What’s good, peoples. The message below is from a prospective Stanford GSB applicant who is interested in pursuing a joint-degree program while there. He’s concerned about whether the second degree will distract him from his MBA studies and has asked about my experience with that as I pursued the MA.Ed along with my own MBA. I’ve been asked about issues related to the joint degree before, but I think this may be the first time the question has come from this angle. Hopefully, my response gives him the kind of info he’s seeking.
——
SO wrote:
“Hi Marquis,
I’m a long-time reader of your blog and prospective Stanford GSB applicant. I know you’re flooded with e-mails, so I’ll keep it short.
Short profile: undergrad in Econ with minors in Environmental Studies and Maths at University of Oslo in Norway completing my Bachelor’s in 2 1/2 years total (graduating this Dec), work experience (part-time and internships) in environmental finance, investment banking and financial media (weekly column in Norway’s largest financial daily), President of Norway’s largest society for students interested in finance, managed the team planning my university’s largest careers fair. Am applying for a couple of top notch MBA programmes in the fall, but will be applying for deferred entry.
What makes Stanford GSB my primary target as far as MBA admissions go is the chance of doing a MBA/MS in Environment and Resources. I have a very good story as to why this makes sense, but it’s quite long and not strictly relevant to my question, so I won’t bore you. I know it’s not the same dual degree you did, but I hope you can answer my question anyway.
Would you say that your dual degree complemented your MBA or drew attention away from it (in terms of both your own workload/schedule and as far as recruiting/appearances go) ? I’m incredibly excited at the prospect of doing such a degree, but the bottom line is that I want a solid management education. As an undergrad now I do so much (extra credit in school, extracurriculars, part-time work) that I almost feel as I’m trying to do too much – and I don’t want to spend two years and $150k falling between two chairs, if that makes sense. I know doing such a degree would probably be amazing – and if it wasn’t viable it would not be offered – but I just want to make sure.
PS: Was playing around on Linkedin, and stumbled across what I’m pretty sure is your profile: turns out we’re 3rd degree through three of my connections. Small world.
Kind regards,
SO”
——
My response:
SO,
Thanks for checking out my blog and coming to me for advice on your question. Great question about the dual degree program and, in this case, it’s a huge deal because of the potential from distracting from your MBA studies. For you, the MS in Environment and Resources seems to make sense, but it’s a good thing for you to be thinking about this before starting the application process in the Fall.
The quick answer to your question is that the MA.Ed was a great compliment to my MBA, but moreso because of my long-term interests than anything in the short-term. I have some education-based non-profit aspirations for the future, but I won’t bore you delving too deeply into that here. Anyways, it did take up significant time to attend Ed school classes, complete reading and coursework, and prepare for class, but I just sacrificed sleep every now and then so I wouldn’t have to trade off the social life of business school. I won’t tell you that it’s easy, but it really doesn’t have to be too hard. If you’re interested enough in the subject for the second grad degree, you can definitely make it work. Of course, you’ll have to properly prioritize your MBA courses and all of the associated activities, but tons of other kids have done it through the years.
As for the impact on recruiting, some companies may ask about the second degree during the recruiting cycle, but, as long as you have a solid justification for pursuing the degree, I can’t see it being a major issue. Shoot, imagine being asked about three grad degrees that are seemingly all over the map…but it isn’t too bad if you’ve got a good story to make them all make sense. That’s what you should think about between now and when you apply for that program at Stanford…how those two degrees make sense together in terms of your current and future professional interests. Once you have that story locked down, you’ll always be able to go back to it during any related discussions that might pop up in the future, especially if your career finds you in an area related to the Environment and Resources.
Take care and good luck with your application to the GSB in the Fall. I hope you are able to make your way into that joint degree program and get an experience as great as mine was.
Marquis
P.S. LinkedIn is CRAZY, isn’t it? hahahahaha!
——
SO wrote:
“Hi Marquis,
I’m a long-time reader of your blog and prospective Stanford GSB applicant. I know you’re flooded with e-mails, so I’ll keep it short.
Short profile: undergrad in Econ with minors in Environmental Studies and Maths at University of Oslo in Norway completing my Bachelor’s in 2 1/2 years total (graduating this Dec), work experience (part-time and internships) in environmental finance, investment banking and financial media (weekly column in Norway’s largest financial daily), President of Norway’s largest society for students interested in finance, managed the team planning my university’s largest careers fair. Am applying for a couple of top notch MBA programmes in the fall, but will be applying for deferred entry.
What makes Stanford GSB my primary target as far as MBA admissions go is the chance of doing a MBA/MS in Environment and Resources. I have a very good story as to why this makes sense, but it’s quite long and not strictly relevant to my question, so I won’t bore you. I know it’s not the same dual degree you did, but I hope you can answer my question anyway.
Would you say that your dual degree complemented your MBA or drew attention away from it (in terms of both your own workload/schedule and as far as recruiting/appearances go) ? I’m incredibly excited at the prospect of doing such a degree, but the bottom line is that I want a solid management education. As an undergrad now I do so much (extra credit in school, extracurriculars, part-time work) that I almost feel as I’m trying to do too much – and I don’t want to spend two years and $150k falling between two chairs, if that makes sense. I know doing such a degree would probably be amazing – and if it wasn’t viable it would not be offered – but I just want to make sure.
PS: Was playing around on Linkedin, and stumbled across what I’m pretty sure is your profile: turns out we’re 3rd degree through three of my connections. Small world.
Kind regards,
SO”
——
My response:
SO,
Thanks for checking out my blog and coming to me for advice on your question. Great question about the dual degree program and, in this case, it’s a huge deal because of the potential from distracting from your MBA studies. For you, the MS in Environment and Resources seems to make sense, but it’s a good thing for you to be thinking about this before starting the application process in the Fall.
The quick answer to your question is that the MA.Ed was a great compliment to my MBA, but moreso because of my long-term interests than anything in the short-term. I have some education-based non-profit aspirations for the future, but I won’t bore you delving too deeply into that here. Anyways, it did take up significant time to attend Ed school classes, complete reading and coursework, and prepare for class, but I just sacrificed sleep every now and then so I wouldn’t have to trade off the social life of business school. I won’t tell you that it’s easy, but it really doesn’t have to be too hard. If you’re interested enough in the subject for the second grad degree, you can definitely make it work. Of course, you’ll have to properly prioritize your MBA courses and all of the associated activities, but tons of other kids have done it through the years.
As for the impact on recruiting, some companies may ask about the second degree during the recruiting cycle, but, as long as you have a solid justification for pursuing the degree, I can’t see it being a major issue. Shoot, imagine being asked about three grad degrees that are seemingly all over the map…but it isn’t too bad if you’ve got a good story to make them all make sense. That’s what you should think about between now and when you apply for that program at Stanford…how those two degrees make sense together in terms of your current and future professional interests. Once you have that story locked down, you’ll always be able to go back to it during any related discussions that might pop up in the future, especially if your career finds you in an area related to the Environment and Resources.
Take care and good luck with your application to the GSB in the Fall. I hope you are able to make your way into that joint degree program and get an experience as great as mine was.
Marquis
P.S. LinkedIn is CRAZY, isn’t it? hahahahaha!
