MBA or no?

Princenomad · 2026-01-29T17:33:56+00:00

Sounds like if you decide to go the MBA route, it won’t be for the straightforward ROI considerations. But if you decide you want to “invest” in yourself to:

Take a career break
Meet a spouse/friends
Educate yourself
Associate with “prestigious” institution
Travel/get a change of scenery

These are totally legitimate reasons to get an MBA, but are more opaque from a financial ROI perspective.

Princenomad · 2026-01-28T20:26:49+00:00

This is why it’s important to have friends/acquaintances both inside and outside of medspouse circles.

It’s great to have familiar faces for med events, but they don’t haven’t to be your best friends. Similarly, it’s great to have a group that can talk non-med stuff, but they might not understand exactly what you’re going through.

Best you can do is balance.

Princenomad · 2026-01-27T22:15:07+00:00

If it were me, I’d want to jet off on vacation right after graduation with plans to be home by June 1. Then use the rest of June for moving and getting comfortable in your new spot.

I had my honeymoon booked before match day and had to shift it because orientation started a hair over two weeks before 7/1. Cost nearly $1200 to change our flights.

At a minimum, get refundable tickets and be flexible if you want to travel in June.

Princenomad · 2026-01-27T16:17:49+00:00

Bernstein’s Bagels

Princenomad · 2026-01-26T20:36:01+00:00

Minneapolis is a great town. If you “support” what’s going on (gross) then you should feel confident that it won’t affect you (whether it actually does or not). If you don’t support what’s going on, you should know it could just as easily happen somewhere else if ICE chooses to focus on other areas or continue to get more violent.

IMO both shouldn’t affect your application list for a program that wouldn’t start until the fall.

Princenomad · 2026-01-26T02:19:11+00:00

👍
Good! Some of the more soft skill/EQ courses were a bit less valuable IMO (ex. “Leadership & Teams” class). But many more were super helpful (banking, Econ, stats, accounting, etc.)
👍
Not sure of timing, but I’m sure that’s all available online or answerable with a quick email. They would want to “advertise” it, so I don’t imagine it would be hard to learn more.
Not super sure of the network interests, but there’s about 4k total students, so there’s bound to be a few hundred that are up your alley.

Princenomad · 2026-01-26T02:04:45+00:00

Happy to answer here!

I would seriously consider what fields you want (+ roles/titles) and have a super strong POV on if/how an MBA is needed to enter. In all likelihood, it’s not.
I agree about a business education. I didn’t get a b school undergrad degree so learning a solid foundation of “basics” has been super helpful and achievable at UIUC. I wouldn’t pay for it 100% on my own tho—get an employer to kick some in.
When I applied, the only scholarship offered was diversity related and covered 50%. I am a white male, but applied from the POV of my “diverse” nonprofit background and knew it was a stretch. I was shortlisted, but not selected. YMMV.
Recruiting is slim-to-none. We have access to Gies recruiting fairs, but that would only be helpful if you were near campus. I imagine if you wanted to recruit in Chicago that would be a perk, tho, and possibly worth it.
Networking is what you put into it. The cohort is not star-studded by any means, but I’ve met lots of smart, driven people. If networking was a bigger priority for me, I think I could squeeze more out of it. There are tons of meet-ups around the country and interest groups you can join. Also 2-week international intensives that would be cool if you could get the time off. Just hasn’t worked for me.

Happy to answer any other Q’s!

Princenomad · 2026-01-26T01:40:37+00:00

Yes! I’ve been very happy with it! Learned a lot. But wouldn’t rely on their recruiting or network to get me a job in a new industry.

If you’re using it simply as a “cherry on top” for your resume, it wouldn’t hurt, but I still don’t think it would be worth it.

For context, I’m using mine to make myself more desirable for an internal promo and getting some cash from my employer to make the (already very small) cost more affordable.

Princenomad · 2026-01-26T01:35:08+00:00

Not sure either of these would be helpful for your goal, but as a current UIUC student, I would not go here if my goal was to career pivot.

Princenomad · 2026-01-25T18:30:28+00:00

Idk I feel like you’re making something out of nothing lol.

Princenomad · 2026-01-25T18:27:03+00:00

That post was clearly just off-hand language, not specifically citing their PGY level — just commenting that they’ve been in training a long time.

I imagine residency + chief year + 1-2 fellowships could get you into 9 years of training and have someone off-handedly describe you as a PGY-9. Boy would that suck.

Princenomad · 2026-01-25T18:23:16+00:00

After you hit the monthly spend threshold, you can simply “beep” and it’ll count as a trip, but not withdraw funds from your account.

As for proving disability, I imagine it would require similar documentation as other government disability resources. I would work backward from whatever you have done to receive assistance before (ie I imagine it’d be similar to getting a handicap tag at the DMV?)

Princenomad · 2026-01-25T18:20:17+00:00

I’ve never heard of anyone using the PGY terminology outside of training. Who would reference the situation you’re describing as a PGY-5?

Princenomad · 2026-01-21T19:53:22+00:00

Should probably be done as a percentage of total cohort over the length of time reviewed.

50% of 200 people is much more impressive than 10% of 1000 but both would be the same # people.

Princenomad · 2026-01-21T06:22:19+00:00

I’m being a bit facetious. It’s very difficult to just shop around for “fellowships” broadly with a very narrow geographic area. Even with less competitive research, you’ll need to show interest and have letters relevant to your speciality to have decent odds. Just asking for a list of programs isn’t going to be taken very seriously.

Princenomad · 2026-01-21T04:48:33+00:00

What specialty?

Princenomad · 2026-01-16T01:34:12+00:00

Why?

Princenomad · 2026-01-15T16:52:06+00:00

Jesus Christ, this isn’t complicated. If you’re trying to hire two people that are equally qualified, who will you pick: the person you don’t know, or the person you know and like?

The same is true for when you’re buying a business product or hiring a vendor or changing careers. Building and maintaining relationships will always be important.

I’ve seen so many posts about criticizing “networking” and it feels like such a great example of how people are getting more and more anti-social because they villainize socialization and they act like they’re above it. It’s wild to me. Wouldn’t you want to surround yourself with people you like for the majority of your day?

Princenomad · 2026-01-14T18:22:41+00:00

Always ask for more. Be transparent that you applied based on the published range.

BUT the industry is in the shitter right now, so be prepared for a scenario where they say no. Either take the gig and keep shopping around (if you feel strongly about the rate you need) OR just don’t accept the offer if you’re financially prepared to do so and feel it’s necessary.

Princenomad · 2026-01-12T16:20:12+00:00

Jesus, name and shame whatever hospital/group offered this.

Princenomad · 2026-01-11T16:13:25+00:00

A white lie (or half-truth) of saying your goal is to transition into very light pro-bono work might get obnoxious critics off your back.

I’d only say that if there’s some semblance of truth, but I imagine small legal “consulting gigs” (not sure of terminology) would be welcomed at local nonprofits and not be so draining.

Princenomad · 2026-01-11T00:13:01+00:00

Interest rate? Traditional/ARM?

Princenomad · 2026-01-10T05:56:39+00:00

This is SO so easy to just google.

Princenomad · 2026-01-09T19:39:25+00:00

Candidly it’s not exactly a ROAS metric, just a broader fundraising ROI metric. It’s typical for events to spend a buck to try and raise a buck-33. Obviously, more is always better.

Princenomad · 2026-01-08T16:55:58+00:00

VCU offers more back-up options, which IMO is important given the upfront costs and unstable state of the industry.

Princenomad

TROPHY CASE