What happens to Doctors who don't..

[Anonymous]

From higher end schools like Penn/JHU/Harvard - seems like any med grad that doesn't want to practice goes to McKinsey/BCG/Bain and/or to I-banking/healthcare focused venture/PE. As for why they get hired -- a lot of hiring at those companies is based on pedigree; McKinsey takes English majors from the ivys, not just Wharton finance undergrads. To those companies, the fact that you've pursued these degrees means that you are smart enough that you can certainly be taught the basic finance (and more importantly Excel/Powerpoint) that a junior consultant or banker needs. All new hires go through a few weeks of orientation and the companies are basically betting that a Penn Med grad will have no problem picking up a few interest rate formulas. (And honestly I went to Penn and knew a few med students who had a STRONG feeling that they didn't want to practice - they went over to Wharton and took a few corporate finance classes; highly unlikely they got credit -they probably audited them, but they were trying to prep for another career and to have a credible story for interviews).

As for why people do this -- I don't think you go to the #2 or #4 or whatever ranked med school thinking - I don't want to practice medicine so I won't do a residency. It's just that somewhere through the process, often yr 3 where you are with patients - you realize you were ok with book learning but really don't want to do patient care at all. But at that point you're more than 1/2 way through at a high end school so you finish it out and pursue something else.