I’m visiting in 2 weeks. They asked if I was interested in this. What do you know about it? Does it effect the Honors College?
I have 4 AP classes with scores of 4 or 5 and taking 3 more this year. Do you think I could squeeze this into 4 years.
I should have mentioned my focus is on Aerospace Engineering
Other parents whose kids are in the Stem to MBA program will chime in, but I need to ask before they do if you are interested in getting a masters in business degree as well as your engineering degree? (My 2 engineering sons were not interested in business at all.) Normally this is a 5 year program, but many times students have enough credits entering UA that they can finish in four. Aerospace Engineering is a little different than other engineering degrees as there is a very specific timeline to take classes (I believe some classes are only offered once a year in either Spring or Fall). I don’t know if this makes it more difficult to be in the Stem to MBA program or not but it is definitely something you should find out. Also if you decide to start in the program and decide it is not for you, you can decide not to continue.
I know you will get more specific answers to your questions but I thought I would chime in with the little I know to get the ball rolling. Roll tide!
Thanks for great questions to think about.
I think the STEM MBA is a good program, however, it is hard to say how much a student will get out of it. IMO, there is a difference between an engineering degree and a business degree.
An engineering degree teaches the scientific reasons behind why particular things work. Most students have been exposed to these phenomena in the physical world throughout there lives, i.e. harder to bike uphill and easier downhill shows gravity and increased work (build up of potential energy that is released when going downhill). This makes sense of the world to those inclined to want to understand the “why” for something.
An UG or MBA business degree without prior business is different as most students have never exposed to the financial world, Accounting, Finance (NPV, IRR), Marketing, of any kind. Since they have not experienced these areas the learning is more abstract because of no context. A student cannot think about what they have experienced and relate it to the theory.
Again in IMO, it is best to get an MBA after working for a few years because then a student has seen some of the concepts in their daily work life. It really helps when experience meets with theory. That is a big reason why top flight MBA schools will rarely take a student in without 3 - 5 years work experience, preferably at least 5 years.
My comments are not theoretical as I earned my BS engineering in 1982 and did not return for my MBA until 1989. My additional maturity helped a lot in the program along with my experience in the work world. The MBA really helped understand why certain decisions are made and the methodology of those decisions, especially in Finance and Marketing. It has been a great help throughout my career and personal life. A great investment!
My feeling is become very good in your chosen engineering field in school/work and then go back for an MBA after a few years. There is no rush to get both degrees before you leave UG considering you will be working until 65 years of age, give or take.
The objective is not to be CEO by 30 but to gain knowledge through four 20s and 30s to be ready for senior management in your 40s. BTW, I am not just saying this here but I tell our young engineers the same all of the time.
Just my two cents. :)>-
I appreciate your in depth response. Great insight!
I’d like to chime in from two perspectives, first as just an adult observer to all students who might do the STEM MBA, and second as a parent of a recent Aero graduate from UA.
In general, ANY training/education is valuable, so my gut reaction is if this STEM MBA sounds even remotely like something you’d be interested in, you should go into this program and give it a go. No education is a complete waste of time (unless you are taking on massive debt to complete it). That being said, how can an 18-yr-old know what they want at this stage in their life, or what careers paths lay before them?! So, approach this program as you would any other, with the attitude that you will get out of it what you put into it. Since you do not have the usual life and business experiences of someone doing an MBA program later in life, there needs to be other things that are brought to the table. I have no idea how UA professors bring this to such young, inexperienced students, but surely UA has seen a market for offering this program, and plenty of students do take it up.
My next observation has to do with the ‘cost’ of this program, including the opportunity cost of doing something else instead. STEM MBA is a full program over 5 years. As mentioned above, Aero at UA is a bit fiddly, in that you will need to take courses in sequence as an upper-class cohort (together with your ‘year’ of students). You enter the specific AEM coursework as a Junior, having taken all pre-reqs and most gen eds your FR and SO years. Having AP credits helps you only somewhat (to skip lower level classes, or to get some gen eds out of the way), but it does not help you skip ahead in the AEM program itself, because you are a cohort of Aero students, if that makes any sense. (My S spent a whole semester in SO year basically just place-holding himself, waiting to enter the core AEM program his JR year.)
Be sure to sit with an Aero-Eng’g advisor BEFORE going any further, to answer very specifically if the STEM MBA can be completed by an Aero student without additional (i.e., summer) semesters. Go over the flowchart very carefully with the advisor and see how it applies specifically to you and your family’s situation. We can offer general advice here, but we do not know enough about your specific set of circumstances.
Further, depending on if you are in- or out-of-state, and what scholarships you are receiving from UA will determine (or, rather, dictate) whether this program is ‘worth’ it to you and your family. Will that 5th year of MBA gain you more than you would ‘lose’ in terms of opportunities to start work in engineering or complete other graduate programs? Do a cost-benefit analysis.
Which brings me to the Aero perspective. You need some pretty substantial hands-on experience to work in the technical side of aerospace/aeronautical engineering, hands down. You can (and should) get some of this during your college career through internships and co-ops and relevant summer employment and/or research opportunities while on campus. Even all that will only take you so far, however. In general, you will need an advanced technical degree (i.e., Masters or beyond) to work in the complex technical field that is AE. By nature, an undergraduate AE degree is crammed into 4 short years at university, and you barely scratch the surface of some subjects.
There are 4 key pillars of AE: aerodynamics, propulsion, structures, and dynamics/control, and there is limited time/space in your schedule to delve very deeply into these. [Some would argue that there is a 5th, necessary pillar, which is computing, and any additional computing and programming courses you can take will be very valuable to you (especially your FR and SO year, as that is when you might have space in your schedule at UA).] These core aero pillars are really only dealt with your JR and SR years, so this is a very short time frame to learn and master this material. Thus, you can make yourself much more marketable to employers in the long run by getting an advanced technical degree such as a Masters in AE, or similar, rather than in business. And you can do this Masters straight after an AE undergraduate degree - no need to wait (in my opinion) to have further work experience (as you probably should with an MBA) before taking on a technical Masters degree.
If you know now that you want to go into technical sales (as opposed to design or research or applied engineering), then by all means go for the STEM MBA. If you don’t see yourself on the financial end of engineering, I would rather steer all other students to UA’s Scholars Program instead, which gives students a Masters in AEM in 5 years. See here: http://aem.eng.ua.edu/undergraduate/scholars-program/ (pay particular attention to the PDF at the bottom of the page). Seek advice from a UA AEM advisor!!! PM me with any specifics about UA’s AEM programs.
@aeromom That is a great post. I learned a significant amount about Aero E just from your comments. Definitely worth getting an MS Aero if it can be done with only one more year. Especially in that field.
I fly a reasonable amount for work and knowing that MS designers worked on my “flying bus” makes me feel much more comfortable. 
I’m totally blown away by the support that comes out of UA. From college confidential to my UA advisor. Everyone is so helpful and with quick responses.
Thank you for taking time out and drawing the different maps out. I better go buy a poster board and do some brainstorming.
I spent last summer at RPI and fell in love with AE. That hunger increase after a visit to Michigan and spending time with a graduate and professor doing some wind tunnel studies. I am a social person, but also enjoy working through a problem. My dad always question if I would be happy being isolated working on a design over weeks or months by myself. He also wants me to stay home and go to CU. That’s not going to happen! Maybe I will contact Lockheed Martin to see if I can visit and interview a couple of their AE. Brainstorming has started.
I’m excited to get on campus so I know this is the college for me.
What school is CU?
University of Colorado?
Yes University of Colorado at Boulder
I have never been to UC. I can only compare the UA engineering facilities to what I know at UIUC, Iowa State, and UMTC. I will say that the engineering facilities at UA are second to none.
Facilities are very difficult to put in place. Anyone starting at UA today is in a good position.
The true pioneers are @aeromom and @mom2collegekids DSs who started when UA had a vision and was just starting on the path. They are like the five-star recruit who goes to school because he/she wants to be a start of something big.
All of us sending kids now have the benefit of seeing the end product. We should thank those went before on a vision!
My son was never interested in the STEM Path to MBA program (and I didn’t push it because, like a lot of folks, I think an MBA is something best pursued after several years in the work world), but this story really highlights the benefits of the program: http://advancedmanufacturing.org/crosby/
@nitro11 I’m a student in the program (studying math, though) and felt like I could offer some insight. For reference, I’m entering my senior year, and am finishing up my first round of MBA summer classes next week.
In the program, you take a 1.5 hour course each fall and spring that meets once a week for 75 minutes (they’re all GBA courses). Each of these courses count towards the 12 Departmental Honors courses that the Honors College requires. It DOES NOT count for the 6 Honors Foundations credits. To enter the STEM Program, you actually must be accepted into the Honors College. Whether you continue through with the Honors College after your first semester is up to you (it’s a no-brainer to stay, IMO).
Part of Dr. Morgan’s vision behind the STEM Program was to create what is called “T-shaped people.” These people have depth in one area (your undergrad degree) and breadth in another (the MBA). So, each GBA course establishes the basics of an area (like accounting, operations management, etc.) and the MBA courses go more in-depth with a managerial twist.
There should not be any summer courses aside from the planned two summers of 3 MBA courses online (between years 3-4 and 4-5) for an on-track undergrad student. The only people in the program that I know that have taken undergrad classes in the summer have either failed a class that they needed as a prereq in the fall or changed majors and required summer courses to catch back up. The GBA courses should fit neatly with the AEM curriculum (according to the flowchart here: http://aem.eng.ua.edu/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2015/05/BSAE_Flowchart_V5_Eff_Fall_2014.pdf).
Like those before me, I would urge that you speak to an AEM advisor if at all possible. Make sure to ask any and all questions you have. Repeat what they say to make sure you 100% understand what they are saying. It sounds silly to do that, but it’s been something that has helped me maintain clarity through the past few years.
The official STEM-MBA website address is http://manderson.cba.ua.edu/academics/departments/mba_program/stem_path_to_the_mba
Feel free to reach out to me and ask more questions about the program.
Thanks for all the replies! Just got back late last night from 12 day 8 college visit and will give detail in another post.
The MBA program was one of the most intriguing things I found at Alabama. If your doing honors and have any interest in business it’s a no brainer. As stated above these classes account for 2/3 of your honor classes. AE professor was into me and who, what, why I want in my education. Undergrad student had tons of insight and excitement for the AE program. I will be applying as it’s in my top 3.
@nitro11, I’m not sure that’s true at all. If you’re planning to go the more traditional route by earning an MBA after working for a few years as a practicing engineer, for instance, it’s not a “no brainer.”
My understanding from reading on the engineering major forum here on CC is that many employers are NOT interested in hiring a young engineer who appears to be more interested in the management track than in engineering.
One “path” isn’t necessarily better than the other, but it’s something I believe should be considered carefully. You normally only earn one MBA, so you should consider what your long-term goals are before you commit to earning one so early in your career, IMHO.
You also need to weigh whether it would be more advantageous career-wise to earn that MBA from a different university.
I’m not trying to discount the education one can receive doing the STEM Path to MBA program, but it’s still not clear to me how much value the actual degree has.
I don’t have any experience to discount your insight, so thank you for a different perspective.
Couple of questions I have. Benefits of waiting for a few years to get MBA? Why would a business not want a strong forward thinking employee? I might be happy if they are intimidated about my focus and pass on me for a passive person.
Here was/is my perspective.
- Another year for MBA is nice. Learning as we all know only happens in the real world and once I enter it I’m told the desire to return might not be there or could feed the hunger for a better understanding.
- The professors heading this department have several different opportunities to offer students that regular and even honors students get.
I haven’t decided if I’m going to Alabama, but the program is intersting.
I have said this in other threads but will say again. I went back for my MBA after working for seven years. The benefit of seeing different aspects of business while working beforehand significantly helped me to understand the concepts I was learning.
Taking an MBA without hands on experience results in memorization of concepts but not real hands on understanding. I understand the projects portion and mentoring that is in the program but that is not nearly the same as living the different business functions/areas on an everyday working basis.
The same reasoning is why doing a Coop in engineering is very beneficial to a student. I know the benefit first hand from when I worked at Inland Steel between Junior and Senior year while studying Materials Eng. at Iowa State.
I’d focus on whether or not Bama meets your needs for engineering first and foremost and then evaluate the Stem Path to MBA program separately. I’m not sure what percentage of kids who start it, complete it. Hopefully another poster can fill that detail in.
Re the benefits of waiting to earn that MBA? I think you need to really think about what type of employer you’re hoping to work for. The real world is very competitive in almost every field. Consider that the top MBA programs expect most applicants to have at least a few years of work experience before they even apply. It’s still very difficult to be admitted.
These articles may be helpful:
http://fortune.com/2015/10/13/secrets-to-getting-into-a-top-mba-program/
http://poetsandquants.com/2013/06/07/can-you-get-into-an-elite-mba-program/