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Accepted to MD/MBA program today. Applied in December. If I accept the offer, I will have to relinquish MD Traditional seat. I am not a 100% certain that I want an MBA, because I do not know if I will benefit from it now as opposed to 20 years down the line when I think I will be putting the skills to use.

Can someone please offer me some advice? Tufts MD/MBA is SUPER expensive and from my understanding the business school is unranked and because it isn't a top tier business school, then getting an MBA from it will be pointless. My understanding of business school/ranking is base on SDN and Reddit (Ik not very credible, but still).

Any honest and thoughtful answers will be greatly appreciated! Thank you in advance!
 
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Oboeyoudidnt said:
Got a voicemail about 15 minutes ago saying I was accepted!!!
Interviewed 12/6
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What was the caller ID when you got the call? Burlington , MA perhaps?? I interviewed 12/6 too and got a call right around when you did, but stupidly my voicemail was full ........... fingers are crossed for good news
 
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amiscrewed6969 said:
What was the caller ID when you got the call? Burlington , MA perhaps?? I interviewed 12/6 too and got a call right around when you did, but stupidly my voicemail was full ........... fingers are crossed for good news
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Yes Burlington, MA area code for acceptance call!
 
Coach_Z said:
Nope
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I'm in the same boat for regular track. I really wish we were told when the bulk of the deferred decisions are decided. The email made it sound like decisions are scattered throughout the entire cycle, but it seems like basically no one has heard back based on this forum. It seems like they may just be pushing decisions to the end of the cycle? I wish we had more of an idea of what to expect.

Anyone have info on the timeline?
 
Lol what is the point of having a deferred option if everyone deferred just ends up on the waitlist at the end of interview cycle
 
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Orochimaru said:
Accepted to MD/MBA program today. Applied in December. If I accept the offer, I will have to relinquish MD Traditional seat. I am not a 100% certain that I want an MBA, because I do not know if I will benefit from it now as opposed to 20 years down the line when I think I will be putting the skills to use.

Can someone please offer me some advice? Tufts MD/MBA is SUPER expensive and from my understanding the business school is unranked and because it isn't a top tier business school, then getting an MBA from it will be pointless. My understanding of business school/ranking is base on SDN and Reddit (Ik not very credible, but still).

Any honest and thoughtful answers will be greatly appreciated! Thank you in advance!
Click to expand...


My husband is considering an MBA. Based on his research, if you are not attending a top 20 school, you should only get it if it’s necessary for a particular job/role. For instance, if you need an MBA for a promotion. MBAs normally take 2 years. If you want to do something with your MD that requires an MBA and it adds less time than 2 years, I’d do it now. However, if you just think you might use it, I wouldn’t. There are unranked online programs, such as that from Franklin Pierce, that you could attend later.

That said, if you want to attend a top 20 MBA program it’s important to note that the connections that it affords you might be the most important thing that the school provides. Also note that there seems to be a preference for MBA students who are younger than 30 for the top programs and they want you to have about 5 years of work experience when you apply.

All MD programs provide you with essentially the same job prospects while that is not the case with MBAs, especially in cutting-edge industries.

This might have convoluted things a bit, so feel free to DM with any questions!
 
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yakarma11 said:
Lol what is the point of having a deferred option if everyone deferred just ends up on the waitlist at the end of interview cycle
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I totally agree...makes no sense. Maybe they just don't pull off the list often or something? Maybe they have been but people haven't posted here? Don't really know what to think.
 
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Orochimaru said:
Accepted to MD/MBA program today. Applied in December. If I accept the offer, I will have to relinquish MD Traditional seat. I am not a 100% certain that I want an MBA, because I do not know if I will benefit from it now as opposed to 20 years down the line when I think I will be putting the skills to use.

Can someone please offer me some advice? Tufts MD/MBA is SUPER expensive and from my understanding the business school is unranked and because it isn't a top tier business school, then getting an MBA from it will be pointless. My understanding of business school/ranking is base on SDN and Reddit (Ik not very credible, but still).

Any honest and thoughtful answers will be greatly appreciated! Thank you in advance!
Click to expand...

I was also accepted to Tufts MD/MBA program in December. I currently work for a tech startup and I spoke with my CEO and COO about the value of an MBA in addition to an MD. Here are some interesting points of advice they gave me when I was making my decision:
  • While I've heard them say that an MBA from a top school is important, in this case the MBA is icing on the cake when compared to the MD degree. In addition, Tufts offers a healthcare specific MBA so the skills they teach will be very relevant to your future career.
  • It's true that the MBA in addition to an MD is expensive however my CEO said that the biggest thing to consider is the amount of additional time that the MBA will take (at Tufts it's still a 4 yr program). This was a huge selling point for them.
  • The last piece of advice they gave regarded differentiation when actually starting your career. There are not too many MD/MBAs out there and the additional degree will certainly help you stand out when applying for jobs.
Ultimately I think it depends on what you want to do with your career after school. If you see yourself going into a role that involves management or administration in addition to your medical practice you'll get more use out of an MBA than you would if you solely want to practice medicine. Hope this helps! Feel free to DM me if you have any questions.
 
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Acceptance call this morning! Area code was from Boston, MA
 
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swmmrlk said:
I was also accepted to Tufts MD/MBA program in December. I currently work for a tech startup and I spoke with my CEO and COO about the value of an MBA in addition to an MD. Here are some interesting points of advice they gave me when I was making my decision:
  • While I've heard them say that an MBA from a top school is important, in this case the MBA is icing on the cake when compared to the MD degree. In addition, Tufts offers a healthcare specific MBA so the skills they teach will be very relevant to your future career.
  • It's true that the MBA in addition to an MD is expensive however my CEO said that the biggest thing to consider is the amount of additional time that the MBA will take (at Tufts it's still a 4 yr program). This was a huge selling point for them.
  • The last piece of advice they gave regarded differentiation when actually starting your career. There are not too many MD/MBAs out there and the additional degree will certainly help you stand out when applying for jobs.
Ultimately I think it depends on what you want to do with your career after school. If you see yourself going into a role that involves management or administration in addition to your medical practice you'll get more use out of an MBA than you would if you solely want to practice medicine. Hope this helps! Feel free to DM me if you have any questions.
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Thank you for the advice. The option to message you isnt available. Your account is private.
 
Orochimaru said:
Thank you for the advice. The option to message you isnt available. Your account is private.
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Odd, says I can't message you either. I think I updated my privacy settings to allow for messages but not 100% sure - new to the site.
 
II earlier today! So excited and thankful. LM ~70, WARS ~85, non-trad. Went to school in Mass, now OOS. Complete end of August. There were 2 dates available for next week, 1/8 and 1/10, but neither of those worked for me. Next two available end of Feb, one in early March. If anyone withdraws from their interview sometime between now and February, please let us know with a huge thank you in advance!

Does anyone have any additional advice regarding the interview?
 
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Hi guys, I just realized my phone wasn’t working for the entirety of today. Do you guys see any change on the portal after you get your acceptance call? Like under the communication history or anything?
 
bostonstrong95 said:
Hi guys, I just realized my phone wasn’t working for the entirety of today. Do you guys see any change on the portal after you get your acceptance call? Like under the communication history or anything?
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The day after I got the call, I got an email with the written acceptance and a tab called "OFFER" appeared next to the interview tab in the portal. Good luck!!
 
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futurefemaledoc_13 said:
Soooo does no one know bout this? I might shoot them an email if not
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Emailed to ask. They said:

"Yes, we host a second look event on April 11th. More information regarding this event will be sent to admitted students in the next few weeks."
 
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Deferred via email on Friday. I know this has been asked in the past, but are most people deferred if not accepted, or have there actually been hard rejections after IIs? Also has anyone been pulled off the deferral list during this cycle? I’m just trying to grasp the amount of movement possible from deferral especially with this new AAMC process that has started this year and with what they said on the email about not being discouraged.
 
studentdoctor2040 said:
II earlier today! So excited and thankful. LM ~70, WARS ~85, non-trad. Went to school in Mass, now OOS. Complete end of August. There were 2 dates available for next week, 1/8 and 1/10, but neither of those worked for me. Next two available end of Feb, one in early March. If anyone withdraws from their interview sometime between now and February, please let us know with a huge thank you in advance!

Does anyone have any additional advice regarding the interview?
Click to expand...

Update: I was able to reschedule my interview for this week! Pretty last minute, but excited nonetheless.

Are there any other thoughts / advice on interview day at Tufts? Thanks in advance!

FYI there are 2 dates now open in mid/end of January for anyone else interested!
 
bostonstrong95 said:
Deferred via email on Friday. I know this has been asked in the past, but are most people deferred if not accepted, or have there actually been hard rejections after IIs? Also has anyone been pulled off the deferral list during this cycle? I’m just trying to grasp the amount of movement possible from deferral especially with this new AAMC process that has started this year and with what they said on the email about not being discouraged.
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not really sure how many actually get rejected, but some have posted that they have gotten rejected post ii. as for your second question, not really sure. if they have, they haven't posted here
 
II just now, 6 interview days left. Keep your spirits up, it's not over yet!
 
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Orochimaru said:
Accepted to MD/MBA program today. Applied in December. If I accept the offer, I will have to relinquish MD Traditional seat. I am not a 100% certain that I want an MBA, because I do not know if I will benefit from it now as opposed to 20 years down the line when I think I will be putting the skills to use.

Can someone please offer me some advice? Tufts MD/MBA is SUPER expensive and from my understanding the business school is unranked and because it isn't a top tier business school, then getting an MBA from it will be pointless. My understanding of business school/ranking is base on SDN and Reddit (Ik not very credible, but still).

Any honest and thoughtful answers will be greatly appreciated! Thank you in advance!
Click to expand...

So I don't normally post here on SDN, but I saw your post and as a current 4th year student in the MD/MBA at Tufts I thought I might throw my 2 cents in. Hope it's helpful.

The MBA has been a really great experience overall, it's totally integrated into the MD curriculum so you'll never be forced to pick between getting work done for either track. You'll have some coursework during the summers before first and second year and again on Tuesday afternoons, but once you hit the wards, the MBA workload drops off almost completely so you can really focus and dedicate your time to learning clinical medicine.

This MBA is really in healthcare management and fairly broad with applicability from the med student level all the way up to the CMO/CEO level. I've really appreciate the perspective it's given me in terms of the healthcare system, not only from a policy and innovation perspective, but also in that I've gained practical tools in operations management, negotiation and I've learned how to tactfully change culture and strategy in a large organization. Even if I didn't have non-clinical interests in healthcare, I think the MBA has improved my clinical practice itself because I have the forethought and vocabulary to think about and tackle the systems/quality/process related problems that come up in every clinical encounter. Those issues are real and any practicing physician will have to deal with them on a daily basis -- in that vein, I feel lucky that I'm equipped to be a change agent instead of passive observer.

As I've been interviewing for internal medicine residencies, it has definitely been a value add and literally all my interviewers have had an appreciation for the skill set included in the MBA -- keep in mind that quality improvement is now one of the cornerstones of most residency programs so at some point or another, you'll have to think about operations and process problems regardless of whether you've had the training or not. The most striking thing to date however has been an interviewer who flat out said that the MBA was basically the only thing that helped differentiate my application from all the other outstanding apps they've received. At the end of the day, a lot of competitive applicants will have great grades, great board scores and pristine letters of rec, I'm glad that I had that little extra boost on my CV.

In terms of the cost, that was something that I considered for a long time. The MD degree does become very expensive when you tack on the extra MBA tuition however when I broke the numbers down I felt that it's probably best to get it done now rather than later. Considering that an outside MBA is ~$120k, and the opportunity cost of 2 years of a hospitalist attending salary, ~$400k for both years (or more if you go back after sub-specialty), I figured I was getting $520k for ~$65k (which is the discounted since we're dual degree students) with no lost time and I saw that as a good deal but that of course depends on your values.

Hope this was helpful, I'll try to lurk around for follow up questions if any. Best of luck!
 
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For people who got interviews, did you do your applications yourself or get one of the ‘services’ to assist you? I haven’t had any luck yet this cycle so am looking to see how to improve my chances next cycle.
 
Moose97 said:
For people who got interviews, did you do your applications yourself or get one of the ‘services’ to assist you? I haven’t had any luck yet this cycle so am looking to see how to improve my chances next cycle.
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I did everything myself. I used a ton of resources though. For my PS I had an English professor I know edit it for grammar and sentence structure, a humanities professor to make sure I was culturally competent and didn't say anything dumb and that what I wrote answered the prompt (why do you want to go to medical school), and some family members to make sure it sounded personal and they could tell it was about me. For my most meaningful and secondary essays, I just used the comments from my PS as a guide.

For your school list, really look at a schools mission and what they value as much as their median stats. Stats are important, but you want them to know you are interested by demonstrating that interest in your essays. For example, if you grew up in a major metropolitan area, what is in your essays that suggests you would like and enjoy attending a small rural school?

Without know anything else about your application, that's really all I can say about how to improve the next time you apply if you don't get an acceptance this year. Good luck! You will also have more replies if you post this on the premed forum versus a school specific thread.
 
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Moose97 said:
For people who got interviews, did you do your applications yourself or get one of the ‘services’ to assist you? I haven’t had any luck yet this cycle so am looking to see how to improve my chances next cycle.
Click to expand...

I began getting MD interviews after I raised my MCAT score and achieved a high GPA in a difficult Master of Science degree program. The personal statement is also very important - try to show your passion for medicine and caring for people. Also, as noted before, spend extra time on your secondary essays (even prewrite them if possible), and try to get them back quickly (at the most, 2 weeks from the time they are sent).
 
Thanks. I now think I was late getting complete. A reference letter wasn’t submitted properly so I wasn’t complete until late October. I didn’t realize how important the timing is. I did get an interview at one of my reach schools, but nothing else so far. I will commit to getting more shadowing, try to get another research project, and get my stuff in earlier next year.
 
Has anyone who's gotten accepted received the email from AMCAS about the background check? Or an email about submitting a deposit? I have the offer letter and I know I accepted, so just not sure whether to be worried about the radio silence.
 
echogecko said:
Has anyone who's gotten accepted received the email from AMCAS about the background check? Or an email about submitting a deposit? I have the offer letter and I know I accepted, so just not sure whether to be worried about the radio silence.
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I got the email from Certiphi just this morning after being accepted 12/7, and an email about considering dual degree programs on Monday. Nothing about a deposit just yet...
 
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Submitted 7/25, radio silence :( Portal says "application Ready". I feel like not even an update with publications will do anything :(
 
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TTP 1776 said:
Submitted 7/25, radio silence :( Portal says "application Ready". I feel like not even an update with publications will do anything :(
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Updated with 3 publications (2 first author) and another major award. Can confirm. They don't care. I'm afraid that this school and others just silently rejected us already.
 
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wesleysnipes said:
Updated with 3 publications (2 first author) and another major award. Can confirm. They don't care. I'm afraid that this school and others just silently rejected us already.
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Dang..... This was my exact update lol. Hopeless for Tufts now. I really dislike silent rejections, I wish schools would be more upfront


Sent from my iPhone using SDN mobile
 
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TTP 1776 said:
Dang..... This was my exact update lol. Hopeless for Tufts now. I really dislike silent rejections, I wish schools would be more upfront


Sent from my iPhone using SDN mobile
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The schools that you email updates have been much more interested in me post update than the ones where you upload to the portal. Try hitting those schools up.
 
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wesleysnipes said:
The schools that you email updates have been much more interested in me post update than the ones where you upload to the portal. Try hitting those schools up.
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Sorry for me not understanding, just wanted to clear up what ya meant: Do you mean email them the update directly instead of using the portal (even if a school utilizes their portal for updates)?


Sent from my iPhone using SDN mobile
 
TTP 1776 said:
Sorry for me not understanding, just wanted to clear up what ya meant: Do you mean email them the update directly instead of using the portal (even if a school utilizes their portal for updates)?


Sent from my iPhone using SDN mobile
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No I mean some schools accept updates via email rather than portal. Those ones are usually more receptive to updates. Don't send a school an email if they request updates via portal.
 
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II invite today! Only one day was available. Complete mid November.
 
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Has anyone heard back from the financial aid office after sending in their forms?
 
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