Joint Degree Options
We offer you the power of Penn State through three joint degree programs, where you may pair your MBA with another degree.
JD/MBA
A law degree offered by Penn State Law, now located at either the Carlisle, Pennsylvania campus or at University Park. This is a four year program in which a student typically begins study in year one at the law school, followed by a year at the MBA program. Year three is a combined year of study between the JD and MBA programs, and year four concludes with the final law classes. Students must apply to be accepted to each program independently in order to pursue the joint degree. Law classes may be taken in Carlisle or University Park and MBA classes are offered at University Park only.
Current MBA's in the JD/MBA Program
Christopher Grassi
Class of 2012
Christopher is a 2009 graduate from the Schreyer Honors College at Penn State. He received his baccalaureate degree with high distinction from the Smeal College of Business in Supply Chain Management and Information Systems. His minors were in Italian and the Legal Environment of Business. Christopher completed corporate internships with Leisure Bay Industries in Lake Mary, Florida in distribution and Dick's Sporting Goods in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania in Information Technology. His first year legal internship with Harry Newman & Associates, P.C. in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania was in bankruptcy law. The JD/MBA program allows for greater flexibility in pursuing career options. Christopher plans to focus his professional pursuits in those areas which best merge business and law.
Stephanie Zimmerman
Class of 2012
Stephanie is coming off her second year at the Penn State Dickinson School of Law where she has taken an interest in Intellectual Property and Antitrust law. She is the co-founder and Commissioner of the Sports Legal Society, and the Student Bar Association Alumni Relations chair. Stephanie recently authored a comment for the Penn State International Law Review entitled, Secret's Out: The Ineffectiveness of Current Trade Secret Law Structure and Protection for Global Health. Her comment, set for publication in the upcoming year, compares the legal structures of varying countries and their effectiveness for the protection of business secrets. Stephanie's areas of interest have lead her to pursue the MBA/JD to further her knowledge on the business associated with these subjects and enable her to practice law well prepared for the environment in which she will be working.
Jay Angle
Class of 2013
Jay graduated from the Robert H. Smith School of Business at the University of Maryland in 2008. He majored in Marketing and was a part of the College Park Environmental Studies Scholars program. During his undergraduate Jay was a Captain for the Maryland Club Lacrosse team and interned for the Group Events Coordinator of the Washington Wizards. He just finished his second year of law school, during which he was an associate editor for the Penn State Environmental Law Review. Jay co-authored a developments piece concerning the Oil Pollution Act and BP Oil Spill. The developments piece is set for publication in this upcoming fall. During his first two summers in the JD/MBA program he worked for the Penn State Agricultural Law Center. The JD/MBA program provides a unique perspective on how business and the law interact with agriculture and the environment. Jay currently plans to pursue a career that merges those fields together.
Terry Kaufman
Class of 2013
Terry is a 2008 graduate of Lebanon Valley College in Annville, Pennsylvania. While at LVC, he double majored in business administration and economics, played middle linebacker for the varsity football team, and served as Vice President for the Kappa Sigma Kappa fraternity. Following graduation from LVC, Terry accepted a position with Novak Strategic Advisors, a government affairs firm in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. Since entering the JD/MBA program, Terry became involved with the legal fraternity Phi Alpha Delta and currently serves as Vice Justice. During his first two summers in the program, Terry worked for the Dauphin County Solicitors Office; the Honorable Todd A. Hoover, President Judge, Dauphin County Court of Common Pleas; and Uplifting Athletes, a national non-profit working with division I college football players to raise funding and awareness for rare diseases.
Ryan Maerz
Class of 2013
Ryan is a 2006 graduate of the Wisconsin School of Business at the University of Wisconsin – Madison, where he majored in Management & Human Resources and Real Estate & Urban Land Economics. After graduating, he joined Kohl’s Department Stores as a real estate executive, where he managed new store development throughout the northeast U.S. and co-founded the corporation’s Real Estate Asset Management program. After completing his first year at Penn State Law, Ryan worked as a summer associate at Doyle, Barlow & Mazard – an anti-trust law firm in Washington, DC. He recently completed his second year of law school and a summer internship in the Office of General Counsel at the United States Department of Veterans Affairs in Washington. Ryan currently serves as the Justice of the William Penn Chapter of Phi Alpha Delta Law Fraternity, and aspires to pursue a career grounded in corporate law.
Class of 2014
Mallory graduated from Penn State in 2010 with her degree in Marketing and a focus in Finance. She knew she wanted to remain in the business sector but wanted to differentiate herself from her peers and collaborate a background with law. During her two years at law school, she wanted to try to learn as much as she could in different areas of the law and be as diverse as possible. Her first summer after law school was spent interning with a Social Security/Disability Law firm where she was able to work on cases and learn how a law firm was run from a business perspective. This past summer, she interned at the Beaver County District Attorney's Office and the District Magistrate's Office in Ellwood City, PA where she saw how criminal law was handled from the beginning processes to the ending verdicts. Mallory is interested in corporate real estate to incorporate both her graduate degrees in business and the law.
Class of 2014
Morgan is a 2010 graduate of Susquehanna University in Selinsgrove, PA where she majored in finance and economics, and minored in information systems. Immediately following graduation, she started at the Penn State Dickinson School of Law but was unsure of a specific career path. During her second year of law school, Morgan decided to join the JD/MBA program with the intent to work in corporate law. After her second year of law school, she worked in the Office of General Counsel at PPL Corporation in Allentown, and developed an interest in both energy and corporate regulation. Morgan plans to use both the JD and the MBA to pursue a career in energy regulation and hopes to eventually become in-house counsel for a corporation. Currently, she is the editor of the law school’s yearbook, an Articles Editor on the Penn State Law Review, and is continuing at PPL on a part-time basis helping solely with Dodd-Frank regulatory issues.
Class of 2014
Daniel graduated with a degree in accounting from Penn State Smeal in 2011. He immediately joined The Penn State Dickinson School of Law with plans to apply for the Smeal MBA program during his 1L year. Daniel is now a JD/MBA and hopes to work in a more business specific field. Daniel hopes that a law degree will serve him well in the business world, and that his JD coupled with his business degrees will allow him to have an enterprise wide perspective anywhere he works. Daniel had a supply chain consulting internship with SSA Capital where he managed an office supplied savings initiative. Additionally, Daniel is a member of Member Beta Alpha Psi and Member Golden Key International Honour Society.
Science BS/MBA
An undergraduate degree in science with a Smeal MBA, preparing highly qualified and motivated students to be the future leaders of the world's scientific organizations. Students apply to the Eberly College of Science BS degree program during their last year of high school, and then to the MBA program during their final year of the undergraduate portion of the science program. Science BS/MBA students have the option of completing both degrees in either five or six years, depending on how they tailor their course of study and co-op experiences.
Current MBA's in the BS/MBA Program
Jack Greening
Why Jack chose the Science BS/MBA Program: "I chose the BS/MBA program not only because of the advantages of getting an MBA and an undergrad in only five years, but because it provides a science perspective that complements the MBA in ways a business major could not. On top of that, the program's leadership and quality coupled with the name recognition of Penn State was too good a combination to pass up."
Daniel Matasic
Why Daniel chose the Science BS/MBA Program: "My passion lies in scientific discovery and the financial implications associated with advancing medicine and health. I have had the opportunity to work alongside dedicated scientists and physicians at Fox Chase Cancer Center, GlaxoSmithKline Pharmaceuticals, and Mount Sinai School of Medicine and gain perspective of both the high demand and significant financial costs for research, drug development and the treatment of disease. When seeing these factors coupled to the difficult and challenging experiences of patients coping with health matters, I was inspired to pursue a career as a physician-scientist. The Science BS/MBA studies will be very beneficial on a personal level to support my leadership and effective use of medical and scientific resources for translational research."
Benjamin Ng
Why Benjamin chose the Science BS/MBA Program: "The BS/MBA program was very appealing to me because it allowed me to pursue my interest in Microbiology as well as broaden my career choices with the MBA. I feel that the program has prepared me well to excel in a number of different fields. The required co-op experiences have also been instrumental in shaping my future career path."
Why Yasar chose the Science BS/MBA Program: "I chose the BS/MBA program because the structure of the program allowed me to customize my education exactly how I wanted. I was able to pursue my interest in biology by completing my undergraduate degree in Science, as well as pursue my interests in business through the MBA portion of the program. Through Penn State’s vast co-op program, professional experience was easy to attain in Fortune 50 companies. Together, these degrees have put me in a unique position to leverage my interests in the healthcare industry as well as many other industries, given a background that many MBA’s do not possess."
Why Emily chose the Science BS/MBA Program: "The BS/MBA program provides me with the unique opportunity to pursue my interests in a science-based curriculum while also affording me the ability to advance my business acumen. This well-rounded educational background is not only practical, but is also invaluable to any science career path."
Why Lynn chose the Science BS/MBA Program: "When choosing undergraduate academic programs, I was torn between two of my passions: science and business. The BS/MBA Program offered me a great opportunity to pursue both of these interests. This program has allowed me the flexibility to pursue two completely different fields, and at the same time, gain valuable work experience within the healthcare and pharmaceutical industries. The BS/MBA program has equipped me with a unique combination of both technical and business-related skills, which I plan to fully utilize in my future career path."
Why Lindsay chose the Science BS/MBA Program: "I chose the Science B.S./MBA Program because it allowed me to combine my two academic interests in mathematics and business. Between the required curriculum and my co-op and internship experiences at Bristol-Myers Squibb and Airgas, Inc., the program has provided me with the necessary tools to succeed in a competitive job market."
MD/MBA
The Medical Degree/Master of Business Administration (MD/MBA) joint degree is designed to fulfill a growing demand in managers and leaders who understand both the scientific part of an industry and the business models driving that industry. The joint degree provides highly motivated students the opportunity to combine a medical degree from the Penn State College of Medicine with an MBA degree from the internationally ranked Penn State Smeal MBA Program. Candidates must apply to and meet admission requirements for both the College of Medicine and Smeal separately. Students already enrolled in the MD program may apply to the MD/MBA during the first three years of study by applying for admission to Smeal.
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