Mr. Improve Healthcare

Hi Mr. Improve Healthcare,
Thanks for posting your profile. This is Debbie Choy, Senior Consultant at mbaMission. I applaud your courage to dive into fixing the healthcare problems of our world! I agree with you that technology can be leveraged to improve healthcare. HBS is looking for candidates who have strong work experience and leadership. Most applicants apply when they have between 3 to 6 years of full time work experience. In the next few years as you accumulate this experience, also continue to get involved with your local community organizations. If possible, step into leadership roles like joining a junior board, or a committee. This will demonstrate leadership in your community. As for your standardized test scores, I suggest aiming to get a score as close to the average at HBS as possible (which is around 730 now). These 3 major elements – work experience, community leadership, and academic track record – will help ensure that your profile is competitive when you’re ready to apply to HBS. Wishing you the best in your MBA journey!

Hello Mr./Dr. (!) Improve Healthcare, I’m Lisa Cummings of Stratus Admissions. In my early years as an Adcomm at MIT Sloan, it was fairly unusual to see MDs applying to business school, now it is much more common. Your blurb above helps answer the Why MBA question, but I still have a lot of probes for you. Do you want to start a venture right out of school or take an intermediate step.? These profiles are short but when making a serious pivot as you plan to do, you will need to get into the details of what you want to do and how you plan to get there. With just over a year of experience, when are you thinking of applying? And when you say Intern is this a paid or unpaid position? These things are all important. Schools ike to see 3-7 years of FT paid experience with 5 being the sweet spot. If you are planning ahead there are some things to think about so you can better prepare yourself to apply. First, while your GMAT of 730 is in the range for HBS – and so many other top schools- you many want to try to improve it as your GPA is well out if their range. You might also consider taking some classes to demonstrate that you can the work in a business school environment. You don’t say much about your work to date- what have been your big wins? You need to show that you have had an impact at work and use the skills that you will need to be successful in an MBA program. Also, any leadership roles either inside or outside of work? I’d like to know more about your volunteer work. If you are looking to apply in a few years you have time to beef up your resume so you will be a more competitive candidate. At that time I would also suggest adding some other schools to your list that have a solid heath care focus and where your stats may be more competitive. Good luck!