Hi
Sunaya94,
I see that your post was made several months back, but it doesn't seem that you ever received a response, so I am going to go ahead and take that opportunity! I assume from the timing of your post that you were looking ahead to applying at some point in the future (2019?). If you have further clarity on that, it would be great to know.
MD TO MBAMaking the case for a transition from "MD to MBA" can be complicated, and in my own graduating class at Haas (Class of 2015), I believe we had one doctor and one nurse in a class of around 260 (Haas's class size has grown a bit since then). The good news for you is that (a) you're younger than most American doctors would be when applying (it takes longer to become a doctor here, which often pushes even business-oriented American MDs outside the typical FTMBA range), and (b) your work to this point already seems to lie at the intersection of medical practice (which is naturally MD oriented) and hospital administration (which has nice synergy with an MBA). So whereas other doctors might have only medical experience (and would thus need to articulate a transition into business from there), you already have elements of both, and they align naturally with your goals. The key will become what exactly those goals are why you believe you need an MBA (from Haas specifically) to achieve them. More on that below!
UNPACK THE VALUE OF YOUR EXPERIENCE AND CONNECT IT TO HAASI don't know the exact details of your experience as a doctor, but I imagine that if we were to really discuss it deeply, there would be *a ton* of interesting material to unpack -- the journey to becoming a doctor, any obstacles that you faced and overcame (possibly related to doing so in your home country, or in breaking societal gender norms), any unique medical challenges among the populations you serve, the unique administrative challenges of running your hospital (operations, funding, personnel management, etc.), the communication and empathy involved in doing so (serving across social, cultural, or linguistic barriers, etc.), how you've done what you've done at a relatively young age (presumably managing tons of older people), what you've learned and how you've grown and in what ways you've stepped outside your comfort zone, the impact you've had on people and your organization, and so on and so forth. All of this can make for a very rich, thoughtful, and authentic story, and it also has very strong organic alignment with Haas's four defining principles --
question the status quo, beyond yourself, students always, and confidence without attitude -- which the school takes very seriously and looks for in applicants.
BERKELEY'S MBA/MPH PROGRAMI'm not sure if you're interested in an additional degree alongside the MBA, but Berkeley has a very well regarded
MBA/MPH program. The aforementioned doctor and nurse in my class were both part of that program. That dual degree program adds one semester to the MBA, and in doing so, affords you two summer internships instead of one. Given your experience and goals, there could be some fantastic synergy there as well. At the very least, it's worth learning more about.
GOAL SPECIFICITY, WHY MBA, WHY HAAS, GRANDER AMBITIONSAgainst this backdrop (and given your GMAT score, which does enough of a job to check the GMAT box for you), I believe that the major challenge and key for you will rest with the articulation of your story, your goals, and why you believe you need an MBA (or in this case the combination of an MD and MBA, or MD and MBA/MPH) in order to achieve them, particularly from Haas. I would encourage you to really develop the specificity of your short-, medium- and long-term goals. If we were to chat, we should definitely revisit the idea of returning to administrate your hospital post-MBA; that's already the job you have, so why do you need an MBA to do that, where is the growth trajectory, and in what way does Berkeley-Haas uniquely set you up to do so?
Likewise, I would encourage you to consider developing medium-term goals (that bridge your short- and long-term goals) and to definitely revisit your long-term goals. With your long term goals, think about whether there is a *big* public health or social or medical problem that you want to solve -- perhaps *the one* that you've observed from your time on the ground serving people and running your hospital, the one that keeps you up at night and lights a fire inside of you to solve, and the one that -- if you were ever able to combine your current experience with the Berkeley MBA (and maybe MPH) -- you believe you be equipped to solve. In your applications and interviews, you will want to articulate your vision -- and the passion and purpose behind it -- with great depth and specificity, and be absolutely sure to make the case for why you need an MBA (again, specifically from whatever school you're applying to) in order to do so.
What relevant knowledge, skills, and experience do you already have? What knowledge, skills, and experience are you lacking and therefore need to acquire via the MBA? How exactly will you acquire this knowledge, skill, and experience at each program to which you apply? Which courses, clubs, special programs, centers, conferences, case competitions, etc? What about each school's culture, community, and location make it the right fit for you? What unique perspective can you bring to campus? How will you uniquely contribute? What pioneering things can you do? You can read more about how to develop the specificity of several of these factors in this blog post:
https://www.avantiprep.com/blog/the-mos ... on-processFREE CONSULTATIONI hope this post helps! If you have any questions or would like to continue the conversation, please feel free to email me at
greg@avantiprep.com or sign up for a Free Consultation via this link:
https://www.avantiprep.com/free-consultation.html. I hope we have the opportunity to connect!
Best Regards,
Greg
Sunaya94 wrote:
Background and nationality : India, Female, 25
Undergrad Information: Doctor of Medicine Under-graduation from Ramaiah medical college, passed with first class
GMAT: 740 (Q48, V44)
Work experience and leadership: Worked for a year as a junior doctor and one and a half years as assistant hospital administrator, leader of NABH accreditation
Community and others: Volunteered at orphanage and old age home - managed health problems of both
Post MBA goals: Short term: Hospital administrator of my hospital
Long term: Become Medical director of a small healthcare organisation
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