Hey everyone, thanks in advance for reviewing my case! Let me provide a bit more background:
White male from Germany, 35 years old, 6 years of work experience (both at time of application), first-generation to attend an university. I am a MD and PhD, working at a university hospital in hematology and oncology and by time of admission I will have completed what in the US would be my residency and fellowship in this specialty (therefore planing to apply in 2023 for intake in 2024). Afterwards I want to leave frontline healthcare and use the MBA to pivot into a more business-related role (medical director, CMO, …), preferably in the pharmaceutical industry. Post-MBA I would like to stay in the US at least for some time, maybe moving back to Europe/Germany in the future. I did not take the GMAT yet. My target score ist 700+.
I did my undergrad (GPA 3.3) at a German university in German (major) and biology (minor), finished my BA in two instead of three years. Subsequently I did a Masters in Literature (GPA 4.0) at the same university, while simultaneously starting medical school in Austria (NOT Australia ;-)), which unlike in the US is 6 years here. Now I am back as a MD in Germany. I am scientifically engaged in cancer research, where I got my PhD in, and COVID-19 research: By the time of MBA application I will have (co-)authored 10+ publications in peer-reviewed journals. I have also single-handedly launched a large COVID-19 research project at our institution, that currently is the foundation for the work of 30+ scientists and 2 PhD students. I do not have any of the usual extracurriculars (no volunteering etc.), however did some during med school. In addition, all my scientific work including my own PhD thesis is/was done in my spare time after patient care. As a side note, I do speak eight different languages (at least on a basic conversational level). There are a few points I would like to hear your comments on: - I am aware that I am older than the average candidate. I already have a family and kids and moving to the US for the MBA would be a big step. Hence, I only have a small selection of target schools I: Booth, Kellogg (looking at the Healthcare at Kellogg pathway), HBS, maybe Michigan Ross. There are also personal reasons for preference of the Chicago area. I know that there are other schools with a healthcare focus that might be a good fit (Wharton, Duke, ...), but I am currently unsure whether we as a family would choose to go there. - How do you rate my chances for a scholarship? With kids and both of us probably not having an income when first moving to the US, this would be a major factor for me. - My medical school did NOT issue a final GPA, however a transcript might be available. Will this be an issue? Finally, how do you rate my overall chances of admission? Any obvious pitfalls? Anything I need to work on specifically? Thank you very much everyone! PS: I love the podcast! Big shoutout to Alex and Graham for helping me navigate the wide unknown field of MBA admissions!