business majors looked down upon in applications?

[atlhawks29]

So I was a business (marketing and operations)/chemistry major coming out of undergrad. I've worked a year and a half working at a marketing firm, and don't think it's right for me. I've always been interested in medicine, and because of my chemistry major, I completed all of the prereqs for med school. I'm definitely thinking about taking the MCAT this coming year to apply. However I've heard that medical academia and med school admissions councils are diametrically opposed to anything "business," regarding the field in general as "evil" and responsible for the corruption of modern medicine. From another friend who was a business major going directly to med school, he says he was confronted on several occasions in admissions interviews regarding his background in business. Has anyone else had a similar experience? Would my background serve as a disadvantage when compared against a candidate with similar "numbers?"

---

Members don't see this ad.

 

[Law2Doc]

So I was a business (marketing and operations)/chemistry major coming out of undergrad. I've worked a year and a half working at a marketing firm, and don't think it's right for me. I've always been interested in medicine, and because of my chemistry major, I completed all of the prereqs for med school. I'm definitely thinking about taking the MCAT this coming year to apply. However I've heard that medical academia and med school admissions councils are diametrically opposed to anything "business," regarding the field in general as "evil" and responsible for the corruption of modern medicine. From another friend who was a business major going directly to med school, he says he was confronted on several occasions in admissions interviews regarding his background in business. Has anyone else had a similar experience? Would my background serve as a disadvantage when compared against a candidate with similar "numbers?"

You will be fine. Your friend probably has other application issues, but he chooses to blame his difficulties instead on his business major. You see a lot of that amongst applicants -- rather than admit they gave some glaring flaw they need to correct, some folks instead try to paint adcoms as somehow biased against some component of their application they can't do anything about. It's rarely the case, and isn't here.

 

[UpwardTrend]

You may be able to run a successful practice (business). That's what I've heard from Docs that I tell what my undergrad was in. Why else would several programs offer dual MBA/Med degree?

 

[atlhawks29]

You may be able to run a successful practice (business). That's what I've heard from Docs that I tell what my undergrad was in. Why else would several programs offer dual MBA/Med degree?

Good point about running a practice, though i heard the trend was that lot of private practices are being bought up by hospitals or healthcare systems because they are struggling with the way reimbursements and medicare/medicaid has been going... Regarding the MD/MBAs, I would say those schools are definitely less likely to feel that way, but maybe some of the old guard in some of the other schools might see things differently?

 

[atlhawks29]

You will be fine. Your friend probably has other application issues, but he chooses to blame his difficulties instead on his business major. You see a lot of that amongst applicants -- rather than admit they gave some glaring flaw they need to correct, some folks instead try to paint adcoms as somehow biased against some component of their application they can't do anything about. It's rarely the case, and isn't here.

Hmm good point-- I never thought about it that way. Though he did end up in a good program in the end, he just said to be ready for it and not to be caught off guard by it. I just was wondering if this was his imagination/freak occurrence or if others have experienced similar things. thanks for the support though.

 

[DrBoost]

You may be able to run a successful practice (business). That's what I've heard from Docs that I tell what my undergrad was in. Why else would several programs offer dual MBA/Med degree?

I agree...

 

[theseeker4]

Hmm good point-- I never thought about it that way. Though he did end up in a good program in the end, he just said to be ready for it and not to be caught off guard by it. I just was wondering if this was his imagination/freak occurrence or if others have experienced similar things. thanks for the support though.

Most likely, instead of them actually "confronting" him about it, they were curious about the switch from business to MD, and asked for that reason. He might have taken it in the wrong way, or thought there were being critical instead of just asking "if you majored in business, why are you now going for an MD?" which is a completely valid question and could be asked about virtually any major (other than Bio, the traditional pre-med degree😉). I wasn't there of course, so pure speculation, but other than a few hold-outs in the med school world, the statement that major doesn't matter seems to be true across the board.

 

[gloeotrichia]

Most likely, instead of them actually "confronting" him about it, they were curious about the switch from business to MD, and asked for that reason. He might have taken it in the wrong way, or thought there were being critical instead of just asking "if you majored in business, why are you now going for an MD?" which is a completely valid question and could be asked about virtually any major (other than Bio, the traditional pre-med degree😉). I wasn't there of course, so pure speculation, but other than a few hold-outs in the med school world, the statement that major doesn't matter seems to be true across the board.

Yeah, even though my major was technically biology, I focused on ecology and animal behavior, and didn't actually taken any classes or do any research even remotely related to human biology. Now I've been working as a limnologist for the past year and a half. The one question I've gotten in every interview, and what most of my PS was about, is "Why switch?" At first I felt like this was a disadvantage to me compared to the people who have just always known they wanted to practice medicine, but I think it's actually given me something to talk about with interviewers that they aren't hearing from thousands of other applications. So, even though you have to explain your decision, it gives you a leg up in being more memorable.

 

[atlhawks29]

Most likely, instead of them actually "confronting" him about it, they were curious about the switch from business to MD, and asked for that reason. He might have taken it in the wrong way, or thought there were being critical instead of just asking "if you majored in business, why are you now going for an MD?" which is a completely valid question and could be asked about virtually any major (other than Bio, the traditional pre-med degree😉). I wasn't there of course, so pure speculation, but other than a few hold-outs in the med school world, the statement that major doesn't matter seems to be true across the board.

that makes a lot of sense! thanks!

 

[Law2Doc]

...Why else would several programs offer dual MBA/Med degree?

They offer it because it's a money maker for the school. The same reason so many places now offer "executive MBA" programs. An MBA program is fairly cheap to run as compared to other forms of graduate schooling -- you dont really need labs or other infrastructure, and so schools profit greatly by having such offerings. Lots of schools offer JD MD combos and there has never been a demonstrated need for that combo either. An MBA program won't teach you how to run a medical practice. An MBA is really meant to build on existing business skills, which is why the traditional MBA programs won't even accept people without a few years of business experience. That doesn't mean you can't try to spun a business background that way on an interview, but I think most people with multiple advanced degrees are a little skeptical that schools offer these pairings because there is an actual market for the pairing, rather than simply a way to snare an extra year or two of tuition from folks.

 

[QofQuimica]

Here's how I see it.

First, there is no major that does not teach you some kind of transferable skill that would be useful for a physician to have. That includes business.

Second, med schools really, truly don't care what you major in, *if* you do well. I define "well" as "at or above average," which is ~3.5+ cGPA and sGPA for allo schools. If you're significantly below that, you will likely need to do some postbac work to establish a record of strong grades, regardless of major.

Third, if you're a science nonmajor, you won't have many other science courses to balance out your prereq grades. Again, that's fine, as long as your prereq grades and MCAT score are good.

Fourth, your friend is wrong about why he had trouble getting into medical school. Period. Keep in mind that you don't know the whole story here; even if you saw his app, you weren't there during his interviews, and neither of you has seen his LORs or interview scores, nor do you know how strong his app is relative to the total pool of applicants for any school. Without the full set of data, he (or you) has no basis for drawing the conclusion that it must have been his major.

From the other side of the fence, hearing someone say that they were rejected because of their major sounds especially ludicrous and shows something of a lack of insight. I sat on an adcom for four years during med school, and this just isn't a reason why we would reject someone who was otherwise qualified.

Best of luck. 🙂

 

[PharMed2016]

Here's how I see it.

First, there is no major that does not teach you some kind of transferable skill that would be useful for a physician to have. That includes business.

Second, med schools really, truly don't care what you major in, *if* you do well. I define "well" as "at or above average," which is ~3.5+ cGPA and sGPA for allo schools. If you're significantly below that, you will likely need to do some postbac work to establish a record of strong grades, regardless of major.

Third, if you're a science nonmajor, you won't have many other science courses to balance out your prereq grades. Again, that's fine, as long as your prereq grades and MCAT score are good.

Fourth, your friend is wrong about why he had trouble getting into medical school. Period. Keep in mind that you don't know the whole story here; even if you saw his app, you weren't there during his interviews, and neither of you has seen his LORs or interview scores, nor do you know how strong his app is relative to the total pool of applicants for any school. Without the full set of data, he (or you) has no basis for drawing the conclusion that it must have been his major.

From the other side of the fence, hearing someone say that they were rejected because of their major sounds especially ludicrous and shows something of a lack of insight. I sat on an adcom for four years during med school, and this just isn't a reason why we would reject someone who was otherwise qualified.

Best of luck. 🙂

Excellent post.