Skip to main content

Destination: MD/MBA


By Jake Goodman, UGA '15, MBA '20

I always knew that I wanted to be a doctor. I remember proudly proclaiming this during elementary school during career days. I didn’t know what kind of doctor that I wanted to be, but the decision to pursue medicine was clear from an early age.

What I didn’t know was that the path to medical school was like running through miles of thorn bushes while trying to avoid a stampede of buffalo in the dark of night, during a tornado. Maybe I’m being dramatic, but I remember what it was like every step of the way, and it was not easy.

I was never the smartest person in the class. As I say in the video: I failed my driver’s test twice, I took the SAT three times to get the score I needed, and I had to take the MCAT twice. I got denied from 25 medical schools and it took me nearly two years to get accepted. Hard work, resilience, and patience got me to where I am today.

After 3 years of medical school up in Philadelphia at Sidney Kimmel Medical College (Thomas Jefferson University), I decided to pursue a unique opportunity to get my Master of Business Administration at my Alma Mater, the University of Georgia, in the MD/MBA Dual Degree program.

When I returned to UGA, I wanted to give back to the University that gave me so much and shaped me into the person I am today. I decided to begin volunteering for the UGA Pre-Health Advising Office, speaking at panels, hosting presentations, and meeting with students for one-on-one advising. When the new year rolled around, I decided that I wanted to make a larger impact.

We all know the value of a mentor who’s been there and done that. During undergrad at UGA, I had a small handful of these mentors who were accepted into medical school and they provided me with powerful advice. What about the people that didn’t have these mentors? Imagine a space where an entire community of doctors, dentists, physician assistants, nurses, physical therapists, pharmacists, and more, many of whom are UGA Grads, provide advice and motivational stories to Pre-Meds.

In January of 2020, I launched Destination Med School, an online community of medical professionals sharing their advice, insight, and lessons they’ve learned along their journey. As I write this post today, the account has far exceeded 2,000 followers on Instagram since launching one month ago and has grown to a community of nearly 100 medical professionals. Future medical professionals, anywhere in the world, can now tune in to receive daily content from mentors in all fields.

I want to thank the Georgia MBA program for empowering me to embark on this journey, my professors for teaching me valuable business skills, and the UGA Pre-Health Advising Office for providing me with a platform to give back to this University.

I am proud to continue speaking to future medical professionals at UGA. I am proud to run an account that provides mentorship to students that need it. And I am proud to now, and always, be a Georgia Bulldawg.

Check out Destination Med School on Instagram @ https://www.instagram.com/destinationmedschool/

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular Posts

The Bike is the Answer: Charlie Mustard and Jittery Joe’s Coffee

Like many other schools during this pandemic, the University of Georgia has been closed since mid-March, and students and staff are working remotely. In lieu of in-person meetings and events, MBA Admissions staff launched a podcast, Dawgs on Top, to bring the program to a larger audience. In Season One: The Rona Files, we covered Georgia football, provided highlights of the first annual Graduate Women’s Business Association Summit, and heard more about the student veterans experience, the March trip to South Africa, and our Non-Profit Board Fellows Program. In Season Two: Town & Gown, we focused on the Athens community and interviewed local business leaders. One of those interviews was with Charlie Mustad, owner and Head Roaster of Jittery Joe’s Coffee. Jittery Joe's Coffee opened in 1994 on Washington St. near the 40 Watt Club and was open 24 hours a day to serve everyone: students, townies, and artists. Since then, it has grown into a roaster on Barber Street and 14 loca...
Post a Comment
Read More »

Meet the MBA: 1st Year Vishakha Tiwari

A native of Northern India, Vishakha Tiwari has worked for KPMG in Bangalore, India, and as a Business Analyst for Accenture. She has worked for various causes such as education, gender equality and with different NGOs. Tiwari is now pursuing her MBA, concentrating in Strategy with additional focus areas in Analytics. Tell us about your hometown and what you were doing before the MBA program. I am from Patna, one of the oldest towns in the northern region of India. Patna is known for its hospitality, exceptionally decadent cuisines and its contributions to the Indian Independence movement. Before the MBA, I was working full-time as a Management Consultant with KPMG in Bangalore, India. I have worked on several client service transformation, revenue diversification, project management and claims analytics projects. I have also worked with Accenture as a Business Analyst between 2016 and 2019. My undergraduate major was Electronics and Electrical Engineering. Outside of work, I w...
Post a Comment
Read More »

Crystal Ivey Pivoted Careers with a Georgia MBA

By Crystal Ivey, MBA '14 I graduated with my bachelor’s in marketing and finance in 2009 at the onset of the recession. Entry-level marketing positions were practically non-existent, so my first job out of school was as a case manager with the Georgia Department of Family and Children Services (DFCS). But I didn’t give up on my dream of brand management. Fast forward a few years, I decided to try again to break into the business world in brand management – this time using an MBA as my launch pad. This was also very special for me, because, as a first generation college student, an MBA was always one of my goals. I chose the University of Georgia’s MBA program for lots of reasons, but the most important factor for me was to not go into a lot of debt achieving this goal. I wanted a highly ranked program – one that would create opportunities - but not a huge financial burden. I found all that and more at Georgia. The MBA Career Management Center (CMC) connected me with MBA alum...
Post a Comment
Read More »