Top 15 MBA at diff school between MS3/4

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tyrion33

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Long time lurker, I'm a rising MS1 who will be attending a top 25 med school in midwest that has a MBA program but is not well-ranked (not in top 50), attended top 3 (HYP) undergrad. As of right now, I'm interested in surgical specialties and potentially VC/consulting one day (did IB internship during undergrad before switching to medicine).

I have read that NW, Emory, Cornell offer a 1-year MBA, but I don't want to limit myself to 3 schools. Is it possible to do a traditional 2-year MBA at a top 15 b-school at a diff institution between MS3/4? Have considered saving MBA for residency, but I think that's wishful thinking (I'd need to match at the right school/area, and for many competitive time-consuming specialties I don't think there'd be enough time). Do these schools still view MD candidates favorably, especially more and more of their home institution MD candidates are applying into dual MD/MBA nowadays?

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I would not take time off between MS3 and 4. The time at the last 6 months of MS3 to the first 6 months of MS4 are both totally dedicated to setting yourself up for the match. Your two options are 1. Do the MBA between year 2 and 3, if your school will permit it, 2., Do the MBA after you graduate and after you finish residency.
 
I'm curious about which surgery-related areas you want to work in as a consultant or VC. If what I'm thinking is right, and you had a postgraduate degree (e.g. an MBA or MS) or the right experience, you could consult or be involved with investments in the medical device and health tech industries. After pharmaceutical development, those are some of the biggest fields in biotech.

An MBA would be meh since not all of the M7/top 10 business schools are a good fit for those fields, though. Medical devices and translational medicine are big in the Bay Area and Boston mostly, so Stanford, Haas, MIT, Dartmouth, and Harvard are the best business schools to apply to, IMO; you say that you went to HYP for undergrad, so you'd likely have a chance at getting into one coming from your medical school. However, while your IB internship will help, your competition mostly all have years of work experience.

If I were you, I'd consider alternatives to an MBA. There are other degrees and pathways out there that would allow you to gain experience in biotech, improve your CV, and increase your ability to match more competitive residencies. For what it's worth, I live in Palo Alto and have met 3 doctors over the last 2 months at the Stanford shopping center involved with medical device development and investment as well as students at my university that aren't pursuing MBAs planning on doing what you want to.
 
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Thanks for the input, I agree I have heard of MD/PhDs or MDs successfully enter or rise to senior roles solely because of their knowledge/field expertise. This being said, I believe the networking opps at a top MBA at least partially explain why MD/MBAs are on the rise. Furthermore, the successful "MD only" grads appear to come from almost top 10 med schools almost exclusively, likely b/c of their in-depth research experiences and the associated general prestige/name recognition.

This is why I'm interested in pursuing a M7/top 10 MBA. My two questions:
1. Is it even possible to do a 2-year MBA during med school? Doing the MBA before MS3 doesn't seem like a good idea, because it's before clinical rotations meaning I'd probably lose a lot of the preclinical knowledge due to the 2-year gap and wouldn't have clinical exp in the hospital to counter the significant work exp of other trad MBA applicants. Isn't between MS3 and MS4 the best time? (I have heard people taking off research years or doing an MPH then).
2. How do these top MBAs view MD candidates not from their home institution? What do they look for in these candidates, when they are med students and don't have the standard work exp at Google, Goldman, McKinsey, etc.?
 
Thanks for the input...

You're welcome for the input. I also agree with the first paragraph that you wrote, and I'm trying to figure out the right way to approach those areas, now. My guess regarding why things are the way they are is that networking and brand name matter the most to those pursuing business careers. Undergraduate and graduate school applicants are drawn to strong schools for the same reasons and also because they want research experience in the best fields; academia is very, very competitive and the top researchers are often faculty at the most prestigious universities. In addition to what you described, IMO all of the above and more can but not always do factor into becoming a successful "MD only" for research and business-oriented medical careers; that's why I'd encourage you to consider MBA alternatives (e.g. clinical and translational research degrees at the big schools) based on my prior post and answers to your questions...

1. You have to petition for a scholarly leave of absence from your medical school that may not be granted. And, MD/PhD students here complain all the time about feeling behind their MD classmates clinically when returning to MS3. From ^^, medical schools will not have a problem with you doing a clinical/translational research degree at Harvard or Stanford over an MBA, and you'll be ahead of your classmates, better prepared for residency, and on a more even playing field with the MD only's; I'm doing one prior to medical school due to my career interests, but aware of these advantages.

2. I asked this same question to the Director of one of the healthcare tracts of an M7 MBA program, and was told in fewer words to go to the best medical school possible. At another, an admissions representative mentioned not even going back to medical school (a mid-tier) if I got in. When applicants don't have the experience that you described, and I've also asked the same question to those in admissions, I was told that they're evaluated on their research experience and to a lesser extent extra-curricular activities.
 
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Finish medical school and residency and get a job in a place with lots of industry and do an executive MBA... At that point you will have useful experience with product development, or clinic application to bring to he table. You do an MBA in medical school and by the time your done all your contact are 5-7yrs old. Plus your employer may fit the Bill. At NYU they have a program to drive research and innovation. I believe the patents belong to them but you split the profit. The Ortho department there has innovated all kinds of implant. Figure what you wanna do master it then transition to the industry. I know plenty of people MPH and MBA degree they never use.


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