Events & Promotions
|
|
GMAT Club Daily Prep
Thank you for using the timer - this advanced tool can estimate your performance and suggest more practice questions. We have subscribed you to Daily Prep Questions via email.
Customized
for You
Track
Your Progress
Practice
Pays
Not interested in getting valuable practice questions and articles delivered to your email? No problem, unsubscribe here.
May 0710:00 AM EDT
-10:30 AM EDT
Sia Admissions Founder Susan Berishaj is covering this live on YouTube, May 7: how admissions committees actually evaluate goals statements, who is in the room, and why the goals statement most applicants submit wouldn't survive that conversation.
May 0711:30 AM PDT
-12:30 PM PDT
Most MBA resumes fail not because of weak experience — but because of how that experience is presented. In this episode, we break down what makes an MBA resume effective, and how to shift from listing responsibilities to demonstrating impact...- May 07
06:00 PM PDT
-07:00 PM PDT
A strong MBA application is built long before you start writing essays. In this session, Scott Edinburgh (Founder, Personal MBA Coach) shares 6 practical ways to improve your MBA profile before MBA application season - May 08
08:00 AM PDT
-08:30 AM PDT
Join the special YouTube live-stream for selecting the winners of GMAT Club MBA Scholarships sponsored by Juno live. Watch who gets these coveted MBA scholarships offered by GMAT Club and Juno. 
May 0803:00 PM PDT
-04:00 PM PDT
Inquire for a free profile evaluation and guarantee statement for possible admits and scholarships!
May 1310:00 AM EDT
-11:00 AM EDT
Applying to business school this year? Don’t miss Personal MBA Coach’s Top MBA Application Tips guide
06 Aug 2010, 00:05
Kudos
Bookmarks
Dear Alex ,
Greetings. I saw your forum on the GMAT club , and i must really appreciate the precise and candid advice you have given to a lot of candidates. It will be really kind of you to have a look at my profile and provide your valuable inputs.
I am an Physician , 31 yrs old , Indian.
GMAT 680 (Q 43 V39 AWA 5.5)
Undergrad (MBBS),residency (MD) and fellowship from the top ranked med school in India .
Academics : was always in top 10 students in med school ( the school
does not provide traditional GPA scores ) , 99 percentile in US
Medical Licensing Examinations Step 1 , 2 , 99.9 percentile in Indian
Med School Entrance and residency entrance exams.
Work ex ( 5 years post residency) : Worked at a large , non profit
hospital at clinical and managerial posts . currently incharge of the
a sub specialty division in a corporate hospital in India.
Other points : Active academic and research career : more than 40
international peer reviewed research publications , collaborated in
research of new treatment modalities and have been invited faculty to
many international conferences.
Extracurricular : Used to be the Cultural Secretary in Med School ;
I organized annual cultural meets for three years. Conversant in five languages .
Was a national level quizzer at med school.
Reasons to plan for MBA : IMO , The health-care industry in India is
getting "corporatized" fairly rapidly and it should be a definite advantage for
doctors with management skills . I am also interested in health-care
consulting opportunities in the US/ Asia-Pacific region.
Target Colleges: General MBA with health care modules at top 10 US
colleges : Wharton/ HBS / Stanford/ Duke/ Kellogg primarily because of
the strong health care modules these colleges have . Have ISB , India, NUS , Singapore and LBS , UK in the second list because of the shorter duration of program.
Queries:
1) I have given GMAT only once .My Quant score were in the zone of 48-50 in the prep tests. Should i retake the GMAT to improve my score , or is this score competitive enough considering my "diverse background" and academic career?
2) Is it worth the time and money for me to go for a 2 year full time
MBA now , considering that i want to continue in jobs related to
healthcare/ R&D sector . Will the ROI be slow enough as healthcare
related management jobs have lesser salary packages compared to the
more lucrative ones like Investment banking or other consultants.
3) I have a current CTC in India of around $ 50,000 per annum . However as I am married ( spouse not working ) and have a kid , I will surely have to consider fellowships. Will My GMAT score be a disadvantage ?
4) The starting salaries post MBA from India , e.g. , from Indian School of Business , in health care industry are almost the same as my current package. Therefore, I don't expect a large salary hike if I do an MBA from India/Asia Pacific. In that case is advisable to consider Asian schools also or should i target the US B schools . It would like to work in the US for 5-6 years before returning back in India.
5) As you are a Wharton alumni , it will be great if you can give some information on the career track in health care of any of your colleagues with a medicine background .
Thanks a lot for reading through this long post . I would really appreciate if you could spare some time to provide me a feedback .
Greetings. I saw your forum on the GMAT club , and i must really appreciate the precise and candid advice you have given to a lot of candidates. It will be really kind of you to have a look at my profile and provide your valuable inputs.
I am an Physician , 31 yrs old , Indian.
GMAT 680 (Q 43 V39 AWA 5.5)
Undergrad (MBBS),residency (MD) and fellowship from the top ranked med school in India .
Academics : was always in top 10 students in med school ( the school
does not provide traditional GPA scores ) , 99 percentile in US
Medical Licensing Examinations Step 1 , 2 , 99.9 percentile in Indian
Med School Entrance and residency entrance exams.
Work ex ( 5 years post residency) : Worked at a large , non profit
hospital at clinical and managerial posts . currently incharge of the
a sub specialty division in a corporate hospital in India.
Other points : Active academic and research career : more than 40
international peer reviewed research publications , collaborated in
research of new treatment modalities and have been invited faculty to
many international conferences.
Extracurricular : Used to be the Cultural Secretary in Med School ;
I organized annual cultural meets for three years. Conversant in five languages .
Was a national level quizzer at med school.
Reasons to plan for MBA : IMO , The health-care industry in India is
getting "corporatized" fairly rapidly and it should be a definite advantage for
doctors with management skills . I am also interested in health-care
consulting opportunities in the US/ Asia-Pacific region.
Target Colleges: General MBA with health care modules at top 10 US
colleges : Wharton/ HBS / Stanford/ Duke/ Kellogg primarily because of
the strong health care modules these colleges have . Have ISB , India, NUS , Singapore and LBS , UK in the second list because of the shorter duration of program.
Queries:
1) I have given GMAT only once .My Quant score were in the zone of 48-50 in the prep tests. Should i retake the GMAT to improve my score , or is this score competitive enough considering my "diverse background" and academic career?
2) Is it worth the time and money for me to go for a 2 year full time
MBA now , considering that i want to continue in jobs related to
healthcare/ R&D sector . Will the ROI be slow enough as healthcare
related management jobs have lesser salary packages compared to the
more lucrative ones like Investment banking or other consultants.
3) I have a current CTC in India of around $ 50,000 per annum . However as I am married ( spouse not working ) and have a kid , I will surely have to consider fellowships. Will My GMAT score be a disadvantage ?
4) The starting salaries post MBA from India , e.g. , from Indian School of Business , in health care industry are almost the same as my current package. Therefore, I don't expect a large salary hike if I do an MBA from India/Asia Pacific. In that case is advisable to consider Asian schools also or should i target the US B schools . It would like to work in the US for 5-6 years before returning back in India.
5) As you are a Wharton alumni , it will be great if you can give some information on the career track in health care of any of your colleagues with a medicine background .
Thanks a lot for reading through this long post . I would really appreciate if you could spare some time to provide me a feedback .
06 Aug 2010, 13:45
Kudos
Bookmarks
In short, you should re-take the GMAT. A 680 is at the bottom of the middle 80% distribution of admitted students at all top schools (and that was in prior years; these distributions creep up and/or narrow with each passing year it seems). If you're aiming for a US top 16 or LBS/INSEAD, you really should score 700 or greater in order for the GMAT not to be a concern.
As for careers -- here's the thing. Folks with MDs who are going back to do an MBA are doing so to get OUT of being practicing medicine, similar to engineers getting out of a technical career. Physicians tend to get an MBA to transition to the business side full-time in healthcare -- whether it's hospital administration, product management/sales/busdev at a life sciences/biotech firm, venture capital, or going to the healthcare practices at a consulting firm or investment bank.
So that really should be the key decision for you -- it's not really about the money because it's completely different professions. You have to decide whether you're looking to give up practicing medicine for a more administrative/sales/business career.
And the business side of things is simply higher risk. Yes, you have the potential to make more money if you've had an exceptional year in business, but there's also a much greater chance that you're out of a job -- and the more senior you are or the more experienced you are, the harder it is to transition - in other words, the income stream for a business career is far more volatile over a period or 10-30 years. As a physician, the income stream over the lifetime is more stable and assured - you're not going to go through periods of unemployment, whereas in business, it's a virtual guarantee that you will - and the older you are, the longer those "gaps in employment" will be.
You have to be absolutely sure of that before making the jump - even to an MBA program. Is your interest in business strong enough that you're willing to endure higher risk in your income stream (no, you're probably not going to be poor at all, but if you're very risk averse with money or just a risk averse person period, a business career probably isn't right for you). And if you are and you're looking to live/work in the US, then you absolutely should focus on the US schools (if only because when it comes to immigration -- employers are usually more willing to sponsor non-Americans who are already in the US on student visas than some random dude halfway across the world in India or some other Asian country).
As for careers -- here's the thing. Folks with MDs who are going back to do an MBA are doing so to get OUT of being practicing medicine, similar to engineers getting out of a technical career. Physicians tend to get an MBA to transition to the business side full-time in healthcare -- whether it's hospital administration, product management/sales/busdev at a life sciences/biotech firm, venture capital, or going to the healthcare practices at a consulting firm or investment bank.
So that really should be the key decision for you -- it's not really about the money because it's completely different professions. You have to decide whether you're looking to give up practicing medicine for a more administrative/sales/business career.
And the business side of things is simply higher risk. Yes, you have the potential to make more money if you've had an exceptional year in business, but there's also a much greater chance that you're out of a job -- and the more senior you are or the more experienced you are, the harder it is to transition - in other words, the income stream for a business career is far more volatile over a period or 10-30 years. As a physician, the income stream over the lifetime is more stable and assured - you're not going to go through periods of unemployment, whereas in business, it's a virtual guarantee that you will - and the older you are, the longer those "gaps in employment" will be.
You have to be absolutely sure of that before making the jump - even to an MBA program. Is your interest in business strong enough that you're willing to endure higher risk in your income stream (no, you're probably not going to be poor at all, but if you're very risk averse with money or just a risk averse person period, a business career probably isn't right for you). And if you are and you're looking to live/work in the US, then you absolutely should focus on the US schools (if only because when it comes to immigration -- employers are usually more willing to sponsor non-Americans who are already in the US on student visas than some random dude halfway across the world in India or some other Asian country).
