Medical fraternity takes a shot at management

The MBA craze has hit the medical community too. From veterinarians to pharmacists, this year the CAT pool has quite a few aspirants from a medical background.

The MBA craze has hit the medical community too. From veterinarians to pharmacists, this year the CAT pool has quite a few aspirants from a medical background.

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About 2421 applicants are from the biology stream. Although it is a mere two per cent of the total aspirant pool of 2,04,267, it signifies a larger trend of people from diverse backgrounds wanting management degrees.

While 528 applicants are from the medical and dental fraternity, 1828 are from the pharmacy and microbiology background. In all, 65 veterinarians have applied to take the test. The registration data was released by the IIMs on Thursday.

“Medical insurance is set to become a very big industry and with a private hospital boom even hospital administration is very lucrative. Currently, people with either a medical or management background manage these portfolios. Medicos who combine their skills with a management degree will be in demand in the industry,” said Arks Srinivas from T.I.M.E, a coaching institute.

Engineering students form, as usual, the largest chunk of aspirants with 1,22,837 applying. This is followed by the commerce graduates (30,248) and business management graduates (21,809). Majority of applicants, about 74 per cent, are males. About 78 per cent of the people who have applied have less than one year work experience and a majority of them are fresh graduates.