MBA in residency...

[EUA]

A prospective employer made a comment about the high value an MBA would add to one's CV. I'm planning on doing an online MBA, because my hospital will end up paying for 70-80% of it, and I think I can bang it out during my PGY-2 and PGY-3 years and have the 4th year to kick it and study for boards.

Thoughts? Comments? Anyone else heard of this as an up-and-coming trend? Anyone else planning on doing this?

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[LADoc00]

A prospective employer made a comment about the high value an MBA would add to one's CV. I'm planning on doing an online MBA, because my hospital will end up paying for 70-80% of it, and I think I can bang it out during my PGY-2 and PGY-3 years and have the 4th year to kick it and study for boards.

Thoughts? Comments? Anyone else heard of this as an up-and-coming trend? Anyone else planning on doing this?

1.) Online MBA? My understanding (and I have many friends with Stanford/HBS creds) is that name/rep of your school as well as the social/biz connections you get there are the key commodities from attending B-school. How the heck would an online MBA be worth it? It also sounds way cheesy, not that real MBAs arent...but online? that is laughable IMO.

2.) Whether you have lots of free time completely depend on where you are, i.e. if you are doing a surg path fellowship year 3, then no. Pure CP yes.

In conclusion: I made a HUGE mistake (well if you dont count my passing on a dermpath fellowship spot some years back) wasting time during CP residency not taking at least a few B-school classes if not going full-time/evening/weekend classes. I probably will regret it for the rest of my life because I had the chance to attend a top B school almost for free. I really like your thinking about the whole thing BUT I would rather to see a solid night/weekend B-school degree from a real university rather than an online program.

 

[EUA]

Agreed: the name of the school carries a lot of clout in the down-and-dirty business world. However, I think it matters a little less in medicine.

And trust me, part of me is skeptical about the whole online thing - however, with my schedule (call & whatnot) I just can't commit to classes per se.

Plus, my hospital would *pay* for most of it! The more prestigious MBA in town is $40K, whereas I'd only be about $4500 out of pocket for the online one; after the arse-gouging I got in med school I'm not real eager to add to the debt. Smell what I'm steppin' in?

 

[LADoc00]

Agreed: the name of the school carries a lot of clout in the down-and-dirty business world. However, I think it matters a little less in medicine.

And trust me, part of me is skeptical about the whole online thing - however, with my schedule (call & whatnot) I just can't commit to classes per se.

Plus, my hospital would *pay* for most of it! The more prestigious MBA in town is $40K, whereas I'd only be about $4500 out of pocket for the online one; after the arse-gouging I got in med school I'm not real eager to add to the debt. Smell what I'm steppin' in?

Are in a medical school with a university affliated MBA program? Can you get in there and swing a discount?

Plus, why would the hospital pay for most of it? That doesnt make sense, what the hell is their incentive?? And what is the online program? Devry?

 

[gungho]

A prospective employer made a comment about the high value an MBA would add to one's CV. I'm planning on doing an online MBA, because my hospital will end up paying for 70-80% of it, and I think I can bang it out during my PGY-2 and PGY-3 years and have the 4th year to kick it and study for boards.

Thoughts? Comments? Anyone else heard of this as an up-and-coming trend? Anyone else planning on doing this?

I did an MBA thru the University of Phoenix (a cut above online, but some would say not much) while in private practice of primary care. It was actually a good experience and I would put the actual training up there with either of the major university programs in my area-the quality of student was probably not the best, however. My opinion is that for those in medicine, the value of an MBA is learning the vocabulary of the business world. Unless you're going whole hog into the business world, e.g. consultant with McKinsey, I don't think the institution matters much.
Personally, I don't see how you could focus on an MBA and do Path well-but that's just my limited capacity speaking.

 

[rirriri]

there are some pretty good universities offering MBA courses for all sorts of professionals. It has become far more common for busy professionals of all sorts to get an online MBA done while working or training.

places like University of Massachusetts (http://www.umassonline.net/degrees/MBAProfessionalProgram.html)

there are plenty more i'm sure, which are quite credible and reputable.

i've been thinking about doing it as well, although i'm not sure if it's the wisest way to spend my free time.

cheers