The email below is from an Engineer who wants to make a career change into strategy and finance, but isn’t sure if he needs only an MBA or if he should also pursue another grad degree at the same time. I guess I can add a little context here because of the joint degree that I earned at Stanford. Our situations are somewhat different, so I’ve tried to make my response general enough to apply to him.

——–
MC wrote:

Hi Marquis,
Find your blog very interesting , helpful and well written.
I know you already talked a little bit about dual degree, but I have a couple of questions for you, if you could help me on these too.
Sorry first for any mistakes – my english is a bit rusty. I am a french engineer with now almost 6 years experience in transportation engineering and strategy.

My background is obvisouly engineering (MSc) and i would like to switch to strategy and/or finance and i would like to apply next year for a dual degree MBA + MA in international politics, but does it really worth it to take a couple of years to complete another MA with the MBA visibility on the market?

Thanks a lot for taking the time to answer my questions
Be well
MC
——–
My response:

MC,

Thanks for checking out my blog and seeking my perspective on your questions. Your question about dual-degree programs is an interesting one because one could encounter significant financial and time costs by adding a second degree to an MBA. As such, this is not a topic that one should take lightly.

As for your question about the joint degree, I wouldn’t do one if I were in your shoes unless I was absolutely interested in the International Politics curriculum. Your stated career aspiration of moving into strategy and finance wouldn’t be shut out to you if you only do the MBA and staying in school to get the extra degree would only delay your career transition. Also, don’t underestimate the money you’d have to spend on additional tuition and living expenses for the MA, which likely won’t result in additional compensation on the back-end when it’s all said and done. Given your engineering background and experience with strategy, I’d suggest pursuing the MBA only and focusing on leveraging it to reach your career goals.

When I chose to do the MA in Education a long with the MBA, it was because of my interest in the topic and the ease with which I could complete both degrees in two years. I have had some interest in education for a while, but I never considered it as a near-term career option. Once I got to the GSB and found out about the joint degree, I figured that it would be worth it to take the extra classes. It never factored much into my job search in Consulting, but it did come up in a lot of my interviews, so it did add something to differentiate me as a candidate. If the MA in Educaction would have required me to stay in school for longer, I wouldn’t have gone into that program though because it didn’t seem worth it to spend extra time in school for a degree that I wouldn’t use. This is probably the kind of choice you’ve got to make for yourself in the next year or so.

Good luck with your grad school applications, whether those applications include only MBA programs or MA in International Politics programs. Take care.

-Marquis