Smith’s Michael Wilgus Recognized by Poets & Quants as Among the World’s Best and Brightest MBAs

Michael Wilgus, representing the University of Maryland’s Robert H. Smith School of Business’ Full-Time MBA Program, is featured among the world’s “100 Best & Brightest MBAs: Class of 2024” by Poets & Quants.

Wilgus, who interned at Wells Fargo in Charlotte, NC., will resume there as an investment banking associate in the industrials coverage group.

As a Smith MBA, he earned the Smith Rising Star Award for his outstanding performance in leadership, engagement and academics during his first year in the program. He also won the Smith Impact Award, as a ‘first-year MBA’ who influenced the school from behind the scenes with a positive attitude, willingness to help, and a commitment to excellence.

“He came to my attention as the ‘star’ student in my Financial Management course in the first semester of the program, Associate Professor of Finance Rich Mathews told Poets & Quants. “He regularly contributed real-world insights from his past industry experience, and generously shared his knowledge and expertise with his classmates. This convinced me to hire him as my TA the next fall, and he spent many hours with the subsequent MBA cohort helping them learn finance. I regularly heard from those students that they found Michael’s review sessions invaluable to their learning experiences.”

Wilgus’ standout observations to Poets & Quants include:

(Referring to Smith’s Office of Career Services (OCS) resources for first-year MBAs) “I’m glad Maryland put that information out early and often, and I was able to build some meaningful and helpful relationships with the OCS staff. I recommend everyone make heavy use of those services.”

“My favorite course was Financial Restructuring, which is a case-heavy course covering financial modeling for mergers, spin-offs, and other corporate transactions. Our final project was a pitchbook on a merger between a pair of medical device companies. I thought we identified some great strategic logic for a potentially industry-defining combination.”

“The University of Maryland is a fantastic platform that you can use to achieve your personal and professional goals, and we have everything you need to be great.”

Read more: Michael Wilgus’ profile at Poets & Quants.