continue md or drop with goal of pursuing mba in the future?

[deleted647155]

MS2 considering dropping out of medical school to take a job in medical innovation/entrepreneurship...

but I also thought about completing med school (yes, take step 1 and step 2cs/ck) and just getting that MD but not doing a prelim year or residency because i dont want to do patient care but i want the MD to get a bigger picture of how medicine is right now and i would have a bit more legitimacy among the medical community with a MD and a MD is indeed a once in a lifetime opportunity...but i guess i could always ask to shadow docs as a businessman...and m3 and m4 is glorified shadowing anyway

i didn't go into med school for the wrong reasons--it's just that after ms1 i realized that i was more interested in the business/innovation side of medicine...i guess i could clench my teeth and just finish?

let's say that i will not have any debt from med school...should i just get that MD or just stop now, work at my healthcare job, and then get an mba, hopefully top 3?

i mean there are many med students who have dropped out to pursue medically related business/entrepreneurship/ventures

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[Osteoth]

I think that if you are planning on finishing your MD degree but not completing a residency, aka not practicing, then you should drop out, because you are obviously not interested in becoming a physician in the traditional sense of seeing patients, and as a result the THOUSANDS of hours of M3/M4/PG1-3 at least will be a waste for you.

Drop out, start working in the field you want to get your MBA in, get the MBA, be happy. Don't waste the 5+ years/$100,000+ on getting a degree you will never use.

 

[CopperStripes]

My recommendation is finish med school. You're right that the MD will legitimize you among some groups and in some situations. The MD / MBA combo is a great one to have for what you're interested in, and it's not a set of skills that many folks have. I really think there are organizations who realize that and who will value your experience and knowledge base coming from both medicine and business.

You've come this far - don't give up! If you drop out, you may feel some regret. But, if you finish and then work in biotech, pharma, or some other field in which you use your medical education, I highly doubt that you'll regret spending a couple extra years finishing up the degree.

 

[cognitus]

Legitimacy only goes so far. Getting an MD may help you land your first ob, but then it's performance if you want to get ahead after that. Other than that, there isn't much value in an MD if you have no post graduate training. You'll have way more medical knowledge than necessary to understand the medical part of the medical business opportunities you plan to pursue. However, the extra knowledge you have won't help much. You need the residency training to gain the additional clinical experience that may be valuable in what you want to do. If you feel like you can absolutely not practice medicine, then I would drop out now. If there is even a sliver of possibility that you will practice medicine, then I would stay and complete residency.