Business School in the Middle of Med School

[confusedSE]

Hi All-

I am definitely going to business school between my 3rd and 4th years of medical school. I am currently a 2nd year.
I am contemplating working a year first , right after my 3rd year, and then doing business school, to try to increase my chances of getting into a top tier business school. I am only interested in going to the top 5 business schools.
Does anyone have any thoughts on this?

Has anyone out there done this path or something similar, and can they tell me what kind of ballpark I am in, applying to business school as a strict 3rd year with no work experience?

For some background, I went to Duke '05 , 3.7 Engineering, and have done a lot of leadership things in medical school (started an organization, organized community events, etc)

Thank you.

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[helpfuldoc2b]

Hi All-

I am definitely going to business school between my 3rd and 4th years of medical school. I am currently a 2nd year.
I am contemplating working a year first , right after my 3rd year, and then doing business school, to try to increase my chances of getting into a top tier business school. I am only interested in going to the top 5 business schools.
Does anyone have any thoughts on this?

Has anyone out there done this path or something similar, and can they tell me what kind of ballpark I am in, applying to business school as a strict 3rd year with no work experience?

For some background, I went to Duke '05 , 3.7 Engineering, and have done a lot of leadership things in medical school (started an organization, organized community events, etc)

Thank you.

Your chances of getting into a TOP business school increases drastically if you graduate med school already than apply. It may also cut down on time, if you practice for a short time and get an Executive MBA from a prestigious school. Why the hurry for the MBA and what do you plan on doing with it. It seems like you got a Business vein in your blood. Also its probably easier to get into the MBA program of your current institution. What school do you go to and would you mind getting an MBA from that school?

 

[lord_jeebus]

I agree that if your goal is an MBA from a prestigious institution, it will be easier to arrange that after you have your MD.

What kind of work would you want to do next year? What are your career goals?

 

[confusedSE]

I agree that if your goal is an MBA from a prestigious institution, it will be easier to arrange that after you have your MD.

What kind of work would you want to do next year? What are your career goals?

Thanks for everyone's responses. I am sure I don't want to get an MBA here. I would only like to go to Harvard, Stanford, Wharton, Kellogg or Uchicago for b-school. I may enrage some people by saying this but I am planning on finishing my MD and MBA but am not planning on doing a residency. I am interested in various business fields that have to do with healthcare innovation.

From what you two have said, it is easier to get into a top tier business school program during residency or after residency is completed. The problem is that I'm not planning on doing a residency. I have also heard of many med students taking years off between 2nd and 3rd or 3rd and 4th years of med school and have gotten good success getting into good business schools.

Getting my MBA from a good school will be absolutely vital for my future career. I have seen some of the restrictions placed others in the business world simply because of where their MBA is from (unless you're a genius or entrepeneur or have connections).


Do you think that it's still that much of an advantage applying after I receive my MD if I'm not doing a residency or practicing at that point?

 

[infiniti]

I know that a few Penn students take off the 3rd year (every year) to complete their MBA at Wharton. I don't know what the process would be like if they were applying to a foreign business school.

 

[DoctorFunk]

If you're still planning on finishing the MD program, what's the point of putting off your 4th year until after you finish the MBA? It seems to me that it would logistically just be easier to finish off the MD, applying to business schools while everyone else is navigating the Match. I can only imagine that having an MD in hand (or the prospect of finishing it before matriculating to business school) would enhance your chances at the top schools you're shooting for.

Not only that, but without having to take a year after finishing your MBA to wrap up your MD degree you might be able to take more advantage of the connections you make during school and leverage yourself into a nice business job straight out of your MBA.

 

[glp]

Hi All-

I am definitely going to business school between my 3rd and 4th years of medical school. I am currently a 2nd year.
I am contemplating working a year first , right after my 3rd year, and then doing business school, to try to increase my chances of getting into a top tier business school. I am only interested in going to the top 5 business schools.
Does anyone have any thoughts on this?

Has anyone out there done this path or something similar, and can they tell me what kind of ballpark I am in, applying to business school as a strict 3rd year with no work experience?

For some background, I went to Duke '05 , 3.7 Engineering, and have done a lot of leadership things in medical school (started an organization, organized community events, etc)

Thank you.

if i were you i would.
1. finish med school
2. join big bank or consulting firm and work 2-3 years
3. apply to b school
i have to admit i dont know much about transitioning from med school to b school but most matriculants to top b schools worked at top firms. you are aware that your chance of getting into a top b school is zero without work experience, but i think you would have a better chance of getting the kind of work experience that b schools covet if you get your md first. if you leave after 2nd yr you will be no more appealing to firms than some kid straight out of college. that is my opinion.

 

[confusedSE]

if i were you i would.
1. finish med school
2. join big bank or consulting firm and work 2-3 years
3. apply to b school
i have to admit i dont know much about transitioning from med school to b school but most matriculants to top b schools worked at top firms. you are aware that your chance of getting into a top b school is zero without work experience, but i think you would have a better chance of getting the kind of work experience that b schools covet if you get your md first. if you leave after 2nd yr you will be no more appealing to firms than some kid straight out of college. that is my opinion.

Many people have suggested that I finish Medical school and start applying to b-school during my 4th year. One slight problem I have is I'm not entirely sure that I want to give up residency yet...and doing business school between 3rd and 4th years helps me be able to still come back and do my 4th year and not look bad for residencies. (I heard that if you take any time off after you get your MD to apply for residency, it's real bad).

The other thing about wanting to get my MD/MBA without any work experience between my MD and my MBA is because I do not want to do any analyst work (100 hr healthcare ibanking, etc, etc). I know that McKinsey does start you off at Associate, so that is definitely an option, but I would like to broaden my options by having my first job experience with me holding an MD/MBA.

Does anyone know anything about applying to business school twice within a couple of years?

Any thoughts are welcome, thanks again.

 

[deleted77919]

The other thing about wanting to get my MD/MBA without any work experience between my MD and my MBA is because I do not want to do any analyst work (100 hr healthcare ibanking, etc, etc). I know that McKinsey does start you off at Associate, so that is definitely an option, but I would like to broaden my options by having my first job experience with me holding an MD/MBA.

It's tough to decide to start at the top, probably as someone's boss, without having done their job.

 

[NonTradMed]

I concur with most on this board. It is harder for you to to do bschool in the middle of med school if you are aim for top bschool, rather easier to just finish MD and go to bschool, although even that will be hard given that you have relatively little real world experience. The thing is, bschool is not really about grades, it's about work experience and the top ones will not want to take a person in who have just finished another grad program (or is in the middle of it). Maybe you should wait until 4th year and then decide to apply to bschool or residency. You say you are still not sure which route to take, so why not wait? An MBA is a big investment too, you should only dive in when you're sure.

 

[confusedSE]

I concur with most on this board. It is harder for you to to do bschool in the middle of med school if you are aim for top bschool, rather easier to just finish MD and go to bschool, although even that will be hard given that you have relatively little real world experience. The thing is, bschool is not really about grades, it's about work experience and the top ones will not want to take a person in who have just finished another grad program (or is in the middle of it). Maybe you should wait until 4th year and then decide to apply to bschool or residency. You say you are still not sure which route to take, so why not wait? An MBA is a big investment too, you should only dive in when you're sure.

Hi, thanks for your input.

I am 100% positive I want to do an MBA program. I am about 90% positive I do not want to do residency. Going on that, my decision is whether to apply to business school during med school (A route I have seen many take, in addition to getting into good business schools! (harvard, UCLA, uchicago to name a few)), right after med school, or work a few years after I get my MD.

If I work a few years after I get my MD, I don't see many positions I can get that aren't entry level positions like the slave analyst kind..besides for a consultant with an APD (advanced professional degree).

I have heard from those guys who have done the bschool b/w 3rd and 4th years of med school that the formal work experience required for business school is substituted, at least in the mind of business school admissions committees, by the 3 years in medical school. (except we are paying for this 'experience').

Perhaps I could try applying a couple times? Is there a downside to that?

 

[mshheaddoc]

First off ... there is a forum to discuss this ...

2nd off ... most schools (especially top schools) have MD/MBA programs for their candidates. I have rarely heard of schools (or top schools) taking outside students for their programs while they are in the middle of another program. I would suggest that you contact the programs directly and actually you are a little late in the process. Most applications were submitted early fall. Harvard has three rounds of applications and Penn does the same thing. I think the others do as well. You'd have to ask if they would take your MCAT in lieu of GMAT, otherwise you need to take the GMAT as well.

I would also advise you to at least finish your residency as it would allow additional medical training and field experience (as well as board certified physician is a greater asset in some instances).

While you want to go to a top 5, you'd have an easier transition going to Wake which is a reputable school as well as high rankings for entrepreneurship specialty which would be right up what you are looking for with healthcare innovation ... Most joint degree programs do not focus alot at "healthcare" aspects of MBA rather they are geared for full-time programs from what I've seen since you only have a year to complete all your classes. Although more and more schools are catering to the MBA/MD candidates.

Just my opinion from what I've seen ...

 

[njbmd]

Moving to Med Business for more comments.

 

[confusedSE]

First off ... there is a forum to discuss this ...

2nd off ... most schools (especially top schools) have MD/MBA programs for their candidates. I have rarely heard of schools (or top schools) taking outside students for their programs while they are in the middle of another program. I would suggest that you contact the programs directly and actually you are a little late in the process. Most applications were submitted early fall. Harvard has three rounds of applications and Penn does the same thing. I think the others do as well. You'd have to ask if they would take your MCAT in lieu of GMAT, otherwise you need to take the GMAT as well.

I would also advise you to at least finish your residency as it would allow additional medical training and field experience (as well as board certified physician is a greater asset in some instances).

While you want to go to a top 5, you'd have an easier transition going to Wake which is a reputable school as well as high rankings for entrepreneurship specialty which would be right up what you are looking for with healthcare innovation ... Most joint degree programs do not focus alot at "healthcare" aspects of MBA rather they are geared for full-time programs from what I've seen since you only have a year to complete all your classes. Although more and more schools are catering to the MBA/MD candidates.

Just my opinion from what I've seen ...

Hi, thanks.. I'm actually not applying until next year, so I still have time.And yes, I do need to take my GMAT no matter what ..

Yeah, it's easy to get into wake business..it's essentially an automatic admission from the med school...but there's probably very little chance that I would consider going there..

To me, at least, pedigree means way too much in the business world. I don't like it, but hey, that's the way things go in the business world..

I'm also interested in healthcare admin and healthcare delivery and things that go on on the upper level. That's probably one of my most major concerns and interests...but that's an entirely different thing.
healthcare at the level of hospitals, policy, delivery, things of that sort are really interesting, and i hope to use my MD and MBA in all those areas.