PharmD/MBA jobs

[PharmBulldog]

What do you think are business geared opportunities for a new graduate with a PharmD and MBA? Your opinion would be very helpful, thank you!

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[CetiAlphaFive]

What do you think are business geared opportunities for a new graduate with a PharmD and MBA? Your opinion would be very helpful, thank you!

Whenever I see one on a resume, I think "great. Another person so mediocre they can't think of a single reason they stand out, so they tacked on a useless degree."

 

[PharmBulldog]

Whenever I see one on a resume, I think "great. Another person so mediocre they can't think of a single reason they stand out, so they tacked on a useless degree."

That's a very sad way to look at it. Maybe they're really interested in business and that's why they did an MBA

 

[Seriously Serious]

What do you think are business geared opportunities for a new graduate with a PharmD and MBA? Your opinion would be very helpful, thank you!

You are more likely to be chosen for a management position over someone who does not. It also gives you a plan B for career opportunities, given all this talk of pharmacist over-saturation 😛

 

[PharmBulldog]

You are more likely to be chosen for a management position over someone who does not. It also gives you a plan B for career opportunities, given all this talk of pharmacist over-saturation 😛

What management positions would you say are potential opportunities for new grads?

 

[Seriously Serious]

What management positions would you say are potential opportunities for new grads?

Well, I've been seeing a lot of new grads getting hired as retail managers with less than two years experience at a particular company (e.g. my boss has had <6 months experience as a pharmacist and is now the PIC, a PharmD district manager had 1 year experience before being hired to his current position because he had a minor in business). It is not a guarantee of course, but it sets you a part from someone with no business education/background.

 

[Z-Qualizer]

What do you think are business geared opportunities for a new graduate with a PharmD and MBA? Your opinion would be very helpful, thank you!

Generally speaking, an MBA is pretty worthless for a "new grad" without any real-world business experience. A lot of decent MBA programs won't even consider recent BS/BA graduates for admission, until they've had a few years of business-related work experience.

Judging by the posts I've seen on this board, most seem to think that adding the MBA onto the PharmD isn't worth the extra time, effort, money, frustration, etc.

 

[LoveWillSaveTheDay]

Whenever I see one on a resume, I think "great. Another person so mediocre they can't think of a single reason they stand out, so they tacked on a useless degree."

What about a duel MPH? A friend of mine graduated from Kentucky with one.... just curious

 

[Seriously Serious]

What about a duel MPH? A friend of mine graduated from Kentucky with one.... just curious

It depends on your career path. A retail pharmacist with an MPH is a waste, however, a clinical pharmacist with an MPH is useful if they plan on involving themselves in research. In my opinion, retail pharmacists can benefit from having an MBA, clinical pharmacist can benefit from an MPH if they want to do research, and a clinical pharmacist can benefit from an MHA if they want to get into administration. Having 2 of the 3 degrees mentioned is a waste.

 

[Lnsean]

What do you think are business geared opportunities for a new graduate with a PharmD and MBA? Your opinion would be very helpful, thank you!

pretty worthless...unless top 5 MBA school or you're doing it at Rutgers and get into one of their ultra competitive pharma industry fellowships or make connections there.

 

[Jbrl]

Let's divide entry-level exit opps into 4 rough categories:

1. Retail
2. Hospital
3. Industry
4. Other

As far as jobs attained are concerned, MBA and MPH are not useful for #1 and #2 for graduation. They don't immediately provide benefits; you're in the same league as everyone else. From what I understand, they are marginally useful for #3 with regard to commercial and HEOR fellowships as it becomes easier to build your passion and value stories, but otherwise not useful upon graduation. #4 is where the MBA/MPH can be useful right after graduation (<5% of the jobs pharmacists fill), but only when complemented with analogous internship experience.

That's generally why people recommend not to get either MBA or MPH as a dual degree unless you:

1. Are attempting to transfer industries or go non-traditional
2. Have a set goal that justifies dual degree-ing for the ROI (time/money) and does not depend on prestige as a prerequisite for advancement (e.g. you do NOT want a no-name MBA for financial services, but #1-3 are generally agnostic about it). E.g. MPH for HEOR, where you are expected to have an MPH or PhD to move up.

 

[MindGeek]

You need to prepare for two categories:
1. Not getting a Rutgers Industry Fellowship.
2. Not getting a traditional entry-level pharmacy job.

539 people applied for the 99 positions offered by Rutgers in 2016.
There were only 164 industry fellowships offered nationwide in 2015.

Completing an MBA during or right after your PharmD would prepare you for both scenarios, and you seem to have a genuine interest in business anyway. If you can get an AACSB accredited MBA without exorbitant expense, it is not going to make you less competitive than all the new PharmD graduate peers in your area.