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Stanford to Offer Joint Electrical Engineering MS/MBA Degree Program

The joint degree expands multidisciplinary education.
Electrical Engineering Professor Olav Solgaard said the joint degree program builds on the culture of entrepreneurship and creativity in the schools of business and engineering. | Photo by Rod Searcey

A new joint Stanford Electrical Engineering MS/MBA degree program will be available to graduate students in the 2015-2016 academic year. Students may apply for admission starting this fall.

“The joint focus recognizes that the students we educate need and want an integrated understanding of engineering, strategy and execution as they drive future innovations that increasingly involve both technology and business,” said Madhav Rajan, senior associate dean and faculty director of the MBA program at the Stanford Graduate School of Business. 

The joint program structure will allow students to complete the two degrees in three years instead of the usual four years needed to complete each one separately. 

“The Electrical Engineering MS/MBA program represents the growing emphasis on multidisciplinary learning at Stanford,” said Olav Solgaard, professor of electrical engineering at the School of Engineering. “This program builds on the culture of entrepreneurship and creativity in the schools of business and engineering at Stanford and will better equip our students to take new technologies from basic research to commercial products.” 

Students wishing to undertake the joint program must separately apply to and be accepted by both the Stanford Graduate School of Business MBA program and the School of Engineering’s Electrical Engineering MS program.  Completion of the joint program requires a combined total of 129 units, including 84 units at Stanford GSB and 45 units in the Electrical Engineering department. Students who complete the joint program will earn two degrees: an MS in electrical engineering and the MBA.

Admission to the Masters in Electrical Engineering requires a strong undergraduate background in engineering or quantitative subjects such as physics or mathematics. Applicants to the MBA program are assessed on intellectual vitality, demonstrated leadership potential and personal qualities. Students also must take the Graduate Records Exam to be eligible for admission. For complete details on admission to the Electrical Engineering MS program, please see: https://ee.stanford.edu/admissions. The deadline for application to the Electrical Engineering MS program for the 2015-2016 academic year is December 9, 2014.

For more information about the admission process for the Stanford MBA, please visit: http://www.gsb.stanford.edu/programs/mba/admission. Application to the MBA program may be made in any of three rounds ending October 1, 2014, January 7, 2015, or April 1, 2015. Applicants for joint degrees with the School of Engineering are encouraged to apply for the MBA in round two in January.

With seven world-class schools on one contiguous campus, Stanford University has long supported the concept of multidisciplinary learning to seek solutions to the world’s great challenges. Stanford MBA students have increasingly sought second degrees in recent years as the opportunities for cross-sector leadership in the workplace have grown. Among MBA students, approximately one out of six currently pursues joint or dual degree studies.  

More joint degree choices

The Electrical Engineering MS is the latest joint degree program to be offered in tandem with the MBA. Students may already pursue the JD/MBA, Master of Arts in Education/MBA, Master of Science in Environment and Resources/MBA, the Master of Public Policy/MBA, and MS Computer Science/MBA. Stanford GSB’s dual degree program also offers cross-school coordination and a reduction of one academic quarter in time, for the MD/MBA with the Stanford School of Medicine.  

The School of Engineering offers a number of other joint degree programs such as the JD/MS in Bioengineering, Electrical Engineering, Computer Science, or Management Science and Engineering. A joint program to earn the MS in Management Science and Engineering/Master of Public Policy is also available.