Admissions Straight Talk

Where we're at:

Right now, if I walk down the street almost anywhere in the United States, I will see “Help Wanted” signs in the windows, on Amazon trucks, and almost everywhere. The United States is experiencing a labour shortage and one of the tightest labour markets since records were kept.

As a result of the labour shortage, current grads are getting jobs and great salaries. The Wall Street Journal wrote "The Class of 2022 represents the most in-demand college graduates to enter the job market in years."

At the same time and probably as a result of the tight job market, application volume declined this past cycle at many graduate programs. In several podcast interviews that I conducted, whether with medical school, law school, or business school, admissions deans and directors, the school representatives indicated that application volume was down from the stratospheric levels of 2020-21, but not below pre-COVID levels. At May’s AIGAC conference, several top MBA admissions directors also expressed concern about summer melt – the number of admitted applicants who have indicated they will attend and then decide either not to go for an MBA or to attend another program - as well as the employer incentives NOT to go for an MBA.

The drop in application volume stemming from the tight job market, however, is good news for applicants. It means it's easier to get into better programs than it was at the height of the COVID recession. Fewer applicants also almost always lead to more and larger scholarships for highly qualified students.

The question for applicants thinking about applying during the 2022-23 application cycle is: Will the applicant party continue? Will grad admissions, especially MBA admissions, see further declines in application volume? Will it remain a buyer’s market?

I really doubt it. And here’s why.

Listen: Linda Abraham talks about why you should apply to grad school asap in this special podcast episode

Drumbeat of warning about a coming recession

In late 2021 and early 2022 the economic predictions were optimistic. By May, that confidence had dissipated. Inflation surged, the stock market slumped, supply chain snafus multiplied, Russia invaded Ukraine, and interest rates climbed.

Headlines increasingly relayed recession and layoff warnings.

* Lloyd Blankfein, senior chairman of Goldman Sachs, warned on Face the Nation on May 15 of a high risk of recession.* Wells Fargo CEO Charlie Scharf said there was "no question" that we are headed towards a recession.* The Wall Street Journal reported; "Companies which saw substantial growth during the Covid-19 pandemic are starting to take a more cautious approach toward hiring and...

All you need to know about med school admissions [Show Summary]

Madison Searle, a published writer, graduate application advisor, and former director of an undergraduate Honors Center at a leading Public Ivy, shares his tips and strategies for medical school applications that lead to acceptance. 

Madison Searle, Accepted medical school consultant, talks about how to get accepted [Show Notes]

Welcome to the 472nd episode of Admissions Straight Talk. Thanks for tuning in. 

Are you ready to apply to your dream medical schools? Are you competitive at your target programs? Accepted's Med School Admissions Quiz can give you a quick reality check. Just go to accepted.com/medquiz, complete the quiz, and you will not only get an assessment but also tips on how to improve your chances of acceptance. Plus it's all free.

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Our guest today, Madison Searle, is a published writer, graduate application advisor, and former director of an undergraduate Honors Center at a leading Public Ivy. He earned his Master's in English Lit from UVA and taught writing seminars for students in two honors programs at the College of Natural Sciences at UT Austin in addition to being the director of those programs. Almost all of the students in his seminars were applying to medical school or other healthcare professions. UT conservatively estimated acceptance rates for those programs at around 95%. Today, Madison is an Accepted consultant working with med school and healthcare applicants. 

You were an English major and got your Master’s in Literature. How did you get involved in med school and science admissions? [2:13]

Good question. For the past decade, I've taught two writing seminars to two honors programs that were about 80% premed students. One of the first things I did in that first semester a decade ago was teach autobiographical writing because I knew that’s what they were going to be doing for medical school applications. I continued doing that through January of this year and I also worked with countless students on their own medical school application letter.

You worked with students individually through the program as well as providing the seminar? [2:47]

Correct. Yes.

How do you suggest applicants approach the writing portion of the primary application? [2:54]

My first bit of advice to any premed student, and I got them early enough in their trajectory that I could give this advice to them, was to keep a daily journal about their premed journey. It would be useful to them in three ways. First, it would help them to simply remember the experiences and thoughts they could draw on for their medical school applications. It would give them practice at writing about their own thoughts and experiences, and it would also help them gain clarity in figuring out and really being able to articulate their motivation for going to medical school. 

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Football, Air Force Academy, and business; hear how they come together in this Stanford MBA's journey [Show Summary]

Captain David Harris has been a leader since childhood. Growing up and in college, he played football. After graduating from the U.S. Air Force Academy, he served as an officer in the U.S. Space Force, and now he’s preparing for an MBA at Stanford GSB. In this episode, he shares his story. 

Interview with David Harris, US Air Force veteran, Stanford GSB MBA candidate [Show Notes]

Thanks for joining me for the 471st episode of Admissions Straight Talk. You've seen the stats that most people have a great return on their MBA investment, but what about you? Are you going to see that return? We've created a tool that will help you assess whether the MBA is likely to be a good investment for you individually. Go to accepted.com/mbaroicalc, complete the quiz, and you'll not only get an assessment, but also the opportunity to calculate different scenarios. And it's all free.

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I'd like to welcome to Admissions Straight Talk, Captain David Harris of the U.S. Space Force. I first met David when he won a free consultation after attending an Accepted webinar. I was very impressed with him and here's why: In addition to being a delightful person to speak with, David graduated from the U.S. Air Force Academy in 2017. While there, he was a football team captain for the Academy's Division I team. Upon graduating, he worked first as a Nuclear Cruise Missile Manufacturing and Production Program Manager for the U.S. Air Force and is currently serving in the United States Space Force's National Reconnaissance Office. Parallel to his service in the military, David has pursued internships in private equity and venture capital, participated in Management Leadership for Tomorrow's Professional Development Fellows’ program, and co-founded his own investment management company, Ikon Capital Group. 

Can you tell us a little bit about your background? [2:38]

No problem. I'm David Harris. Originally from Dallas, Texas so a Cowboys fan by law. I was actually born during a Cowboys game and that kind of laid the framework for my early pursuits. I played football growing up and that ultimately opened the door for football scholarships at the Air Force Academy, which I chose for the leadership and academic challenge. I majored in management and played football, as you mentioned, and then graduated. That's where I caught the bug for finance. I was really interested once I got into my major, specifically the finance course to dive a little deeper into private equity. So I got an internship at Pharos Capital down in Dallas before I went into active duty at the Nuclear Cruise Missile Program Office, where I was working for three years. It was a great opportunity to lead with decent size team of up to 30. I got the real challenge when I went to the National Reconnaissance Office leading a team of about 125 and managing $250 million worth of software development satellites. It was definitely an amazing experience.

Discover HEC Paris' top-ranked MBA Program [Show Summary]

HEC Paris’ top-ranked MBA Program is known for its entrepreneurial spirit, the strong representation of many cultures, and the rich alumni network that feels like family. Benoit Banchereau, MBA Admissions Director, explores what sets this program apart and how potential students can secure a spot.

Benoit Banchereau, Executive Director, Marketing and Admissions at HEC Paris MBA programs shares what the program is looking for in applicants [Show Notes]

It gives me great pleasure to have for the first time on Admissions Straight Talk, Benoit Banchereau. Benoit is the Executive Director of Marketing and Admissions at HEC Paris MBA programs. He earned two masters degrees from the Sorbonne in Paris, one in Bilingual Journalism and the other in Media and Communication. He also participated in INSEAD’s International Marketing Program. He has worked in communications and marketing for companies like A.T. Kearney, Standard & Poor's, and Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer before joining HEC Paris in 2015 as Director of Marketing and Admissions. In 2019, he became the Executive Director of Marketing and Admissions for all of HEC Paris' MBA programs.

Can you start by giving us an overview of HEC's three MBA programs? [2:17]

We have a full-time MBA that takes place on the campus of Jouy-en-Josas. It's a 16-month program that students complete on-site. The Executive MBA program is between 15 and 18 months. It includes people who are generally above 35, and it's a part-time MBA. We have five flexible options. We have some modular intakes, weekend intakes, a bilingual intake in French and English, and an intake in Qatar where we have an office.

Our program is very highly ranked in the Financial Times, it has the number one place. For the moment so far so good, but you can never stay too long in first place. Our TRIUM Executive MBA is a partnership with NYU and LSE, London School of Economics. It's a very special international offer that gives students the opportunity to belong to the three alumni communities from HEC, NYU, and LSE.

Is the TRIUM Executive MBA a full-time program or a part-time program? [4:32]

It's a part-time program with exactly the same target. In terms of population, it's more expensive than our Executive MBA at HEC. It really gives a special offer. It's usually between 50 and 60 participants so it's a very small cohort with people trying to get an international perspective. The alliance between HEC, NYU, and LSE is so valuable, especially at this time when we see that international relations are so important. It gives a very interesting approach, especially with our friends from LSE who can actually bring this to students.

Can you zoom in on the full-time MBA program's more notable and distinctive elements? [6:05]

What you're going to get from the full-time MBA is the quality of the courses that we provide with top professors.

Interested in a spot in Tulane SOM? Hear all about what the program has to offer [Show Summary]

Set in vibrant New Orleans, the Tulane School of Medicine offers students an outstanding medical education with opportunities for community involvement and research. Mike Woodson, Director of Admissions, explains what it takes to get accepted to this competitive program.

Mike Woodson, Director Of Admissions at Tulane University School of Medicine talks about how to get accepted [Show Notes]

Welcome to the 469th episode of Admissions Straight Talk, thanks for tuning in. Calculating your GPA for medical school can be difficult. You’ve got the science GPA, the overall GPA, and it's particularly difficult if you're applying via AMCAS, AACOMAS and/or TMDSAS. However, Accepted has you covered. Our free tool can really help you. It's brand new and it's a free GPA calculator. You can download the template to your computer or laptop and use it as you wish. You simply enter your classes and credits to calculate your GPA and sign GPA. If you're a couple of years away from applying, you can download the GPA calculator spreadsheet, enter your classes and assess the impact of your grades as you earn them, or you can calculate the impact of different anticipated grades. Just download the spreadsheet template at accepted.com/medgpa and you can use and update it as needed. Plus it's all free.

Our guest today is Mike Woodson, Director of Admissions at Tulane University School of Medicine. Mike earned his BA at Elon University and an MS in Sports Management from Virginia Commonwealth. He's very close to earning his PhD in Higher Education Administration from Liberty University. After working for several years in high school athletics, Mike moved into the admissions world at Randolph-Macon College. He then was Assistant Director of Admissions at the University of Houston and came to Tulane Medical in 2017 as Assistant Director of Admissions. In 2019, he became the Director of Admissions. 

Can you give us an overview of Tulane Medical's approach to med ed, focusing on the more distinctive elements? [2:26]

Every medical school has its own features, characteristics, mission, values, etc. Tulane University School of Medicine really focuses on whole body preventative medicine. We're in the heart of New Orleans and we focus on serving the underserved population. Our school has 20+ student-run clinics. We have a culinary medicine center that helps our students learn and also has ties with the community. We conduct research that also helps the population here in New Orleans. Our tagline is, “We heal communities, we heal people” and all of that fits strongly into our mission. 

What would you like listeners to know about Tulane Medical that many applicants don't realize? Are there any myths that you would like to dispel? [3:28]

If you're known for one thing, people just assume that you don't do the other thing. We are known for our community service and our student-run clinics so people just assume we don’t have any research opportunities.

So you want to attend UVA Law? Here's what you need to know [Show Summary]

Are you interested in a top law school located in a beautiful city at a historic university? UVA Law, founded in 1819 by Thomas Jefferson, may be just the one for you, but it has only a 9.7% acceptance rate. Our guest today, Assistant Admissions Dean Natalie Blazer, will tell you what the admissions committee at UVA Law is looking for.

Interview with Natalie Blazer, Assistant Dean for Admissions and Chief Admissions Officer, U. of Virginia School of Law [Show Notes]

Thanks for joining me for this, the 468th episode of Admissions Straight Talk. Are you applying for law school? Are you planning ahead to apply next cycle or the year 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 will not only get an 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, Natalie R. Blazer. Dean Blazer is not only the Assistant Dean for Admissions and the Chief Admissions Officer at UVA Law, she's also an alumna. She earned her bachelor's at Boston College and then attended UVA Law. Following law school, she clerked at The Hague, worked in a Manhattan law firm for six years, and then worked in law school admissions at Columbia Law and Georgetown Law before returning to UVA as Assistant Dean for Admissions.

Can you give us an overview of the more distinctive elements of the UVA Law School JD program? [2:04]

Most people probably know UVA Law is a top 10 law school. It's actually the number one public law school in the country. It's something that we are very proud of. I think you can get a great law school education at any top law school, but what sets UVA apart from most is the experience that you have here. We are consistently ranked number one for quality of life, classroom experience, and faculty. I think all of that goes to our community and our culture.

Law school has a reputation of being extremely cutthroat and competitive, especially when you get to the higher level of law schools, but that’s not the case at UVA. When I think about what truly sets us apart, it is that experience that you have here. It's the colleagues that you have, the supportive nature of the community, the faculty accessibility and outreach that you have, and the supportive administration. 

Seeing it from the administrative side versus the student side, I do see how much hard work and effort goes into making sure students have an amazing experience here. Obviously, our career outcomes, the actual academics, all of that goes without saying. When I think about what really distinguishes UVA from some of our peer schools, it is the atmosphere here. It’s that community culture.

The 2020-2021 application cycle saw an unbelievable surge in law school applications. On March 28th of this year, the overall applicant volume was down roughly 11.5% from the last year, but up 6.6% from two years ago. What is UVA experiencing in terms of application volume? [4:10]

Pretty much exactly what you just said.

What international applicants to U.S. business schools need to know [Show Summary]

Michelle Stockman has a Master’s in Journalism, 15 years of experience as an Accepted admissions consultant, and has lived all around the world. Bridging all of these experiences, Michelle gives her tips for international students applying to U.S. MBA programs. 

Interview with Michelle Stockman, Accepted MBA admissions consultant [Show Notes]

Hello, and welcome to the 467th episode of Admissions Straight Talk. Thanks for joining me today and whenever you can tune in. The featured resource for today's show is Accepted's MBA Admissions Quiz. Are you ready to apply to your dream MBA program? Are you competitive at your target schools? Accepted's MBA Admissions Quiz can give you a quick reality check. Just go to accepted.com/mba-quiz, complete the quiz, and you'll not only get an assessment but also tips on how to improve your qualifications. Plus, it's all free. 

It gives me great pleasure to introduce Michelle Stockman. Michelle earned her Master's in Journalism from Columbia University. While studying there, she worked in Columbia Business School's admissions office and got a real insider perspective on the MBA admissions process. She reached out to me way back in 2007 and has been an MBA admissions consultant ever since. 

She also pursued her career in journalism and has lived in different parts of the U.S. as well as different parts of the globe. For the last six years, she has lived in Berlin, Germany, and assisted many of our European, Asian, and Middle Eastern clients, and even a few located in the U.S., to gain admission to U.S. and European MBA programs, and occasionally, journalism school. 

Before we get to MBA admissions, can you please tell us a few of the places that you have lived? [2:18]

Absolutely. I grew up in Rochester, New York, which is near Niagara Falls. As an adult, I moved to New York City, where I lived for about five years, and I loved it. I was a journalist there. I went to journalism school there. I worked in the Columbia Business School admissions office and felt like I was entering a movie every day, helping people achieve their dreams as well as pursuing my dream. Then I moved to Washington D.C. and got to experience living in the city that's the seat of government and watching U.S. politics up close.

Then I moved to Islamabad, Pakistan, where I also worked as a journalist and admissions consultant. It’s a beautiful city. It's right in the foothills of the Himalayas. I had a wonderful time there, and that's where I started my family. After that, I lived in Qatar for a little while. Family had brought me there, and I worked from there as well. That was a really interesting experience. I found it to be incredibly diverse. I met people from all over the world who had come to work there, and did a lot of hanging out in mall food courts so we could have some yummy meals while staying out of the heat, and just made some wonderful friendships. Then I moved from there to Berlin, Germany,

Thanks for joining me for the 466th episode of Admissions Straight Talk.

I am taking a week off for family time this week. As a result, I decided to air an encore of our most popular premed podcast so far in 2022. It is my interview with Dr. LeeAnna Muzquiz, UWSOM Associate Dean for Admissions.

Given that the 2022-23 med school application cycle is moving into high gear I thought it was a great time to highlight this interview with the admission dean at the program that is ranked #1 by US News for primary care and a not-too-shabby #9 for research. I assume that many of you are also taking a spring break right now be it for a day or two or a whole week or more. I hope you can spend it with loved ones. Have a wonderful time and thanks for listening to the encore of University of Washington School of Medicine: An Interview with Admissions Dean, Dr. LeeAnna Muzquiz.

For the complete show notes, check out the original blog post.

Related links:

* University of Washington School of Medicine’s Website* Admissions Interview | UW Medicine* University of Washington School of Medicine Secondary Application Tips and Deadlines [2021 – 2022]* The Medical School Admissions Calculator* Get Accepted to Top MBA Programs with Low Stats, a webinar* Accepted’s Medical School Admissions Consulting

Related shows:

* All You Want to Know About Georgetown Medical School’s Admissions* Deep Dive into Penn Perelman School of Medicine: An Interview with Dr. Neha Vapiwala, Dean for Admissions* Deep Dive Into Duke Medical: An Interview With Dr. Linton Yee, Associate Dean of Admissions* Are You Rushing to Attend Rush Medical College?* How to Get Accepted to Chicago Medical School at Rosalind Franklin*

Wondering if Dental School is for you? [Show Summary]

Dr. Barry Rothman shares everything students should know about the dental school application process drawing on his knowledge as an Accepted Admissions Consultant and former Health Professions Advisor and Director of SFSU’s Pre-Health Profession Certificate Program.

Interview with Barry Rothman, Dental School admissions expert [Show Notes]

Welcome to the 464th episode of Admissions Straight Talk. Thanks for tuning in. The challenge at the heart of admissions is showing that you both fit in at your target schools, and stand out in the applicant pool. Accepted's free download Fitting in and Standing Out: The Paradox at the Heart of Admissions will show you how to do both. Master this paradox, and you are well on your way to acceptance. You can download this free guide and accepted.com/fiso. 

Our guest today, Dr. Barry Rothman, is the former Health Professions Advisor and Director of San Francisco State University's Pre-Health Profession Certificate Program, which served pre-med, pre-dental, pre-nursing, and other pre-healthcare students who are preparing themselves to apply to their graduate professional schools of choice. Since 2015, Dr. Rothman has helped Accepted's clients in all aspects of the application process to graduate healthcare programs and graduate schools and life sciences, including of course dental school, which is the subject of today's podcast.

How did you get involved in dental school admissions? [2:17]

I think around 1995, I was asked by my university to be the Health Professions Advisor. This was something I had never even thought about. I had been teaching in the Biology Department for nine years at that point. I taught Molecular Medicine and I was interested in Physiology. I had a number of pre-meds and pre-dents in my classes, and I was kind of interested so I figured I'd give it a try.

What I discovered was that there was a huge need at my university, and probably in many universities, to have a Health Professions Advisor who could relate to the students and really give them service. I decided to take it on, and I fell in love with it. I fell in love with being the Health Professions Advisor for all sorts of health professions, including dentistry. Also, I had had some contact with the UCSF Dental Post Bac Program, which was doing well at UCSF, and because I was the Health Professions Advisor at SF State, and UCSF is two miles down the road, we put our forces together and I joined them.

I got to learn how they ran their post-bacc program. Then I took my own ideas about having programs that were extremely supportive of students, and had lots of mutual support, and not competitive, a nurturing environment, and decided after a year or two delay to create my own post-bacc program at San Francisco State, starting with a sort of multipurpose pre-health program mainly for pre-meds and some pre-dents. The students at SF State actually asked me to create this program.

At that time, pre-meds were allowed to be Second Baccalaureates in the whole CSU system, but they weren't given much in the way of service. It was more like, "Okay, you can take classes, but don't expect anything.

Discover what opportunities the Wharton Lauder MBA program offers [Show Summary]

Kara Keenan Sweeney, Director of Admissions Marketing and Financial Aid at the Lauder Institute at the University of Pennsylvania's Wharton School and Penn Law School shares how the program continues to offer global opportunities during a COVID influenced world.

[Show Notes]

Welcome to the 465th episode of Admissions Straight Talk. Thanks for joining me today and whenever you’re able to tune in. The featured resource for today's show is Fitting in and Standing Out: The Paradox at the Heart of Admissions. Your application needs to show that you're going to do both, and that's the difficult paradox at the heart of admissions. Master that paradox, and you are well on your way to acceptance. Download the free guide.

It gives me great pleasure to introduce Kara Keenan Sweeney, Director of Admissions Marketing and Financial Aid at the Lauder Institute at the University of Pennsylvania's Wharton School and Penn Law School. Kara has an extensive background in graduate admissions, starting with her master's in higher administration at Columbia, and then moving onto admissions positions at INSEAD, the University of Pennsylvania, Penn State, and now the Lauder Institute. 

Can you give us an overview of the Wharton Lauder program for those listeners who aren't that familiar with it? [1:45]

The Lauder program was founded in the mid-1980s by the Lauder family to work with Wharton to help educate and generate a new, globally-minded group of business leaders. When students come to the Lauder Institute, they're earning a Master of Arts in International Studies at the same time, they're getting their MBA from Wharton. Basically, it's an MA/MBA joint degree fully integrated into the MBA program. 

When students come to Lauder, they focus on one of our six programs of concentration. Five of those programs are regionally focused. We have a program on Africa, East and Southeast Asia, Europe, Latin America, and then what we call the SAMENA region or South Asia, the Middle East and North Africa. That's our fifth regional program. We also have a global program for our students who have already had fairly significant global experience.

In our regional program students are almost in every case also focused on a language. We have 10 languages of instruction at Lauder. When they come to Lauder they're already speaking a language at an advanced level, and then they'll continue to work on that language until they get to the superior or the fluent level over the two years as part of their studies at Lauder. It’s a fully integrated joint degree. We have a small program with about 70 to 80 students a year. It’s a really international community and just an amazing group to be a part of.

Are you also a joint program with the law school? [3:22]

That's right. Thanks for highlighting that. We do have a joint agreement with the law school as well. Each year we have a handful of students that do it. It's not really by design; it's a little bit by default.