MD/MBA for a Math guy

[cleojames10]

I am in my early thirties.

Work Background:
8 years Business Intelligence consultant
Educational background
Bachelors in Computer Engineering from India
Masters in ERP Systems from India-Australia
Masters in Statistics and Operation Research from India

Most of my clients have been from the healthcare sector. My pal mentioned the MD/MBA program and with no medical experience I am all over the place.

1. I am good at Math but chemistry, physics and biology classes were way back in high school for me. So what are the entrance exams for MD/MBA? GMAT and MCAT?

2. These MD/MBA programs have a price tag a penny more than a bank loot. What is the ROI here?

3. I am not looking to be a practicing physician, instead more on the lines of adding value to healthcare as a industry. So what will be the program structure for a person like me be? Residency requirement wise. Basically trying to get an idea of the time periods here. 5 years, 6 years or even more to become a MD/MBA?


4. What are the options post MD/MBA?

Kindly do enlighten me.

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[sanityonleave]

I am in my early thirties.

Work Background:
8 years Business Intelligence consultant
Educational background
Bachelors in Computer Engineering from India
Masters in ERP Systems from India-Australia
Masters in Statistics and Operation Research from India

Most of my clients have been from the healthcare sector. My pal mentioned the MD/MBA program and with no medical experience I am all over the place.

1. I am good at Math but chemistry, physics and biology classes were way back in high school for me. So what are the entrance exams for MD/MBA? GMAT and MCAT?

2. These MD/MBA programs have a price tag a penny more than a bank loot. What is the ROI here?

3. I am not looking to be a practicing physician, instead more on the lines of adding value to healthcare as a industry. So what will be the program structure for a person like me be? Residency requirement wise. Basically trying to get an idea of the time periods here. 5 years, 6 years or even more to become a MD/MBA?


4. What are the options post MD/MBA?

Kindly do enlighten me.

I'm only a medical student, so take my advice with a grain of salt. That said -- doing an MD/MBA in order to work in healthcare administration if you're not looking to practice medicine is not a good choice. You really need to do a residency to get any mileage at all out of your MD degree (even in something like admin or consulting as an MD/MBA) -- there are rare exceptions to this, but most places will want you to at least do a residency. You're looking at 4 years of med school and at least 3 years of residency, and many places that would hire you on the weight of your MD degree are going to want you to have clinical experience beyond that. Also, it's a pretty miserable process if you don't have any interest in clinical medicine -- you're looking at 80 hour weeks for 3 years (plus whatever your time investment is during med school).

Thus, your time investment is probably a minimum of 8 years -- 5 for the MD/MBA and 3 for the shortest possible residency.

I think if you're interested in being value added in the healthcare industry you're better off doing a high-tier MBA with a concentration in healthcare management. An MBA from Wharton (an extreme example, admittedly) will open far more doors than even having a joint MD/MBA in the business world unless it's from a similarly name-brand institution. That said, I think part of the question here is -- what do you want to do in the industry? If you want to go into device or pharm dev vs practice management vs hospital admin vs healthcare consulting, those are different areas with different paths.

In summary, I think the MD/MBA is a poor choice in your situation since you have little interest in clinical medicine. I would look for a top-tier MBA with a concentration in healthcare. I'd also probably shy away from MHA programs, since they tend to be less well-defined and carry less cachet than MBA programs.

 

[Doc89]

Agreed with sanityonleave once again - if you have no interest in clinical medicine it probably will not be worth it to go through all the hassle of doing a postbac and getting through the "MD" part of the MD/MBA. that being said- if you're willing to put in the 5 years for an MD/MBA program + whatever years it takes to apply and do the prereqs, I do know 2 MD/MBAs who knew going into it that they wouldn't practice clinical medicine and are now very, very successful on wall street!

As for how to get into MD/MBA programs and the specific steps/requirements - your best resource will probably be the Application Advice page the MD MBA Association has: http://www.mdmbas.com/ForProspectiveStudents/ApplicationAdvice/

Good luck!