Advice Needed

[zenzo]

Hi everyone,

This is my first post on this forum. I was accepted to the MD/MBA program at a Canadian university and have decided to defer my admission for a year (until Fall 2018) to complete my CPA, CA designations. I am currently 24 and will be 25 when I do matriculate in Fall 2018. My end goal is to work in healthcare consulting and/or hospital/pharma administration.

The program length is 5 years. Knowing that I will be 30 when I graduate, I wanted to evaluate whether it is better to do the MBA or not. Since I will have my CPA, CA designations along with an existing Master of Accounting (MAcc), would an MBA really add that much value? If I do cut the MBA portion out, I will complete the MD in 4 years (like most med programs).

Whether or not I will do residency is another matter, but I will cross that bridge when I get there when I am in clerkship.

The pros of dropping MBA is that I will finish one year faster and reduce my potential debt burden by about $70K. The cons of dropping MBA include some people believe that the 5-year program will allow me to have more time to ramp up my research experience and match better to more competitive residencies like ophthalmology, derm, etc.

The pros of taking MBA is that this $70K can be considered and incremental cost, and the incremental value may exceed this from an NPV perspective. The con of taking MBA is that I know many big consulting firms hire MDs right out of medical school through the advanced degree program (via their MD) so I am unsure if an extra MBA would be that helpful given my pre-existing business background.

What are your thoughts? Given that I will have CPA, CA, MAcc, should I even pursue the MBA if my end goal is healthcare consulting and/or hospital/pharma admin?

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[zenzo]

bump

 

[deleted462159]

MBA is general experience. If you have a CPA, I wouldn't go for the MBA at that additional cost.

 

[LookForZebras]

I agree with Blizzard. If it's going to cost you, the extra letters behind your name are probably not worth it. The more degrees or certifications you've received the more experience you have, the less a new degree is going to help you advance your career or increase your salary. I have an MD and an MPH, and have thought long and hard about getting an MBA. I think I'd really enjoy an MBA problem and would get some great knowledge and skills from it, but every time I've seriously looked into it, I come away thinking it's really not worth the cost, time, and effort for what I'd get out of it at this point.

That said, though, if you're truly passionate about it and feel confident that there's a specific way it would help you grow professionally, get your dream job, achieve a salary goal, etc... go for it.

 

[goodoldalky]

I agree with Blizzard. If it's going to cost you, the extra letters behind your name are probably not worth it. The more degrees or certifications you've received the more experience you have, the less a new degree is going to help you advance your career or increase your salary. I have an MD and an MPH, and have thought long and hard about getting an MBA. I think I'd really enjoy an MBA problem and would get some great knowledge and skills from it, but every time I've seriously looked into it, I come away thinking it's really not worth the cost, time, and effort for what I'd get out of it at this point.

That said, though, if you're truly passionate about it and feel confident that there's a specific way it would help you grow professionally, get your dream job, achieve a salary goal, etc... go for it.

I would probably do the MBA. CPA and masters in accounting do not carry the same weight in healthcare administration, although the MPH is also useful.

You will likely need to do a residency to fully take advantage of the MD credential, it means little in the healthcare arena without a residency.

You should take some time and really decide what you want to do, however. CPA, masters in accounting, MPH, MD... now considering MBA... you would do yourself a favor to focus in a little more decisively. If your ultimate goal is high level healthcare administratio(c suite+), you would benefit most from doing a residency and having an MBA. If your goal is consulting or finance and you have zero interest in medicine, you are wasting your time with the MD, and should focus on a high level MBA degree.

 

[Frazier]

You will need to do a residency if you want to be a CMO or anything along that career track -- they often require years of clinical experience for good reason.
No docs are going to respect you (let alone follow you as a leader) when word gets out you never actually did a residency. Word gets out in medicine.

I guess if you want to do consulting, that might be a different story. But, again, your MD credentials are just a shell without residency training.

 

[neglect]

Why even get an MD? You want to go into admin. An MD is only required for a very few discrete spots in the hospital hierarchy. And worse: when deciding whom to hire for these jobs boards *usually* look for a safe choice - a useless doc who doesn’t make waves and has been around for a few decades. This gives the OP a few problems: 1. Has to practice medicine for a decade or more while kissing the asses of people on the board, senior douches, etc. 2. There is stiff competition!

Again, why the MD? If you want to be a suit, then get an MBA and become a suit!

Or revisit your goals, know yourself, and get into medicine to do good, fight disease and all that.

 

[doc05]

Agree. Med school is a ton of stress and the MD won't do you any good. No reason to do the MD if your goal is consulting or administration.