Consulting at Bain & Co before med school

[nfg05]

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Hello-

I'm an undergrad senior looking to take at least a year off, maybe two, before going to med school and wondering if accepting an offer at Bain & Co. makes sense. It wouldn't be particularly health care focused, although I could maybe get a couple health care cases over 2 years if I'm lucky.

Long term, I was thinking MD/MBA but don't now about that know since I'm not looking at even entering med school until 24 if I go to Bain. My main concern is what adcoms will think of this general, corporate type experience and my commitment to be a physician although my undergrad experience has been quite health focused (thesis, courses, most extracurriculars). Other options include overseas health service work (i.e. rural clinic in Haiti) but with those types of opportunities unpaid and Bain offering >$80K right now...

 

[StevenRF]

A couple of people I know did what you're planning and it worked out fine. Got into prestigious med schools and everything. What's gonna be hard is going from the nice perks, interacting with executives, and traveling to being broke, getting treated like dog crap, and never seeing the light of day for a decade. It seems like most go the other direction.

But yea it's totally doable.

 

[civic4982]

go have fun and work for the bucks for a bit and save some cheddar for a rainy day in med school.

if that opportunity had fallen into my lap I'd jump on it.

 

[aocenteno]

I'd jump on the Bain offer in a hearbeat......gain some expereince, and see if consulting is something you want to do. You may find you weren't meant for Med school....or you may realize it is what you really want.

In any case, surrounding yourself with Top talent is a good thing.

 

[dragonfly99]

I think it's OK.
Just realize that a few members of some adcoms might hold it against you (i.e. a primary care focused state med school with a lot of family docs on the adcom may not love this choice of job). Some other schools, esp. the private ones that aren't so primary care focused, might like it. You'll get in or not more based on grades, MCATs, prior volunteer experience, etc. I would say.

 

[bluedevil61212]

So it seems like medical schools won't frown upon time spent in consulting. With that said, do you think spending 2 years in a top consulting firm (McKinsey, BCG, Bain, Deloitte) can actually help with admissions?

Are there any medical schools that favor applicants with a business background?