The MD/MBA Harvard Program at Harvard University offers medical students the opportunity to earn both an MD degree from Harvard Medical School and a MBA degree from Harvard Business School through an innovative approach called the Flexible Path.

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MD/MBA Salary

In recognition of the critical need for leaders educated in the intellectual disciplines and practices of medicine and management, Harvard Medical School (HMS) and Harvard Business School (HBS) established the MD/MBA program and enrolled its first students in the fall of 2005.

The program’s mission is to develop outstanding physician leaders, skilled in both medicine and management, to take positions of influence through which they will contribute substantially to the health and well-being of individuals and society.

Structured to be completed in five academic years, the MD/MBA program educates prospective leaders from a wide range of health care organizations. This includes those that finance and deliver health services as well as those that develop and market pharmaceuticals, medical devices, and other health-related products. Participants are strongly encouraged to enter and complete a medical residency, or other kind of postgraduate clinical training, upon graduation from the joint degree program. MD/MBA graduates are expected to provide the informed leadership necessary for innovation and progress at the intersection of medicine and business. The opportunity to combine these disciplines drives the enthusiasm of faculty and the ambitions of degree candidates.

Curriculum Overview
The curriculum of the MD/MBA program is rigorously grounded in fundamental management concepts — including strategy, economics, finance, marketing, operations, and more — and the core science and clinical disciplines of medicine. Further, the MD/MBA is designed as an integrated curriculum, rather than simply a sequence of MBA classes added to the standard medical education.

Admission
Applicants interested in the MD/MBA Program apply to HBS and HMS separately and are selected independently.

Students currently enrolled in the HMS MD Program can apply to HBS only during their second year at HMS and in the second of two rounds of HBS admissions. A student must first be admitted to the standard, two year MBA degree program, after which they will be considered for endorsement by HMS to join the five year, joint degree program. Endorsement decisions will be based on a student’s academic performance while at HMS.

Students currently enrolled at HBS must apply to HMS before its October deadline. Once a student has been admitted to and enrolled in the joint MD/MBA program, the student must complete both degrees successfully in order to achieve graduation from Harvard.

For all other applicants not currently enrolled at either HBS or HMS, please note that each school will maintain its separate admissions timetables and requirements. Such applicants are required to apply to HMS by the October deadline, and to HBS in round 1 or round 2.
Tuition and Financial Aid
In Years 1, 2, and 3 of the MD/MBA program, students are registered at HMS pursuing core medical curricular requirements and pay full HMS tuition and fees. Students apply to the HMS Financial Aid Office for financial aid in these years and follow standard HMS financial aid policies and procedures.

In Year 4, students are registered at HBS pursuing the MBA Required Curriculum and pay full HBS tuition and fees. Students apply to the HBS Financial Aid Office for financial aid in Year 4 and follow standard HBS financial aid policies. View a student budget for the HBS MBA Class of 2018.

In Year 5, students’ primary school of enrollment is HMS, and students pay HMS full-year tuition and fees. Students apply to the HMS Financial Aid Office for financial aid in Year 5.

Students in the joint degree program will be limited to a total of five years of financial aid from HMS and HBS toward the MD/MBA degrees.

FAQ
What is the mission of the MD/MBA Program?

The program’s mission is to develop outstanding physician leaders, skilled in both medicine and management, to take positions of influence through which they will contribute substantially to the health and well-being of individuals and society.

Why should I consider the program?

The MD/MBA joint degree is for individuals whose ambitions will be fulfilled at the intersection of medicine and business: for example, in hospital administration, medical device entrepreneurship, health and public policy, and more.

What are the typical career objectives of students?

Students in the MD/MBA program combine a passion for practicing medicine with a growing desire to expand their interests into new ventures — to conduct research, manage hospitals, shape public policy, launch health care-related entrepreneurial ventures, balance medical needs with economic realities, reduce costs to patients while increasing quality, and apply engineering to medicine to produce the best medical devices.

How is the degree curriculum structured?

See the curriculum timeline above.

How do I apply?

Applicants apply to HMS and HBS separately and must be admitted independently.

With whom can I speak to get more information?

Information about admission requirements can be obtained by contacting both the HBS and HMS admissions offices.

I grew up in Brookline, MA but spent a year of high school studying abroad in Zaragoza, Spain. When I came back from my year abroad I was looking for something to do for the summer where I could speak Spanish, and through a family friend ended up volunteering in the Emergency Department of Children’s Hospital Boston on two research studies. I loved the fast-paced environment of the ED and interacting with patients.

Then I went to Wesleyan University and studied history, literature, and philosophy in a program called the College of Letters. It was a great education, but ultimately I realized I wanted to have a career that was more practical and hands-on than theoretical (my husband is an English professor at Boston College, so that’s his domain). After college I worked in a pharmacogenetics lab at Massachusetts General Hospital for two years and spent one year completing a pre-medical post-baccaluareate program before starting at Harvard Medical School.

The first year of medical school we took a health care policy class – we are one of the few medical schools to have a formal policy course that is required. The class broadened my awareness of issues facing our healthcare system, like escalating costs. I soon realized that this was the issue I wanted to work on in medicine. I didn’t yet know what kind of physician I wanted to be, but I knew that this issue of increasing costs would affect me and my patients regardless of the specialty I ended up choosing.

The best advice I got about pursuing an MD and an MBA was to do it, and to do it while I was still in medical school. As Harvard Medical students, we can do an MBA at HBS in just one extra year instead of two, which makes it an attractive option.

I saw an MBA as a way to learn about the financial side of organizations and about issues that are new to healthcare, but that other industries have dealt with for decades – like customer satisfaction, efficiency, and providing quality service for a reasonable cost. Even though these are some of the biggest issues in medicine today, we don’t learn how to address them in medical school, because fundamentally medical school is geared towards teaching students how to be competent individual clinicians.

On the one hand, this makes sense: there is a lot of clinical medicine to learn, and everyone wants doctors who are excellent clinicians taking care of them. On the other hand, leaders in medicine need more than excellent clinical skills to improve our current healthcare environment: they need clinical insight combined with effective leadership skills and an understanding of the broader healthcare market.

There are many people I look up to who are doing impactful work on healthcare costs. One is Neel Shah, who I have been working with throughout my time in medical school. Neel doesn’t shy away from big problems or big questions, like why the C-section rate has increased by 700% in one generation of women. Right now I’m working on a project with Neel and with Bob Kaplan’s group here at HBS looking at costs in childbirth. It’s been a fantastic way for me to bring my clinical knowledge together with what I’m now learning at HBS.

One thing I’ve really enjoyed so far at HBS is how much emphasis the school puts on cultivating leadership skills, like effectively managing teams, compared to medical school, where there is no formal training around these skills. I think this is really important and part of why MD/MBAs will be well poised to address many of the challenges facing American healthcare.

I’ve met a lot of medical students who say they want to get an MBA but can’t really pinpoint why me, why this, why now. For people considering an MD/MBA, my advice is to figure out why you want to do it and how you think it will help you reach your long-term goals.

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The views and opinions expressed in the MBA Voices blog are those of the authors. Any political views shared by students are their own; HBS does not endorse a particular party or candidate.

In recognition of the critical need for leaders educated in the intellectual disciplines and practices of medicine and management, Harvard Medical School and Harvard Business School established the MD/MBA program and enrolled its first students in the fall of 2005.

The program’s mission is to develop outstanding physician leaders, skilled in both medicine and management, to take positions of influence through which they will contribute substantially to the health and well-being of individuals and society.

Structured to be completed in five academic years, the MD/MBA program educates prospective leaders of a wide range of health care organizations, such as those that finance and deliver health services as well as those that develop and market pharmaceuticals, medical devices, and other health-related products. Participants are strongly encouraged to enter and complete a medical residency, or other kind of postgraduate clinical training, upon graduation from the joint degree program. MD/MBA graduates are expected to provide the informed leadership necessary for innovation and progress at the intersection of medicine and business.

Curriculum Overview

The curriculum of the MD/MBA program is rigorously grounded in fundamental management concepts — including strategy, economics, finance, marketing, operations, and more — and the core science disciplines of medicine, such as anatomy, biochemistry, genetics, physiology, and related studies. Further, the MD/MBA is designed as an integrated curriculum, rather than simply a sequence of MBA classes added to the standard medical education. The opportunity to combine these disciplines drives the enthusiasm of faculty and the ambitions of degree candidates.

The typical candidate spends years one through three at HMS, year four at HBS and year five split between the two schools. Students can opt to spend a full semester of electives at each school separately or to spend both semesters taking classes at both schools.

Admission

Applicants interested in the MD/MBA Program apply to HBS and HMS separately and are selected independently. When applying, students must identify their interest in the joint degree program.

While each school will maintain its separate admissions timetables, all applicants interested in the joint degree program are required to apply to HBS in the first two of three rounds. All applicants interested in the joint degree program are required to apply to HMS by the November deadline.

Students currently enrolled in the HMS MD program can apply to HBS only during their second year at HMS and only in the first of three rounds of HBS admissions. HMS students will be considered for the joint MD/MBA Program only if they have completed the health management seminar and the summer internship in business management. Once a student has been admitted to and enrolled in the joint MD/MBA program, the student must complete both degrees successfully in order to achieve graduation from Harvard.

Tuition and Financial Aid

In years one through three of the MD/MBA program, students are registered at HMS pursuing core medical curricular requirements and pay full HMS tuition and fees. Students apply to the HMS Financial Aid Office for financial aid in these years and follow standard HMS financial aid policies and procedures.

In year four, students are registered at HBS pursuing the MBA required curriculum and pay full HBS tuition and fees. Students apply to the HBS Financial Aid Office for financial aid in year four and follow standard HBS financial aid policies. View a student budget for the HBS MBA Class of 2014.

In year five, students’ primary school of enrollment is HMS, and students pay HMS full-year tuition and fees. Students apply to the HMS Financial Aid Office for financial aid in year five.

Students in the joint degree program will be limited to a total of five years of financial aid from HMS and HBS toward the MD/MBA degrees.

FAQ

What is the mission of the MD/MBA Program?

The program’s mission is to develop outstanding physician leaders, skilled in both medicine and management, to take positions of influence through which they will contribute substantially to the health and well-being of individuals and society.

Why should I consider the program?

The MD/MBA joint degree is for individuals whose ambitions will be fulfilled at the intersection of medicine and business: for example, in hospital administration, medical device entrepreneurship, health and public policy, and more.

What are the typical career objectives of students?

Students in the MD/MBA program combine a passion for practicing medicine with a growing desire to expand their interests into new ventures — to conduct research, manage hospitals, shape public policy, launch health care-related entrepreneurial ventures, balance medical needs with economic realities, reduce costs to patients while increasing quality, and apply engineering to medicine to produce the best medical devices.

How is the degree curriculum structured?

See the curriculum timeline above.

How do I apply?

Applicants apply to HMS and HBS separately and must be admitted independently.

What are the admissions deadlines?

Students currently enrolled in the HMS MD Program can apply to HBS only during their second year at HMS and only in the first of three rounds of HBS admissions.

While each school will maintain its separate admissions timetables, all applicants interested in the joint degree program are required to apply to HBS in the first two of three rounds. All applicants interested in the joint degree program are required to apply to HMS by the November deadline.

Can I change my mind about the joint degree program after I start?

No. Once students are admitted to and enrolled in the joint MD/MBA program, they must complete both degrees successfully in order to graduate from Harvard.

With whom can I speak to get more information?

Information about admission requirements can be obtained by contacting both the HBS and HMS admissions offices.

Vision and Mission of the Joint MD-MBA Program
In 2004, recognizing the critical need in today’s world for leaders who are educated in the intellectual disciplines and practices of medicine and management, Harvard Medical School (HMS) and Harvard Business School (HBS) established a joint MD-MBA program to develop outstanding physician leaders, skilled in both medicine and management, to take positions of influence through which they will contribute substantially to the health and well-being of individuals and society. The Harvard MD-MBA Program, structured to be completed in five academic years, educates prospective leaders of organizations that deliver and finance health services as well as those who develop and market pharmaceuticals, medical devices and other health-related products.

Admissions
Students who are currently enrolled at HMS and are interested in pursuing both MD and MBA degrees are advised to contact the MD-MBA Program’s leadership for guidance (Stan Finkelstein, MD, stan_finkelstein@hms.harvard.edu). HMS students currently enrolled in the Pathways and Harvard-MIT Program in Health Sciences and Technology (HST) programs may apply to HBS only during their second year at HMS and only in the second of three rounds of HBS admissions.

Admissions Process
The HBS Admissions Office will decide independently about which HMS MD program applicants are to be interviewed and will inform applicants whether or not they will be admitted to the MBA program. A committee of the HMS Program in Medical Education will then review the HMS record of each student admitted to the MBA program. After a thorough review of the HMS records, the committee will determine which students will be invited to join the five-year joint degree program. If the committee does not support a student for the joint degree program, he/she will continue to have the opportunity to pursue the two-year MBA to which he/she has already been admitted.

Once a student has been admitted to and enrolled in the joint MD-MBA Program, the student must complete satisfactorily the requirements for both degrees in order to achieve graduation from Harvard with MD and MBA degrees in the same year. If a student withdraws from HBS due to academic performance issues, the student must be enrolled for a full four years of medical school at HMS to fulfill requirements for the MD degree. If a student withdraws from HMS and wants to continue with the MBA program, the student must petition HBS for enrollment in the two-year MBA program. In neither instance will the student be allowed to complete a single degree in the abbreviated time afforded to joint MD-MBA degree students.

All students who are admitted to the joint MD-MBA Program must complete all of the requirements of the first three years of the MD Program in good academic standing, including successful completion of USMLE Step 1 and the HMS Year III comprehensive exam, following the PCE, prior to entering the first year at HBS. Students who encounter academic difficulty in the MD program and are sanctioned by the HMS Promotion and Review Board are not eligible to apply to the combined MD-MBA Program, and students accepted into the combined program will not be eligible to enter the MBA component of the program if they fail to maintain good academic standing at the Medical School before matriculation at HBS in Year IV of the five-year program.

Pathways students in the joint MD-MBA program are expected to complete the Scholars in Medicine (SIM) requirement within the joint program and will find that many of the entries in the SIM database of mentors and projects are management-related. HST students must complete their HST thesis requirement, but are also encouraged to consider pursuing a separate management-related project as a mentored independent study during the final year of the program.

Tuition and Financial Aid
In Years I, II, and III of the joint MD-MBA Program, students are registered at HMS pursuing core medical school requirements and are charged the prevailing HMS tuition and fees. Students may apply to the HMS Financial Aid Office for financial aid in these years and will be subject to standard HMS financial aid policies. In Year IV, joint program students are registered at HBS, pursuing the MBA required curriculum, and are charged the prevailing HBS tuition and fees. Students may apply to the HBS Financial Aid Office for financial aid in Year IV and will be subject to standard HBS financial aid policies. In Year V, when the student is enrolled for one semester at HBS and the remainder of the year at HMS, the student’s primary school of enrollment will be HMS, and the student will be billed the prevailing HMS full-year tuition and fees. Students in Year V of the joint program may apply to the HMS Financial Aid Office for financial aid. For more information, students are urged to speak with the financial aid offices at each school.

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Students in the joint MD-MBA Program pay 8 semesters of tuition to HMS and 2 semesters of tuition to HBS, or a total of 5 years of tuition. However, HMS reimburses HBS for tuition for one semester of the fifth year, so in effect joint MD-MBA students pay 7 semesters of tuition to HMS and 3 semesters of tuition to HBS. Joint MD-MBA students who enroll in HMS (with approval of both HMS and the MD-MBA Program) beyond the five years of the joint program will be assessed HMS tuition for a 9th semester, or a total of 8 semesters of HMS tuition, and will be charged the standard HMS reduced tuition for the 9th semester and any additional period of HMS enrollment, as is the case for all MD students who extend their MD enrollment beyond four years (or 8 semesters). See Section 6.02: Tuition Requirements for MD Degree Candidates and Student Cost of Attendance Budgets for MD Students for more information.

Joint Program Curriculum Overview
The five-year MD-MBA Program integrates the curricula of both HMS and HBS and is rigorously grounded in the concepts and practice of medicine and management. The program provides opportunities for students and faculty to merge these disciplines through new course work and scholarly pursuits.

HMS – Years I-III
Students in the MD-MBA Program spend the first three years at HMS, completing preclerkship courses, the Principal Clinical Experience (PCE) and a set of advanced HMS experiences – clinical and advanced integrated science courses – during their third year. Students also prepare for and take USMLE Step 1 following the PCE. For Pathways students, Step 1 must be taken by December 31 of Year III, and HST students must take Step 1 by June 30 of Year III.

During Year III, MD-MBA joint degree students begin in earnest their management-related studies with a dedicated six-week block experience co-lead by HMS and HBS faculty. This required experience includes a didactic classroom course, Medicine and Management, that links clinical and managerial perspectives. During this time period, Pathways students are required to develop and submit proposals for the required Scholarly Project, which must be completed within the joint degree program, co-mentored by HMS and HBS faculty and submitted prior to graduation, according to the prescribed timeline for MD/MBA students.

HBX CORe
HBS has developed an online module, HBX CORe (certificate of readiness), which includes content on such topics as business analytics, economics for managers and financial accounting. HBS may require admitted applicants to complete this prior to entering the first year of MBA study. The MD-MBA joint degree program recommends that all admitted students complete this course, even if not required to do so. The HBX CORe is a “gated” program, requiring students to begin and end their participation on specified dates and to complete portions of the material each week, according to interim deadlines. Work toward completing this material must be done outside of class or clerkship hours, in a fashion not to conflict with expectations of clerkships or courses in which the student may be registered.

HBS – Year IV
The fourth year of the joint program is spent at HBS, completing the requirements of the first-year core business curriculum (Required Curriculum or RC year).

HMS and HBS – Year V
Students in the fifth year of the five-year joint program take courses in the Elective Curriculum (EC) of the MBA Program and required and elective courses at HMS. MD-MBA students ordinarily enroll in the required HMS Capstone course during January of the fifth year. At HBS, students may take elective courses in either term including:

At least 18 credits overall;
At least 15 classroom-based credits; and
A three-credit HBS field study course that completes HBS elective requirements and also facilitates completion of the HMS Scholars in Medicine project requirement.
Joint MD-MBA students typically spend one semester of Year V at HMS and one at HBS. Because interviewing for residency programs is most intensive in the fall and early winter, many MD-MBA students do the EC at HBS during the spring semester of Year V. With approval and guidance from the HMS Registrar and the student’s Academic Society Advisor, some students may take elective courses in both schools in both semesters of Year V, provided the HBS courses do not conflict with HMS courses or clinical electives.

HST students are eligible to apply to the program, though completing the basic research-intensive HST curriculum and its required research thesis along with the MBA curriculum and its required internship may make it difficult to accomplish all of the requirements in five years. In addition, the goals of the HST program and of the MD-MBA Program are quite different. For the unusual student who is judged by the faculty to be a candidate for successfully completing the joint program, the sequence in which the courses are taken and how to resolve conflicts in requirements for the two programs will be determined in consultation with the MD-MBA Program and HST/London Society leadership.

Available periods for post-PCE enrollment in MD courses for MD-MBA students
October Year III through August Year IV following the PCE (see below for Year IV financial aid eligibility; Year IV begins in July)
June, July, August following the MBA RC year (see below for Year V financial aid eligibility; Year V begins in July)
Fall or Spring Semester of Year V at HMS: September, October, November, December OR January, February, March, April
Full-Time Status at HMS, Years III and IV
Beginning with the Post-PCE phase of the MD curriculum (Year III for Pathways students; Year IV for HST students), full-time status requires a minimum of twelve-week equivalents (generally, this is three 4-week equivalent clerkships) per semester. See HMS Student Handbook Section 2.07 for more information about requirements for full-time status.

Leaves of Absence and Additional Academic Year Policy
Harvard medical students have historically been allowed the flexibility to spend a year during medical school doing research or other scholarly enrichment activities and then return to complete their formal medical education (see Section 1.05). MD-MBA joint degree students are enrolled in a five-year, integrated program leading to both an MD degree and an MBA degree. The joint degree program has been constructed to allow students to, in essence, “save a year” of study. Given the integrated nature of the MD-MBA joint degree program and the stated goal of the program for students to complete the joint degree in a single five-year span of time, extensions to this program are exceptional and are considered on a case-by-case basis. This policy delineates the circumstances under which joint degree students will be allowed to request a leave of absence or an additional scholarly enrichment year from the joint program.

For MD-MBA joint degree students, the policy of the joint degree program is to permit an enrichment/scholarship year only after the fourth year of the joint program. This policy allows the student to spend three years at HMS and one year at HBS, thus completing a significant portion of the joint/integrated curriculum prior to the scholarly enrichment year. Scholarly enrichment years will normally be for the period of July 1 to June 30. Additional enrichment/academic years must be completed prior to the final year of enrollment in the joint MD-MBA Program.

Dr. Stan Finkelstein is a founding director of Harvard’s MD/MBA program, which enrolled its first students in 2005. Harvard is not alone in doing this – today, more than a quarter of the country’s accredited medical schools offer the MD/MBA dual degree. For this blog, we sit down with Dr. Finkelstein to learn more about the MD/MBA mission, curriculum and admissions process.
Overview of MD/MBA programs

Q: YOU CREATED THE MD/MBA PROGRAM HERE AT HARVARD. WHAT WAS THE IMPETUS BEHIND STARTING IT?
A: This dual degree arose out of interest from both students and faculty. As medical students learned about the use of capitation to control physician compensation, they became concerned that they needed to know more about the business of healthcare, and lobbied for new health management courses. That interest grew over time, until the Deans of both the medical and business schools wanted to jointly create this dual degree program. The mission statement of the joint MD/MBA program is “To create and nurture a diverse community of the best people committed to leadership in alleviating human suffering caused by disease.”

Q: MANY OTHER INSTITUTIONS ALSO OFFER THE MD/MBA DUAL DEGREE. WHAT MAKES HARVARD’S DIFFERENT?
A: When we designed our program, we wanted to make sure it the curriculum was well integrated across the business and medical schools. And, even though the dual-degree is a condensed 5-year program, we did not compromise any of the curricular requirements of either the business or medical school.

Q: WHAT TYPE OF STUDENT IS THIS DUAL DEGREE PROGRAM TRYING TO ATTRACT?
A: We don’t have a particular student in mind, and admitted students come from all types of backgrounds, from basic science research to management consulting. What we expect from MD/MBA graduates is that they are committed to using the knowledge they gain from both of their graduate school experiences. Normally, this entails continuing medical training through the completion of a residency program, and making ongoing contributions to the medical field.

Q: WHAT HAVE RECENT MD/MBA GRADUATES GONE ON TO DO?
A: We are a relatively young program, so few graduates are past their residency training. Just to give a few examples – our graduates include the now Vice Provost of a university health system, the medical director of an entrepreneurial healthcare delivery startup, a partner at Google Ventures, several who have entered healthcare consulting, and many who are still completing their clinical residencies.

Q: WHAT ARE THE PROS & CONS OF DOING THE MBA AS A JOINT DEGREE, VERSUS DOING AN MBA LATER ON IN YOUR CAREER?
A: There are many different pathways for people to develop a healthcare management skill set, and the dual MD/MBA is just one of them. The major advantage of doing an MBA early on is that there is a higher opportunity cost later on in your career to take off time to complete this degree. Some people realize early on that this is what they want to do, while others need more experiences before making such a commitment. Even after medical school, there are opportunities to pursue an MBA. For example, certain residencies have recently established management training programs in which they sponsor residents for their MBAs.

Q: WHAT DOES THE INTEGRATED CURRICULUM OF THE MD/MBA PROGRAM LOOK LIKE?
A: Here at Harvard, the integrated curriculum means students are working with both medical and business school faculty throughout their graduate experiences. This curriculum stands in contrast to many MD/MBA programs that have limited integration, where students complete requirements at both schools sequentially.

Year 1
Complete medical school year 1 curriculum
Take healthcare management elective (jointly offered)
Complete summer management internship
Year 2
Complete medical school year 2 curriculum
Apply to business school for MD/MBA dual degree
Year 3
Defer clinical clerkships to take medicine & management course (jointly offered)
Complete full clinical clerkships at hospitals
Year 4
Complete business school year 1 curriculum
Year 5
Apply to clinical residencies
Complete electives at both the medical school and business school
Nuts and bolts of MD/MBA admissions

Q: WHAT ARE THE GENERAL REQUIREMENTS FOR APPLYING TO THIS MD/MBA PROGRAM?
A: Students must fulfill admissions requirements for each graduate school (e.g., GMAT and MCAT entrance exams, recommendations, personal essays, transcript, etc.) and apply to each school separately. In addition, to be accepted into the 5-year condensed dual degree program, students must have demonstrated academic performance in their first year of medical school.

Q: WHEN DO STUDENTS APPLY FOR THESE PROGRAMS?
A: Most MD/MBA students apply to the business school for the dual degree in the fall of their second year of medical school. Applying concurrently to both schools may be an option, though this is rare.

Q: HOW MUCH BUSINESS EXPERIENCE DO I NEED BEFORE APPLYING?
A: Admitted students have all sorts of backgrounds in business, ranging from years as a consultant to none at all. Regardless of an applicant’s experiences, the strongest applicants will have demonstrated leadership experience or potential in any field, be that basic science research or community service or something else entirely.

Closing thoughts

Q: WHAT ADVICE DO YOU HAVE FOR STUDENTS INTERESTED IN PURSUING AN MD/MBA?
A: Think carefully about what your career goals are, and only commit to this dual degree program if you are certain this is the right path for you as an individual. There are so many routes to get to the same end goal.

Well said, Dr. Finkelstein! If you decide the MD/MBA program is right for you, a meeting with one of our Cambridge Coaching admissions consultants can get our application in tip-top shape. Or, if you’re preparing for standardized exams, our MCAT tutors and GMAT tutors in Boston, New York, and online can get you to where you aim to be. To get started, take one of our diagnostic practice tests today!

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Interruptions to the five-year curriculum are generally considered to be either voluntary leaves of absence (periods of time when the enrolled joint degree student is not enrolled in the program for a specified period of time for a specific reason), scholarly enrichment years, or involuntary leaves (when a joint degree student is no longer enrolled in the joint degree program because of academic, conduct, or other serious reasons). See Sections 2.09 and 4.05 for more details about voluntary and involuntary Leaves of Absence.
MD-MBA joint degree students required to take an involuntary leave for any reason will not be allowed to continue in the joint degree program. Under such circumstances, students wishing to pursue a traditional two-year MBA degree are required to petition HBS to be granted entry into the single degree program. If the student is granted entry into the two-year MBA and remains enrolled in the MD program, the MBA must be completed after all requirements for the MD program have been fulfilled and the student has graduated from HMS
Voluntary leave or scholarly enrichment year requests will be considered on a case-by-case basis. Students must be in good academic standing at both the Medical School and the Business School and meet all applicable requirements and policies of the joint degree program and the partner schools.
Students are required to provide a detailed, written petition to the MD-MBA Program Directors requesting a one-year leave of absence (LOA) or an enrichment year addressing the activity to be undertaken during the year and the student’s individual goals in taking the LOA or enrichment year.
The deadline for submitting a petition is March 1st or the first business day after March 1stof the calendar year.
Students requesting an “enrichment” or additional academic year of enrollment at HMS must submit a proposal to and gain the approval of the Scholars in Medicine (SIM) committee through the SIM fellow in their Academic Society.
Joint MD-MBA students who enroll in HMS (with approval of both HMS and the MD-MBA Program) beyond the five years of the joint program will be assessed HMS tuition for a 9th semester, or a total of 8 semesters of HMS tuition, and will be charged the standard HMS reduced tuition for the 9th semester of HMS enrollment, as is the case for all MD students who extend their MD enrollment beyond four years (or 8 semesters). See Section 6.02: Tuition Requirements for MD Candidates for more information.
NB: For students receiving the MBA degree as well as the MD degree, five years are required if in the joint MD-MBA Program; six are required if a student is in the two-year MBA program. On a case by case basis, a student may petition for one or two additional years. The student pays tuition for four years (8 semesters) for the MD degree and additional tuition for the Master’s degree taken at another school of the University. Students enrolled in the MD program for more than eight semesters will pay reduced tuition for the additional enrollment periods. Ordinarily a student in this category will not be permitted to remain at HMS beyond seven years. See Section 2.08: Policy on Length of Time to Complete the MD Degree for more information.

health care is being delivered in large, complex organizations, and physicians must learn to function effectively in them. As a result, several medical and business schools have developed joint programs to train physician leaders who receive both medical degree (MD) and master of business administration (MBA) degrees. We examined several themes in relation to these programs, revolving around concerns about who is attracted to them and whether exposure to the differing cultures of medicine and business have an impact on the professional identities of their graduates as manifested in their motivations, aspirations, and careers. We addressed these issues by studying students in the joint MD/MBA program at Harvard Medical School (HMS) and Harvard Business School (HBS). Our data came from several internal sources and a survey of all students enrolled in the joint program in spring 2013. We found relatively few differences between joint program students and equivalent cohorts of HMS students in terms of personal characteristics, preadmission performance, and performance at HMS and HBS. Contrary to the concerns that such programs may draw students away from medicine, the vast majority embraced careers involving extensive postgraduate medical training, with long-term plans that leveraged their new perspectives and skills to improve health care delivery.

The Harvard/MIT MD-PhD Program at Harvard Medical School (HMS), sponsored primarily by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) through its Medical Scientist Training Program (MSTP) since 1974, provides fellowship support for selected and highly qualified students who have elected to pursue both the MD and PhD degrees. The overall mission is to train the next generation of premier physician-scientists, with representation across a rich diversity of clinical disciplines and research areas from basic and translational sciences to bioengineering to the social sciences

Harvard Medical School (HMS) offers Harvard medical students the opportunity to complete a Master of Academic Discipline (MAD) degree between the third and fourth years of medical school, following completion of the Principal Clinical Experience (PCE) phase of the MD curriculum. Students who enroll in the MD-MAD dual degree between the third and fourth years of medical school complete a 36-credit Master of Academic Discipline course of study, which includes a four-credit capstone requirement in addition to the requirements for the MD degree. The dual MD-MAD degree is currently offered in the Master of Bioethics and the Master of Biomedical Informatics degree programs

Recognizing the critical need in today’s world for leaders who are educated in the intellectual disciplines and practices of medicine and management, Harvard Medical School (HMS) and Harvard Business School (HBS) established a joint MD-MBA program in 2004 to develop outstanding physician leaders, skilled in both medicine and management, to take positions of influence through which they will contribute substantially to the health and well-being of individuals and society. The Harvard MD-MBA Program, structured to be completed in five academic years, educates prospective leaders of organizations that deliver and finance health services as well as those who develop and market pharmaceuticals, medical devices and other health-related products.