Working for a pharmaceutical company before medical school?

[LordWiki]

I'm a rising senior hoping to (in a few years) apply to medical school. Right now, I'm starting to get into the recruiting process for full-time jobs, to hopefully find a job to work at for a few years while doing my self-made post-bacc before applying to medical school. My degree is in math, and I'm looking to work in corporate finance because the hours are more conducive to studying on the side than they are at a bank.

I found a job opening in the finance division at McKesson, a very large pharmaceutical company. My question is if adcoms would look down on my application in a few years if my work experience was at McKesson because I know that doctors have lots of problems with the firm, or if they would look favorably on me because my work experience was in the healthcare world, or if it wouldn't matter. Any insight would be greatly appreciated!

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[fjeowpij]

I did an SMP program and there were a lot of career changers in their late 20s or early 30s. In my limited experience, many of these applicants seemed to be unsuccessful in getting into med school. Part of the reason, I'm guessing, is because they didn't convey a very compelling story of why they had a change of heart and want to become a physician. Med schools look for a track record of dedication to patient care through various activities. In my personal opinion, your job in finance at the pharmaceutical company could be seen as a distraction. That with your degree in finance, they'll question why you want to be a doctor, and why not continue working in finance. If med school is your passion and where you want to be, I would suggest focusing on your post-bacc program first. Hope that helps.

 

[LordWiki]

I did an SMP program and there were a lot of career changers in their late 20s or early 30s. In my limited experience, many of these applicants seemed to be unsuccessful in getting into med school. Part of the reason, I'm guessing, is because they didn't convey a very compelling story of why they had a change of heart and want to become a physician. Med schools look for a track record of dedication to patient care through various activities. In my personal opinion, your job in finance at the pharmaceutical company could be seen as a distraction. That with your degree in finance, they'll question why you want to be a doctor, and why not continue working in finance. If med school is your passion and where you want to be, I would suggest focusing on your post-bacc program first. Hope that helps.

Well, I come from a fairly low-income background and I need to work to afford medical school. The plan is to take nighttime post-bacc courses while working for a few years, and I was pressured into majoring in something like finance so I could get a job, because there was no guarantee that I'd be able to get into medical school if I were have majored in biology or something. My concern is not about whether they'll see the fact that I'm changing careers as a distraction; rather that my chosen career that I am changing from would be seen as unethical and/or if there would be some sort of grudge against applicants who previously worked at companies with unethical dealings. I'm confident that I'll be able to use my application to convey my passion for the medical field; my only worry is that working for a company like McKesson would just give adcoms a bad taste in their mouths.

 

[deleted555445]

No - pharmaceutical companies employ and work with many doctors. They are sometimes portrayed as the enemy, but in reality most work hand in hand with doctors as an arm of the medical industry. No one is going to fault you ethically for working for McKesson, J&J, Novartis, Medtronic, etc. As long as you feel like everything you're doing is ethical, then you should be fine. The exception is Purdue Pharma, that might turn some heads in a negative way. Although I don't think they're hiring right now given they just declared bankruptcy due to opioid epidemic related lawsuits.

I understand your need to support yourself, you should be fine if you do well in post-bacc classes/MCAT, do some clinical volunteering, do some non-clinical volunteering, and shadow some doctors.

Source: I'm a sell-out working in industry (biotech startup) as a researcher to afford post-bacc classes and the (expensive) application process.

 

[disclosureMD]

I'm a rising senior hoping to (in a few years) apply to medical school. Right now, I'm starting to get into the recruiting process for full-time jobs, to hopefully find a job to work at for a few years while doing my self-made post-bacc before applying to medical school. My degree is in finance, and I'm looking to work in corporate finance because the hours are more conducive to studying on the side than they are at a bank.

I found a job opening in the finance division at McKesson, a very large pharmaceutical company. My question is if adcoms would look down on my application in a few years if my work experience was at McKesson because I know that doctors have lots of problems with the firm, or if they would look favorably on me because my work experience was in the healthcare world, or if it wouldn't matter. Any insight would be greatly appreciated!

n=1 story, but i spent the last 4 years working as in the pharmaceutical/financial services sector and will be matriculating to an MD program this summer! In my application and interviews, I explained that I wasn't ready to commit to a career as a physician at the age of 22 and instead needed to gain real world experience to better understand the healthcare landscape. These experiences allowed me to ultimately apply to medical school with the conviction that it was the right career path for me. I think another key is to clearly articulate that your unique perspective on the different stakeholders in healthcare is an asset to your future classmates. For reference, I am not a strong stat applicant , gpa<3.5, MCAT 50X, white female, so i really think the admissions committees valued my nontraditional story. I would definitely recommend that closer to the time that you do apply you make sure to do significant shadowing and volunteer work in a healthcare setting to show that you really understand what its like to treat sick patients.

 

[MisterMukwa]

Feel free to PM me if you’d like to discuss. I’m working in industry currently but applying soon.