DMD/MBA

[desaic]

For current dentists, do you think an MBA would have helped you out a lot? Do you wish to go back and do part time MBA? My current dental school is offering a dual degree of DMD/MBA. It will cost an extra $21,000. Since it is a private school the tuition is already on the high end for DMD. I will graduate in 4 years with the dual degree. The latest thread I found on this was in 2012, so I wanted some updated opinions. The con for doing dual degree beside the extra cost, is that all my holidays or the weeks off I will get as dental student are gone doing the MBA program. I just don't want to get burned out. Also, my school has block system if that helps.

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[Aceofspades]

For current dentists, do you think an MBA would have helped you out a lot? Do you wish to go back and do part time MBA? My current dental school is offering a dual degree of DMD/MBA. It will cost an extra $21,000. Since it is a private school the tuition is already on the high end for DMD. I will graduate in 4 years with the dual degree. The latest thread I found on this was in 2012, so I wanted some updated opinions. The con for doing dual degree beside the extra cost, is that all my holidays or the weeks off I will get as dental student are gone doing the MBA program. I just don't want to get burned out. Also, my school has block system if that helps.

The question is will that extra degree or knowledge earn you what it costs, in time and money? For most people no, but if you are business savy and have aspirations for corporate or large scale business it can work. $21,000 and still graduate in 4 years is not bad but will this detract from your dental knowledge and academic achievement? What about your mental sanity? Things to think about.

 

[DOC YANKEM]

The business class offered in the last year of dental school doesn't help. There are so many aspects in keeping a successful business and a MBA will definitely help. It may be excessive, but you get what you pay for. You can think of the $21,000 investment for a MBA in preventing a $21,000+ lost in opportunity cost.

Just know, that there are plenty of CE courses out there that will help you (i.e. accepting only PPO insurances, how to deal with terrible patients, and etc.)

 

[schmoob]

For current dentists, do you think an MBA would have helped you out a lot? Do you wish to go back and do part time MBA? My current dental school is offering a dual degree of DMD/MBA. It will cost an extra $21,000. Since it is a private school the tuition is already on the high end for DMD. I will graduate in 4 years with the dual degree. The latest thread I found on this was in 2012, so I wanted some updated opinions. The con for doing dual degree beside the extra cost, is that all my holidays or the weeks off I will get as dental student are gone doing the MBA program. I just don't want to get burned out. Also, my school has block system if that helps.

There are a few major considerations.

Why do you want the MBA? If it's simply because you think it will help you in your practice, then no it is not worth it. You're better off learning about dental business specifics. You can spend the time during dental school you would've spent in the MBA to read and learn anything you can get your hands on about dental practice management so your learning can be targeted. You can spend your time focusing depth over breadth. More time spent on understanding patient scheduling will benefit you more than understanding the intricacies of supply chain management.

In dentistry, no one cares where you went to school. It really doesn't matter because you're either a good dentist or you're not. However, that is not the case with business school. Name is huge. If you're talking about a program like Harvard, Wharton, or Columbia, then yes it will open MANY doors. But if it's from a much lesser known business school, I wouldn't bother. THE FIRST THING YOU NEED TO DO IS CHECK THE ACCREDITATION. AACSB is what you want, nothing else.

Having a DMD/MBA can get you into other aspects of dentistry. But if you just want to run a successful practice, I would skip it.

 

[allantois]

MBAs are not meant for managing 3 ppl in private practice.

 

[periopocket]

Ever heard of Howard farron - dental town inventor dds/mba?

 

[TanMan]

An MBA will help you with limited applications. Depends on what you plan to do. If you're going into solo practice, it's not going to help you unless you have ZERO common sense and need some platform to base your financial judgements. Is it worth the cost? I don't think so. You can probably buy a ______ for Dummies book and not spend time and effort into an MBA.

As the above poster said, if you want to start some dental product or service and you need some reputation to fool(convince) people of your credentials and knowledgeability, go for it. Extra letters after your name doesn't make you any better, doesn't directly make you any more money, nor give you any more credibility (from my perspective). When people say they are a "dentist/lawyer" or "dentist/MBA" or dentist whatever, I just think that they weren't really good at being a dentist and ended up getting their second set of credentials for that reason. That doesn't mean that they aren't good at what they are doing now, but I am still suspicious of why they ended up getting a second degree. I'd probably do the same thing if I got disabled and needed to work another job.

So.. I am going off in a bit of a tangent, but I still fail to see the utility of getting your DDS/MBA at the cost of tuition. MBA's are a dime a dozen.

 

[InformMe123]

3 questions:
1. Would the MBA be useful in the case one wanted to own couple of practices? (maybe even make a dental chain?)
2. How possible is it for a dentist with an MBA to switch career and go into consulting maybe in biotech/pharm/etc?
3. Going back to the response about learning business stuff by yourself in dental school, what books or resources would you recommend looking?