UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — After completing his undergraduate studies in economics in May 2020, Penn State alumnus Nikko Genoese was ready to take a job in investment finance.
The world, however, had different plans. The coronavirus pandemic, along with other factors, led Genoese to choose a different path, one that led him to Smeal’s Professional Graduate Programs.
As an undergraduate student at Penn State, he completed numerous Smeal courses, which piqued his interest, he said. While his short-term goal was to work for a high-caliber firm, Genoese’s ultimate goal was to impact something that outlasts him.
“At Penn State, I pursued every opportunity to make myself better regardless of the risk of failure, and I saw the Smeal Professional Graduate Programs as one of the greatest investments in that pursuit,” Genoese said.
Based on the uncertainty of the pandemic and his desire to explore corporate finance, Genoese decided graduate school was “the most certain route.”
After attending an information session about Smeal’s portfolio of one-year specialty master’s, Genoese enrolled in the Master's in Management and Organizational Leadership (MOL) program, which he started in August 2020.
The one-year MOL program has since transformed with Smeal’s residential two-year MBA to form the Early Career One-Year MBA program. The STEM-designated program is customizable and tailored to students who want to focus on sharpening their business skills while preparing for career advancement. The program will enroll its first class in fall 2023.
“The MOL program allowed me to learn new skills, further develop my resume and business acumen, and stay in school while the job market and the rest of the world was in chaos, and nobody had an idea of what was going to happen,” Genoese said.
Joy Mack, interim director of admissions for Smeal’s one-year graduate programs, assisted Genoese in developing his path throughout graduate school.
“We were able to have a discussion about his experience and his career goals,” Mack said. “After that conversation, it was clear that the one-year general business degree would not only complement a non-business background in economics but also provide a strong foundation for success in the corporate finance program and field.”
Due to the overlap in courses between his bachelor’s in economics and the MOL program, Genoese was given the opportunity to take elective courses that he found interesting and valuable.
“It was more personalized to my career goals and the tools I needed to perform at the next level,” Genoese said.
In his first year of graduate school, Genoese said he learned the foundations of business management.