How can you write a stand-out personal statement? [Show summery] Dr. Mary Mahoney, Associate Professor of English at Elmira College and Accepted consultant, draws from her expertise in the medical humanities to deliver advice for writing a compelling personal statement. Listen to the show! A professor of English and Accepted admissions consultant shares top writing tips [Show notes] Our guest today, Dr. Mary Mahoney, is Associate Professor of English at Elmira College and a recent winner of the Barnhill essay contest at that college. She focuses much of her work on medical narrative and medical humanities. This work, in Dr. Mahoney's words, helps students understand and articulate why they want the medical career or healthcare career they are pursuing. In addition, Dr. Mahoney serves on the Elmira College Committee that reviews personal statements and provides feedback on interviews for Elmira students.  Who can better help you tell your story through your personal statement? Can you tell us a little bit about your background? [2:07] The story that I tell that brings home a little bit of who I am and how I was raised is that I'm the youngest of five children in a pretty typical Irish family. When I came home from high school one day and told my mom that I wanted to be a poet, she said, "That's terrific, but not until after you go to nursing school." So that's what I did. I had a bunch of friends who were going into nursing school, and I had no other clear direction. I came from a family of math people. Auditors, accountants, all math people. And while I liked math, I really had no interest in doing anything like that. So nursing sounded good to me. I was an empathetic kind of teenager. So I went ahead and did that. I was a nurse by the time I was 19, and started working as a nurse when I was 19, but just continued going to school full-time over and over and over and over and over again, all the way through to the PhD. I didn't know that there would be a way to bridge the two, but I started writing about being a nurse when I was in my Master's program at Sarah Lawrence College and received a whole lot of encouragement to continue writing that way, because there was so little representation of a nurse's point of view in essays and stories and articles and things like that. People thought that it felt fresh, in the sense that it wasn't a writer writing about being a writer. It was a writer writing about being a nurse. I found a conference at Duke University, a conference on poetry and medicine, and it was all about the medical humanities. That was how I found out about the medical humanities, in addition to seeking out journals where my writing would be suitable. What are the medical humanities? [4:14] The medical humanities is an interdisciplinary focus on studying what living is, what life is, what it means to be a human, what it means to be a person, what it means to live in a body that gets sick. What it means to be mortal. What that means in relation to the people that we have relationships with, our cultures, our communities, and also, how all of that informs who we are as individuals, which brings up really abstract aspects to who we are that are frequently unseen in the communication between health professionals and patients. It's trying to bring the fuller, more comprehensive aspect of being human into the space of medicine and vice versa so that there's a much more reciprocal relationship between a practitioner and a patient. The distinction between “humanities” and “medical humanities” is that the focus has something to do with bodies that fail. Also, I think the medical humanities are really for anyone who might be interested in it, but I think the idea of it as a curriculum is that it fosters empathy and teaches how to recognize empathetic feelings or empathetic moments as meaningful for people who are headed for the health sciences as a profession.

Admissions Straight Talk

Writing a Compelling Personal Statement

An engineer with Indian Railways seeks innovation as a Rotman MBA student. [Show summary] Meenakshi Chauhan spent five years as an engineer with Indian Railways (and the only woman in her department) before leaving in search of a more challenging, innovative work environment. Now, she’s preparing to re-enter student life at the University of Toronto’s Rotman MBA program. Preparing for life as an MBA student at Toronto Rotman [Show notes] Meenakshi Chauhan has worked since graduating college as an Indian Railways engineer. She started a beauty blog in 2018 and is now looking forward to starting her MBA studies at the University of Toronto's Rotman School. Can you tell us a little bit about your background, where you grew up, and what you like to do for fun? [1:23] I was born in a small village where I lived with my parents and their extended family. I lived there for about two years, but for most of my childhood, I've lived with my grandmother. My father was the only person earning and my mother had to take care of the whole family, so they didn't have much time for me. So I was mostly brought up by my grandmother. I lived for around eight to 10 years with her, and then I moved back with my parents. As far as what I like to do for fun, there are a lot of things that I like to do. I like to paint. I like to cook, and this lockdown has given me the chance to cook a lot. And I love to work out. On my blog, I'm also writing a lot about health and nutrition, so I love to work out and take care of myself. You earned your BTech in 2013. On your blog you write, “I was selected as an assistant engineer in Indian Railways, considered one of the most prestigious jobs in the engineering field. I was at the top of the world until I joined. I realized that the job was not as exciting as I had expected it to be.” Why didn't it live up to your expectations? [2:32] So when I joined Indian Railways, I had a certain impression in my mind: The job is going to be very challenging, I'm going to work and learn about a lot of new technologies, and I'll be involved in innovating stuff. Indian Railways is completely owned by the Indian government, so bureaucracy tends to slow down things a bit, and I felt that when I started working with Indian Railways that things were a bit slow. It took months to get the approval for anything. So it got a little monotonous for me, and I didn't really find it as challenging as I was expecting it to be. So it got a little bit boring for me there, and I wanted to do something more exciting that would help me develop my skills as well as enjoy the whole working process. Was it difficult for you as a woman in a male-dominated field and industry? [4:04] It was a bit difficult for me, and mostly because in the department I joined, there were not many women. I was the only woman in that department, so I got judged a lot. My intelligence was questioned. My seniors, as well as my juniors, would often say that I was not fit for the job. I wasn’t capable of handling long hours or putting in that much effort towards my work. So that was a bit disheartening for me. Eventually, I did handle it, but initially it was a bit disheartening for me. How did you handle it? [5:00] I got a few opportunities, and I must say I'm lucky that I got opportunities where most of the topmost officiants of Indian Railways were monitoring the project, looking after that. I was solely responsible for handling a few of those projects, and I did exceptionally well in those projects. They eventually did understand that it doesn't matter whether I am a girl or some male person working there, and it's just the kind of dedication you put in, the effort you put in that matters, not my gender that matters. You worked with the Indian Railways for just about five years. Did the frustration ultimately lead you to turn to business and an MBA? [5:38] No,

Preparing for Life as an MBA Student at Toronto Rotman

Show summary: LSAT expert Steve Schwartz shares how to prepare for the new online LSAT exam. Steve Schwartz, who’s spent 12 years helping thousands master the LSAT, breaks down what test-takers need to know about preparing for and taking the new online LSAT-Flex. Show notes: What test-takers need to know about the LSAT-Flex! The March and April LSATs were canceled. What are applicants to do? Take the GRE? No way. LSAT-Flex to the rescue! Our guest today is Steve Schwartz, of the LSAT Blog and the LSAT Unplugged podcast and YouTube channel. Steve graduated from Columbia University in 2008. In high school and college, he tutored various subjects and also helped prep test-takers for standardized tests, including the LSAT. However, he really began to focus on the LSAT when he was applying for law school. He founded the LSAT Blog in 2008 and never looked back. Today, 12 years later, he has helped thousands master the LSAT and get into law school and sometimes secure scholarships worth tens of thousands of dollars. How is the LSAT-Flex different, in format and delivery, from the old LSAT? [2:01] The biggest difference is that it's online and students are doing it from home. The main reason for that, of course, is we're speaking during COVID-19, stay-at-home orders, quarantines, shelter-in-place, and so it wasn't possible to do it in person, so they've moved pretty quickly to allow students to do it from home. And what about the content of the LSAT-Flex? [2:24] The content is the same, except the amount of content is different. So you still have your logic games, logical reasoning, and reading comprehension, but now on LSAT-Flex, you have only one section of each, whereas in the old in-person LSAT, whether paper and pencil or digital, you had five sections—four scored plus one experimental, and the four included two logical reasoning sections rather than one as we have now in the LSAT-Flex. Are they changing the scoring as a result, or keeping the same scale? [2:52] It will still be the same scale. So students will still receive a score on the band of 120 to 180, but there are fewer scored questions—only 75 scored questions rather than 100 scored questions, so each question is worth more. Are they going to count the logical reasoning section twice somehow because there are now half the number of those questions? [3:13] That was my big question as well, and fortunately LSAT did tell us that, in fact, they will not double-weight logical reasoning. So each section will be worth approximately the same, which leads you to ask, why was logical reasoning ever half the exam if they're willing to do an exam that does not include that? I think it's simply the requirements of the platform, the requirements of administering a remote exam, and shortening the length of it from five sections to now only three sections, which can be done in about two hours. Should applicants adjust their preparations if they're taking the LSAT-Flex? [3:49] They certainly should. You're doing it two hours, three sections, not five. Logical reasoning has diminished in importance. Logic games and reading comp have relatively increased in importance. Endurance matters a little bit less, but it's a lot more important to be warmed up and ready to go the second it starts, because every question counts more. https://blog.accepted.com/applying-to-law-school-during-the-coronavirus-pandemic/ Does that mean it should be faster? Should applicants focus more on the games than they did on logical reasoning before? [4:16] Yes, it does. If logical reasoning was not your strong suit, the LSAT-Flex will be more up your alley. Regardless of where you are, spend less time on reasoning than you otherwise would have, more on games and reading comp, and also simulate your practice tests with three sections back-to-back, no break, only two hours, and make sure that all your test day prep is based on taking it at home: at your comfortab...

What to Expect from the New LSAT-Flex

Applying to business school during a pandemic [Show summary] Soojin Kwon (Managing Director, Full-Time MBA Admissions and Program at the University of Michigan Ross School of Business) and Diana Economy, Director of Full-Time MBA Admissions at Ross, answers pressing applicant questions about applying to Ross. They address how the application process has shifted in light of COVID-19 and what accepted students can expect from their MBA experience this fall. What prospective MBAs should know about applying to Michigan Ross [Show notes] Are you among the many MBA wannabes who are thinking about applying for an MBA? Are you wondering whether to apply  this cycle or next? We've invited Soojin Kwon and Diana Economy to answer the most common applicant questions related to COVID-19 and its impact on MBA admissions, specifically at Michigan Ross. During the podcast, Soojin Kwon provides an excellent framework for evaluating whether you should apply now or not. Most of us have been confined to our homes for over a month. I first of all want to express my profound hope that all listeners and their loved ones are well. The restrictions and challenges of the coronavirus have wreaked havoc on so many areas of our lives, and this show is devoted to the challenges it has posed in the MBA admissions world, specifically at Michigan Ross’ top-notch, full-time MBA program. It gives me great pleasure to have on today’s show Soojin Kwon, Managing Director of the Full-Time MBA Admissions and Program at the University of Michigan Ross School of Business, and Diana Economy, Director of Full-Time MBA Admissions at University of Michigan Ross School of Business. Both are returning guests to Admissions Straight Talk and I'm thrilled to have them back. Soojin and Diana, in addition to being highly experienced in MBA admissions, and specifically Ross admissions, are both also highly articulate in this extraordinary time in so many ways. I’ve invited them on so that we can learn how the Michigan Ross program is dealing with the challenges of COVID-19. I’ve also used questions drawn from Accepted’s recent COVID MBA webinar, so my questions in this podcast, even more than usual, are really your questions, applicant questions, in an attempt to help you determine if you should apply for your MBA, and specifically if and when you should apply to the Ross MBA. But even if you're not applying to Ross, you’re going to find a lot of valuable insight in this episode.  Other than the health risks and inconveniences that we’re all dealing with, as admissions directors what are your concerns about the impact of COVID-19 on the MBA classes now at Ross and those considering the 2020 and 2021 application cycle? [2:31] Diana: This has taken up every meeting, every day right now, and we are regularly talking about both our students and our incoming students and doing everything we can to think about their needs and try to prioritize our planning accordingly. We meet regularly with the Dean’s office, whether myself or Soojin, to make sure that we’re in sync with their plans as they navigate and manage for the fall. Our Dean’s office has been great about doing regular town halls for our students. So we have done town halls for our full-time MBA students at least a few times already. We’ve even done town halls for our admitted students and even prospective students because we recognize the importance of communication during these difficult times. > We're trying to communicate as much as we can, knowing that there are a lot of answers that are unknown right now, but doing what we can to stay in touch with our constituents. For our current students, one of the big areas that we're working with them on, of course, is employment, so the internships and full-time opportunities for them. And while at this point, we haven’t seen that many internships or full time of...

What Prospective MBAs Should Know About Applying to Michigan Ross

A career-changer's path to med school [Show summary] Valerie Fuchs holds a PhD in environmental engineering and spent eight years as a water resources engineer. This summer, however, she’ll start medical school. Hear how Valerie navigated med school admissions as an older, nontraditional applicant and got into her first-choice school. From engineering PhD to med student [Show notes] Are you an older, nontraditional potential med school applicant burned out on your profession? Are you thinking about medicine, but worried about starting over? Or are you just getting started? Valerie Fuchs earned her BS in civil engineering and her PhD in environmental engineering, and she did a postdoc fellowship at Yale. For the last eight years, she has worked as a water resources engineer. This summer, she is starting medical school. Can you tell us a little bit about yourself and your background? [1:46] I grew up in Spokane, Washington. I am the oldest of five kids from a big Catholic family. I went to a Catholic grade school over there, and then moved on to Gonzaga University, not far from home. I always kind of had that interest in math and science, I guess, and had cousins who were engineers, and I thought, well, I'll try this out and see how it goes. I really got interested in civil engineering, soil and water science, and those kinds of things. I thought as I went through school that what I really wanted to do was be able to help people in terms of water and sanitation, developing communities in particular. The direction I ended up going in grad school was sanitation for developing communities, so wastewater treatment in Bolivia and other countries in South America. I did research and a whole doctoral dissertation on it. Then I kind of continued that, but I started looking at storm water when I was at Yale for a year before transitioning into consulting engineering. I've been a consultant for about 10 years now. I have moved all over the country. I did a lot of research and work in different countries in Central and South America. Then finally, about six years ago, I decided I wanted to be closer to family and move back to Seattle. I've been here ever since. hbspt.cta.load(58291, '42471f69-103d-4aef-95dd-ea4921b3cc65', {}); What made you start thinking that engineering isn't for you, and that medicine is? [3:47] A few years ago, I started feeling like even though engineering is a great intellectual challenge for me, I wanted to be engaging more with people. My day-to-day work as an engineer is mostly sitting at a computer, crunching numbers on different types of projects. I wanted to be really doing something more one-on-one with people, potentially helping them improve their life in some way. So, I started looking at a variety of different options. I considered teaching high school science. I looked at becoming a massage therapist. That was until August of 2016, when my mom became ill and then passed away of Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease. I spent about three weeks with her in the hospital and in hospice, and all stress aside, I found myself really intrigued by observing her care team, her neurologist and the interns that were helping. They were just so engaged with us, with her, with our family, engaging with us, compassionate towards us, and doing so much hard work to try to figure out what this really rare disease was that she had, Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease. If you heard, probably 10 or 20 years ago, there was a lot of news about Mad Cow Disease. It's basically the human form of that. It means that there's a certain protein in the brain, a prion protein, that changes form, and that causes a domino effect of these other proteins to change form, and that creates holes in the brain. It’s a neurodegenerative disease that can happen really fast that usually hurts people in their 60s. It's extremely rare, and they don't know why it happens or how to cure it. It was really out of nowhere.

From Engineering PhD to Med Student

What does it mean to train "the best managers for the world?" [Show summary] Judith Puigbo, Associate Director of MBA Admissions, explores how to get into ESADE, a top MBA program based in Barcelona committed to doing good. Learn about ESADE's unique MBA program [Show notes] Judith Puigbo is the Associate Director of MBA Admissions at ESADE, responsible for MBA admissions in Switzerland and the Middle East. Let’s learn more directly from our guest. Can you give us an overview of ESADE's highly ranked full-time MBA program, focusing on what’s distinctive about it? [2:06] We were the first business school founded in Spain, in 1958. Spain was a very closed society, and we were always looking at what was going on in the U.S. So a group of entrepreneurs (well, now we called them entrepreneurs; in that period, we were calling them family businesses) thought, “Listen, we need to establish a management school, a business school here in Spain.” We had very good engineering schools and economics schools but not management. So that’s why a group of managers from family businesses decided to create a business school together with the Jesuits because they thought, “Well, we know about management. We have no idea about education.” So that’s why they wanted to partner with the Jesuits. (Georgetown in Washington, for example, was founded by Jesuits.) The Jesuits had a very large tradition of creating schools and universities all over the world, because they believe that it’s better to empower emerging countries through education rather than just doing charity. So that’s why they had the very large tradition of creating schools and universities. I know this is a very “grandma” story about where we come from, but it explains the DNA of the school. We were founded by entrepreneurs, so we have this entrepreneurial spirit, but also we were founded by the Jesuits, so we have this collaborative environment as well. And regarding the full-time MBA, I want you to remember the word “flexibility.” I think that’s one of the main assets, the flexibility of the program, because you can do it in 12, 15, or 18 months, and there are many moments in the year where you can tailor the experience through electives, language courses, student clubs, the career examination programs, different tracks, and study tours. So you can ask many people about their experiences, and they would all say something different because there are never two MBAs that are exactly the same. And of course our location is also an asset. How do you address potential concerns about Barcelona not being a major business hub (like London, New York, or Hong Kong) if you want to pursue business studies? [4:54] I don't agree totally with that because Barcelona is very well-known in the startup environment. For example, we have the Mobile World Congress every year here. (Not this year; it had to be postponed due to the situation.) But there are many startups here because it’s a location where it’s easy to attract talent. So it is an important hub for startups. Many technological companies also have a subsidiary here. It’s true that compared to Madrid, they would have more headquarters, big corporations. That’s true. But Barcelona has always had this entrepreneurial spirit. hbspt.cta.load(58291, '885bd87c-93a9-49cb-b45d-6f22a610ac9c', {}); It’s true that many students, when they come to Barcelona, I have to be very honest, their main goal is maybe not staying in Spain. They take the opportunity more to have an international experience. While they are here, they can learn Spanish, and that opens the world to all Latin America. Spain is a good connection with Europe from the geographical point of view, but also with Latin America from the language point of view. We have two other schools in Spain: one in Barcelona, one in Madrid, IESE and IE. And I always say that for me, they are not competitors. For me, we are a hub.

How the Esade MBA Program Aspires to Make a Positive Impact

Dr. Joe Bardinelli shares his journey from cop to doc [Show summary] Not everyone follows a traditional path to a career in medicine. Today’s guest, emergency physician Dr. Joe Bardinelli, was a police officer for six years before deciding to enter medical school. In this episode, he shares how and why he went from being a cop to being a doc. A physician's nontraditional path to med school [Show notes] Dr. Joe Bardinelli earned his bachelor’s in Criminal Justice at age 22 and for six years worked as a police officer. At 28, he started osteopathic medical school at Lincoln Memorial University and then pursued his residency in emergency medicine at Conemaugh Health System. Today, he’s an ER doctor in Florida. Can you tell us about your background outside of medicine? [1:48] I grew up in the South. I was born in Georgia. My dad moved around to several jobs while we were growing up. He changed careers a couple of times. That took us to the Carolinas and subsequently Tennessee, so I was there from high school on and went to East Tennessee State University for my bachelor’s degree there, and that’s where I ended up going into law enforcement in Kingsport. I stayed there more or less up until I started medical school, which was over in Harrogate. That’s about an hour north of Knoxville, probably an hour and a half from where I went to high school. > Now we’re married. We started with one child, going into medical school, and then we had our fourth about two months into residency. We’ve got eight, six, five, and three now. We like to be outside; that’s why we moved down to Florida. We wanted to be near the water. We have no ties to the area down here. We just wanted to try something different, and we figured that if we were going to do it and make a big change that we might as well do it while the kids are young. Do you think your father’s ability to change careers influenced you? [3:08] It had a role in it, because he was a police officer as well. My grandfather was, and I think, ultimately, that’s probably why I ended up going into it because I felt like I needed to try it. He ended up getting out of law enforcement and went back to a school for neuro-diagnostics to do EEGs and other neurologic testing on the brain. While he was in that, it was right around middle school or high school, so that gave me the opportunity to go into the local hospital and volunteer. > He worked closely with one of the local neurosurgeons there. At that time, it was much easier than it is now. I was able to go in and shadow surgeries and got to be around medicine more, so that’s kind of what sparked my interest. I knew in high school that I had an interest in it, but I still pursued law enforcement going into college just because I felt like I needed to. But I certainly don’t regret the decision. I had a lot of great experiences and learned a lot about life that I otherwise would've never seen had I not gone into that.  I made some lifelong friends as well and still miss certain parts of it. But it’s definitely been a good change overall. When did you start thinking you wanted to be a doc and not a cop? [4:22] Probably two or three years into working at the police department, I started re-evaluating and trying to decide if this was something that I could really do for 30 years. In Tennessee, their retirement system is set up to where you have to work 30 years, and you have to be a certain age before you can retire. We just started thinking about the totality of the circumstances where we were at. Obviously, nobody goes into law enforcement for money. It’s usually not a driver for people to go into it. It's more of a feeling like you’re doing something good for the community. But unfortunately, the administrative folks in a lot of the departments can beat that pride out of you bec...

A Physician’s Nontraditional Path from Law Enforcement to Medical School

This week, I'm taking a podcasting staycation and airing an encore of our most popular MBA podcast so far in 2020: Is an MBA Worth It, or Is the Sky Falling Down on the MBA Degree? I recorded this episode in December, and it aired in January. Despite the radical transformation of our lives since then, most of the advice in this episode is still highly relevant. And perhaps the title, which was somewhat facetious when we chose it, has become almost prophetic. The MBA may be more worth it than ever, especially if you can take advantage of the extended or added deadlines this cycle. The guidance on determining if the MBA is worth is still valid. As to whether the sky is falling down on the MBA degree, it has to some extent fallen down on business schools, who fear massive “summer melt.” But next year when the recession hits, things could change. And now, Is the MBA Worth it, or Is the Sky Falling Down on the MBA Degree? For the complete show notes, check out the original blog post. Related Links: Is an MBA Still Worth It?Paying for Your MBAHow Are Business Schools, Applicants, and Admitted Students Responding to COVID-19?Accepted’s MBA Admissions Consulting Services Related Shows: A Conversation About Today’s MBA MarketplaceEntrepreneurship at HBS: How Stride will Help You Fund Your FutureHow to Leverage an HBS Education: The Story of LeverEdge Subscribe:          Podcast Feed hbspt.cta.load(58291, '6f59af66-a942-476e-a35a-feafe5c6a5c2');

When Is the MBA Worth It?

Zach Donato, who will be starting medical school later this year, reflects on his application experience and his expectations for med school [Show summary] Zach Donato, who is preparing to start medical school, shares his perspective on getting accepted as a reapplicant, staying on top of the application process, and mentally preparing for med school. An accepted incoming medical student shares why, in admissions, "the straight path is not always the best one." [Show notes] Zachary Donato is happily anticipating the start of medical school. He graduated from Emory University in 2018 with a major in neuroscience and behavioral biology. He is currently pursuing a masters in biomedical science from the University of Miami, and this summer, he will start medical school. Can you tell us a little bit about yourself and your background? [1:56] I was born in a small town in Virginia called Roanoke. I lived there until I was about five, then we ended up moving to Denver, Colorado. So I was raised very outdoorsy. I was hiking all the time, biking, running, you name it—outdoor activity, I probably tried it. So I grew up in Colorado. Then I went to Emory undergrad, like you said, and pursued my degree in neuroscience there. How did you decide to pursue a career in medicine? [2:30] The main thing was during my high school career, my AP biology class. So kind of up until that point I was all over the place. I was taking business classes and just trying to envision myself doing different things. I would say my teacher, my AP biology teacher, really inspired me and ignited a passion for me to pursue a scientific career. Nothing got me as excited as when I was doing the labs in biology or learning new concepts. It felt like nothing I’ve ever felt before. So I knew I wanted a career in the sciences and that kind of led me down the path of, “Okay, maybe medicine is something I should consider.” How about clinical medicine? Where did you get the appetite for that? [3:16] That next summer, I ended up volunteering in the post-anesthesia recovery unit at a hospital in Denver. I think as I started kind of getting familiar with patient care and listening to patients’ stories, that really excited me in a way that I was intrigued with. I realized that I could do a lot of little things to make a patient’s experience much better. I kind of wanted to keep doing that, so I  kept exploring the medical field. Your 2019/2020 application wasn’t your first medical school application—you applied for 2018/2019 first. What do you think contributed to your rejection the first time around? [4:02] I think one of the things that applicants really struggle with is getting the whole picture together, right? So you have your letters of rec, you have your personal statement, you have your activities, but how can you put that into one really nice picture of yourself? So I think first of all, my letters of rec, I kind of rushed to get them. A lot of times students struggle getting close to people, especially with undergrad. You have so many people in your classes. I really struggled doing that. I think my personal statement really didn't reflect who I was and my journey. I told a lot of nice things, but it wasn't about my story. I think that's really where I struggled the first time. What do you think you did differently the second time that made the difference? [4:44] Preparation. You have to be ready for everything the day that AMCAS application comes out. I submitted on the first day. Getting the personal statement to be my story, and then having the activities backing up what I say about my story. Then getting close with the faculty at UM, really developing those relationships, and doing a lot to show my commitment to the medical field. What was the idea behind pursuing a masters as a postbac? [5:18] I kind of needed to reinvent myself a little bit. In college, I struggled. My GPA wasn’t great. I was a very, honestly,

A Reapplicant's Route to Med School Acceptance

Accepted MBA admissions consultant Esmeralda Cardenal shares advice with applicants [Show summary] Esmeralda Cardenal, an Accepted consultant and former admissions professional at business schools around the U.S. and abroad, is an expert on both sides of the admissions process. In this episode, she shares her advice on improving your MBA applicant profile, applying to data science and analytics programs, and how applicants can prepare during this unconventional time for schools around the world. Hear expert tips for a stand-out application [Show notes] Esmeralda Cardenal is no stranger to Admissions Straight Talk. She was a guest shortly after joining Accepted and is returning to Admissions Straight Talk just about five years later. (Frankly, that's much too big a gap! A real omission on my part.) Prior to joining Accepted, Esmeralda Cardenal was the Associate Director of Admissions at Yale School of Management, the Director of MBA admissions at the Eli Broad College of Business at Michigan State, and then across the pond, she served as a consultant to the Cardiff Business School in the UK. In the last five years, she's become a much-loved consultant at Accepted, helping Accepted's clients who are applying to MBA, data science, and data analytics programs get accepted. What are your top tips for dealing with a low GPA? [2:17] The GPA is very, very important for the application. If you have a low GPA, there is not much you can do about it. You can't just go back and erase time. But there are ways that you can mitigate the impact of a low GPA in your application. So I would say the very first thing you could do is compensate for a low GPA with a strong score, with a strong GMAT or GRE. That would be the best thing. > (opens in a new tab)">> Another way could be, and you could do it in conjunction with a high score, would be to create alternative transcripts. By that I mean, take classes that are relevant to business school, like accounting, economics, statistics, calculus, and try to get solid A's on those. That would help you provide evidence that you can succeed academically at business school, and also, use the optional essay or the additional information essay. Sometimes they even provide a box in the application where you can explain what happened. As a former director of admissions, I can tell you that there is nothing better than having an applicant who can actually admit the situation because it tells you that the person did research and knew that they had a lower GPA than the rest of the class. So I would say admit that. Explain what happened. The admission's committee doesn't know you, so unless you tell them, they won't know what happened. Was that because of a family illness? Was it because you had to attend to a personal emergency that had you distracted for some time? Was it that you were maybe over-committed in some other extracurricular activities or sports, for example? Or was it that you have to work to support your schooling? Whatever it was, explain it in the optional essay, but also provide evidence of improvement. Mention the classes where you did well, or maybe you had an upward trend. Maybe the first two years were low, but the other two years were higher, and maybe talk about those classes you have taken outside, the alternative transcript that I mentioned, etc., so they can see that you took the right course of action and that you are ready to succeed academically in business school. hbspt.cta.load(58291, 'b6c9f876-0125-49b0-b2cf-3c5c8301554f', {}); When you have a low GMAT, then I would say the obvious would be to (we are in March right now) retake it. This is the perfect time to practice more to get the help of an online class, hire a tutor. You can do those things virtually now, so definitely prepare to retake. If you feel that you have taken it as many times as possible,

An Admissions Expert’s Top Tips for Business School Applicants

A conversation with Dr. Nichole Zehnder, Assistant Dean of Admissions and Student Affairs at the University of Colorado School of Medicine [Show summary] Dr. Nichole Zehnder, Assistant Dean of Admissions and Student Affairs at the University of Colorado School of Medicine, shares an overview of the school’s unique offerings and admissions process for prospective med school applicants. Get to know the University of Colorado School of Medicine [Show notes] Today's guest, Dr. Nichole Zehnder, earned her MD at the University of Rochester School of Medicine and Dentistry in 2006. She did her residency in internal medicine and is a practicing physician affiliated with the University of Colorado Hospital, and she's also an Associate Professor of Hospital Medicine at the University of Colorado. More importantly, for purposes of this interview, she is the Assistant Dean of Admissions and Student Affairs at the University of Colorado School of Medicine. Can you give an overview of the Colorado School of Medicine's program, focusing on the more distinctive elements? [1:37] The University of Colorado School of Medicine is a four-year MD/PhD program. We're LCME accredited and affiliated with AAMC. We offer spots for 10 MSPP students, so 10 MD/PhD students in each of our intern classes, and then 174 MD spots. I think there's a few different distinct parts of our curriculum, some of which are just blooming on the horizon, which I'd love to feature here, as well as some things that are already in existence. Some of the more notable parts of our school and our curriculum as it exists right now are our longitudinal interprofessional curriculum. We're fortunate to be on one of the biggest healthcare campuses in the United States. We have our medical school, our dental school, our PA school, our pharmacy school, and our nursing school all here on our campus. And with that, we think that we should take that geographic advantage and have our learners learn together in a true interprofessional environment. That starts here at CU in the first year, continues all the way through the fourth year or the senior year of medical school. That's one of our really distinct opportunities that our students can take advantage of. And that's true for both MD and MD/PhD students. I think a few other parts of our curriculum really deserve a shout out. One is, we have quite a few developed, longitudinal, integrated clerkships in our clinical year. Our students who will be entering in this year's intern class, so the 2020 intern class, have the opportunity to, if they want, participate in five different longitudinal integrated clerkship models. Everything from urban underserved care at our Denver Health site to our C-CLIC, which is our rural and community longitudinal integrated clerkship. The longitudinal clerkship model is a model that's been done for decades. Here at CU, we've been doing it for about the past six or seven years. And that's done in the clerkship phase of training, so the clinical phase of training, which for some schools is the third year, for some schools it's earlier. For us right now, it's in the third year, and I'll get to that part here in a second. But the students have the opportunity to do the entirety of their clerkship or clinical year at this specific site. The Colorado School of Medicine has a branch in Colorado Springs, although most of your campus is outside of Denver. What is the advantage of that? Why would a student choose that? [4:09] Our main campus is located at the Anschutz Medical Campus. That's in Aurora, which is east of the Denver Metro area. Colorado Springs is about an hour south of the Denver area, and we have 24 of our students do their clinical training down in Colorado Springs. One might think with Colorado Springs that they may be more interested in mountain medicine or rural medicine, but actually we have students who are interested in all of those things.

What Med School Applicants Need to Know About the University of Colorado School of Medicine

Is there a secret recipe for MBA application success? Linda Abraham lays out seven steps that MBA applicants can take now to enhance their chance of success when the MBA applications come out over the summer. Listen to the show! What steps can you take NOW to improve your chances of acceptance to top MBA programs? The content I’m about to explore mirrors the training I offered in 7 Steps to a Successful MBA Application in 2021, a recent webinar. I feel that this material is so valuable that I don’t want my podcast listeners to miss it.  What motivates me to provide this training? A frustration with applicants who start the process too late and shortchange their chances at their dream schools. We love to start working with applicants now because our clients can improve their profile, qualifications, and chances of acceptance when they start early!The amount of limiting and misleading imagery in MBA advising from adcom directors, consultants, and sometimes MBA applicants and students themselves.The paradox of MBA admissions. After 25 years in this business, I’ve seen a lot of metaphors used in describing the MBA admissions process. “It’s an accounting exercise, not a marketing exercise,” or, “It’s all about personal branding,” or, “It’s all about marketing.” While I believe metaphors and similes can be useful, I think they have been abused in MBA admissions, obscuring the process. I do not promise an image-free training! I do promise that this training will provide you with a purpose-driven, goal-centered approach to the MBA application, including what you should be doing now (six to nine months before you submit your application) to maximize your chances of acceptance at top MBA programs when you apply in Round 1 or Round 2 of the 2020–21 application season. Let’s cultivate those three seeds into a flourishing, healthy MBA application. (Not bad for someone who just complained about abuse of metaphors in MBA admissions!) When applicants come to us at the last minute Yes, we can polish your essays during the week before the essays are due, but we can do so much more if you start early. Use the next few months before the applications come out to improve your profile and maximize your chances of acceptance.  Step 1: Define your goals, the foundation of your application Begin with the end in mind: Clarify your post-MBA goal, the foundation for your entire MBA application strategy, even if it changes while in B-school. In Admissions Straight Talk Episode 185, I asked Ross Admissions Director Soojin Kwon, “What makes an application really stand out for you?” She responded, “People who seem to really know what they want and know themselves, and who can articulate it well. They can connect the dots.” Define your post-MBA goals, both short-term and long-term. Short-term goals include your industry and functional focus (something you do, not something you study). Long-term goals, those five to ten years down the road, are your aspirations or dreams  --perhaps a way of contributing to the betterment of society on a larger scale. These are less critical from an admission perspective, but if you have something like this, don’t hide it. Prepare to discuss. If your goals are fuzzy, look at what you like and are good at. Talk to people in positions that you find attractive. What do they actually do? What education do they believe was useful to them? Do they wish they would have had before they started? From what programs do they want to hire people for the positions you find appealing? Then take time to think about what you want to do. Reflect. Once you have a clearly defined goal, it will be a substantive and meaningful guide in the process of choosing schools—your North Star. Realize that at many schools, a clearly defined, realistic post-MBA goal is as much a requirement of admission as a competitive GMAT or quality work experience. Chicago Booth explicitly says that it seeks a “sense of person...

How to Prepare for a Successful Round 1 MBA Application

Future orthopedic surgeon, MD/MBA Aiming for olympic fencing [Show summary] You think you have a lot to do? Our guest today is an MD/MBA student who happens to be training to join the U.S. Olympic fencing team and compete this summer in Tokyo. How does she do it all? Let's find out. Interview with Kamali Thompson, MD/MBA student and sabre fencer for Team USA [Show notes] Our guest today is Kamali Thompson, a fourth-year MD/MBA student at Rutgers Robert Wood Johnson Medical School in New Jersey. Kamali attended Temple University as an undergrad, and graduated with honors after majoring in biology and minoring in psych. She has been fencing since 2006 when she was in high school. Kamali is a member of the 2019 national team completing research in the sports medicine division in the department of orthopedic surgery at NYU, and starting to become an orthopedic sports medicine surgeon. She's also a 2018, 2019 author for Doximity, and Kamali is currently training for the 2020 U.S. Olympic Team. Can you tell us a little bit about your background outside of medicine and where you grew up? How and when did you get involved in fencing, and medicine for that matter? I'm from a town in New Jersey called Teaneck, New Jersey. It's 20-ish minutes away from New York City. I grew up like a regular kid. I was interested in ballet, and I danced for a really long time from the age of three. I have a younger brother, and when I was in eighth grade I was on my way to go into the normal high school in our town, Teaneck High School. And I was at our Teaneck High School open house and my mother was with me, and I was actually dragging her to the dance room because I was so excited about getting to high school and dancing and being on the dance team and all that. We got to the cafeteria and there was a fencing demonstration going on. And my mom, she stuck her head in. She's like, "Ooh, what's this? What's going on?" And I was saying, "Mom, who cares? Come on, let's go." And she spoke to the coach, the high school coach, and the high school coach told her about the pros, saying how fencing is really unique, and how if I was able to get involved with a team, it could really help me get a college scholarship. And that coming from a dance background, I would have the basics, like footwork and bouts and all that stuff. So my mom was sold immediately, and she told me that I was going to be fencing in the fall with the high school team. When I started fencing on the high school team, I did that for two years, and then after two years I really started to like it. I wanted to get better. And for fencing, what you have to do is you have to go to a fencing club where you get a coach, and you take private lessons and you fence several days a week. My coach recommended that I go to a club in New York City called the Peter Westbrook Foundation, and that is a club that was created by a six-time Olympian, Peter Westbrook, who wanted to help minority kids in the New York City area get involved with fencing. Fencing is very expensive, so it's not something that a lot of inner city kids are looking to do. When you start off at The Peter Westbrook Foundation, you go on the Saturday morning program where you learn the basics of fencing, and they have different ages and different skill levels. So I started off in the advanced class, and my mom said, "Well, I'm going to go to New York City on Saturday. I'm not leaving this nine year old at home." So Khalil, my brother, had to come by default. But after the first day he's like, "This is crazy. This is great. I want to go fence too." > How did you get interested in medicine and becoming a doctor? I wanted to be a pediatrician from as long as I could remember. My mom had this little dress up box where she put all her old clothes and old old high heels and stuff in it.

Thriving in Medical School, in Business School, and as a Professional Athlete

Woken awakes you to meaningful career opportunities [Show summary] Are you wondering what your career path should be? How to create it? Our guest today is an NYU Stern MBA and associate-certified coach who is also providing assistance with career services at Columbia Business School. In addition, she is the founder and CEO of Woken, an online platform to help you discover and pursue a career you will love. Let's learn her story and see how this interview will help you find that amazing career. Interview with Rachel Serwetz, NYU Stern Tech MBA grad and Founder & CEO of Woken [Show notes] Our guest today, Rachel Serwetz, graduated from Binghamton University after majoring in human development and minoring in Spanish, management, and global studies. She then worked for Goldman Sachs for three years, followed by shorter stints at other companies, and earned her MBA at NYU Stern in technology in 2019. She also founded Woken, way back in May, 2013, and has served as its CEO ever since.  Let's talk a little bit about your background. Where did you grow up? What do you like to do for fun? Things like that. [3:35] I grew up in Long Island, New York, in Hewlett, a very exciting place. I've got a few jobs at the moment, so with my limited time outside of work, honestly I wish it was more exciting, but I try to just really hang out with family and friends, work out when I can, explore the city, travel. I wish there were times that I could fit in some more interesting hobbies, but work has sort of taken over this. Let's go back a little bit to your time at Goldman Sachs. Were you in a HR role there? Obviously that's your focus now, but did you start out in HR? Were you an investment banker at Goldman Sachs? What were you doing there? [4:10] So that was my first job, and I was in operations. I did cash management, I was part of the treasury and the liquidity team. And that doesn't have much to do with what I do now. And it wasn't really what I necessarily had an interest in, but when I started, I knew I liked the idea of operations. In hindsight, I think I probably should have gone more for those HR-type teams and path. But at the time I didn't really know that that was right for me. So I was able to land in operations, and it was a really good experience, but I was lucky at that point to take on projects that ended up relating to HR.But I took on those projects just because I found them interesting, I wanted to help our teammates develop skills, and to coach them and to help with recruiting, and so I just dove into things that seemed interesting to me. And then after a few years of doing that, I realized I was ready for the next thing, and I realized that a lot of what I had been doing was in the HR realm. And so I was lucky to be able to pivot more closely into that world after I left Goldman. Did you go back to NYU Stern for your MBA to get specifically more training in, let's say, career services and HR, or was there another goal? And if you were so interested in HR, why did you go for the one-year tech degree? HR isn't known as the most techie of fields. [5:37] There are a few answers to this. First and foremost, I always knew I wanted an MBA. I actually took my GMAT at my senior year of college. I wasn't a business major; I just had this intuition that I really just wanted more education, and I had a strong interest in business. I didn't really know where it would lead, or where I'd be at the time of getting that degree, but I just really knew there was more for me, and I knew I had that business orientation, even though it didn't end up being my major. So I knew from early on that I wanted that experience. Once I had ended up working more in HR, and learning about coaching and developing that, that's when I started really getting interested in the problems I was helping people with when I was coaching. I was helping with career exploration,

Wake up to Your Amazing Career Possibilities

Is there a connection between an entrepreneur's age and her degree of success? [Show Summary] Are the best and most successful entrepreneurs’ twenty-somethings? As an entrepreneur, are you over the hill at 30, not to mention 40?  Let’s find out from today’s guest, a Kellogg professor of strategy and entrepreneurship, who has actually researched the correlation, or lack thereof, between age and entrepreneurial success. I recently stumbled across an article entitled “It’s a Disservice to Urge Young People to Become Entrepreneurs” written by Jeffrey Tucker, Editorial Director for the American Institute for Economic Research. The title reveals the point of the article, and Dr. Tucker bases his conclusion at least partially on research done by our guest today, Dr. Benjamin Jones, along with two other colleagues.  Intrigued by the research, because it is both so relevant to many of our listeners and contrary to popular belief, I invited Dr. Jones to join us. Dr. Benjamin Jones, professor of entrepreneurship and strategy at Northwester Kellogg, shares surprising advice for aspiring entrepreneurs [Show Notes] Dr. Jones has a fascinating background. He earned his BSE in Aerospace Engineering at Princeton, his MPhil at Oxford, and his PhD in Economics at MIT.  He served as a Special Assistant to Larry Summers when Summers was at the U.S. Treasury Department. In 2003 he became an Assistant Professor at Kellogg School of Management, and in 2014 he was appointed the Gordon and Llura Gund Family Professor in Entrepreneurship and Professor of Strategy at Kellogg. Along the way, there was a stint at the White House and various other appointments and publications. He has agreed to join us on AST however in connection with his recent research on Age and High-Growth Entrepreneurship. Listen in! I’m going to get to your research in a sec, but I have to ask: How did you go from aerospace engineering to philosophy to economics to entrepreneurship? [3:30] Like many young people I was on a voyage of discovery of what I liked and what I was good at. I was very interested in engineering, economics and technology. In particular I was interested in sciences that speak to society directly. I get a lot of joy in the application. What made you want to research the possible connection between age and fast-growth entrepreneurship? [4:28] There is a really strong idea in our culture and media, with venture capital firms, that suggests very young people are the source of the truly transformative ideas in society. That is very anecdotal. Separately I was skeptical because I had done research looking at Nobel Prize winners and great inventors, and they have gotten older and older over the course of the 20th century. Einstein was 26, Mark Zuckerberg was so young, but they are actually exceptions. In this century, individuals in their early 40s had Nobel Prize-winning breakthroughs. I found that much of the work was coming in middle age. There are three things that make people think younger people are more successful. First, that young people are not yet trapped in a particular way of thinking. Second, that they are cognitively sharper, or have more mathematical skill. Third is that young people typically don’t have a lot of other responsibilities, they have lots of energy and can focus. In reality, experience and wisdom is causing the difference. How did you go about your research? [9:00] I have wanted to ask this question for a long time. I wrote the paper about Nobel Prize winners as part of my PhD thesis in 2003. With Nobel Prize winners I did it by hand, but with entrepreneurship you want to look systematically. I had a fortuitous connection with people at the U.S. Census Bureau. For social scientists that is the telescope of economics. It is an opportunity to look at all the data. The Census Bureau has info on every established business, number of employees and sales. Only recently has it been possible to connect back in...

Are the Most Successful Entrepreneurs in their Twenties?

Advice on applying to business, grad, law, and medical school.

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Admissions Straight Talk

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