Identify Schools

Question

Hi Scott and Omari,

This is a long post. I feel that I have to give you as much information as possible to help you answer my questions.

I am not applying for this fall term. I don't want to rush the essay portion of my applications. I am curious if you could recommend some schools that would be a good fit for me. Value is important to me. I would like to get the best education possible for my money. Recruitment is also a big factor since I have a non-business background. With no high end schools in San Antonio, my family is prepared to move just about anywhere in the US.

 BACKGROUND 

When I graduated from high school I wanted to be a dentist, but I wasn't 100% sure. The commitment is approximately eight years and I decided to go a different route. After speaking with numerous people in the industry, my decision was to start my career in dental hygiene. The plan was to go to dental school after working a few years if dentistry was enjoyable or to reevaluate my options. Interestingly enough I love dentistry but have no desire to be a dentist. I get told by patients, dentists, and coworkers that I would make a great dentist. However, I find myself drawn to the management/consulting side of the business. I'm at a point in my career that I've maximized my practice to the point that our efficiencies are at their peak. Our office outperforms many offices with twice the staff. I'm ready for the next phase and that requires new skills. As soon as I felt that I wanted to enter the business field I when back to school and took some core business courses. I wanted to make sure I enjoyed accounting and finance. I excelled at both subjects and enjoyed the experience. 

My goal is to gain the skills to become a medical consultant. I've had offers to join dental consulting groups, but I'm envisioning a broader scope (i.e. insurance). The top dental management group in Texas made me an open offer to join their team as a corporate trainer after evaluating our practice. The evaluation was done by the firm's founder. He said that our practice didn't need intervention and he raved to my boss and his partners that I was the most "raw" talented hygienist that he has evaluated in his fifteen years of experience. My boss told him about my aspirations toward business and he asked her permission to offer me an open ended proposal to work at his company.

 EDUCATION 

I graduated from the University of Texas Health Science Center San Antonio with a 3.9 GPA in dental hygiene. The Dental School has been ranked as the top dental school in the nation for since '91. The program I attended was separate, but classes were taught by faculty from the dental, medical, and dental hygiene faculty. I am unsure if any business schools are familiar with this University (Medical, Dental, and Allied Health only). I ranked 2/36, was awarded the departments outstanding community service award, and was nominated for the outstanding leadership award. I also was one of the three class members invited to Sigma Phi Alpha (DH Honor Society). I represented San Antonio at the state level as the nominee for Texas Dental Hygiene Student of the Year.

 OTHER ACTIVITIES 

Vice President and President (3yr commitment) of the San Antonio Dental Hygiene Society. This is the "not for profit", political arm of the profession. Currently I am the creator and webmaster for the groupâ€™s website. Local community activities include: guest lectures for health classes at high schools, dental sealants for underserved children, numerous visits to elementary schools during dental health month, and health lectures at nursing homes.

My biggest concern with applying to business schools is that they will see me as a risk due to my non-business background. 

 STATS 

GPA 3.9
GMAT 650, Q73%, V72%
Exp 5yrs


Also, should I mention in my application that I built the computers and setup the small office networks in my current and previous positions?

truthringer · Answer

It's not very often that we receive posts from applicants who have such a clear / unique vision of what they want to do. Additionally it's clear just from you post that you're passionate about it. Purely from these three things, I'd say you're strong candidate and frankly a breath of fresh air. 

Based on your interests, it sounds like a school strong in general managment would be right up your alley. 

Here's a few schools to think about: Duke, Michigan, Tuck, Indiana, and UT Austin.

While your GMAT score is decent enough to get into these schools, you may want to consider giving it another go to increase your chances a bit.

Hjort · Answer

Some schools offer specialized MBA programs in health care that might be of interest.

https://management.bu.edu/gpo/hc/index.asp

Other schools have majors or suggested courses for students in HC consulting. As I recall, Penn has a long history of interest in HC matters.

https://www.wharton.upenn.edu/mbaresourc ... _hcmg.html

Berkeley offers a 2.5 year joint MBA/MPH and a certificate for MBA students.

https://www.haas.berkeley.edu/advantage/ ... hcurr.html

https://www.haas.berkeley.edu/advantage/ ... tcurr.html

Rochester has many offerings for students interested in health care

https://outside2.simon.rochester.edu/clu ... m.html#hcm

Paradosso · Answer

Sorry for the intervention,

I'd like to ask truthringer why he didn't mention also Ultra Elite with a reputation in general management (e.g. Northwestern) schools when answering Scraper. It seems to me that scraper could make an outstanding application that would likely get him into the very best schools. The only weak point (in comparison with his GPA, leadership potential and unique background) may be the 650 GMAT.

Is this the only reason truthringer did not mention Kellogg or Harvard or Wharton? I'm not criticizing, I have almost no experience of MBA strategies and am eager to understand

.

Thanks,

Rob

. Thanks, Rob

truthringer · Answer

Paradosso -- thanks for the comment -- it's good for discussion.

I certainly wasn't trying to discourage Scraper from applying to those schools. The main reason I didn't mention them is because they're the "usual suspects", so I was somewhat presuming that he's already familiar with them and their general management approach. Perhaps a bit presumptious, but when applicants ask what schools are a good match, I almost automatically assume they mean besides M7 types. 

The second reason is that it appears Scraper already has several job opportunities lined up in the field in which he is interested. As such it probably isn't as *important* which school he attends. Certainly he wants to get a terrific MBA education, but there are a ton of schools that offer that. If he absolutely wanted to get into Private Equity (for example) my recommendations would've been different.

The last point does relate to the GMAT. Given my second reason, I was more inclined to name schools which I figured he'd have a good chance of getting into. That's not to say that a 650 wouldn't get him into an M7 type, but I wouldn't apply to all M7's.

Hope that clarifies.

scraper · Answer

truthringer â€“ Thank you for the timely response. I don't have any intentions to retake the GMAT at this time. Iâ€™m adding schools to my list so that I can research them this summer. I have both Indiana and UT Austin on my list already. I looked into top ten schools, but they seem like a stretch w/ my GMAT score. Any thoughts on which 2-3 â€œtopâ€

truthringer · Answer

If you're goal is to meld your interest in healthcare with an MBA, than I think Haas would be a great fit. Johnson is a great school, traditionally quite strong in finance. Historically, however it does not have the reputation in healthcare that Haas has.

Hjort · Answer

I included some schools that might interest you and similarly situated applicants across a broad admissions spectrum. Clearly, some schools would make a better fit for your circumstances than others.

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