McKinsey: opportunity to get first-hand exposure for MDs and PhDs

Author: Riley Alexander, MD, MBA

I recently sat in on one of McKinsey's MD/PhD recruiting webinars (featured previously by Dr. Kim here) to get a better idea of how MDs work in the firm explore what top-level management consulting firms like McKinsey are looking for when recruiting MDs. It appears that they plan to increase their hiring of MDs in the coming years and as such, are increasing opportunities for interested candidates to become acquainted with the field and the firm. This new opportunity is simply called "MD Rotation" and is a 4-week/1 month internship at a McKinsey office that allows you to shadow a team involved on a project. I'm not sure how involved you would be (if at all), but it provides a great opportunity for those interested to see what the field entails and if it might be for them--not to mention, network with current consultants.

MBA Watch: A "Social" way to explore MBA programs

Author: Riley Alexander, MD, MBA

I saw this on TechCrunch today about a new feature launched today by Beat the GMAT, the self-described "MBA Social Network," called the "MBA Watch." The MBA Watch organizes articles, information, and postings about business schools and arranges them into a feed that is not too dissimilar from what you see on Facebook. It also pulls together applicant stats so that interested applicants can see the demographics of accepted candidates and a place for comments to be made. This all requires a registration. Currently, profiles to only 20 of the "top" business schools are available (I was happy to see my alma mater, IU's Kelley SOB, included) with plans to roll out the feeds to more in the future. Also, these are currently only for the full-time programs, as well.

Physicians on Sermo discussing the value of an MBA

Author: Riley Alexander, MD, MBA

For those of you on Sermo, I suggest you head here (login to Sermo required) and check out the comments and questions on physicians obtaining an MBA.

If you're unfamiliar with Sermo, it's a physician-only (US medical license required to join) "social network." They have a great deal of interesting medical related topics on there and it provides a nice physician-only forum for doctors to discuss (and complain) about topics related to physicians...both medical and non-medical.

Match Day: Did any of you choose to skip residency and go non-clinical?

Author: Riley Alexander, MD, MBA

St. Patrick's Day is also Match Day this year and for most senior medical students, it's the most important day of the year. It's one of those days that few outside of medicine have heard of and don't understand that, in many ways, it's much more important to medical students than graduation day. By the time you've gotten to 4th year, graduation seems like a "guarantee," but match seems very out of your control and because of that, finding out you matched in the specialty of your choice and where you'll be spending the next 3-7 years of your life is all the more important.

But, considering the nature of our blog, are there any of our readers out there who decided to forego the match and pursue a non-clinical path? Anyone go into consulting, pharma, biotech? Did you complete joint degree programs in medical school like an MD/MBA or MD/MPH?

Some Insights on being an MD/MBA Graduate Part 3: I've graduated and matched, now what?

Author: Riley Alexander, MD, MBA

I made sure and titled this "graduated and matched" because if you didn't go through the match, you've most likely made the decision to go the non-clinical route and this post will have much less relevance to you. (Dr. Kim has already addressed multiple pathways involved in that route so just peruse the blog for some great material on that, if you're interested).

As a first year resident, I think the initial time after graduation and starting residency has been one of the more difficult parts of being an MD/MBA grads--especially if you were like me and weighted most of your MBA courses towards the end of your MD/MBA training. Why is this? Well, I think the primary reason is that you've just completed this rather unique training and you're now faced with 3 or more years of residency/fellowship...3-more years where you have this fear that you will "lose everything" from your MBA training. Residency is, after all, a rigorous training environment that doesn't allow for a lot of extra-curricular activities and certainly not another full-time job.

So how have I addressed this? One of the best things I did was take advantage of the time I had off between graduation and residency. This will likely be the last time you have 2 months in a row off for the next 25 years so choosing to work during this time is not an easy one. But, if you're really interested in "getting your feet wet" in a non-clinical setting, this may be your best time. I was fortunate enough to get hired by a local healthcare consulting firm on a full-time basis during this time. This experience was invaluable. Working full-time allows you get a much better sense of how actually working in a non-clinical setting is and if you'll like it. It also allows you to learn how the business setting you're in much better than if you were just exposed on a part-time or after-hours basis. I know something like this may not be easy to find with the limited time-frame, but if you're really interested in doing it, try asking around and put some feelers out there and remember it will only be for two months--don't let what you get paid influence you too much. Many employers would be thrilled to have a recently minted MD/MBA on for a couple of months who is more interested in learning than making money. It may even provide for some part-time or non-clinical moonlighting opportunities during residency.

Some Insights on being an MD/MBA Graduate Part 2: Applying/Interviewing for Residency and Finishing Up

Author: Riley Alexander, MD, MBA

I wanted to use this article to discuss issues that face the final year (5th year usually, I think there are some where you still finish in 4) of MD/MBA students. Brittany made a great post on what the MBA offers medical students and what you can do with it while you're in school earlier so I won't touch on that much in this article.

The first thing I wanted to cover is how the MBA affected applying to residency. Being this is the time of year when interviews are winding down and match day is just about 2 months away, there is nothing on the mind more-so than "The Match." Entering this time of year always brought out the question among my MD/MBA peers: "Will I be looked at differently as an MD/MBA applicant?" In particular, everyone was more concerned if the deeply entrenched world of medical academia that dominates residencies would shun "the business person."

Economic Club Meeting recap

Author: Riley Alexander, MD, MBA

Well, I was fortunate enough to still be able to attend the Economic Club of Indiana meeting yesterday and was very happy I did...a big thanks to the Kelley School of Business for providing me with the info and free ticket. As I said before I attended, I didn't know a lot about the speaker or the company he's involved with, Lumina. I quickly found out that my questions I asked in my previous post were not really relevant. The speaker, Jamie Merisotas, was a very good speaker and did a great job of emphasizing the goals of Lumina, primarily to have 60% of Americans obtaining some form of post-secondary education by 2025.

This may not sound like a very high number, but currently the U.S. rate is at 39% so they have a long way to go. His talk and the goals of Lumina are specifically focusing on post-secondary education so my question about costs of graduate and medical education were not covered (even though I submitted it before the talk...I was glad it got screened afterwards). Information on some of the compelling statistics of education's impact on economics can be found on their site. A link to their pamphlet describing their plan in full can be found here. Essentially he made the point that America lacks a skilled workforce scaled to its size and that advancement of the middle class is dependent on education and will only become more so in the future...along with staying competitive in an increasingly global environment.

Attending Economic Club Luncheon Tomorrow

Author: Riley Alexander, MD, MBA

Tomorrow, I will be attending the Economic Club of Indiana's monthly luncheon, with a free invite for alumni of the IU Kelley School of Business, the primary sponsor of the event. The keynote speaker is Jamie Merisotas, the President of Lumina Foundation for Education. This is an organization I'm not real familiar with, but they deal with improving access to higher education. A short bio can be found here. Being it states they are in control over $1 billion in assets, he probably has some in-depth experience in this field.

It will be interesting to hear his thoughts on the cost of higher education. I hope he touches on graduate education, as well. I know the ever-increasing costs of medical school, in an environment of ever-increasing uncertainty on reimbursement, are going to be a serious issue to applicants from now on. And I'm sure the same can be said for business school, whether in its own right or within the context of the dual-degree.

Hope to have some good insights to report back with tomorrow.

Some Insights on being an MD/MBA Graduate Part 1: Considering enrolling in your school's MD/MBA program?

Author: Riley Alexander, MD, MBA

As this is my first post on the site, I just want to extend a quick note of appreciation to Dr. Kim for giving me the opportunity to become a contributor. Being a fresh MD/MBA graduate (2010) and now that Dr. Kim is blogging about his experiences in business school after being removed from medical school for some time, I wanted to start off with a little series of some my thoughts of what doing an MD/MBA is and what it isn't.

I'm going to gear this post to first and second year medical students that are possibly considering applying or entering their schools combined program. Future posts will cover those in already in a program and those in residency.

Once you start the MD/MBA, the first thing most clinicians will ask you (especially the very academic ones) is, "Why are you getting your MBA?" Eventually this will get old, it should be the first question you ask yourself before committing to it and likely racking up another year of school debt. If you see yourself as a neurosurgeon or cardiothoracic surgeon who will be working 110 hour weeks until you are 60, attending some business seminars/meetings or conferences may be all you need to get a basic level of business knowledge. If you see yourself wanting to take an active role in the management and/or non-clinical aspects of healthcare (not necessarily working a non-clinical job), then the MBA will give you a much more comprehensive understanding of business knowledge and is something you should strongly consider.

A few major things you will likely learn/gain from doing the combined degree:

* Leadership
* A much greater sense of teamwork and collaboration
* A thorough understanding of business language and terminology
* A deep understanding of the fundamentals of all the major aspects of business
* A desire to be more pro-active and guide your own path

What you won't necessarily learn/gain:

* How to be a world-class investment banker immediately upon graduation
* Becoming a CPA-level accountant on the side
* It likely has little impact plus/minus on what kind of candidate you are for residency