Switching from Medicine to Finance
Hi,
~3.7 in non-finance related major from an Ivy
Currently a medical student at a low-ranked med school with a low/mid-tier business school in the south(#30 something, I believe)
Don't see a future in medicine and am looking at other options. Any directions on where to go? My understanding is the MBA from my school won't help me because it has no pedigree. Just don't know where/how to even get started. I am confident I can do well on the GMAT, if that would help me to apply out to higher ranked schools (but I don't really have a competitive application, no finance / business background whatsoever)
Any advice on punching out of the trainwreck that is American medicine would be appreciated
No one can help you if you do not state what specific profession you're interested in. Also, what year of medical school are you in?
Generally, people in your position will finish medical school and residency, but instead of going on to practise medicine they will enter finance as a health-care (or similar) analyst.
It's a difficult transition because you have a limited set of skills - none of which are financial. As such, you're limited to a small number of roles that are also pursued by others in your position.
I'm sure there are others on this forum who will be able to offer better advice.
Thanks for your reply QGKZ. I heard that McKinsey hires MDs for consulting and this is something I am interested in pursuing, and hopefully eventually moving into PE.
I am a 1st year student
Indeed, consulting is another possible role.
Complete your medical degree. Come up with a good story why you don't want to be a practicing physician. Start networking with alum from your undergraduate school who now work in MBB. Start studying for case interviews. Apply to positions at MBB as well as second tier firms while leveraging networking you have already one.
Thank you for the great roadmap. Do you think it would make sense to get an MBA from my home institution (Texas A&M's Mays Business school) to help with the networking?
I wouldn't. If you went to an ivy league for undergrad, your networking base should be pretty good already. I would do your best to break into consulting first. If you can manage to get into a decent consulting company, you should be able to get into a much better MBA program. You might find that you won't need one at all. Certainly don't go for the MBA just to help with networking though. You should easily be able to leverage your undergrad school for that.
There's an alumni from my school who quit being a doctor to open up his own hedge fund. He runs a $100M shop with one other analyst and is killing it. Granted, he didn't have too hard of time starting up considering he had already made a ton of connections in medicine to turn into clients.
Law school is always an option.
If you're smart enough to get into an Ivy and med school, I don't see any reason why you can't get into a top 10 MBA program. At the end of the day, it will come down to how much you want to network and grind to make that change. Good luck!
Dropping Medicine for Finance (Originally Posted: 03/15/2017)
First time posting on here, so bear with me.
I graduated last May and have been trying my hardest all year to get into medical school. Long story short, I haven’t gotten in anywhere yet, and my prospects aren’t looking that good this late in the cycle. I’m considering giving up on the whole process and trying to get a job in finance.
Some background information on me. I went to an Ivy League school and graduated with a 3.6 majoring in biology and minoring in business (my school has one of the top undergraduate business programs in the country, I’ll let you narrow it down). My last semester, I took a class in finance and fell in love with it. My resume is tailor-fitted towards going into medicine, all research and hospital related stuff with no experience in business/finance outside of the few classes I took for a minor.
I realize that some finance jobs can be just as difficult—if not harder—to get into than medicine and that a lot of the people becoming analysts or whatever have been grooming themselves for it since freshman year of college. My question for you all is what would be the best path to take for someone in my position to get into finance? I’ve been fascinated by biotech/pharma/startups, and I think the fields of VC/PE are fascinating. Would it be possible for someone like me to get some industry job in bio/pharma for a few years and then go on for an MBA? Also, what would be my chances getting into a top MBA program given my background?
Any advice or wisdom on what to do is appreciated. Thanks!
I think you need to think about your personality and risk tolerance in this decision as well
Maybe you can spin your experience to say you want to go into Healthcare Investment Banking.
There is no better way than recruiting from the ivy campus, and you won't need MBA for a few years at least. but if you're already a grad, network.
I don't know what it's like in the US, but almost all top IBs and PE shops in Europe value someone with a somewhat different profile like yours incredibly highly compared to the classic business undergrad.
If you do decide to head into Finance, the key thing will be to tell your story convincingly as it will 100% be the main focus of interviews, i.e. why finance and why not med school? Be sure to think about other ways to bring this story than "I actually wanted to do med school but I didn't get in", because that will certainly make your chances of getting the job take a big hit.
I would also recommend taking a further look into the Finance industry as a whole, because I expect the lifestyle and type of people to be rather different from what you would expect from the medical industry (bar surgeons, I guess). Browsing this forum would be a good first step ;)
There is no doubt in my mind that you can leverage on your background in medicine for a role in finance. Take M&A in pharma for instance. If you possess an understanding of what constitutes a solid IP portfolio, what projects in the R&D pipeline are worth betting on and what the industry-wide trends are whispering (i.e. increasing specialization) then you can probably prove to be a valuable asset.
I conducted a study on M&A in pharma and its impacts on R&D activities. What I found was that those M&A deals that where based on revenue enhancements (such as off-setting patent expiration) usually targeted FDA-approved drugs. However, those deals that were science-based (acquisition of early-stage projects) proved to be more promising by comparison (ex. when AstraZeneca acquired Medimmune, Medimmune's projects accounted for 5% of AstraZenecas pipeline; today, that share is 56%).
Bottom line is that it is very difficult to value early-stage pharma projects with financial metrics, you need to have a scientific approach.
I think you should go into life sciences or health care management consulting for a few years as that will give you a better path to break into high finance
"Giving up and getting a job in finance"; It works the other way lol
Assuming you are committed to this shift, start networking like crazy with alums.
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