| Topic Name: |
Career change from PhD research to consulting |
| Message Name: |
answers |
| Date Posted: |
07/11/2008 |
| In Reply To: |
Hi all,
Last Sept I obtained my PhD degree in Veterinary Medicine with a specialization in
veterinary virology from a state veterinary school in US. Slowly I have a feeling that bench research is not for me and I would like to go for a career in consulting especially in health care and biotech fields. So I have few questions and any feed back will be highly appreciated.
1. I am in my mid thirties. Will it affect the career in consulting??
2. How much I have chance to get into big three consulting companies. I have heard that they only hire top of the cream from Ivy league schools, so is it worth putting time and effort into trying?
3. Do boutique firms in health care hire fresh PhD?
Thanks in advance
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| Message: |
1. No
2. My experience has been that they don't get the top talent, even though many say they do. Consulting firms initially make you work very long hours for less pay, requiring extensive travel. The most highly qualified people I've seen work in industry...but industry work is much slower paced.
3. I can't speak for healthcare, but I do know many boutique firms in IT that hire PhD's..Manhattan Associates is a good example.
By the way, I'm not a healthcare expert, but it seems to me that your biggest hurdle would be that you're essentially a veterinarian - not an MD or related specialty.
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