The Smeal school of Business at Penn State is a top of the line US MBA program. Flexibility, focus and functional expertise is the name of the game at Smeal. The various management programs offered include the coveted full-time MBA, joint degree programs, executive MBA and online and distance MBA. The placement record is impressive and the career development Office and the Smeal community is an active and engaging place.

Application Deadlines Fall 2016

Round 1( early decision) : October 1, 2015

Round 2(Priority for all applicants seeking merit-based financial aid): December 1

Round 3(Final deadline for all applicants seeking merit-based financial aid): February 1

Round 4(Final deadline for all applicants not seeking merit-based financial aid): April 1

Application Components

• Application Fee : $65
• GMAT or GRE scores
• Letters of Recommendation : 2 letters of recommendation are required.


• TOEFL : TOEFL The Test of English as a Foreign Language is required of all applicants from all countries whose official language is not English. The Penn State Smeal MBA TOEFL code : 2660. Minimum required scores: Internet-Based: 100Speaking Section : 20Paper-Based : 600


• IELTS : The Penn State Smeal MBA program also accept the IELTS as a test of English proficiency. Minimum required score : 7.0.


• Transcripts : Only the equivalent of a four-year U.S. bachelor’s degree from an accredited institution can be considered for admission into Penn State. Official transcripts must be submitted from each educational institution attended.


• Resume : Applicants are required to Submit a current version of their resume including all work experience and secondary education until the date of application.

Essays :

Essay Question: What are your short-term and long-term career goals? What is your plan for achieving these goals? Please be as specific as possible, including industry and function. How do you see your experience at Smeal fitting into this plan?( 600 words)

Video Application Response: Candidates will be asked to submit a pre-recorded video to respond to a question as part of a series of interview questions.

Sample Essays

We focus on developing what we call “principled leadership.” What does that mean to you, and specifically how have you demonstrated?

As for leadership, I have always thought that it is reflected in different but equally important ways. A part of leadership is reflected in the decisions made by leaders. The role of one who is truly a leader is to make decisions. Success in life typically comes from making good decisions. The more those decisions are anchored with a clear set of appropriate principles, the more likely they are to be good. Hence, I set my eyes and mind on the ............................................. This premier entrance examination for engineering in India is a gruelling selection procedure for choosing the cream of students from all over India. My relentless perseverance, sincere dedication and earnest hard work brought fruition to the pursuance of my goals. I cleared ............................... admission in Asia’s best marine engineering college in Kolkata. However, this Herculean task was no cakewalk for me. I owe my gratitude to the failure, difficulties and adversities I went through. After facing two long years of ............................, discouragement and failure, I tasted success. I am a great believer in insuring that decisions are based upon full information and reflect a careful assessment of the various alternatives, I valued and welcomed the ideas and concerns. Once the matters were reviewed that this will not only shape my future career aspirations but also put me in an arena where I will sharpen my leadership skills. Thus, I decided to take a stand and went to settle for nothing but the best. My values, commitment, integrity guided my action and motivated me to take right decision. This phase of my life metamorphosed me into a stronger, confident individual, with a firm foundation.

The other way in which leadership is reflected is in dealings with other people. There is creativity involved in how work is divided, in how assignments are made, in how colleagues are engaged in efforts toward a common goal, in how guidance is provided. Leadership is that rare ability to interact with others at all levels in an organization in a way that maximizes the chances that the organization will achieve its objectives.

On the professional front I steadily ascended the hierarchy by taking up challenging assignments. In my first promotion as ......................, I was entrusted with crucial responsibilities to look after the power plant, boiler and various other machineries. Two months after I took up this post, our ship was scheduled for a dry dock in China where we coordinated well with the yard staff in carrying out the maintenance job. Here I gained an invaluable experience of working with teams of people of different nationalities. I learnt to recognize their different needs, relate to them and was able to establish warm, friendly and mutually reverential relationship. The implicit faith my seniors had in me was evident when my chief engineer asked me to carry out the major ...................... I proved to be a take-charge officer and was soon entrusted with multiple responsibilities. These varied from taking the safety precaution, checking the inventory of necessary spares, inspecting various parts and replacing the damaged part with new one to making work plans with my subordinates, setting the target for each day so on and so forth. My ability to perform multiple tasks with favorable results, demonstrated my leadership abilities and was admired and respected by all my mates.

To be an effective honorable leader, we need to do three things........................... I have demonstrated these not only in my personal life but my professional life as well.