hello all...I am a medical doctor of indian descent and went to med school in a reputed school in china.I am planning to do a MBA ,preferably in general management or with a healthcare subdomain,in SE asia.My brief profile summary is given below :
*Education :-
1oth -88% ICSE 12th - 71% (class topper) state board

MBBS -(bachelor of western clinical medicine) - in a reputed A+ govt. univ. in south china.Received scholarship during the first year

* WE:-
1 year clinical internship at a reputed hospital in india .
1.5 yrs:worked as a medical advisor cum medical officer with an indian consumer goods giant.Functions included both clinical and administrative roles(handled a team of paramedics and advised the company in medicolegal affairs).Also used to conduct interdepartment audits to avoid occupational hazards and selection of vendors for purchaese of medical supplies,

Presently- working as a Clinical Investigator in a reputed CRO in clinical research domain.My functions include conducting BA/BE studies in co-ordination with principal investigator and train staff regarding gcp/glp guidelines.Also in-charge of the entire screening team.

GMAT- 650 /5.0

target schools:- NUS(as it has a healtcare mba)
NTU(more technical? oriented)
CEIBS (good gen. mgmt. program)
HKUST(expensive!!!)
Tsinghua (more tech oriented? vs brand )
Peking U(more social outlook)

Kindly advice me as to what school i should apply to/what program would best suit my profile.My short term goals include managing the operations of a hospital/pharmaceutical company and long term include setting up my own hospital chains.

P.S.: sorry for the long post,but i needed to give a detailed overview of my profile as i belong to a "non traditional" candidate group.I would appreciate your comments and opinions.

P.P.S.: Forgot to add that i have passed HSK 3 and have intermediate level chinese proficinecy.I am therefore targetting mainland china,HK and singapore as the preferred work destinations

Take a look at http://www.find-mba.com/board/27082

I think the HK and Singapore schools are a more realistic target for you than CEIBS. The mainland China schools don't make seem, to me, to fit with your plans.

thanks duncan for the prompt reply

well acoording to the link you provided,nus,ntu and hkust all seem to be well within the radar..nus has a healthcare specialisation but i haven't come across anyone yet personally who opted for the same ,so dont know how it is quality and learning wise..hkust has a strong finance program and ntu is more for the techies...

how about cuhk...its been rising up the rankings pretty fast..any idea how the prgram and placement scene is..

I am gonna retake the gmat again to raise the bar higher as i plan to apply next year so as to have a good relevant work ex...school selection is what's bamboozling me :-(

anyone with more inputs would be appreciated..confused:-(

Do you have more specific questions?

well,yes.To begin with,i need to know whether i should retake the gmat?I did put in a good effort this time but i guess being away from maths for so long made the process difficult.. secondly i need to know whether anyone has any reviews for the NUS-healthcare mba...because i cant make up my mind regarding the school(NUS,SMU,CEIBS are my preferences,though i m also open to HK colleges,but they are damn expensive!!)

i would appreciate honest opinions regarding the same..thanks

one more thing i wanted to share is that i have been receiving these unsolicited emails from HULT for their dubai/shanghai campus and they even sent a brochure at my home address...now i haven't heard much about it but the frantic way in which they are trying to sell the program to me does make it sound unappealing...I mean who writes things like" you will get a free ipad upon registration" in their emails...hilarious

Another school that seems interested is RICE and it does look good on paper,but it being in the US,haven't thought much about it...

The Rice business school is excellent and, unlike Hult, benefits from being part of a respected non-profit university. Take a look at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jesse_H._Jones_Graduate_School_of_Business

PS Thanks for Donho for this comment below, I'd mixed up the Rice and SMU schools. SMU is also strong: http://www.cox.smu.edu/

SMU business school is Cox.

Rice University business school is different.

Although they are both in Texas and are very respected and highly credible school.

SMU is a smaller more selective private type.

Rice is a technical university with a lot of strength in research

Apply to all 3 Singapore programmes. they are fairly close when you apply for work in Singapore. The order is NUS > NTU > SMU

If you go to Hong Kong then there are 2 schools to choose from: HKUST > HKU.

I would not think other mainland china school would serve you as well as these

@duncan and donho: thanks senior members..appreciate your valuable opinions
i think you confused SMU ( singapore management uni. ) with the Southern baptist uni. in the US.However,when i wrote SMU, i meant the former..sorry for creating confusion

Well donho,regarding your opinion,even i initially thought so,because singapore is the hub for healthcare in asia and would be a good choice career wise.However, i am still in a fix how would the job scene in hk in healtcare sector be upon graduation,as traditionally it has more finance centric positions....And do you think my present GMAT score is competetive for schools both in sing./hk or should i retake?

Do retake the GMAT because it is very very important.

You are a strong candidate and NUS is strong healthcare, their healthcare stream will require extra interview but your background is relevant so no worry about that.

I dont think any HK school is strong in healthcare and neither has a healthcare concentration

In terms of healthcare market Singapore is more internationally attractive

In terms of financial market, Singapore is maturing very quickly. Banks in Singapore both local and international seem to be very open in their recruitment at least it is at Junior Mid Management downward.

I dont think any HK school is strong in healthcare and neither has a healthcare concentration

thanks donho for the advice..yes will retake the deadly exam again soon...I am a bit skeptical about SMU programme.Even though it's relatively new,yet it has got good reviews and some even say that they have the best placement record(unverified !!)..Does any one has more insights on this school?The fee is surprisingly more than the better ranked NUS

Thank you ezra.I was not aware of the healthcare elective in CUHK(just to avoid any confusions,i take it that you were referring to the chinese univ. and not city uni.) .I have heard mixed opinions regarding hk schools.While HKUST seems to be the best school unanimously,CUHK and HKU provide contrasting reviews ,with some recommeding these schools over other while others declare that they are not even worth applying to..

OK SMU program can teach you very relevant skills to the work place so you can hit the ground running. However what you need is long term tough hard academic cracking skills.

You probably be a bit sloppy with powerpoint and spreadsheet but who cares if you know how to present and can do programming.

That is the difference between SMU and NUS or Nanyang.

Placement is easy in Singapore because they are booming right there.

I attended few sessions at the school and took some courses there. The materials were good and relevant but it is fairly lightweight. I would not recommend it unless you dont get into NUS or Nanyang.

For HongKong, HKUST is number one no doubt and very strong in finance. HKU is the number one overall university and it boasts the Oxbridge status in that island. They however had a very young MBA. If you are from China then HKU is useful else you have to work very very hard.

The added value semester spent at LBS and Columbia is good and is open for ALL students but Duncan said it is not entirely true. Do verify this with him.

CUHK has some interesting double degrees and judging on the MBA alone CUHK could edge out HKU. However the fees is expensive and the HK lifestyle is lavish. It is also not as easy to settle down as Singapore.

I really believe NUS is the best option for you both in terms of academic, career and settle down

Thank you ezra.I was not aware of the healthcare elective in CUHK(just to avoid any confusions,i take it that you were referring to the chinese univ. and not city uni.)

@ ezra : thanks for the disambiguation ezra...yes the chinese univ. mba program has been climbing up the rankings pretty steadily...and yes even i feel that hk is overtly expensive..i would ideally want to work in mainland/singapore region with focus on healthcare/pharma sector

Then I think your choice is between NUS and Nanyang.

With NUS you'd get some specialized curriculum, through the specialization in healthcare.

Alternatively, Nanyang doesn't offer any kind of specialized curriculum, but tends to place more students (proportionally) in the health fields.

Both are good schools.

From a quick LinkedIn search, it looks like execs in the Singapore health industries (including biotech and pharma) generally come from the following schools:

NUS
NTU
INSEAD
Strathclyde
Hull

There's not a huge sample size, but I'd say the top three are pretty accurate.

@ ezra : you summed it up pretty nicely..thanks a ton

@ ralph : thank you ralph ,well not surprised to see the top 3,however a bit surprised to see hult in the list.Did not know they placed well in the region.Also surprising is not much SMU alumni in this niche ,albeit this could be due to the relatively fewer passed out students because of a newer program..