Smeal College of Business – Penn State - Online MBA

Penn State Online MBA Program Structure

The program begins with the five-day Orientation Residency in University Park, Pennsylvania, helping students meet face-to-face with faculty and classmates, attend workshops and career services opportunities, and network with alumni.

The entirety of the program consists of 48 credits, 39 of which are General Management courses, with nine concentration course work credits. The schedule of programs is flexible, allowing students to take classes during the week on their own time. Starting in spring 2020, Penn State Online MBA students will have the opportunity to take part in the Global Immersion trip alongside fellow Residential and Executive MBAs.

The program can be completed in as little as two years, or as long as eight years.

Curriculum

The 48-credit program, according to the school, is structured around three separate principles: “Integration, Collaboration, and Engagement.”

After completing the 39-credits worth of General Management courses, students are given multiple concentration options (dependent upon which of the General Management courses they elect to complete), including: accounting; business analytics; finance; and more.

Online MBA Rankings

• U.S. News & World Report: 6 (tie)

Class Profile

The average class size for the Smeal Online MBA program is 31, with 355 total students enrolled in the program. The average age of enrolled students is 33. About 66.8 percent of the entire Online MBA student body is male, with 33.2 percent female students, 21 percent U.S. minority students, and 4 percent international students.

These students earned an average GMAT score of 577.

Tuition, Scholarships, and Financial Aid

Tuition cost for the Penn State Online MBA at the Smeal College of Business is $1,185 per credit. Over 48 credits, the total comes to $56,880.

Applicants to the program are eligible for FAFSA and unemployed tuition assistance. In addition, military service members are eligible for certain benefits to help fund tuition payments, of which include: the GI Bill and grant-in-ai; ROTC aid; and Yellow Ribbon programs.

Admissions

For enrollment in the Penn State Online MBA program at the Smeal College of Business, applicants must submit the following:

• An online application
• GMAT/GRE Scores (Waiver option available for applicants with Ph.D., M.D., or D.O. degrees)
• Resume
• Transcripts
• Two references
• TOEFL or IELTS scores (for non-native English speaking international applicants)
• Visa materials (international applicants)
• A $65 application fee

In addition, applicants must submit one essay response. The one-page document includes six short-answer essay questions (50-100 words) on the following prompts:

– “What are your short-term and long-term career goals?”
– “What will you contribute to your classmates and the program? Why should we admit you?”
– “Tell us about your leadership style and provide a supporting example.”
– “Tell us about an unsuccessful team experience, the role you played in it, and what you learned.”
– “Give an example of a time in which you received professional constructive criticism. What was it, who did it come from, and how did you apply it going forward?”
– “Explain how you are prepared/preparing to succeed in a quantitatively rigorous graduate program.”

Application deadlines are as follows:

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