Ten years was enough. Mike Waldhier was itching for change after spending a decade as a computer engineer. Making a self-described life-changing decision, he enrolled in the Penn State Smeal MBA Program in 2007. Two years later, he emerged as a strategy consultant.
Today, after a healthy consulting career with Digital Tempus, Mike is back at Penn State and sharing his transformational experience with MBA candidates as director of admissions for his alma mater. We sat down with Mike to uncover some truths about the program and to find out what he’s really looking for in a candidate.
Let’s start with Penn State. What makes it special?
There are two things people who aren’t familiar with Penn State should know. Penn State is an extremely big school: Across 24 campuses, we have nearly 100,000 students and 17,000 faculty and staff. The Smeal MBA, capped at 60 students, is extremely small compared to other programs.
I tell students all of the time that you can’t get a big school experience at a small school no matter the size of the MBA program, but here, we allow you to get a small school experience at a big school.
Wait, only 60 students? How does that work?
There’s a much greater focus on community. The class is small enough and the community is too important to get someone in here who’s not going to get out of the program what they were hoping to get. So, when I meet students, I always ask: A.) Can this program help you? Can it get you to where you want to be? And B.) How can you help the class? What do you bring to the table to help your classmates grow?
We recognize, it’s not just your professors teaching you; you’re learning from your peers, other graduate students, and your community.
Ok, what else are you looking for specifically in candidates?
Because our program is extremely collaborative, we’re trying to find people who thrive in a team environment. You hear about other programs where students compete against each other for grades, jobs, etc., but our program is the opposite.
I’m also looking for unique candidates. I want to see people from different backgrounds with different interests who have done different things. All of that comes together to make a unique cohort so at the end of the day, you’re learning a lot from each other.
What else do you want people to know about this program?
The one thing about an MBA that I don’t think everyone appreciates is at its core, it’s a transformational degree. It’s designed for people who come in thinking, “I don’t want to do what I’ve been doing.”
You can change your whole future through an MBA, and we want to help with that transformation as much as possible.
Mike Waldhier ’09 MBA is the admissions director for MBA and Master of Management and Organizational Leadership programs at the Penn State Smeal College of Business. In addition to his love for Penn State, he shares a passion for acting and theater and has performed in various roles for more than 30 years. If you’d like to speak with Mike about your candidacy, please contact him at mwaldhier@psu.edu or request more information here.
