Are hybridized programs like STEM to MBA respected?

We need to combine all of @HPuck35 post and publish them in the dreaded/cursed “HPuck35cronomicon”. :fearful:

There are lots of different engineering jobs and companies that employee engineers in a host of different roles. Not all are “traditional” engineering role. Even many of the “traditional” engineering roles cross into business processes (this is very often the case with Industrial Engineers).

For example, my daughter works in a production environment where the engineers are expected to be business “leaders” and have ownership over different lines of “production”. They are looking to only hire engineers (mostly Mechanical), but don’t hold it against a candidate that they have an MBA and may view it as a slight plus.

If you’re interested in the MBA, don’t mind the expense, and are interested in roles that have more of a business cross-over (something you see a lot in production facilities), then it’s an option. Just don’t think of it as replacing the engineering degree.

The combined programs might be helpful for those STEM majors who want to work in consulting immediately after finishing their BS degree, otherwise, it is better to get several years of work experience prior to entering into an MBA program.

This thread has seemed to come alive again. My sons junior in industrial engineering. His internship after sophomore year he interned for an international branch of a tech company. He was on the Project management team loved it. Two of his superiors were also industrial engineers in management roles. He learned scrum and different types of software programs the company used to evaluate products, analysis. Funny to me with all the math he had to take that excel and sql were used alot5…lol…

He was contemplating doing a business minor or going for an MBA. He instead took more electives that were business like classes. Probably won’t need the MBA. He also started a student org that led to a tech conference that led to a multimillion dollar initiative with his college.

Hint : there are opportunities at your college of choice. Take advantage of them!

FWIW MIT has recently been touting their “STEM MBA”. Might be of interest to some readers.

^A number of colleges, besides MIT, already offer these dual-degree programs. As the popularity of MBA wanes, more and more colleges will offer such programs to attract students.

Carnegie Mellon University (CMU) is promoting its “STEM MBA” at this time.

For a different take. Many universities in Israel like Technion have had these for years.