<p>Hi,</p>
<p>This is my first post in the Business School section. Please forgive any poor choice of words. </p>
<p>In September, I will be attending college. Currently, I am looking at a Chemical and Physical Biology primary concentration, and Sociology secondary concentration.</p>
<p>Although I am not exactly sure about what I want to do in the future, I am leaning towards business in the life sciences (pharma, biotech, etc.). I hope to hold a senior position at a big corporation (like Pfizer), but also aspire to eventually have my own start-up (which I realize is difficult in bioscience). As I said, however, my interests are apt to change, and I might enter another field altogether.</p>
<p>I have looked around at the executive team of some start-ups, and have found that a majority of those leaders hold a MD or a PhD in addition to a MBA. This is where my questions arise:</p>
<li><p>Is getting a MD and a MBA worth it?</p></li>
<li><p>What is the most efficient way of approaching this? i.e. I have thought about attending medical school right after college, and then gaining work experience during medical school, and applying to business school right afterwards.</p></li>
<li><p>Which is the best business school to attend given my current plans (assuming I get in)? Context for this question: I have seen a large number of the leaders at bioscience start-ups come from Harvard. But then when I explore other fields, I find that Stanford graduates have successfully started many more companies than Harvard ones (so what if I decide not to go into bioscience?). What about Wharton (which I heard is very math-oriented).</p></li>
</ol>
<p>Thanks</p>
<p>A Harvard MBA is worth it regardless of what kind of business you want to start. Ditto for Stanford and Wharton. I would go to the one which seems most well suited for your current goals (ie bioscience). Also, if you would rather live on the west coast, Stanford should given more weight and vice versa.</p>
<p>You do realize that with your current life plan, you wouldn't be getting out of school until you were 30, right?</p>
<p>Let us say you graduate undergrad at 22, add 4 years of med school and you are at 26y.o. (that's if you do research, add more time for primary care [but with your career goals you probably want research]) then to get into b-school you need some kind of work experience (people on this board could give you more detail but doing something like joining a startup is good [i think]) so lets say 2 years for that, you're now at 28 and finally 2 more years for b-school...30y.o.</p>
<p>i REALLY doubt the benefits for getting both outweigh the opportunity costs</p>
<p>Isn't the combined MD/MBA program 5 years total?</p>
<p>I agree with Skraylor in that you need to evaluate whether the benefits outweight the opportunity costs. Do you even need a MD to get into the biotech/science/pharma industries?</p>
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Isn't the combined MD/MBA program 5 years total?
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<p>had no idea there was such a thing. if so, disregard my previous post except for the opportunity cost part</p>
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had no idea there was such a thing. if so, disregard my previous post except for the opportunity cost part
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<p>There are definitely joint MBA/MD programs and they often allow the students to take a large business course load to finish the MBA portion in one year. Regardless, if you are high up in a company like Phizer they payoff could be big...certainly much more than a doctor would make. I think that with experience, going back to a top school (Harvard, Wharton, etc) for 2 years could be invaluable.</p>
<p>I wonder which would be more valuable in terms of getting the position u want...a PHD or MD. The problem with a PHD is that it takes longer than an MD and if you don't land a great job you don't make that much money. So, if you can get a comparable position with an MD that is the preferrable route.</p>
<p>Thank you for your replies. They are a great help.</p>
<p>The opportunity cost is definitely a huge concern for me, which is why I was wondering if there is any efficient way to obtain both degrees. VectorWega makes a valid point that climbing in a company such as Pfizer would yield great returns. </p>
<p>In this scenario, though, my question is whether just a MBA would be sufficient.</p>
<p>In my original post, I was contemplating about getting an MD and a MBA from separate schools. My original warrants for this were: 1. Going to different schools would expose me to more people, and therefore help more when networking; 2. One university's medical school may be the best, while another's business school may be the best.</p>
<p>How valid are these warrants?</p>
<p>For example, I think both Harvard and Penn offer a joint MD/MBA. HBS and Wharton are probably on par, but Harvard's medical school might have more resources than Penn's. </p>
<p>So if I were to go to Harvard undergrad, would pursuing the Harvard joint degree be more effective, or pursuing Penn's degrees?</p>