, MBA Class of 2015

One of the first things prospective students notice on their visit to campus is that the Smeal MBA program a very small community. Class sizes around 80 people allow students to build a personal relationship with their peers and faculty, have one-on-one interactions with corporate recruiters, and have ample opportunity for leadership positions in the nine MBA student associations. Continue reading →

BNY Mellon Katz Case Competition

Posted on by
Reply

KatzBy Silviya McVeigh, MBA Class of 2015

The third annual Katz Invitational Case Competition was held on January 23-24, 2015 at the University of Pittsburgh’s Graduate School of Business. The competition was sponsored by BNY Mellon and focused on issues of social corporate responsibility in the energy industry. In the first round of the competition, teams had a month to prepare an essay on a prevalent Continue reading →

Life as a Woman in the MBA Program

Posted on by
Reply

By Lauren Rizzo, MBA Class of 2015

All my life, I have surrounded myself with strong, impassioned, empowered women. My mother was a staunch supporter and protester in the second wave feminist movement and our home was always filled with conversations about equality and justice and a keen awareness of the deeply embedded societal pressures which converged to make the world I lived in. When I decided to return to school to acquire an MBA, I found myself looking at the gender breakdown of many MBA programs. I had a college friend Continue reading →

Rutgers Biopharmaceutical Case Competition

Posted on by
Reply

 The Penn State team of Michael Abendroth, Mark Joanow, Chris Kalmar, Chris Otteni, and Peggy Schwarz was proud to earn an honorable mention at the Rutgers Biopharmaceutical Case Competition on November 14th, beating top schools like Duke, MIT, and Columbia.

Participants received the case seven days prior to the competition. Our team juggled the rigors of Finance, Risk, and Economics midterms with the Continue reading →