Stanford Campus with view towards Main Quad
Collaboration and Multidisciplinary Learning
Dean Saloner talks about the advantages of collaborative learning among students from different disciplines at a university that has seven world class schools—Business, Earth Sciences, Education, Engineering, Humanities & Sciences, Law, and Medicine—on one contiguous campus.
"I'm especially thankful to my CAT advisor who suggested that I follow my passion and apply to the MA in Education/MBA joint degree program.
It was great to shift gears and take some education classes across the street in my first year. And the students and faculty at the School of Education were excited to have business school students who would bring different perspectives to pressing issues in education.
I wanted a business school experience that would foster a deep connection to the campus and my peers. Now I'm part of two Stanford communities."
Scott Trevor Ross,
MA in Education/MBA 2009
Texas, USA
Business+Environmental Resource Issues = MS Environment & Resources/MBA
During his time at Stanford, David Mount, MS/MBA 2008, spent his share of hours in Business School classes learning how to run a business. But he also tested the efficiency of solar panels and used light meters to measure the efficiency of compact fluorescent vs. incandescent lights.
“I sat in the computer lab on Thursday nights doing problem sets with classmates,” he said.
This shift from “very high-level strategic thinking” in business classes to “very specific problem-solving” was part of Mount’s joint degree: along with his MBA, he earned an MS in environment and resources.
The joint degree program, which was approved in 2007, allows MBA students to apply during their first year to complete a joint MS/MBA degree in collaboration with the Emmett Interdisciplinary Program in Environment and Resources, or E-IPER.
Once accepted, students continue their MBA courses and simultaneously take classes toward the MS. Typically students take two years plus two or three additional quarters to complete both degrees, which are awarded simultaneously because it is a joint degree program.
Students in the joint degree program design their own course of study, choosing classes from a range of departments, said Helen J. Doyle, associate director of the program. Faculty advisors guide them, and the students also help one another. The program has about 70 affiliated faculty members from all 7 schools at Stanford.
“It’s so daunting to say, ‘What classes at Stanford should I take for my areas of interest?’” said Emma Wendt, an MS/MBA 2009. Because her focus is on green building and energy efficiency, she took most of her classes in civil and environmental engineering.
In the first two years of the joint degree program’s existence, 10 students from the Graduate School of Business have enrolled, and 18 have been accepted for Fall 2009. Once there, they find themselves moving between very different worlds.
“Engineers think totally differently about problems,” Wendt said. For example, when engineers talk about “efficiency,” they mean energy. At the Business School, a discussion about “efficiency” would likely focus on finances.
“That’s what I really enjoy about the program: that I get to play in these two different worlds,” Wendt said. “In my engineering classes, I’m the business guru. In the Business School, I’m the environmental science expert.”
Aldo King, in the MS/MBA 2009, took a class on energy-efficient building in which he had to make a model of a house and estimate its energy use. This “very practical, hands-on” knowledge is a step toward his career goal of working in real estate development with a focus on green building. It’s just one example of how graduates hope to combine business knowledge with technical expertise.
Wendt is interested in “the intersection of policy and business” and is now working for Pacific Gas & Electric on renewable and clean energy within the energy procurement department.
Mount has used the knowledge he gained by earning his degrees in his work as a member of the green tech investing team at Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers. For his MS degree, he focused on the fundamentals of how energy works.
“I thought I would become a better investor or a better manager in the energy world if I had a better fundamental understanding of energy processes,” he said. Now, “I know enough to be able to comfortably ask questions when I see new things come around.”
— Margaret Steen (Photos by Saul Bromberger/Sandra Hoover)
Joint & Dual Degrees
Your career goals may bridge academic disciplines and require expertise in multiple areas. Few, if any, universities offer the breadth of excellence across disciplines that Stanford does. Combining studies strengthens your academic experience and boosts your professional expertise.
As an MBA student, you may take courses in any graduate school at Stanford. Some students will pursue a second degree to complement the MBA.
Joint Degrees
| The GSB Offers the Following Joint Degrees | |
|---|---|
| Stanford Law School | » JD/MBA |
| School of Education | » MA Education/MBA |
| School of Humanities & Sciences | » MPP/MBA |
| School of Earth Sciences,
Emmett Interdisciplinary Program in Environment and Resources (E-IPER) |
» MS Environment & Resources/MBA |
|
|
Dual Degrees
| The GSB Offers the Following Dual Degrees | |
|---|---|
| School of Engineering | » MS Bioengineering/MBA |
| School of Medicine | » MD/MBA |
Other |
You may apply for an MBA with a dual degree in another field from Stanford or another university. |
|
|
JD/MBA
This joint degree allows you to simultaneously pursue an MBA at the Graduate School of Business and a JD from the Stanford Law School. You can earn the JD/MBA joint degree in 4 academic years of residence.
Application
- You must apply and be accepted independently to both the Law School and the Graduate School of Business.
- In your application to the Stanford MBA Program:
- Indicate that you are applying to the JD/MBA Joint Degree Program by marking the appropriate box under Application Information.
- Use Essay 2 to support your rationale for the joint degree.
Degree Requirements
- To qualify for the JD degree, you must complete 75 semester* units
- * The Stanford Law School will switch from semesters to quarters in the 2009-2010 academic year.
- To qualify for the MBA degree, you must complete 84 quarter units at the Graduate School of Business.
- In this program, you cannot apply courses taken outside the Law School or the Business School for credit toward either degree or participate in operational or research training in the Law School.
- After completing your first year at the Law School, you will take one year of courses at the Business School. During the remaining two full academic years, you take a variety of courses at both the Law School and the Business School.
» Stanford Law School Joint Degree Programs: Law and Business
MA Education/MBA
This joint degree allows you to simultaneously pursue an MBA at the Graduate School of Business and an MA in Education at the Stanford University School of Education (SUSE).
Students who pursue this program have a wide variety of interests in education (both K-12 and higher education), including education policy, education management, the application of technology to education, and teaching and learning.
Application
- In your application to the Stanford MBA Program:
- Indicate that you are applying to the MA in Education/MBA Joint Degree Program by marking the appropriate box under Application Information.
- Upload a Personal Statement (up to 500 words) in the Joint Degree section of your online application.
- If you are admitted, we will forward your application and your Personal Statement for the MA Education/MBA joint degree program to the School of Education.
- Decisions will be sent to you within three weeks of your MBA admission notification.
- As an alternative, you may apply to the MA in Education/MBA joint program during your first year at the Graduate School of Business.
Degree Requirements
- You must complete 84 units at the GSB and 35 units at the School of Education.
- The two schools will offer a menu of cross-listed courses particularly suited to the joint-degree program, which may allow you to earn the joint degree with somewhat fewer total units.
- In your selection of SUSE courses, you must present a coherent, individualized program of study, pursuing a specific topic (e.g., education reform). Upon matriculation, you will be assigned an academic advisor who is a SUSE faculty member.
- You will spend most of your first year taking MBA courses and take SUSE courses once you start electives. During your second year, you have the flexibility to take a variety of electives at the GSB and SUSE.
- It may be possible to complete the MBA/MA Education joint degree program in two years (6 quarters). Depending on your course load, however, you may need an extra quarter to complete the program.
» School of Education: Joint MA/MBA Program Overview
» School of Education Leadership Degree Programs
MPP/MBA
The MPP/MBA joint degree allows you to simultaneously pursue an MBA from the Graduate School of Business and an MPP degree from the Public Policy Program at the School of Humanities and Sciences.
This joint degree may be interesting to you if you wish to pursue a career in public policy or at the intersection of business and government.
Application
- In your application to the Stanford MBA Program:
- Indicate your interest in the MPP/MBA joint degree program by marking the appropriate box under Application Information.
- Use Essay 2 to support your rationale for the joint degree.
- If you are admitted, we will forward your application to the Public Policy Program.
- As an alternative, you may apply to the MPP/MBA joint program during your first year at the Graduate School of Business.
Degree Requirements
- You must complete 84 units at the GSB and 61 units in the Public Policy Program at the School of Humanities and Sciences.
- The duration of this joint degree program is 8 to 9 quarters.
» School of Humanities & Sciences, Public Policy Program
MS Environment & Resources/MBA
If you're interested in a career addressing environmental issues either directly or peripherally, you can pursue an MBA from the Business School and an MS in Environment and Resources from the Emmett Interdisciplinary Program in Environment and Resources (E-IPER) at the School of Earth Sciences.
Application
- In your application to the Stanford MBA Program:
- Indicate your interest in the MS/MBA joint degree program.
- Upload a Personal Statement. Note that you also may apply to E-IPER in the Spring Quarter of your first year.
- If you are admitted to the MBA Program, we will forward your application and your Personal Statement to the Emmett Interdisciplinary Program in Environment and Resources
(E-IPER)
Degree Requirements
You must complete 84 units at the GSB and 45 units in Environment and Resources (E-IPER) at the School of Earth Sciences.
» School of Earth Sciences, Emmett Interdisciplinary Program in Environment and Resources (E-IPER)
MS Bioengineering/MBA
This dual degree allows you to pursue an MBA at the Graduate School of Business and an MS in Bioengineering from the Stanford School of Engineering.
Application
- Apply to the School of Engineering during the fall quarter of your first year in the MBA Program.
- If admission to the dual degree program will influence your decision to attend the Stanford GSB, please contact us after you have been admitted.
MD/MBA
This dual degree allows you to pursue an MBA at the Graduate School of Business and an MD from the Stanford School of Medicine in 5 academic years of residence.
Application
- You must apply and be accepted independently to both the School of Medicine and the Graduate School of Business. If you already are studying at the School of Medicine, apply to the Graduate School of Business for the application year in which you are ready to enroll.
- In your application to the Stanford MBA Program:
- Indicate that you are applying to the MD/MBA Dual Degree Program by marking the appropriate box under Application Information.
- Use Essay B to support your rationale for the dual degree.
Degree Requirements
- To qualify for the MD degree, you must earn 239 quarter units at the School of Medicine, comprising 140 units of pre-clerkship units, 93 units of clinical clerkships, and 6 units of other clinical requirements. More information is available at http://med.stanford.edu/md/curriculum/requirements.html.
- To qualify for the MBA degree, you must earn 88 quarter units in business at the Graduate School of Business.
- To complete this program in five years, you cannot apply courses taken outside the School of Medicine or the Business School for credit toward your MBA.
- Year 1—School of Medicine
(pre-clerkship/scholarly concentration) - Year 2—School of Medicine
(pre-clerkship/scholarly concentration) - Year 3—School of Medicine
(core clinical rotations, including surgery and medicine plus selective sub) - Year 4—Graduate School of Business
- Year 5/Fall Quarter—School of Medicine
(clinics, core, and electives) - Year 5/Winter & Spring Quarters—Graduate School of Business
(electives)
- Year 1—School of Medicine
