Non Traditional Candidate - Review

Question

Hi ,

I am a 30 year old Doctor , having completed my M.B.B.S. (Bachelor of Medicine, Bachelor of Surgery) from a top 20 Medical School in INDIA . Academically i finished in the top 5 % of my graduating class. After completing my MBBS i pursued a 1 year internship which included rural service while implementing various WHO programs and providing Primary healthcare to the rural communities in India. Upon completion of my internship i worked in a global not for profit organization that deals with providing reconstructive surgery to the downtrodden helping them live a better life. This was a fulfilling experience for me as it included traveling the length and breadth of rural India in MOBILE OT's and assisting surgeries . After completing my one year tenure I pursued a Residency in Forensic Pathology (3 years) completing my doctorate by publishing my research thesis. I have published various research papers in medical journals both in India as well as abroad, and have researched on the subject of ethics vis-a-vis the Indian medical community as well as written research papers for the private healthcare industry primarily on the expectations of both the RURAL/POOR patients as well as what the Graduating Physicians perceive the role of private healthcare corporations should be in the Indian context. As part of my Residency i was involved in the manegement of the institute primarily concerning the Medico - legal aspect such as acting as a bridge between the legal fraternity and the doctors and often involved giving evidence in court and being cross questioned. As a part of my work i have conducted over 300 Autopsy's and have worked closely with criminologists and law enforcement.

Work experience : My total work experience including internship , residency , non profit work and teaching is around 6 years .

GPA : 3.6 +

Programs i am looking at ( Not in order)

* Duke Fuqua (health care MBA (HM) 
* Wharton Health MBA 
* Berkley Haas (GPHM)
* Kellogs MBA 
* Vanderbilt Owen Health MBA ( Primarily due to the locations of some of the best healthcare companies in that part of the US) 
* Yale MBA 
* NYU

Extracurricular : Was the Organizing Secretary of our Inter College cultural festival. Have been a State level athlete during high school. Have been seriously involved in k9 sport and have competed in schutzhund competitions having bred, trained and titled my own working dogs.

I am looking for advise from the fellow members on what my target GMAT score should be...and whether my choice of programs is realistic or i need to broaden my horizons ..

P.s - I am a US resident , in the process of naturalization...

Ward2012 · Answer

Here is a list of top programs and their GMAT ranges:

https://poetsandquants.com/2011/04/27/th ... t-schools/

To be competitive, you should fall within the range. You have a good GPA and as long as you're within range, you're competitive. Obviously, a higher score is always better.

I'm not sure what your goals are and what you're looking for in a school, so I can't recommend any new schools to add to your list. All I'll just say is that applying to seven schools will be a lot of work, so you'll need to set aside a lot of time for the applications.

vomhorizon · Answer

Thanks for the reply . My goal is to get solid Management training preferably with a focus in my core healthcare sector. Duke , Wharton and UCB Haas are amongst the top MBA programs that have a core focus on healthcare (elective) ..Owen while not ranked in the top has a unique position in the sense that it is located in Nashville where some of the healthcare giants are headquartered. I want to work in the healthcare industry or in the strategic consulting where my training and work experience in the field of medicine, and medical jurisprudence can be of some help.

Ward2012 · Answer

Sounds good. Personally, I would just focus on the GMAT now and research schools later. Regardless of what schools you target, you're going to try for the highest score possible. So to me, picking a school and then figuring out the necessary GMAT sounds like the reverse of what you should do. In my opinion, it should be the other way around. You should go for the gold on the GMAT and then pick the schools (or consider taking the GMAT again if you feel you can score higher.)

In terms of other schools, I don't really know much about healthcare management or healthcare consulting, but I would guess that those universities with med schools would probably have strong healthcare industry presence in the MBA program. I know, for example, that Tuck has something called "The Healthcare Initiative" the goal of which is to produce healthcare management leaders. I would think that Johnson/Cornell, Stanford, Harvard, Ross/Michigan and Darden/UVA also have at least strong class offerings and professors who deal with the healthcare industry or have some sort of joint program with the respective med school.

Also, I'm assuming you mean the Yale Full Time MBA. I'm not sure if you've considered the Yale Executive MBA that is exclusively for those interested in healthcare.

Good luck.

vomhorizon · Answer

Hi,

I agree with you regarding the GMAT. i have begun my prep for the GMAT and am targeting a 700+ score. There is very little information available online on the various healthcare oriented electives offered by various top MBA programs therefore it gets a bit confusing at times to figure out what schools i should look to target. I think i should be able to be done with the Test before by the middle of next year after spending 4-6 months prepping. I am working full time therefore cannot devote more then 2-3 hours a day on prep. I also need to brush up on my quant having not touched mathematics for so many years (almost 10 years) ....

Thanks a lot for your time and effort on answering my questions , it has cleared a lot of my doubts ..

Ward2012 · Answer

When you are researching schools, what I would do is email student leaders of the "Healthcare Club" at the respective school. You can find their contact info on the school clubs website. They will of course answer questions about their own school, but they'll be able to give you good career advice.

And also I would try reaching out to the Career Services offices or Admissions offices of schools and ask to be connected with MBA alums who went into healthcare management. They will be happy to do that. (Tuck actually has a form you can fill out on their website to be connected with an "Alum Ambassador". You pick the industry and they will find someone.)

ManhattanReview · Answer

Congratulations on making the decision to apply to business school. You have impressive credentials and would be an asset to any school. My biggest concern advising students like you is that your applications often come off as being that of a "terminal student" -- which is not optimal. What you really have to focus on is defining your career goals and t the skills and experiences that you can gain through a full-time graduate business program. To accomplish this, be direct and innovative -- in other words, make sure your story adds up.

After you read your application, make sure that it reads well for the programs that you are targeting. The biggest issue that candidates face who have a lot of work experience is that many of these programs would rather have you in their part-time or executive programs and might lead you in this direction. However, if this is not what you want, then you have to be direct and convincing in your essays and make admissions understand that you want the full-time program. This is not an easy hurdle to overcome so you might want to see some advise from an experienced admissions consultant.

Kimberly Plaga 
Senior Admissions Consultant
Manhattan Review

vomhorizon · Answer

Thank you guys for taking the time to reply. Kimberly , i have a question for you .. Is their a survey or rating system for healthcare mba programs ? What i see while searching for the top ones are basically top MBA programs which offer healthcare electives..and this does not factor in that their are some programs out there that as pure management programs are not neccesarily rated in the top 20 but are otherwise associated with top medical reasearch centers and have very strong healthcare industry recruitment and precence in their geographic area. Vanderbilt Owen is one such example. John hopkins is another one that i can think of . I would also love to get your opinion regarding whether a person with the sort of background that i have should concentrate in healthcare or should look to get a more rounded general management / strategy etc to better round off the resume for a future career path .. (which for me is either in the healthcare industry or in strategic consulting) .

Ward2012 · Answer

Here's a blog post that has rankings for healthcare: https://compassioninpolitics.wordpress.c ... -programs/

vomhorizon · Answer

Thanks , I had seen this list earlier as well . I guess the only way to objectively rank the MBA's that offer healthcare electives is to rank them as they are ranked overall. I guess not all healthcare management programs are MBA's therefore the US news ranking is a bit off since very few of those universities listed actually offer MBA with a focus on healthcare .. From those that i have spoken to (alumni as well as other aspirants) most do tend to put wharton , Duke and berkley as the top 3 in the country ... owing this to the fact that all three have a world class MBA program and offer a rigorous and hands on healthcare management training ...

krudget · Answer

I cannot properly assess your chances, but as a fellow doc orchestrating a career change myself, I sincerely wish you the best of luck in finding a program that fits. Personally, I have been really impressed with Vanderbilt (Owen) and how they have helped me and sold me on their Health Care MBA. Anybody on the Health Care MBA faculty is super accessible and nice. Same goes for Duke, Wharton, UNC, and Darden. It is very niche career choice, but very needed not just in the States but worldwide.

vomhorizon · Answer

Yeah Vanderbilt does offer a very highly rated Healthcare program, with excellent employment prospects in the Nashville area.. What sort of profile makes you stand out coming from a non traditional Healthcare background? I know for some of the top ten schools an IT background and a 700 doesn't mean much because they get hundreds of application with that profile, or for finance background and a 720 GMAT ... What sort of overall application/GMAT do good programs look at for folks coming from my background??

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