I am currently enrolled in the Nursing program at UA (and am coming in w/ 40 credit hours from AP, 25-28 of which can be applied to the nursing major). However, the nursing program is a 9 semester program, divided into 4 semesters of lower division coursework and 5 semesters of upper division. I can only shorten the nursing program by 1 semester with the credits I already have, however, the upper division courses cannot be started in the spring semester (hence I must take the 9 semesters to finish the degree). In addition to that, the STEM MBA requires an additional full year of classes and two summer semesters. My presidential scholarship only covers 8 semesters of tuition, so to complete the BSN and MBA, I would have to pay for an additional 3 summer semesters and a full year of OOS tuition out of pocket. Are there any possible scholarships available/is it worth it to do the STEM MBA in addition to the BSN?
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Not necessarily. You might be able to take a spring semester off, probably best your first year… (but during that semester off, you can’t take classes elsewhere. Another option is to look into study abroad for freshman spring semester and see if that’s cheaper than paying for a 9th semester.
That said, I don’t think it’s possible to do STEM to MBA with nursing. The 3rd and 4rd years of nursing are 8am-5pm M-F clinicals. There would be no time to take the MBA courses.
If you are currently planning on taking the STEM MBA classes, my advice would be to take them as long as you are able. DD (an engineering major) decided to double major in her field and wanted to finish ‘on time’, so she stopped the MBA classes mid-junior year (and her 2nd semester junior year was a tough one, so it helped lighten her load). This summer she is taking eng courses and working for an eng professor.
Completing the STEM MBA for OOS and in-state is rather expensive.
I am BSN and MBA, MSM degrees. None from UA. Worked FT in nursing a bit before beginning MBA coursework.
IMHO you will learn a lot from the material in the STEM MBA classes.
The UA program is attractive because of the ability to complete it IMHO fairly quickly and less drawn out. My MBA program (in TX, TAMU specifically) required 50 hours plus 5 hours of pre-req (I had no UG courses in business). I was working PT after the pre-reqs; started classes FT fall term and completed for Dec graduation 2 years later (with a semester off break). I had a chance to work FT in OR and tried that for a bit, then realized I just need to dig in and finish the MBA. I was able to get a graduate assistant-ship in my business concentration and worked for an amazing professor.
If you start the STEM MBA and decide you really want to get a MBA, you will need to put your UG degree first. Nursing requires a lot of time and energy. During your junior nursing courses, a STEM MBA section may be offered late enough for you to be able to continue, but it may depend where you are located for clinicals. You may end up getting a MBA somewhere else down the road.
Once at UA, you may also decide on a different UG major, or due to the competitiveness of progressing with the nursing program you maybe won’t be able to continue nursing. So keeping your options open.