MBA student finds success in Engineering Bridge Program

Parker Beal furthers his education while earning an engineering degree and MBA

For Parker Beal, coming to KU was never a question.

The Topeka native grew up 30 minutes away from Lawrence, and both of his parents and his older brother received their degrees from the university. He fell in love with the environment and the people of Lawrence early on. As he was finishing high school, he knew he wanted to go into architectural engineering, making KU the only choice to earn his degree.

During the summer before coming to Lawrence, Beal had an internship at McElroy’s. Little did he know that the Topeka-based mechanical contracting company would cement his desire to study architectural engineering. He worked in the commercial construction division doing construction work for the first summer and kept moving up in different roles every summer from there.

“The thing about architectural engineering that people find interesting is the façade of buildings,” Beal said. “That’s not necessarily what I found interesting about it. I wanted to make sure that the buildings stood up, that they functioned properly and that they had everything they needed, like air and water. It was more the underlying structure and system of a building that caught my eye and made me choose the architectural engineering path.”

After working at McElroy’s for several summers and leading into an internship, Beal found himself working in more of a business aspect, working with the estimating team. Here he began to use a different skill set from his education.

As part of the Engineering Bridge Program, Beal is earning his Bachelor of Science in architectural engineering and an MBA in five years. He saw it as a great way to get his engineering degree and a master’s in one program while earning the hard and soft skills he would need for life after graduation. The MBA program presented itself as another way of furthering his education and finding different career paths in the future. The KU MBA staff helped Beal find the right classes and opportunities he needed to succeed.

“What attracted me to the MBA bridge program was its effectiveness,” he said. “Overall, you can graduate in five years with your engineering degree and master’s. All of the School of Business advisors work with you to get that scheduled around the last year of engineering and wrapped into your master’s. It’s a seamless process that made it easy for me to decide to continue my education here at KU.”

The KU MBA and Undergraduate Engineering Bridge Program allows senior engineering majors to begin taking business courses. Beal had about six hours of business credits before entering the MBA program, but that was what attracted him to it.

The class he found the most value in was the BUS 801: Professional Skills course. Even though he didn’t have a business background, the mock interviews, resume building, networking and LinkedIn review helped Beal develop skills he hadn’t honed during his undergraduate program.

“Students don’t need a business background to succeed in the MBA program,” Beal. “The teachers, faculty and staff know that we come from all different backgrounds, whether it’s pharmacy, engineering, military. Many of us don’t know much about business and are just dipping our feet into it. KU, the School of Business and the MBA program help students their get feet in the water and get you going so you can find what you need to know about business and how to find success in it.”

The new ways of looking at problems and skills learned in the program have given Beal a fresh perspective while on the job. He values being a leader and working with teams to find the best solutions through the toughest problems for the team can reach its goals. Coming from an engineering background, Beal acknowledges his introverted nature, but he is thankful for the MBA program leading him to be confident in stepping out of his comfort zone.

“The professors have helped me understand it’s ok to be introverted,” Beal said. “But it’s also good to step out of your comfort zone and to go find and talk to people about things that are interesting to you, and you can see doing in your future career. I define success as the opportunities that you grasp and take advantage of through past failures. If you can’t find a way to harness the places you’ve made mistakes, I don’t think you can find future successes.”

Beal is wrapping up his time in the MBA program. After graduation, he will continue working at McElroy’s and will prepare to get his professional engineer license.

“I’m forever grateful to the School of Business, the School of Engineering, KU and my advisors,” he said. “They have offered me countless opportunities and wanted to see me grow. The whole community here is just a loving environment that I’ve greatly appreciated.”

Learn more about KU’s full-time MBA program and other graduate programs at business.ku.edu/graduate-programs.