Student Testimonials

When you get your graduate degree, you’re not just learning, but also learning really important business skills. You have to want people to work with you. You have to find common ground and you have to explain why [a change] is good for them, why it’s good for the institution, and bring them on board. ... I can’t say, ‘Oh, I got my graduate degree at Penn State. I learned this engineering trick.’ Yes, certainly I did learn those things, but it was more about the soft skills that we picked up, like building a coalition of the willing and presenting in front of a group and getting everybody to agree.

The MSIS program provided a schedule that was conducive to my work hours, and the courses covered material that would allow flexibility of a career change, if I wanted. I also liked the program because my professors were tough enough to push me to my limit, but reasonable enough to realize that most of the students are full-time working adults. The reason I chose this program was because I wanted to maximize my current capabilities as a system admin/system developer. Technology is forever changing, and I feel that it is important to keep up with the faster, easier, better way of doing things. This will allow for better time management of your workday to be productive in other areas.