By: Garrett Duffy
The dual engineering/MBA program at Notre Dame, in which students like me receive an engineering bachelor’s degree and MBA together in five years, offers a host of unique opportunities to engineers who want to combine their technical knowledge with business and leadership skills. The program has also connected me with close friends and exciting career opportunities. It hasn’t always been easy, but I find now that I feel more business-savvy, creative, and well-rounded as I head into the working world.
This dual-degree program gives you an opportunity to reach outside your comfort zone. Coming from an engineering background, I tended to look at problems in a systematic, black-and-white kind of way, in which a right answer always existed. In my MBA classes, though, the problems were usually far messier. To solve these problems, I needed to make assumptions and to defend them. I had to think in a way that was both creative and practical. Changing the way that I approach problems was difficult and uncomfortable at first, but overall it has been very beneficial. Continue reading “Life as a dual-degree student in the Notre Dame MBA program”