any difference between MBAs and MDs

[mcat_study]

Long time ago I was thinking about an MBA degree, but I found that their mentality and lifestyle is completly different from MDs. I really don;t know how to explain that. nothing coherent al least. any thoughts?

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[bluejay68]

Can you be more specific? An MD working in clinical practice and an MBA working in the business world have completely different day-to-day responsibilities, work environments, coworkers, etc. I suppose they are similar in that both may be working an intense work environment that is almost never "9-5", but pays well, is intelectually challenging, etc, but these are very broad generalizations. Just within clinical medicine you will see a wide range of work types, schedules, pay, etc. A person with an MBA, which is a general degree, can be working in any industry, at any level.

Now if you were wondering something like....what is the difference between a mid-level Academic Emergency Medicine attending in the Northeast and a mid-level consultant/manager at a management consulting firm....it is much easier to make comparisons about work type, schedule, pay, career options, work environment, etc.

 

[mcat_study]

Can you be more specific? An MD working in clinical practice and an MBA working in the business world have completely different day-to-day responsibilities, work environments, coworkers, etc. I suppose they are similar in that both may be working an intense work environment that is almost never "9-5", but pays well, is intelectually challenging, etc, but these are very broad generalizations. Just within clinical medicine you will see a wide range of work types, schedules, pay, etc. A person with an MBA, which is a general degree, can be working in any industry, at any level.

Now if you were wondering something like....what is the difference between a mid-level Academic Emergency Medicine attending in the Northeast and a mid-level consultant/manager at a management consulting firm....it is much easier to make comparisons about work type, schedule, pay, career options, work environment, etc.

for example an i-banker on the wall street and a surgeon or cardiologist: i-bankers are more into "networking" if you know what I mean. I found them to be concerned more on the superficial qualities, how much you are worth, your height, your status. another commonality is that they are out every night, popularity factor is very important to them, whereas doctors are either studying or at the hospital all the time. the bottom line is that I find doctors to be much more introverted, book types, that are into work, books and family. again these are generalizations, and very subjective-->just how i saw it.

 

[bluejay68]

Sure, there are generalizations you can make about the type of person drawn to medicine versus the type drawn to banking - and it seems like you already have some insight into what these stereotypes are. If you crave a "Wall Street" lifestyle and all it includes (the high risk, high reward aspect, travel, uncertainty, etc) then you should go for it. I-banking is not very much like clinical medicine (except both require hard work). If your primary career goal is to make money, I'd steer clear of medicine; it is quite dependable, but you reach a ceiling pretty quickly and there are easier ways to make good money.

And of course, not all docs are introverted academics. Spending time with family can be just as much of a challenge for a busy Cardiologist or Surgeon as for an I-Banker. Bankers tend to socialize and network a lot because their business relies on information and access to people (and their money). Docs have little need for this in their practice, so they tend to spend less energy there. It's also very easy to measure how well you are doing as a banker - you either make money or you don't. Your performance is easily measured and understood. Measuring performance in medicine is a much more difficult task - especially among different specialties. As a result, there is less focus on financial (or "superficial") metrics in medicine (I don't necessarily agree with this), but that's been the traditional view (which may be changing).

 

[mcat_study]

yes, i definitely always wanted to be a doctor rather than an MBA. it was always my dream

the only reason i thought about mba was because i had an enterpreneurial idea. with time and some advice from descent and not so much MBAs, I realized that mba is more for corporate careers, and not for a free spirit like me. however, i will not leave my idea (which is health related anyways), and hopefully i can realize it while a doctor without an MBA. i already have a business plan and potential investors. yay

too bad i didn;t know about this forum earlier-->it is so much easier to have access to very different and interesting people

 

[bluejay68]

Congrats on the business idea. You definitely don't need an MBA to be a successful entrepreneur.