MBA in healthcare or MS - Any Value?

[Dreaming big]

If you had the choice between getting a MBA in healthcare or a Master in science, which would you get and why? Which would be useful in getting a residency? And a fellowship? are there any fields which would be easier to get into with either of these? What are the major benefits of each.

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[huskerdye]

If you had the choice between getting a MBA in healthcare or a Master in science, which would you get and why? Which would be useful in getting a residency? And a fellowship? are there any fields which would be easier to get into with either of these? What are the major benefits of each.

Uhm I guess I'm not sure what your asking..

To be a doctor you wouldn't necesarily need to even get a masters..

You get a bachelors, you go to medical school.. You get an MD. How you do in medical school determines your residency and how you do in residency determines a fellowship..

 

[MilkmanAl]

A Master's in science would help you get a competitive residency and fellowship due to the research component of it. That's pretty much where the helpfulness of grad degrees ends. An MBA would be nice after your training if you're nuts enough to set up and run your own practice. Both are easy to get into, though the top business schools are very selective.

The best course of action for you would probably be to go to college and med school in a "traditional" fashion and do research along the way. You'll have the same benefits without using an extra 2 years on a graduate degree.

 

[huskerdye]

A Master's in science would help you get a competitive residency and fellowship due to the research component of it. That's pretty much where the helpfulness of grad degrees ends. An MBA would be nice after your training if you're nuts enough to set up and run your own practice. Both are easy to get into, though the top business schools are very selective.

The best course of action for you would probably be to go to college and med school in a "traditional" fashion and do research along the way. You'll have the same benefits without using an extra 2 years on a graduate degree.

Oh wow, so there are people out there who get their bachelors, go on to get their masters, and then go even further to get their MD? And then possibly even go on to a fellowship after residency..

That's crazy.

 

[MilkmanAl]

Oh yeah, plenty of people get Master's degrees before coming to med school. I can think of 7 in my class off the top of my head. There are also MD/PhD students who get both degrees over a 7-8 year period.

 

[niranjan162]

Oh wow, so there are people out there who get their bachelors, go on to get their masters, and then go even further to get their MD? And then possibly even go on to a fellowship after residency..

That's crazy.

Some masters programs can be finished in a year or 2.

MBA programs take a little more work to get into, most programs like applicants to have a couple years work experience.

In the the grand scheme of things you dont go for a masters with the goal of getting into a competitive residency.

 

[Dreaming big]

Some masters programs can be finished in a year or 2.

MBA programs take a little more work to get into, most programs like applicants to have a couple years work experience.

In the the grand scheme of things you dont go for a masters with the goal of getting into a competitive residency.

A Master's in science would help you get a competitive residency and fellowship due to the research component of it. That's pretty much where the helpfulness of grad degrees ends. An MBA would be nice after your training if you're nuts enough to set up and run your own practice. Both are easy to get into, though the top business schools are very selective.

The best course of action for you would probably be to go to college and med school in a "traditional" fashion and do research along the way. You'll have the same benefits without using an extra 2 years on a graduate degree.

Thanks for the help guys! My school (already accepted into a med program, bs/md) give students the option of spending a year and getting either one of these two degrees, if one chooses to. I was wondering if it would make me stand out from the crowd? And if I already plan on doing research (I have to 3rd author publications already), the master in science won't have more beneift than the MBA will it?

 

[MossPoh]

Do them if you want to do them. You will rarely encounter a director at a residency program that will give a damn about your MBA or MS unless it involves research in the field you are applying to, which can be done without either degree. If you do it then you do it for the sheer interest and pursuit of knowledge. If you want to impress residency programs you simply work hard, get strong board scores, strong LORs from physicians you rotate with and maybe some research in the field. If you are trying for a radiology residency and you have an MS in something completely unrelated to radiology then they have no reason to even care about it.

 

[Dreaming big]

Do them if you want to do them. You will rarely encounter a director at a residency program that will give a damn about your MBA or MS unless it involves research in the field you are applying to, which can be done without either degree. If you do it then you do it for the sheer interest and pursuit of knowledge. If you want to impress residency programs you simply work hard, get strong board scores, strong LORs from physicians you rotate with and maybe some research in the field. If you are trying for a radiology residency and you have an MS in something completely unrelated to radiology then they have no reason to even care about it.

So no immediate benefit huh? If you had to choose between the two, which would you take and why?

 

[Maygyver]

Yeah I know Columbia's MS/DDS degrees are 5 years and the PhD/DDS is 7 degrees. Just to give you a sense of time for joint degrees.

 

[niranjan162]

So no immediate benefit huh? If you had to choose between the two, which would you take and why?

MBA, because unfortunately medicine is becoming a business. I think your missing the point though.

These degrees arent really things that make you "stand out", since youve been accepted to a bs/md program, you can stop thinking like that (what can I do to make my application stand out from others?)

You no longer need to do things cuz they look good. You do them because you think they will be worth while. In the business world an MBA is a degree enhancer, its not like an MD where you need it to practice.

 

[DrReo]

A medical student at my school matched into an internal medicine at Mayo. He accredited his thesis based MS degree since Mayo does have an emphasis for research.

 

[Az1698]

MBA, because unfortunately medicine is becoming a business. I think your missing the point though.

These degrees arent really things that make you "stand out", since youve been accepted to a bs/md program, you can stop thinking like that (what can I do to make my application stand out from others?)

You no longer need to do things cuz they look good. You do them because you think they will be worth while. In the business world an MBA is a degree enhancer, its not like an MD where you need it to practice.

I think he means that he wants to stand out for residency...

 

[Dreaming big]

yes az1698, thats what I mean

 

[Dreaming big]

Will an mba have a large impact for owning my own practice?

 

[MilkmanAl]

I mean, if you're going to be running a business, it'd be wise to have a business education, don't you think? Most people just hire accountants and business managers to take care of the financial aspects of their practices to prevent it from becoming a 24/7 job.

 

[cairn]

MBA!

My friends with MBAs had tons of interviewers ask about it on the residency interview trail. I think it is incredibly relevant to medicine. The ones with MS - no mention unless their research was super interesting. I've also had people say that their MBA helped get them a sweeter job after residency, because the group that they were joining wanted their expertise.

Of course the most important thing is which interests you more, and which you would rather spend a year working on!

 

[Terpskins99]

A Master's in science would help you get a competitive residency and fellowship due to the research component of it.

No offense, but I think a Masters degree is pretty worthless in this regard. A PhD would make a dent, but a Masters degree probably wouldn't have any effect either way.

I think an MBA could be pretty useful. Not only towards establishing a practice (you never know when you may take this step), but also towards giving you an edge towards obtaining more administrative positions at a hospital. And anyone can benefit from a class in finance or accounting.

 

[MilkmanAl]

I agree with you. I don't think either degree is worth getting, but the OP asked about the benefits in a choose-between-the-two kind of scenario. Meh.