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What if I already have an MSF?

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What if I already have an MSF?

by chefj » Thu Jul 14, 2011 6:11 am
Hello,

I am currently a college student. I have the opportunity to earn a combined-degree MSF (also available with similar degrees) in four years.

I do plan on getting an MBA later, but I would like to take advantage of convenient masters programs, too, if I can. Not that I am a degree-hog. I just want to get a masters degree while I am still in school in case for some reason the MBA does not work out. Otherwise I could end up with a bachelors and nothing else.

In sight of admissions, I definitely think it may be stupid/redundant/hard to gain admission into an MBA program when if I already had the said MSF.

Would it hinder MBA chances? Or is it different? I realize it would still be possible to gain admission, but I do not know the caliber to which it would matter.

If it would hinder my chances, and I want to earn some masters degree in addition to an MBA, what kind of masters degree would not be redundant, yet relevant? Does a program like that even exist?

Thank you.
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by essaysnark » Thu Jul 14, 2011 3:58 pm
Hi chefj,

It's good that you're thinking about this however the way that a bschool adcom will look at it is, what do you need the education for? If there's perceived to be a lot of overlap between the MSF and the MBA, then they may not think you need the MBA later. You should evaluate this in the context of your career goals and what you want to do with your future. You're right that sometimes it appears that people collect degrees instead of actually "needing" the education. The MSF alone will not preclude you from getting into an MBA program later as long as you can show what you plan to do with the MBA and how you'll leverage it. Sometimes bschools are also skeptical of admitting someone if it appears they've accrued too much debt already (because what often happens is, someone is all excited about going to get the MBA, and they go through the process of applying, but then when they get accepted and reality hits and they have to commit to the expense of it, they back out).

Anyway, yes, all those are possible thoughts that the MBA admissions people will have down the road when they review your application. HOWEVER, none of them are necessarily showstoppers, provided you have good reasons behind your decisions each step of the way (both in explaining why you went for the MSF in the first place, and in explaining why you'll need the MBA thereafter - hope this makes sense!).

A lot of MBA students already have advanced degrees. The most common are engineering degrees, however oftentimes people with PhDs go get their MBA later on, to transition to a more business-y role. Some schools like Stanford even report out the educational profile of accepted students (15% for the class of 2012 - see class profile here https://www.gsb.stanford.edu/mba/admission/ )

Good luck with it!
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