Archive for August, 2011
Get Involved!
Monday, August 29th, 2011
This week Smeal MBAs will have the opportunity to attend Association Night and learn more about the MBA student organizations they will have the opportunity to become involved with while they are here in the program. With an already full calendar, it is sometimes challenging to make another commitment, but organization involvement can open up doors to many things. Not only does it allow the chance to get to know classmates, but being active in a group can also help foster networking and professional relationships, help build leadership experience, and give people a chance to get involved in service activities that benefit various causes. Certainly, it is important to pick and choose wisely and make the most of your association involvement, but there is really something for everyone. Take some time today to learn more about what the Penn State Smeal MBA associations have to offer!
http://mbastudents.smeal.psu.edu/student-organizations
-Stacey Dorang Peeler
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And so it begins again
Wednesday, August 24th, 2011
The new students (Class of 2013) arrived two weeks ago to begin orientation and began their classes on Monday. The 2nd year (Class of 2012) students are back at it as well, fresh off their internships and on the cusp of their new exciting careers. We here in admissions have hit the reset button as well and we begin looking for the Class of 2014.
Our application is live and we are excited to find the next group of future Smeal MBAs. Like in other years we will be requiring 2 letters of recommendation (if at all possible from someone you have worked with/for professionally), the GMAT exam, and the TOEFL exam for international applicants. This year we will be requiring you write 2 essays and you have the option of submitting an optional video presentation to allow the Admissions Committee to see a side of you that may not come through on paper.
If you have applied in a previous year or looked into our website you will notice our deadlines have been moved up this year. Our early deadline is now November 11th, our deadline for all international applicants and candidates who want to be considered for merit based financial awards is January 13th, and our final deadline for domestic applicants who wish not to be considered for merit based aid is April 13th.
We look forward to getting into the thick of the season, reading your essays and letters of recommendation, watching your videos, conducting interviews, and building another great class to walk into these doors next year.
Good luck until we meet you then.
- Scott Sylves
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Welcome Class of 2013!
Monday, August 8th, 2011
Many of you may be familiar with the American movie, “The Wizard of Oz”. For those of you who are not, it is a movie from 1939 starring Judy Garland based on a book by L. Frank Baum. In the story, the main character, Dorothy, survives a tornado with her dog Toto and lands in a faraway land called Oz after being sucked up in the funnel cloud. She meets three friends—the Scarecrow, the Tin Man, and the Cowardly Lion—all of whom remind her of people from her “real life” in Kansas.
Ok, so you ask “where are you going with this, Stacey”? Last week students from all over the world began arriving in our office to say hello before the start of MBA Orientation. Many of these students I’ve been in contact with for at least a year—if not longer!—from across the globe via phone, e-mail and webcam. I feel like I know them already, and as if I’m welcoming old friends into our community. For many, this is a first trip to the U.S., and from the admissions side of things, it’s definitely as exciting for us as it is for them.
Though we have been a country, state, and even world apart through most of the admissions process, the admissions team takes very seriously each individual who applies, realizing the pursuit of an MBA degree is a huge part of their future and a tremendous decision and commitment. We also realize the sacrifices that many make to be far from home for the next two years—or even if they are close to home, we know their lives will take on huge changes while they are in the program.
While working in MBA admissions CAN sometimes feel like being in a tornado, it is the personal connections we make along the way that in this sense make me feel a bit like Dorothy in “The Wizard of Oz”. With the start of orientation beginning today, we can’t wait to see our “old friends” finally here with us in person!
–Stacey Dorang Peeler
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What does the Honor Code really mean?
Monday, August 1st, 2011
By now if you are familiar with our program, then you are also familiar with our student driven Smeal Honor Code:
“We, the Smeal College of Business community, aspire to the highest ethical standards and will hold each other accountable to them. We will not engage in any action that is improper or that creates the appearance of impropriety in our academic lives, and we intend to hold to this standard in our future careers.”
When read for the first time, one’s obvious take away, is “don’t cheat”, but the Honor Code is much more than that. It’s also conducting yourself with integrity and ethics in your academic career and beyond. In today’s business world there are many “shades of grey” when it comes to ethics. Being committed to the honor code, and especially being a part of a class of other current and future ethical leaders will allow you the knowledge and strength to conduct yourself ethically.
The honor code also benefits a Smeal MBA in a whole different way. Penn State Smeal MBA’s have a reputation in the business community for conducting themselves honorably and ethically, a reputation that is not taken lightly when it comes to landing a job. If a recruiter has to choose between two candidates with similar academic and professional backgrounds, having the added edge of graduating from a program that honors integrity and ethical leadership, trust me… it’s a very good thing.
-Scott Sylves
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