Benefits of Physician / MBA

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RN-2-Medicine

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Can anyone with DO-MBA pedigree speak on the benefits of having a business degree as a physician? I am looking to apply to DO programs that offer dual MBA programs so that I can one day be in health administration overseeing projects and possibly start a practice in my state of residence.

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I work with a number of MD/MBA's in the healthcare consulting industry and my recommendation would be to not pursue a dual DO/MBA degree from any DO school. The quality of the MBA degree is very important if you want to leverage that degree to move into a non-clinical role someday. At the very least, combine your DO degree with a high quality MBA degree from a top tier university. Work to get into a top 25 MBA program if at all possible. Look at the MBA program rankings in US News or perhaps Fortune Magazine which just released a new MBA program ranking recently. Consider high quality on-line MBA programs as well. There are a number of good ones available. A few of the best on-line MBA programs are at: Indiana, North Carolina, Carnegie Mellon, etc. Good Luck!

 
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MBAs were a dime a dozen in 2010 - it was in vogue and literally every profession was filled with people getting one. Lots of colleges and universities had seen the business highering trend in the early 2000s and had opened up a program. That generated a glut of MBAs in the employment market. As a result, having that degree didn't really differentiate people - EXCEPT if you went to one of the top MBA programs in the nation. That still held a lot of weight, opened doors, and led to good job opportunities. This still holds true.

If you want an MBA, finish becoming a physician THEN go to a top program. Most of them have executive programs that are designed for people who are working.

It is analogous to law degrees: even the bottom people of Harvard Law get good jobs because of alumni networking and "Harvard". The top graduate of, say, Appalachian School of Law may struggle.
 
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I work with a number of MD/MBA's in the healthcare consulting industry and my recommendation would be to not pursue a dual DO/MBA degree from any DO school. The quality of the MBA degree is very important if you want to leverage that degree to move into a non-clinical role someday. At the very least, combine your DO degree with a high quality MBA degree from a top tier university. Work to get into a top 25 MBA program if at all possible. Look at the MBA program rankings in US News or perhaps Fortune Magazine which just released a new MBA program ranking recently. Consider high quality on-line MBA programs as well. There are a number of good ones available. A few of the best on-line MBA programs are at: Indiana, North Carolina, Carnegie Mellon, etc. Good Luck!

Are there many ways to get an employer to pay your tuition for you?
 
Can anyone with DO-MBA pedigree speak on the benefits of having a business degree as a physician? I am looking to apply to DO programs that offer dual MBA programs so that I can one day be in health administration overseeing projects and possibly start a practice in my state of residence.
You need to go to a top tier business school if you want to pursue MBA
 
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Yeah tbh not sure why you would ever pay to get an MBA when most companies will do it for you. I also think its one of the more useless degrees you can get since it really doesn't mean anything without exp.
 
Worthless degree. Lets say you get it now. When will you be able to finally use it? After residency or fellowship (ie, 5-10 years later) when you don't remember **** about it? Are you trying to quit medicine and go into business? Because that's the only time it will matter. The same goes for other scam combined programs like MD/PhD (just do research intensive residency/fellowship), MD/MS (not as good as having PhD) and MD/MPH (you can already do public health)
 
Well if I can get in on scholarships I would take the MBA.
Seems like the consensus is to just wait till after graduation to get it from top business program.
 
Well if I can get in on scholarships I would take the MBA.
Seems like the consensus is to just wait till after graduation to get it from top business program.
What do you want it for? That's the question. Having a scholarship is nice, but this doesn't factor in the time wasted on getting a degree that potentially gives you no benefit, which at most top MBA programs is 2 years of your life. You are prepared to spend 2 years of full-time classwork after you spent 4 years in medical school and then a minimum of 3 years of residency for an MBA? To what end?
 
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