Michael Kunz will be far along his career track of understanding how non-native grasses succeed when he graduates from the University of Colorado at Boulder this spring, leaving the campus with not one, but two degrees he earned simultaneously.
Kunz is part of an elite and growing cadre of students that has taken advantage of a fast-track, cost-effective program which yields concurrent bachelor聮s and master聮s degrees. He believes the hard work he applies now will move him into a higher echelon of applicants when a position opens in his specialty -- the spread of invasive grasses in the Western prairies.
"Having done independent research, taken extra classes and gained extra knowledge kind of gives me more leverage in finding a job or getting into another graduate program," said Kunz, 23. The Littleton senior will receive both his B.A. and M.A. in environmental, population and organismic biology in May.
"These students are unbelievable work machines," said an impressed Robert Lynch, the faculty member in charge of the dual degree program in EPO biology, where Kunz and six other students are involved in the unique program. "They are bright and motivated and want to take advantage of this opportunity."
Under the initiative, selected students can receive both degrees after only five years of study without compromising the academic integrity of either degree. In addition to reaching that goal over a shorter span of time, the tuition cost is less, candidates do not go through the normal admission process for graduate school and students can enter the job market sooner.
"The program is designed to assist the very best students in smoothly moving between the bachelor's and master's degree programs, and they must be accepted by the graduate school," said Jim Sherman, assistant dean of engineering and manager of engineering student services. Only one to two students per year are admitted per program.
The concept was envisioned in the 1996 Strategic Plan, and the first students were enrolled in the fall semester of 1997. Despite its relatively recent origin, the program has grown rapidly. In June, 1998 there were a total of 58 students involved. By January, 1999 there were almost that many in the business school alone, which now has 52 candidates, while campuswide, the number had grown to more than 100 students. Exact numbers are not available.
The dual-degree initiative has spread to serve disciplines that will benefit future scientists, accountants, economists, engineers and others.
Within the College of Arts and Sciences, concurrent degrees have been approved for East Asian languages and civilizations, economics, EPO biology, Germanic and Slavic languages, and psychology.
The College of Business and Administration has the largest number of concurrent degree candidates, primarily because the advanced training and extra credit hours better prepares them for the difficult exam to become Certified Public Accountants. A Colorado law that will become effective within a few years will require 150 credit hours for a CPA candidate, and the CU-Boulder program already meets that requirement. The program operates in the undergraduate/graduate specialties of Accounting/Accounting (25 students), Finance/Accounting (22) and Information Systems/Accounting (5). The numbers are about double the number of accounting and business students involved with the dual degree program last year.
The colleges of business and engineering have the combined plan available in information systems/telecommunications, while the College of Engineering itself offers the twin-degree track in aerospace engineering sciences, chemical engineering, computer science, electrical engineering and mechanical engineering. Programs are under consideration for several other schools.
The unique degree track, however, is not an easy road to success. "I would only recommend it for serious students," observed Michael Staley, a senior from Madison, Wis., who is studying Japanese in the East Asian languages sector. "There is a big difference between graduate classes and undergraduate classes."
Lynch, in EPOB, agreed that the academic load can be a challenge when a student聮s junior year might suddenly include a course from the graduate school. "The students are exposed to the top-level courses, and that can be more intense for them. That聮s why we are picking only the best of our undergraduates to participate."
The concurrent degree initiative, however, allows them to get "a fairly thorough grounding" in their studies and, for instance, they have real-world expectations in pressure and promise. For example, the laboratory work for an undergraduate may be designed to get a certain grade, whereas for the dual-degree candidates, the results may be aimed directly at their thesis and future professional career. "They don聮t just dabble in research," said Lynch.
For more information check the program Web site at mountains.colorado.edu/back.html.