When one degree just isn’t enough

In 2010, after graduating from McGill University in Montreal with an undergraduate degree in engineering, Shawn Errunza co-founded a biomedical device company whose software-based tools help rehabilitate victims of strokes and other injuries.

But when the company, Jintronix, Inc., hit a rough patch, Mr. Errunza kept his options open by applying to medical school at McGill. “I realized I was building a virtual reality system for stroke victims but didn’t even know what a stroke was,” he says.

Mr. Errunza then discovered that he could add an MBA to his doctor of medicine/master of surgery pursuits – and complete the joint program in five years. That’s one year less than is required to do the two degrees in sequence, but it imposes an extra heavy study burden.

...Mr. Errunza, 28, is among the 5 per cent of McGill MBA students who are combining their business degree with a medical or law degree. “They’re multitaskers, very driven and looking for additional challenges,” says Demetrios Vakratsas, associate dean of master programs at McGill’s Desautels Faculty of Management.

Read full article: The Globe and Mail, 23 March, 2016