The email below is from a soon-to-be MD who is trying to decide whether to pursue a residency or consulting career after med school. This situation is a first for me, but, given the entry I’d done on APD candidates a few weeks ago, I believe my words might have been the sort of thing he was looking for.
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AP wrote:
“Hey Marquis,
I am reader of your blog and had a few questions about consulting. I am currently a medical student who wants to go into consulting at a firm such as McKinsey after receiving my MD degree. I am having a hard time deciding to either do my residency or go into consulting.
Would I/ Should I get an MBA? I don’t have much business experience but I heard that my MD degree may be sufficient to start off as an associate.
What kind of work hours should I expect immediately/5 years into the job/ 10 years?
Do consultant stay as consultants or do they migrate to other occupations?
How much is the average starting compensation? Compensation after 5 years?
Thanks a ton.
AP“
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My response:
AP,
Congratulations on almost reaching the end of your medical school career. I know that it must feel good to be seeing the light at the end of the tunnel. I can’t say that I know what it’s like to be deciding between pursuing a residency and going into Consulting, but I imagine that it’s tough to think about the latter after spending so long studying medicine. Hopefully, my responses below help you think through your situation a little.
With an MD degree, I don’t think you would need an MBA to be a successful consultant. Your MD would put you in line for an Associate position starting out and your deep healthcare experience would likely serve you well in the role. Although you don’t have any business experience, you’ll do fine as long as you have strong problem solving skills and can manage your way through the interview process. A couple of months ago, I wrote an entry in response to a question about Advanced Professional Degree candidates (i.e. non-MBAs) for consulting and you might find the info in it very helpful as you think about making this career move.
It’s hard for me to tell you what kind of work hours to expect immediately, 5 years in, and 10 years in because there is a lot of variability from person to person. I wrote an entry summarizing what I’d seen as life in consulting and, in it, I explained this variability. I can’t remember the exact date of that entry, but I’d suggest going back through the last few months worth of entries and finding that one because I gave a really detailed view of it. If you can’t find it for some reason, let me know and I’ll look through my own files to see if I’ve got a copy of it saved somewhere.
From what I’ve heard, consultants usually migrate to some other occupation after years of doing the job. The learning that one gets in Consulting provides such a strong foundation of general business knowledge that companies in a variety of industries try hard to recruit folks away from the consulting firms. This is a good question to be asking about now, but, if I were you, I’d be looking more toward what you can learn as a consultant instead of what you might migrate toward after consulting.
I can’t really tell you what the compensation is starting out or after 5 years because it’s been changing so much from year to year. The industry seems to be doing well, so there’s not telling how much it’ll jump from year to year. To get an idea of what the market compensation will be, I’d suggest talking to some new hires at several of the firms and asking them what they started off at. Then, take a sort of blended average guess at what the average starting compensation is. Making a guess at the 5-th year compensation is a tougher nut to crack because there are so many moving parts in figuring that out. I don’t have any idea of how to make an estimation of that one.
Hope this helps and I wish you luck with your consulting job search. Take care.
-Marquis
