I was wondering if anyone out there has gotten a business degree and gone to medical school and how they did it. I would greatly appreciate the advice and knowledge of they were willing to share.
Son graduated with an economics degree math track (meaning calc through Def Eq). He is now completing his MD/MBA as an MS4. As far as med school he had several acceptances with scholarship offers. Being a pre-med allows for ANY major. However, he did not want a business degree but rather economics specifically as it is sometimes viewed as less vocational and more academic. For example he was accepted into Penn’s Wharton school of business as an undergrad for their economics degree not a “business” degree.
Hope this helps.
Kat
Just wanted to emphasize this. I would also suggest an econ major over a business major.
I don’t get the connection between business and medicine.
@katwkittens Yes thank you Kat. I am looking at Wharton and Penn because of the ability to study within any of their undergraduate schools even if your degree is in Wharton. So your son went to Wharton and took his pre med requirements? Did he find that since Wharton is sometimes considered a pre-professional school it was kind of a waste? And at Wharton doesn’t everyone get an economics degree with a concentration in a business field (finance, marketing, etc)? Thanks
@iwannabe_Brown Yes I would plan on getting an economics degree. Wharton is my number one school and if I were to get in, I would get a BS in Economics. I really like finance and investing however I do like medicine and both interest me. That’s why I like Wharton because it gives you so much flexibility. However, Wharton prides itself as a pre professional school and I am not sure if it would be a waste going to a pre professional business school if I have plans for pre med.
Son was accepted to Penn’s Jerome Fisher program (M & T program), a BS in economics and a BS in biomedical engineering in 4 years.
http://www.upenn.edu/fisher/about
He however, did not accept the slot but chose to matriculate to princeton as an econ major where he also completed his pre-med requirements.
He was torn between the two schools especially with the M & T program but was hesitant to be locked in to the Penn program as that it allowed for no electives of his choosing. Like most engineering programs it is based on a locked-in matrix of classes and he really wanted to explore his options. As you said Penn can be heavily pre-professional and was leary of that, same reason he turned down West Point and MIT. Princeton was a truly great “fit” for him.
He was also provided a great venue to marry econ and medicine with his senior thesis at p’ton being proctored by a nobel prize winner in econ, and his thesis on health-care economics. It really opened many opportunities to him that he did not realize was possible. I could see this being possible at Penn, as that they have one of the best nanoengineering programs.
Rather than this limiting his options for medical school the opposite turned out to be true. When I say several acceptances, I mean more than a few and some being the ivies and other schools. He chose a full tuition+ scholarship for med school with a full fellowship for his MBA (his MBA specializes in health-care). So his OOP is lower than most med school students, with no undergrad debt.
Again, I hope this helps.
Kat
Hubs (MD) didn’t get his MBA until he was in his forties and within a few years is now running a hospital. The business thing can wait. Med school/residency is more problematic to wait to do. Life is a marathon, not a sprint.
As a BBA and MBA myself, IMHO, business and premed do not mix well.
There are really very few Business Majors that are on premed track. You can be a Business major, take a few premed requirements just to test the water, if you think premed is the way to go after getting all As, you can proceed. But I really doubt that anyone can do well in both subjects at the same time. Even if you can, upon graduation, do you go for the med school or go for the industry? If you go for the industry such as Investment Banking, you won’t have to time for your med school apps and you lose your premed status. If you go ahead apply for the med school, after 10 years, what you learned from the business school is no longer valid and you won’t be able to return to the industry without advanced study.
As @walker1194 pointed out, it is much profitable to get an MBA after you have your MD education.
Interestingly, my son has discovered the opposite to be true. Since the combined MD/MBA programs shorten the length of time spent in the programs by a year and of course, cut the cost by a year of MBA tuition, the savings are substantial. HBS and HMS strongly support their combined program, as do Tuck and DMS, Penn and Wharton, Columbia, Ross and UofM med school… many of the programs are so now intertwined that the focus of the MBA is specifically on healthcare economics and operations.
There are several residency programs that have specialized tracks that are exclusive for MD/MBAs. They are exclusive to MD/MBAs only, specializing in leadership. Some of the residency programs are offering MDs the opportunity to obtain an MBA while in residency, and the cover the cost in addition to their residency salaries. As an MS4 son is up close and personal with the residency offerings.
Son was offered several summer internships, and accepted one for the summer that was only for an MD/MBA. For ten weeks of work his “stipend” well exceeded what he will make his first year of residency. Enough to drastically lower his outstanding loan amount. With the implementation of the Affordable Care Act, the world of medicine is changing and having a deeper understanding of economics and operations can only help your personal growth and carrer aspirations.
Some of his peers from other institutions are being heavily recruited as MS3’s and MS4’s to go directly into consulting and/or industry completely skipping residency. And some are actually doing this, starting at the consulting firms right after med school graduation. And it’s not just a few, one consulting firm has a recruitment program that is designed just for this. And while there they encourage/pay for your MBA as well.
I too discourage a “business” degree but rather an economics major that is more heavy on the math. It helped son not so much with med school but with his pre-med courses such as physics for engineers, physical chem and then later on his GMAT which he took before his MCAT.
As I stated previously son had multiple acceptances for med school and business school, and chose one that would be the most affordable for him as that he is solely financially responsible for his education, as was true for his undergrad where he incurred no debt. As that he was thinking of primary care rather than a speciality he did not want to be pressured by his debt load to not have that option going forward. With his full scholarship for med school and his full fellowship for B school, he took the offer he just couldn’t walk away from.
The fact that med schools and business schools have now such specialized programs and curriculum for the combined programs is a testament to the need for it within medicine and industry and even more so in the public sector of medicine. Why should private industry have the best and the brightest? Because their starting salaries are well into the six figures just starting out?? Given the chance to mitigate the debt load and financial constraints of a much more meager salary why not pursue an opportunity to do so?
Maybe if there were more in medicine who truly understood the financial and economic impact of medicine throughout all the processes, from regulatory to R&D, to capital investments, to PE, maybe it would not look like it does. The firm that hired him for the summer had him working in multiple projects referencing all of the above. Being able to see the big picture along with what is happening in medicine from day to day is a highly sought after skill/knowledge besides being so very useful in practice itself.
So many of son’s mentors at med school have encouraged his studies and easily see the validity and usefulness of what he has already gained. Maybe this is why some of the more difficult residencies are looking for those with an MD/MBA.
Kat
I think this is why people are saying it’s more profitable to wait on the MBA/pure business degree, since you provided multiple examples of places that will outright pay for your MBA along with a salary which is obviously greater value than one year of MBA tuition + 1 year of lost salary.
I am familiar with leadership track residencies but not any that are exclusive to people with MBAs. I’m sure an MD/MBA has a better chance of getting a spot, but exclusive would mean a straight MD with relevant experiences would be ineligible. Can you provide an examples that are exclusively for MDs with MBAs?
I actually know of several consulting firms have ADPs (advanced degree programs) where they actively recruit people with MDs, PhDs, and JDs. Unless you meant a program specifically looking for MD/MBAs. There might be only one of those.
Kat
I think you are talking about graduate schools where I was referring to premed under graduate.
I also was referring to premed as an undergraduate, that is why I recommended an economics major instead of a “business” degree. Since there is no exclusive major for pre-med it is encouraged to major in something you enjoy. The OP stated he liked business so economics (less vocational more academic) would be a recommendation.
Son has mentioned the leadership tracks at BWH and Duke, Mt Sinai and UCLA (I think on that one). McKinsey was heavily recruiting quietly. And of course the firms that offered son a position.
And I understand the concept of lost time, however with a dual degree you save 50% of your time and the cost of MBA tuition now, not 15 years from now. Tuition for an MBA is much higher in some cases than med school tuition. So in son’s specific case, his b-school fellowship covered his higher b-school tuition and expenses and provided him with a summer revenue HIGHER than his residency salary for a year, more like a year and a half. So he was receiving a salary while attending b-school and med school simultaneously.
Many at his school receive an MPH which is highly sought after from his specific med school. And many of his peers at other med schools also obtained their MPH, so adding another year, differing their ability to generate income for another year and paying for that MPH themselves. Some opt for that extra year to do research, furthering their options for maybe an academic track later or advancing their opportunities for a speciality residency. If son was concerned about the lost wages of a physician’s salary he would have taken the i-banking job he was offered as an undergrad.
Kat
BWH’s track does NOT require an MBA (http://www.brighamandwomens.org/Departments_and_Services/medicine/medical_professionals/residency/Medical/management_track.aspx)
Duke does NOT require an MBA (two years of management/administrative experience is sufficient) (https://medicine.duke.edu/education-and-training/internal-medicine-residency/duke-program/training-duke/pathways/management)
Mt. Sinai doesn’t say either way so I’m assuming that means it’s NOT required (http://icahn.mssm.edu/departments-and-institutes/medicine/education/internal-medicine-residency/curriculum/categorical-residency/hospital-leadership-residency)
I actually can’t find UCLA’s management/leadership track page. I know through their STAR program you can do a combined residency/master’s degree in health policy and management, but I don’t think that’s what he’s talking about, or maybe it wasn’t UCLA since I see now you said you weren’t sure about that one.