Scheller MBA students with a background in healthcare bring unique perspectives to the classroom, and eventually, the wider business landscape. After graduation, they pair an innovative outlook with finely tuned business skills to navigate the interconnected spaces between industries.
Throughout my doctoral training and career, I was drawn more to solving business challenges in audiology than to direct patient care. The field has long relied on hearing aid sales, but regulatory and commercial shifts have disrupted this model, limiting growth and reducing profitability.
Over the past decade, hearing healthcare has transformed through mergers, acquisitions, and strategic partnerships among hearing technology companies, hospital systems, and payors. Healthcare providers are trained to deliver evidence-based, patient-centered care, which often conflicts with profitability due to factors beyond our control, and in many ways, beyond reasonable expectations for lobbying efforts. I pursued an MBA wanting to focus on understanding and responding to these challenges.
Like many in the Evening MBA program, I continued working full-time while attending school in the evenings. Financially, this made sense after already completing a full-time doctoral program. Personally, it was also the right choice because of the friendships and connections I built with like-minded yet uniquely inspiring classmates who have become close friends.
Pivoting into a new industry and job function at the same time was demanding, requiring significant effort on top of classes, work, and personal commitments.
Many of my audiology experiences didn’t translate easily to the business world, making it difficult to convey my value to hiring managers. Additionally, with no prior business exposure, I couldn’t draw on work experience for assignments like my classmates could.
I share this honestly to encourage others. Pivots are difficult, but they’re possible! The keys for me were:
While I may not always know exactly WHAT to think, I trust my training in HOW to think.
First, the rigor and discipline required by my doctoral program and healthcare career prepared me for the demands of an MBA.
Second, healthcare providers must deliver evidence-based, patient-centered care despite having scarce resources. Our holistic and intuitive problem-solving skills are similarly applicable to business solutions and stakeholders.
Finally, patient care sharpened my ability to anticipate and meet people’s nuanced needs with bespoke solutions and to be able to discern these things quickly. This soft skill has been invaluable in leadership roles and in building relationships and gaining others’ trust.
It depends on your career goals. I appreciated Scheller’s flexible concentrations and the ability to adjust my focus as my interests evolved. I concentrated in finance but took electives in operations, marketing, strategy, and entrepreneurship to fill knowledge gaps.
If a student is interested in consulting or strategy, Strategy Execution (an elective) and Strategic Management (core course) were great.
If a student is interested in finance, Financial Modeling and Financial Statement Analysis will deepen your understanding of the financial statements you learn about in your accounting core class. Also, current and future students will get to benefit from the Center for Finance and Technology that opened recently and seems really promising!
Other strong options include Global Operations, Managing Resources of Technology Firms, and practicum courses, depending on your goals.
Soft skills, without a doubt. They’re harder to learn than hard skills, and healthcare providers often already have them.
Time management has been crucial, both in the Evening MBA program and in healthcare. Balancing patient care, administrative duties, and unexpected challenges prepared me well for managing multiple responsibilities in business school.
Strategically, I wish I had done more soul-searching, shadowing, and career planning beforehand. When I applied, I didn’t know exactly what I wanted to do in business, just that I was heading in the right direction. If you can narrow your focus earlier, it helps align coursework, networking efforts, and recruiting timelines. Experiential learning opportunities like internships can accelerate your pivot, but recruiting timelines may require planning a year or more in advance.
Technically, it’s never too soon to learn accounting fundamentals—the language of business.
I interned with Atlanta Technology Angels, a local angel investing syndicate. This was my first hands-on experience in investing and an incredible opportunity. If you’re interested in entrepreneurship or investing, take advantage of Atlanta’s innovation community!
I also participated in case competitions and the Turner MIINT impact investing challenge hosted by Wharton, which connected me with MBA students and investors worldwide and granted me access to the MIINT alumni network.
Now, I have an exciting opportunity in investment banking that will expand my network in ways I can’t yet imagine.
If you want hands-on experience without committing to anything yet, consider reaching out to employees or managers for informal MBA opportunities. I did pro bono work, which helped companies while giving me relevant experience. Your MBA may be the last time you can easily leverage student status for these types of opportunities.
I’m heading into investment banking post-MBA and have the chance to explore different coverage groups before committing to an industry. It’s exciting to have a fresh start, and I’m open to exploring areas both within and outside of healthcare.
Employers have been more open-minded than I expected. Ultimately, I had to demonstrate that I was hardworking, eager to learn, and pivoting for sound reasons. While everyone understood my technical learning curve would be steeper, employers valued my ability to articulate the energy and effort I would bring to the team and thought I was someone they could enjoy working with.
Time management is the biggest challenge of balancing work and school, but it’s doable. Having a career plan before starting allows for a more strategic approach to coursework and networking. If you’re unsure of your next step, network aggressively and seek experiential learning to refine your interests. Take advantage of Scheller-sponsored opportunities and Atlanta’s broader business community in ways that align with your goals. Your MBA is a great time to explore different paths with the flexibility to change your mind. Scheller’s flexibility is one of its strengths as a program.
Networking: Professors were incredibly helpful. Many of their former students and colleagues now hire Georgia Tech grads and may be able to introduce you or point you in the right direction from a networking or technical perspective. The Jones MBA Career Center also helped with behavioral interview and resume prep.
Podcasts:
Newsletters: Litquidity and other daily finance updates.
SGA Career Development Fund: Georgia Tech benefit that helps finance conferences or certifications.
Balancing accessibility, affordability, and quality in telehealth and over-the-counter solutions is an increasing challenge, particularly in a more web-based post-Covid era. In audiology, cheaper hearing devices have improved access but reduced profitability and sometimes quality of care, leading to questionable outcomes for patients and financial strain for providers. While increasing affordability is important, we’re still far from web-based medical care delivering the same rigor as traditional or holistic medicine. Business leaders in healthcare have a unique opportunity to thread the needle between patient care and financial/business sustainability in the post-Covid era.
Transferable skills include problem-solving, holistic thinking, and understanding human behavior. Confidence in your ability to navigate complex challenges is crucial. If you’re staying in healthcare, opportunities to blend your expertise abound. If you’re pivoting, it’s possible. Plan ahead and be strategic with your resources. Good luck!