For a majority of students at Waynesburg University, there is a basic education cycle. First comes high school graduation, followed by an undergraduate diploma. Following four years of college, many students take another step in attending graduate school. However, a select number of seniors at Waynesburg have already started their path to a Master of Business Administration degree (MBA), as part of a dual enrollment program.

To enroll in the dual program as a senior, a student must take at least 12 undergraduate credits and enroll in a graduate course, either during the Fall or Spring semester. The graduate classes are eight weeks long, and each session takes four hours.

Bill Stough, instructor of business administration in Waynesburg’s Master of Business Administration (MBA) Program, said that there has been a growth in undergraduates getting involved in the dual program.

“Over the last couple years, there’s been more undergrads interested in [the dual program],” said Stough, who will be an assistant professor of business administration starting this fall. “I think it’s getting more and more interest from the undergrads to go ahead and take the program, so I think it’s growing, and there’s more interest now.”

Earlier this semester, Dave Mariner, director of graduate programs, spoke to Stough’s business finance class, a class intended for juniors interested in looking at the MBA program.

“[Mariner] came down and talked to them about getting involved, so I think there’s more progress happening for the program,” said Stough.

One student who takes part in the dual program is senior Luke Carter, an accounting and finance major, is currently completing his undergraduate degree at Waynesburg. He has been accepted into the MBA program, and has already finished a graduate class, which ran from the beginning of the Spring semester and finished before spring break.

The course that Carter completed was Management Information Systems, which is one of the first classes that a graduate student is supposed to take. After receiving his undergraduate degree, he plans to start full-time in the MBA program this fall.

There are some obvious challenges that come with balancing an undergraduate degree with the graduate program. Mariner believes the hardest struggle is time management.

“Obviously, we’re selecting students that are good students, so I know that the people who choose to [take graduate classes] can handle the work, in terms of difficulty of the courses,” Mariner said. “But the [time management] skillset is important to be able to juggle school at the undergraduate level, at the graduate level, as well as all the other activities that a student may have outside of the classroom.”

At the same time, Stough cites the pace of the classes as a challenge for students.

“I think some of the courses in the MBA program are challenging,” said Stough. “They’re graduate level, and they’re only eight weeks [long], so there’s a lot of information in those eight weeks. The pace is different, and it’s all night class, and it’s a four hour, one night a week class, so there’s a couple of adjustments there that [the students] have to make. Most of them seem to be doing okay with it.”

For Carter, taking on three undergraduate courses, a graduate class, and pitching on Waynesburg’s baseball team keeps his hands full.

“This semester, I have a management policy class, which is basically a group running a business, and that takes up a lot of my time,” said Carter. “Also, adding a grad class on top of that, which mine was just a lot of writing and research, so that was busy.”

While it can be tiresome, Carter believes that completing graduate courses early is something that would be a big help for a fellow undergraduate looking for a graduate degree in the coming years.

“You’d get to classes out of the way that you don’t have to take later on,” said Carter. “I would be getting my [degree] done in two years, hopefully, but then I might be able to take eight weeks off instead of taking another class because I took as class beforehand.”

Stough agrees that a significant benefit of the dual program would be getting a head start on their future careers.

“One of the things that we’re seeing in business now for sure is that a lot of companies are looking for the MBA [degree] to hire people,” said Stough. “Inside of companies, people are reaching a ceiling because they don’t have [a graduate degree]. So if you get into the company, it’s one thing, but you may only be able to progress so far without a master’s degree.”

Of all of the potential benefits to undergraduates getting their feet wet in the graduate program, perhaps the biggest perk of all is that it does not cost participating students a dime.

“The number one benefit is the cost,” said Mariner. “As long as you’re a Waynesburg student in one undergrad dual program, and if you’ve taken more than 12 undergraduate courses and less than 18, that MBA class is a free class, so it’s part of your course load.”