Pharmacist to MBA with specialization

[golo]

I am a fresh graduate of pharmacy,I want to apply for MBA program, but I don't know to which specialization,Finance/Management/Marketing, I want to know which one is most preferable for a pharmacist who wants to hold a job in pharmaceutical company/industry?

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[BenJammin]

I am a fresh graduate of pharmacy,I want to apply for MBA program, but I don't know to which specialization,Finance/Management/Marketing, I want to know which one is most preferable for a pharmacist who wants to hold a job in pharmaceutical company/industry?

You need work experience in order to get the full value of that MBA degree. Besides, most of the top schools in my area won't even let you apply without 2 years of full time employment.

 

[golo]

regardless the work experience , i want to know which specialization is a better choice for a pharmacy degree holder who don't want to work his whole life in a pharmacy

 

[Argentium]

regardless the work experience , i want to know which specialization is a better choice for a pharmacy degree holder who don't want to work his whole life in a pharmacy

... depends where in the pharmaceutical industry you'd like to work

 

[BMBiology]

Just having an MBA alone is not going to get you into big pharma. They have been cutting people left and right. It is very competitive and without experience, having an MBA doesn't do much. It may even indicate you are "over qualify" for a position and you may leave once an opportunity comes up.

 

[hereticmnk]

Just having an MBA alone is not going to get you into big pharma. They have been cutting people left and right. It is very competitive and without experience, having an MBA doesn't do much. It may even indicate you are "over qualify" for a position and you may leave once an opportunity comes up.

I agree, many people fail to realize this.

 

[STLclinical16]

maybe a good combo for hospital administration?

 

[BMBiology]

I agree, many people fail to realize this.

Plenty of "overqualified" and unemployed MBAs with heavy student loan debt:

http://blogs.wsj.com/laidoff/2009/0...al-job-security/tab/comments/?sort_order=desc

 

[koercive]

what departments are you interested in? If you have no idea or the answer is not in a commercial role, I would wait on the MBA (you don't need an MBA for Med affairs/med comm)

You probably won't get into a top MBA school without experience. Not a good school -> hard to land a good internship (waste of your time and money)

 

[golo]

what departments are you interested in? If you have no idea or the answer is not in a commercial role, I would wait on the MBA (you don't need an MBA for Med affairs/med comm)

You probably won't get into a top MBA school without experience. Not a good school -> hard to land a good internship (waste of your time and money)

I'm not planning to enroll in a top MBA school, but i want a specialization in one of these:Marketing/Management/Finance , the one which has more opportunities in pharmaceutical area specially in US/Canada. So all i want now is to get information from pharmacists that been before in pharmaceutical industry.

 

[358265]

regardless the work experience , i want to know which specialization is a better choice for a pharmacy degree holder who don't want to work his whole life in a pharmacy

Why did you choose pharmacy, then? That makes no sense.

 

[usechopstix]

I recommend looking into a fellowship that gear more towards what you are looking for. Rutgers has an industry fellowship program that would be a nice step towards that MBA you want and will help you decide what it is exactly you want to do with it.

 

[BenJammin]

I'm not planning to enroll in a top MBA school, but i want a specialization in one of these:Marketing/Management/Finance , the one which has more opportunities in pharmaceutical area specially in US/Canada. So all i want now is to get information from pharmacists that been before in pharmaceutical industry.

Then don't even bother. Absolute waste of money. A top school will give you that alumni network and without that, you are useless as a candidate.

Why did you choose pharmacy, then? That makes no sense.

Maybe he realized by his third year that pharmacy sucks? Happens to a lot of graduates in almost every field.

 

[lorain]

you need work experience

if you want to work in the industry, I recommend the rutgers fellowships, they are competitive though

dont get me wrong, my mba helps me everyday, but work experience is more critical

 

[hereticmnk]

you need work experience

if you want to work in the industry, I recommend the rutgers fellowships, they are competitive though

dont get me wrong, my mba helps me everyday, but work experience is more critical

I think saying that they are competitive is an understatement. They are impossible to get into. May I ask what your current job is? Are you a district manager? Work in industry? Just curious how the MBA helped you.

 

[moolman]

Oh young and optimisit one.... in all seriousness, if you want to do what you describe, the most realistic way is to apply for the Rutguers industrial fellowship that someone mentioned above.

A MBA without the experience is quite useless. There are actually a lot of PharmD/MBAs that are wasting away their MBAs. Look at schools like Shanndoah or UOP that offer the PharmD/MBA program, the whole point of the MBA is to network, use the knowledge and experience while working to get full use out of the MBA education. You get none of that if you don't have the work experience or you did the straight PharmD/MBA programs.

Even if you wanted to work corporate, a manged care residency will be better, or do a clinical residency and move up in a company. But you're in for a rude awakening if you think a MBA will open up any extra doors or opporutnities for you.

Apply for the fellowship, if you qualify, easy.

 

[lorain]

Oh young and optimisit one.... in all seriousness, if you want to do what you describe, the most realistic way is to apply for the Rutguers industrial fellowship that someone mentioned above.

A MBA without the experience is quite useless. There are actually a lot of PharmD/MBAs that are wasting away their MBAs. Look at schools like Shanndoah or UOP that offer the PharmD/MBA program, the whole point of the MBA is to network, use the knowledge and experience while working to get full use out of the MBA education. You get none of that if you don't have the work experience or you did the straight PharmD/MBA programs.

Even if you wanted to work corporate, a manged care residency will be better, or do a clinical residency and move up in a company. But you're in for a rude awakening if you think a MBA will open up any extra doors or opporutnities for you.

Apply for the fellowship, if you qualify, easy.

a mba alone wont open up opportunity

the work experience is key, a 2nd degree on top of that can be helpful

 

[moolman]

a mba alone wont open up opportunity

the work experience is key, a 2nd degree on top of that can be helpful

Isn't that what I said? Whatcha talkin about Willis?

 

[358265]

Maybe he realized by his third year that pharmacy sucks? Happens to a lot of graduates in almost every field.

Hmm... you bring up a very good point. It seems to happen more often in pharmacy, however. I guess that must either mean either everyone's perfect perception of this profession is no longer coming true, or the working conditions have degraded to where only slaves are working now.