**OT** Jon Tara, got to go now; get my MBA degree;
We'll pick it up later
:-)
TA
Barron's OnLine, June 5, 2000
Side Effects
interactive.wsj.com
There's a Doctor in the House, But He's Busy Day-Trading
EDITED BY ROBIN GOLDWYN BLUMENTHAL
Where have all the doctors gone? What with managed
care wreaking havoc on the noble calling of medicine,
it's no wonder that many students aren't even trying to get
accepted at even the most prestigious medical schools.
Take Harvard, for example, which U.S. News & World Report
identifies as having the nation's No. 1 med school, by a
wide margin.This Thursday, Harvard will graduate a class of
168 MDs, probably an even more capable bunch than usual.
That's because they entered in 1996, when applications for
admission to U.S. medical schools hit a record high of
nearly 47,000, according to the Association of American
Medical Colleges, which represents 125 accredited U.S.
med schools and the 16 Canadian ones.
But those days, as they say, are history. This year,
applications to Harvard Medical School are down,
for the first time in about 10 years.
interactive.wsj.com
Though Harvard's 4% drop is narrower than the 6% decline
nationwide, applications to Harvard-no doubt
helped by its entry into the common application system in
1999-had been bucking a four-year decline nationwide
of 18% that the AAMC attributes, in part, to "the perceived
loss of physician autonomy due to recent changes in
the health-care marketplace" (read: managed care).
Indeed, Merritt Hawkins & Associates, a Dallas staffing
firm, recently found in a survey of physicians 50 and older
that only 50% would choose medicine as a career today, and
that even fewer would encourage their kids to do so.
The study of 300 physicians in 38 states found that 48% of
the nearly half who plan to retire or seek jobs other than
practicing medicine in the next three years cited
managed care as at least a significant factor in their
decision.
But those doctors who plan to be otherwise engaged may not
be spending all their leisure time playing golf.
A spokesman at Harvard Business School says it has
" seen an uptick in the number of MDs " getting their
MBAs. |
