Smeal Student Shares Importance of Case Comps.

Penn State Smeal College of Business MBA student Nahom Woldemariam, shared his views on the importance of participating in case competitions. Woldemariam writes:

“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.

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.”

regions: Philadelphia

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