Reflecting on trends that impacted graduate admissions in 2022, Linda Abraham shares her predictions for 2023 and offers an action plan for those planning to apply in the new year. [Show Summary]

Thanks for joining me for today's solo show. I'm going to review a few trends from 2022 and also attempt to inspire you for the upcoming year. You can email me at [email protected] when my predictions prove wrong in the course of the year.

Predictions: More law schools will withdraw from U.S. News rankings [1:16]

I predict that more law schools will withdraw from U.S. News rankings. 

Will the rankings influence end with the withdrawal of these schools? I actually don't think so. 

U.S. News will use publicly available data and still rank programs. Its rankings will continue to influence admissions, recruiting, and applicant decisions. But are they going to hold as much sway as they have in the past? I don't know. That's hard to say. I don't think the U.S. News is going to just stop ranking schools. I don't think applicants are going to stop looking at rankings, and I don't really think schools are going to stop being influenced by rankings. Perhaps a little less so in the past, but I think you're going to see changes on the margins in that segment. 

What about other segments of the higher education market?

I don't think medical schools are going to stop ranking or participating in the U.S. News ranking. I also think that the rankings are a little bit less influential in the med school arena than they are in law schools or business schools. 

It'll be really interesting to see if business schools withdraw from the rankings. Certainly, the admissions directors there have no greater love of rankings than the law school admissions directors and deans.

I think if you see the M7 schools withdraw, you might see a trend very similar to what you've seen in the law school market, where it's the elite programs that have largely withdrawn, and the lower-down ones are not withdrawing yet. There are some that have but not that many.

We'll link to posts that Accepted has on the withdrawal of specific schools from the U.S. News rankings.

Prediction: More experimentation with test options and waivers [3:05]

What about test optionality? That has been a trend that's been growing and increasing over the last several years. It really took off with COVID. I don't think you're going to see much change in the law school space this year. I think you will see it if, as anticipated, the ABA approves making tests optional for its accredited programs. I think you're going to see more experimentation in the grad and MBA market with test optionality. And you may also see, throughout the graduate and undergraduate arenas, acceptance for a larger variety of tests.

Many law schools are accepting the GRE in addition to the LSAT. In the business school world, you're seeing widespread acceptance of the GRE or the GMAT to the extent that the test is required. You're seeing more waivers. You're also seeing greater acceptance of the Executive Assessment, which was originally designed for Executive MBA programs. And at some schools, you're seeing them basically saying, whatever has an alphabet soup in it is fine.

I think you're going to see more and more experimentation.

Kristin Theis-Alvarez, Dean of Admissions and Financial Aid at the UC Berkeley School of Law, shares her insider perspective on the recent decision to withdraw from US News Rankings and describes how students can demonstrate the Berkeley ethos to secure a spot in this prestigious program. [Show Summary]

Thanks for joining me for the 504th episode of Admissions Straight Talk. Are you applying to law school this cycle? Are you planning ahead to apply to law school next year or later? Are you competitive at your target programs? Accepted’s Law School Admissions Quiz can give you a quick reality check. Just go to accepted.com/law-quiz, complete the quiz, and you'll not only get your assessment but also tips on how to improve your chances of acceptance. Plus it's all free. 

I'm delighted to have on Admissions Straight Talk, Kristin Theis-Alvarez, Dean of Admissions and Financial Aid at the University of California Berkeley School of Law. Dean Theis-Alvarez earned her BA in Rhetoric and Native American Studies from UC Berkeley and her JD from Stanford Law, graduating from Stanford in 2000. She has been with Berkeley Law in different roles since 2007 and became Dean of Admissions and Financial Aid in 2018.

In addition to her duties at Berkeley, she's a member of the Board of Trustees and Chair of the Diversity Equity and Inclusion Committee for the Law School Admissions Council. 

Can you start by giving an overview of the more distinctive elements of the Berkeley Law JD program? [2:08]

It's a little bit challenging to encapsulate them, but I will try to hit some of them and I imagine through the rest of the questions, others may emerge. 

I like to start with the first year because frankly, it's a point of distinction between us and a lot of our peer schools. We are firm believers that there are a lot of law schools that give a really great education and it becomes more about fit and where you want to spend three years as well as what in particular you want to get out of it.

One of the places where we are different is in what we will allow people to do in the first year. You may have this idea that all of the curriculum in the first year is set and you just sort of suffer through it and then you get to do fun stuff in your second and third years. That's the case probably in many places, but certainly not the case at Berkeley.

We made a really distinct choice, many years ago that if we're going to recruit, and we do like to recruit students who have a strong track record of engagement, then we should allow them to be engaged and to do what they care about most. That shouldn’t take away from, but augment their experience. We will allow people to join any of the journals except California Law Reviews as first-year students.

We'll allow students to get involved in our pro bono program, which has a number of distinct aspects, but the most well-recognized is the student-initiated legal projects, which are hands-on legal work, supervised by attorneys and community partners. First-year law students are actually doing things that make a difference like representing someone who is in the process of seeking asylum. There are over 40 of them this year. 

We also let people try out for the competition team. If you're someone who's really passionate about moot court or mock trial and you plan to be a litigator and you want to keep doing that...

Med applicant Mary Thomas shares her path to medical school acceptance early in this year's application cycle [Show summary]

Mary Thomas will begin her medical school studies next summer after receiving an exceptionally early acceptance in October. She shares how she achieved that early acceptance, along with insights into her application process and the personal passion driving her pursuit of a career in medicine.

How this non-science major gained a spot in medical school [Show notes]

Are you planning to apply to medical school next summer? Would you like to be accepted by November? Mary Thomas did just that. She is happily anticipating the start of medical school after being accepted in October. (Yes, you read that right!) 

Mary graduated from Pitzer College in 2019, took a couple of gap years, and applied this cycle to medical school. Let's learn more specifically how Mary got her first acceptance to medical school in October of this most extraordinary year.

Can you tell us a little bit about yourself, your background, and where you grew up? [1:56]

I grew up in Edmonds, a suburb outside of Seattle. I grew up with two older siblings. I grew up with my parents being really involved with their jobs, so I spent a lot of time alone growing up. I was a really avid reader, and that was something that led me to become really passionate about social justice in high school. That is how I ended up going to Pitzer College in Southern California, because I knew it was a school that really emphasized social justice in its curriculum. I ended up going down there for college, and it was a really good fit for me, and it was a big part of how I ended up pursuing a career in medicine.

How did you decide to pursue a career in medicine? What were some of the formative experiences? [2:39]

My older sister, we've always been really close. She's in medical school right now, and that was something that was always in my mind as something that I might be interested in. But I would say I didn't become really driven towards it until I was in college. I started working with a volunteer organization, a grassroots women's mental health group. I was working with these women that came from really challenging backgrounds and faced a lot of really difficult circumstances, and I was a really passionate volunteer for that organization. I was there for the entire three years, starting my sophomore year of college. I was totally devoted. I think I missed maybe three of our weekly meetings the entire time that I worked with them.

As a volunteer, what did you do with these women? [3:29]

We had our weekly meetings, totally community-led, where we would do a wide range of activities like meditation. Sometimes we did things like yoga. We did a unit on dance therapy. We would do art therapy. We would have a lot of discussions. We didn't really call it group therapy, but discussions where we were able to share a little bit about experiences that other people might not understand outside of that community. My volunteer work was helping plan these weekly meetings. Sometimes we'd have presentations about certain therapeutic techniques and things like that. That was my role with that organization, and I loved working with them.

An inside look at the impact of COVID with Darrell Nabers [Show summary]

Darrell Nabers, Assistant Dean for Admissions and Recruitment at Loyola University of Chicago's Stritch School of Medicine, shares how the school is adapting its program and admissions policies to life in the time of COVID-19.

Changes to Loyola Stritch's program and admissions practices as a result of the COVID pandemic [Show notes]

Our guest today is Darrell Nabers, Assistant Dean for Admissions and Recruitment at Loyola University of Chicago's Stritch School of Medicine. Darrell earned his bachelor’s and master’s degrees from Whittier College and Golden State University, respectively. He then held various admissions positions from 2000 to 2005 before joining the University of Chicago's admissions staff where he served in different roles until 2015. He joined Loyola Chicago Stritch in 2015 as Director of Admissions and became Assistant Dean for Admissions and Recruitment in February 2019. Darrell was a guest on the podcast last year for Episode 325. Our latest interview focuses on the changes to Loyola Stritch's program, and specifically its admissions practices as a result of the COVID pandemic.

How is the Loyola Stritch medical school program different today due to COVID-19 than it was a year ago? [2:19]

It's very different. One example would be the fact that I am speaking to you from my home and not from my office. We as a staff have been working from home since March 20th. There have been discussions about when we'll return to the building. They have not yielded a decision, and because we're part of a larger institution with an undergraduate campus and the graduate campuses, that has to be a unified decision. As a health sciences division, we have been able to advocate for our third and fourth year students to get back into their courses, which has happened.

So we have third years who are doing mostly didactic-structured content for the first couple of months before they begin their rotations. The fourth years had to take a pause on their clerkship training when the COVID crisis hit, and this allowed them to make up the clerkships before we had third years overlapping with them. That's a difficult thing to do, to have two classifications overlap and then the third shift. Once the fourth years make up the clerkship rotations in the next few weeks, then the third years will move into theirs, but they're currently participating in clinical simulations and exercises and mostly virtual content, but we'll be back in the clerkships soon. And then of course, the fourth years move into their sub-I’s and electives.

For the first and second years, we are virtual. So there's an asynchronous curriculum which allows students to log in and conduct their coursework. There are also live lectures that are provided through a virtual platform. The goal is to bring both groups back at some point this year. We have preliminarily determined the early part of October for the first years to be back on, to actually be on campus for the first time. It's just going to require attention to the different health mandates by the state. Our main campus made a plan early to bring undergraduates back to campus,

Applying to business school during a pandemic [Show summary]

Soojin Kwon (Managing Director, Full-Time MBA Admissions 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 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.

ISB

Are you considering applying to the Indian School of Business AND switching careers post-MBA? Then you’ll want to read the following excerpt from our recent Q&A with Mr. V. K. Menon, Senior Director of Placements at ISB, as he discusses important information for career switchers at the ISB.

Question: I have often read about ISB students making career shifts after years of being in one position. How does the one-year program help students to make such dramatic career shifts? How does the school assist students in considering different choices?

VK Menon: As we said at the start, around 70% of the guys shift their careers in some way. Either they shift their function or they shift their industry or their geography or they might shift two of them or they might shift all three...

The important thing is look at it from the eye of the recruiter...The recruiter says fine, you've got three, four years of experience in whichever domain you've been working in. We will give you credit that you have got to a premium MBA program. We will give you credit that you have done well in your undergrad...But now you should tell me why we should take you over somebody else we can get from the market who is coming from a similar experience background?

Now this is the question you have to answer when it comes to the interview. How ISB prepares you for that is again going back to the question which was asked some time back. Right from the time you join, you will be connected with learning - as we call learning and development experts. These are all people with vertical experience across verticals. That is sales and marketing, technology, finance, etc. and these people will handle and guide you through the process. They will tell you what you need to do to be able to answer that question which we discussed. They will connect you will alumni. They will connect you with industry leaders and experts. There are programs which are specifically designed for industry people to come and give you guidance. So this whole process is orchestrated by the career advancement services group.

Question: What if I want to change industry being from a family business background?

VK Menon: This is also another very interesting question because hidden in the question is another question....Will the companies think that I may not stay with them? There are all kinds of fears which are there in the minds of people who are coming from that background. But what I have seen is, as far as the company is concerned, the company is looking for certain skill sets. That's number one. Number two is by and large, most companies these days promote an entrepreneurial culture. They want people who are risk takers, who can think differently, who can come up with solutions, who can take responsibility and move forward quickly in a flexible way. So all these are requirements.

Now what I have seen is, unless you are coming in from a family industry which is directly competing or something, which I haven't had many cases like that, but if you're coming from an industry, a family - a background where you have your own industry or your family has an industry, these recruiters are quite comfortable taking you because their assumption is that since you have your own industry or participated strongly in it, you will have this in-built characteristics, risk taking, responsible, flexible, move ahead fast,

ISB

Thinking about applying to the Indian School of Business?

Then check out our recent Q&A with Mr. V. K. Menon, Senior Director of Placements at ISB for valuable information on career prospects for ISB grads post-MBA. Read on for an excerpt:

Question: Can you explain how well ISB graduates are placed in terms of being work ready on the first day? Do ISB and companies that hire consider that the PGP is robust enough to deliver work-ready managers with minimal training?

VK Menon: Let’s look at how we operate. The ISB Program is a one-year program. So right when we were setting up the school the question arose, should we go in for a one-year program or should we do a normal two-year program like many other business schools? The research we conducted showed that if people had more than three years of experience they were in a very advantageous position if they went in for a one-year program, and so we chose the one-year model.

The tradeoff of the model is that in a typical two-year model, you get about 720 contact hours. These are hours which you spend in class with the professors, 720. In a one-year program, that is the one that is done by ISB, you have around 680 contact hours.

So there is a tradeoff of about 40 contact hours, but the advantage is that you get back to work one year earlier.  
 
So that’s how we formulated the design. Having formulated the design, the other thing which we had to do was that we had to do away with all the breaks....This one year is split up into eight terms and each term is one and a half months. In each term, you will do about four to five subjects which means that it’s a very tight program and the program rolls on term after term for one complete year.

Now, the interesting fact here is that close to around 70% of the students who join the PGP Program of the ISB change their careers. They either change their function or they change their industry or they change their location or they change all the three. So the question which was asked becomes very important. How is it that we make these people ready to be operative from day one, how is that we prepare them not just on that curriculum but also on the get-ready-to-industry concept? Now for that we have a complete -- under the Career Advancement Services, we have a Learning and Development Department. The Learning and Development Department is headed by vertical specialists....So it is their role...to ensure that you take the right subjects, you go to the projects which you need to do. You may have to choose certain projects which are specifically designed for you. You may have to kind of go out and work with certain industries. You may have to do special sessions from industry experts who are brought in for getting you ready to go to market. So there's a whole set of activities which are done by the Learning and Development Department.

This department is not in any way associated with the academics that go on. The academics is a stream by itself. The Learning and Development Department just ensures that the student is job ready, job fit for both the interview and for the job, if and when the job is given to you. So that’s the way in which we train students to be ready on day one. Going by feedback of companies which have been recruiting, and we’re very sensitive about feedback, we get back to the companies and we are in close touch with more than about 1,000 companies worldwide. So the feedback suggests that the graduates of ISB have performed exceptionally well when it came to really handling assignments post graduation.

For the complete conversation, please

Alex Salter- Recruitment & Admissions Manager

Are you confused about the difference between London Business School’s MBA and its Masters in Management (MiM)? Are you considering applying for the MiM program but have questions about the program’s curriculum, student life, job prospects, etc.? Are you looking for winning tips on how to best present yourself in London’s MiM application?

If you answered “yes” to any of those questions, then you’ll want to check out our recent Q&A with London Business School MiM reps Ivan Anderson, Client Services Manager at the Masters in Management; Alex Salter, Recruitment and Admissions Manager at the Masters in Management at London Business School; and Daniel Lay, Career Services Recruiter Lead for the Masters in Management at London Business School. Read on for an excerpt.

Question: What are the main differences between the MiM program and the conventional MBA program?

Alex Salter: With regards our MiM program, it really is a pre-experience program for more recent graduates in the last couple of years. The MBA at London Business School, I can certainly say you will be required to have a minimum of two years work experience and it's actually unusual to see students on the program contributing at that level. The average work experience on that program has risen year and year. At the moment it's just about six years work experience. So we really are filling the gap in the market. People are graduating more recently looking for that practical business experience, whilst they might not have the practical experience themselves. It may only be in a number of internships that they have undertaken.

Ivan Anderson: ...Also, I definitely think the differences between the MBA and the Masters in Management specifically is that we equip individuals who come from various different undergraduate disciplines with the skills and the knowledge, as well as, the tools that they need in order to really begin and to make their impact on the business world. Versus the MBA which is slightly different where individuals either use the MBA to shift careers or to move up to the next level within their career. Versus the MiM which is designed to really give young professionals that are just entering the market the extra competitive edge that they need in order to really make an impact.

For the complete conversation, please check out the 2013 London Business School MiM Q&A transcript or listen to the audio file. You can also view our London Business School MiM B-School Zone for more information.

To automatically receive notices about these MBA admissions chats and other MBA admissions events, please subscribe to our MBA events list. To listen to the Q&A recordings on-the-go, please subscribe to the Accepted Admissions Podcast.

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 Accepted.com ~ Helping You Write Your Best

Waitlisted?

Have you been waitlisted to your top choice MBA program? Are you looking for tried and true tools that will help you gain acceptance from the waitlist? Check out the transcript from our recent Q&A, 2013 All You Need to Know About MBA Waitlists Q&A with Linda Abraham, CEO of Accepted.com, for advice on all aspects of the MBA waitlist.

During the Q&A, Linda answered the following questions (and others):

* What is the ideal frequency of emails to the waitlist manager?

* Is there strategically a good time when to send my letter, i.e. right away versus waiting until round two responses go out?

* Is it acceptable to say that you have registered for an online class recently? There won't be a grade to report back, but would this effort make a difference?

* Most schools say a visit to campus does not affect decisions because they don’t want to penalize people who cannot make it. But, can a campus visit help show interest and passion that may help a waitlist candidate?

* Is it true that schools do in fact rank the waitlist? If so, when do they typically begin that ranking?

* Do you suggest we sit tight for schools like HBS who say to send in nothing?

For the complete conversation, including answers to these questions, please check out the 2013 All You Need to Know About MBA Waitlists Q&A transcript or listen to the audio file.

To automatically receive notices about these MBA admissions chats and other MBA admissions events, please subscribe to our MBA events list. To listen to the Q&A recordings on-the-go, please subscribe to the Accepted Admissions Podcast.

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 Accepted.com ~ Helping You Write Your Best

"We want to see...personality."

Thank you to Niki da Silva, Director of Recruitment and Admissions, and Leigh Gauthier, Director of the Career Center at Rotman, for joining us for our first ever Toronto Rotman Q&A! The chat offered MBA applicants an excellent window into the Rotman admissions process – see the below excerpt for more on that.

Linda Abraham:  Can you speak a minute about the video question, what to expect? I'm sure that's one of the more innovative aspects of the application process.

Niki da Silva: Yes, absolutely. It's certainly something that we were getting lots of question on. We really looked pretty carefully at what our process had been in the past, and historically had four relatively lengthy essays, and really felt as the MBA landscape has changed, and of course the Internet and chat rooms, and all of that has existed and created this culture or feeling that there was a right answer to those questions, or there was a marking guide. We wanted to do something that would be beneficial for us as an admissions committee in actually cutting through and cutting to the core of what makes candidates different and distinct and allow them an opportunity to speak to that in a pseudo-live way.

So there's no pressure to research and rewrite and edit. And certainly, we still do have two essays, but wanted to give a new medium, create a new medium for candidates to really present who they are, what they're all about. We want to see their personality. We want to see their passions and their interests, and how they answer what really are first-date type questions. We're asking people to reflect on how their colleagues might describe them, or someone who really inspires them, and to do so in a way that is, essentially, live.

The expectation is, as part of the admissions process, the third essay question is this video response where candidates create a profile, log on, can go through as many times as they want, sample questions that are not recorded, so they get comfortable with the technology. They get comfortable with their responses. You [calm] any nerves, you quell any fears that you have about the technology.

And we did feel that so many of our candidates – and we do Skype video interviews for anyone that we can't see face-to-face – that our candidate pool, they're comfortable with the technology, so we provided a platform to talk to us. So you log in, you get to practice as many times as you want, and then you get two questions. One is a question that goes to everybody, and then the second question is chosen from a random bank of at least 20 questions.

And I think, in terms of what to expect, it's just an opportunity, and I would encourage candidates to take it as an opportunity to be comfortable in your own skin and show us who you are, and feel that you'll have an opportunity to actually differentiate yourself as a candidate and be admitted based on your unique story.

Linda Abraham: And when you say that candidates can practice, they just practice using the technology, they don't really practice their responses? Or they can also practice their responses to the questions?

Niki da Silva: Yes, that's a good point to clarify. They get a sample question so they can practice that particular sample question multiple times as they get comfortable. It doesn't count; it's not recorded, but it is an accurate reflection of how the video pops up, they get the question, their screen starts counting down in terms of 45 seconds, and 30 seconds left, and then their webcam starts recording, and then they get to also see, there's a timed count down for when their response should be completed by.

Every candidate I know who has submitted the video essays so far has done at least one or two rounds of the sample question,