From PE/consulting to MD? Advice on transition

[sk44]

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Hi all.

I'm a junior at a top 5 ugrad studying Finance...but I really, really want to go to medical school. Unfortunately, I don't have a ton of relevant ECs and have only just started research and shadowings. The thing is, I am already knee deep in IBD (GS healthcare, lazard M&A) and I feel a lot of pressure to continue on this trajectory on to IB/PE from my friends/professors/advisors.

So what I was planning on doing was doing PE (Blackstone, Carlyle) or consulting (MicKinsey, Bain BCG) for an analyst stint while doing an SPM-type program at columbia on a part time basis (it's a 1 year MS that can be completed at night part time over 2-3 year--this comes out to like 2-3 classes a semester) after my first year.

As for consulting vs PE, I think I have a pretty good shot at both. Hours for PE can go up to 100+ for 1st years, while traveling for consulting can be 4-5 days a week. Either option leaves me with little time to focus on research/shadowing/community service,etc.

So how can i explain my transition from business to medicine to adcoms? i want to continue doing what i'm doing for a few years pretty much for the money.

Here's my profile:

Female, 19, SE Asian
Finance major (specializing in healthcare mgmt) and biochem (added this semester, have completed 8 science classes so far, taking 3 right now) at an Ivy
3.9 cgpa, ~3.8 sgpa (may go down slightly after this semester depending on grades) in 80 credits (taking 22 this semester)
research in 2 labs (bme and neuro @ my uni's med school, up for publication in one but not 1st 3 authors (~220 hours since september)
e-board of business fraternity
e-board of sorority
president of a 2 business clubs on campus, eboard of student consulting group
part time internship writing articles for an AIDS treatment website
volunteer work/shadowing (less than 100 hours)
brew club (not 21 yet though O_O)
submitted abstract for a student research journal, will be on e-board next semester
behavioral finance/neuroecon research over past 2 years (300 hours, 1 publication)
Can speak several languages (Chinese, Korean, German, Spanish) with working proficiency, beginner in Japanese, Italian.
A capella group and school choir, can play guitar

awards: various school-related scholarships, Research Scholar, StartingBloc Fellow, honorable mention for national scholarship, won/ top 3 placement at several case competitions

winter activities: more shadowing (10-20 hrs), 1 month "winternship" at prestigious trading firm, barclays capital 1 week externship, part time volunteer research for a bme lab at columbia (i just asked the PI if i could come in and observe/learn techniques for a month-nothing too significant), japanese night class at local college.




So the bottom line is if my transition is looking good so far. I'm expecting to apply to a 30/70 mix of top10-20/state schools and safeties, but want to stay in the northeast (ESPECIALLY in NYC) for family reasons.

any advice? thanks in advance!!

 

[DrMidlife]

No idea what IB, PE etc are. Don't care. Nor will med schools.

But I do know from SMP. It's "SMP" not SPM. Columbia has a one-year masters, but that's not an SMP. SMPs are for folks with GPA damage. You don't need an SMP. You might need to change your major or add a minor to your undergrad career, to get the prereqs done.

You're not a nontrad as a 19 year old halfway through undergrad. Take the prereqs. Do tons of clinical volunteering. Take the MCAT and apply. What's the problem?

Best of luck to you.

 

[sk44]

Sorry about the mix-up. The master's at Columbia isnt the Nutrition one, it's an MS in biotech meant for people with both research and financial work experience. Also, IB=Investment Banking (sell-side of Wall Street) and PE=Private Equity (buy-side). I have significant work experience, so it's a little hard to back out now, right before internships for full time hiring begin.

A reason why I'm not applying directly of ugrad is that there a LOT of premeds at my school who have much,much stronger stats than I do (I'm talking ~4.0 engineers doing 5-year BS/M.eng programs with 40+ MCATs who are Goldwater/Rhodes Scholar nominees). Being lumped into that pool would not look good, especially since I will not have as much science coursework done. I'm trying to maximize my investment. Also I have a good amount of (private) ugrad debt that I'd like to clear up asap before thinking about loans for med school. Besides, I'm not feeling mentally strong enough to take the MCAT at this point ( terminally ill parent plus college expenses for younger sister).

 

[hopeful22213]

As Dr. Midlife noted, I wouldn't consider you a non-trad by any stretch. I also wonder what your definition of "significant" experience is given that you are only 19 years old.

That said, you are at an excellent starting point for med-school considerations with a strong cGPA and sGPA. No need to worry about changing majors if you are able to complete the necessary pre-reqs before graduation. Ditto the masters programs- I think the value of applying with a graduate degree is pretty limited, especially for someone worried about incurring further debt.

But if med school is your dream, why wait? Paying off loans is an understandable focus, but the additional years of productivity as a post-residency physician will be far more valuable to you than a year or two of entry level work, even in a more lucrative profession like I.B.

If you can maintain that gpa and complete all pre-reqs plus score fairly well on the mcat, you'd be a competitive applicant at plenty of schools. Schedule some clinical volunteering/shadowing and you're well on the way. If you are hell bent on attending a top research institution like Johns Hopkins then you might need to devote more time to the process in order to cultivate adequate research experience.

A final thought- there are <300 people out of well over 60,000+ who score a 40 or above the MCAT. I'd encourage you to be skeptical of all these 40+ rhodes scholar finalists you think you're competing against. Poke around SDN and you'll find stories of folks who claim to have credentials like those who end up in the Caribbean. Just worry about yourself and what it will take to make you as competitive an applicant as possible.

 

[DrMidlife]

it's a little hard to back out now, right before internships for full time hiring begin.

You have to pick. Are you going to invest in your finance career, or are you going to invest in your medical career. If you want to do both, then stop thinking about how anybody else is doing either - you need to be creative and individually responsible for how you want a combined focus to play out.

A reason why I'm not applying directly of ugrad is that there a LOT of premeds at my school who have much,much stronger stats than I do (I'm talking ~4.0 engineers doing 5-year BS/M.eng programs with 40+ MCATs who are Goldwater/Rhodes Scholar nominees). Being lumped into that pool would not look good, especially since I will not have as much science coursework done.

What do those stories have to do with you? You're making a mistake to think that there's a difference between a 4.0 and a 3.9 or a 3.8. There isn't. These are nearly identical numbers that say to admissions committees: "outstanding GPA." You haven't taken science coursework or the MCAT yet but you're already judging yourself insufficient which is a misuse of brain cells. You are making a mistake to spin your finance "background" (meaning: you took some classes) as a detriment to med school admissions. It's not a detriment: it's breadth.

I'm trying to maximize my investment. Also I have a good amount of (private) ugrad debt that I'd like to clear up asap before thinking about loans for med school.

I'm having a hard time reconciling "finance major", "private loans" and "maximize investment". Private loans are a sucker bet. If you want to go to med school, you are wiping out any "maximized investment" you make now.

Start reading the news about healthcare policy and economics. Every day.

Besides, I'm not feeling mentally strong enough to take the MCAT at this point ( terminally ill parent plus college expenses for younger sister).

Sorry to hear about your parent's illness; that is a completely legitimate reason to SLOW DOWN and not try to overachieve right now. Take a break from school if you need to. You are not responsible for your younger sister's college expenses.

Put down the yardstick. When you're ready, take the prereqs. Take the MCAT. Volunteer in clinical settings. Go play in pre-allo if this isn't what you want to hear.

Best of luck to you.

 

[sk44]

Well, having two summers of IB experience (with one in the Healthcare group which focuses) prior to junior year is pretty significant at my school, especially at more well known banks. Interning at a bank during junior summer and then receiving an FT offer is pretty much how everybody gets jobs in this field. Even at HYPS, people fight one another for these positions. Plus, i think it will be beneficial to be in an intensive work environment for two years. The IB/PE/consulting grind is pretty rough (and contrary to what people think, can't be done by everybody).

Also, I have taken most of the prereqs--I have orgo 2 and physics left. I've done well in most of them (save for a B+ in orgo 1), and am taking a few upper level bio classes (immunology, neurobio) as well. It's just that I am lacking in research/clinical experience/volunteer trips, which is why i want to take the nontrad route

As for taking out private loans, why not if you have the means to pay them back quickly? I cleared $15 K from my loan from my internship stipends alone. Working full time will help me pay off the rest of the amount in less than 2 years. I think my ugrad degree is worth it.

 

[moneytree]

Just because banking is competitive is not a good reason for you to pursue finance. I hope you are not pursuing medicine for this same reason. Also, I'm surprised carlyle, tpg, bs, PEwhatever recruits kids out of undergrad, typically you need FT banking experience before jumping to PE.
Anyway, you're 19. You're in college. At that age, my life revolved around getting drunk and making as many poor decisions as possible.

Disclosure: I was an IB analyst out of undergrad. Green cards, black cars, and yellow bottles will sound cool to your liberal arts friends. But you have to weigh pissing away 2 (at a minimum) years of your life as an Excel jockey/pitchbook monkey for something much less than 2007-era-LBO-fueled payouts. Working in finance will teach you plenty of marketable skills, but you have to also consider that many of those skills are irrelevant in the realm of medicine.

$tree

 

[sk44]

@$tree: some PE (blackstone, carlyle, apollo, cerberus) firms do hire at my undergrad, but take only 1-2 analysts every year who have very strong IB summers and may sometimes take none for a particular year.

how was it like being an analyst in terms of gaining relevant med school experiences? was it hard to keep all your science knowledge fresh in your mind while you were working? or did you not think about switching careers until after your stint?
also, i'm not all that interested in cars and bottles--i just want to pay off my debt asap in an area that i'm familiar with. i plan on living at home (i'm based in manhattan) and am a pretty frugal spender.

 

[JESSFALLING]

If you want to be a doctor then you need to do the things that are necessary to pursue the career. Anything that you do that's finance-related will be, at most, an interesting EC. Frankly, you need to demonstrate that you are pursuing medicine with an altruistic motivation. I didn't read anything in your lengthy post that even hints at that. Your motivation for medicine needs to be authentic and compelling. Significant shadowing and volunteering should be paramount at this time.

 

[theseeker4]

If you want to be a doctor then you need to do the things that are necessary to pursue the career. Anything that you do that's finance-related will be, at most, an interesting EC. Frankly, you need to demonstrate that you are pursuing medicine with an altruistic motivation. I didn't read anything in your lengthy post that even hints at that. Your motivation for medicine needs to be authentic and compelling. Significant shadowing and volunteering should be paramount at this time.

This. How do you even know you want to do medicine, and why, exactly do you want to do it? If it is nothing other than looking at the "pre-meds" at your school and feeling jealous, because being a doctor is considered a higher achievement and is "more prestigious" than being in finance, you should explore what medicine actually entails.

Also, what your fellow classmates who are already going for medicine have as stats means nothing. Medical schools will look at your GPA, MCAT, Essays, LOR's, and EC's and compare them to their entire pool of applicants to THEIR SCHOOL. They will only care about your school and what other pre-meds there are doing if your school is known for massive grade inflation or grade deflation. Even then, a high MCAT proves that a high GPA was earned, and wasn't just due to grade inflation.

Stop worrying about what others are doing, or even what EC's you need, and find out with first-hand exposure if you really want to be a doctor. If you aren't sure now and don't want to waste your finance opportunities, by all means pursue them. There is nothing wrong with clearing up your current debt, and experiencing the world before starting the med-school path. But do not pursue medicine until you know exactly why you want to do it, and you have some experience that lets you know what you are getting into.

 

[bluedevil61212]

Hey I'm also a junior trying to decide between consulting or med school post grad. I think working for 2 years is great for earning some money and gaining real world experience. However, I wonder if it will hurt the chances of getting into a top 10-20 med school because it's hard to get the shadowing, volunteer, clinical, research hours in during the two years of work.

Will it be hard to prove to the med schools that the desire to pursue medicine is genuine without all doing pre-med ECs during two years of work?