Admissions Straight Talk

A peek into what change the Forte Foundation is implementing [Show Summary]

In honor of Admissions Straight Talk’s 10th anniversary episode, our first ever guest is back. Elissa Sangster is the CEO of the Forte Foundation which is at the forefront of increasing female representation in the business world - from the classroom to the workforce. 

Interview with Elissa Sangster, CEO of the Forte Foundation [Show Notes]

Thanks for joining me for the 463rd episode of Admissions Straight Talk. I love hosting Admissions Straight Talk because of the fascinating guests I'm privileged to talk to. But today's show is extra special. It marks Admissions Straight Talk’s 10th anniversary. The first show aired on March 29th, 2012, almost exactly 10 years ago. 

So, first I have to thank you, our listeners for tuning in and sharing your valuable time and attention with me and our guests. I also have to thank the guests who share their time, experience, and expertise with you and me during the interview. 

And one of the people I have to give extra thanks to today is our guest Elissa Sangster. Elissa was willing to be Admissions Straight Talk's first guest when there was no track record, no stats to report, no download numbers. Today, I can talk to prospective guests about our 650,000 total downloads, but I couldn't 10 years ago when Elissa first said yes. So thank you again, Elissa. That's why this show is special to me. 

This show should be special to you because of Elissa's critical role as head of the Forte Foundation, which has made enormous strides in increasing women's representation in business school and business through her profound insider's knowledge of the business school and professional world. Elissa earned her MBA at Texas A&M's Mays Business School in 1994, and immediately became the Assistant Director of its MBA program. She moved to UT Austin in 1997, where she served in different roles, including the Assistant Dean and Director of McCombs’ MBA program. In 2004, she became the first Director of Forte Foundation, a consortium of business schools and companies working to increase the number of women in business leadership roles. She's been successfully running and growing Forte Foundation ever since. 

Can you give a background on the Forte Foundation and its growth? [2:47]

Sure, absolutely. We started back in 2001 when there was a research study being done by Catalyst. A lot of business schools and companies were looking at women's advancement into business school and into business leadership positions and corporations and there was grave concern about what was holding women back. So the research came out with a study that we then built into a business plan for an organization. That's really where the launch of Forte began. That was in about 2001, and then in 2002, we held our first event which was a series of MBA forums. We had five of them in 2002 and really continued to grow. I came on board full-time in 2004 as the first full-time employee of the organization. As you said, that's kind of been the history, and here we are today in 2022. We're really excited to see where we go from here.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=12wKC2JrglE

Can you give an overview of the programs for women in...

What is the U. of Iowa's PA program all about [Show Summary]

The role of Physician Assistant was introduced less than 60 years ago and the University of Iowa’s Physician Assistant Program has been at the forefront since day one. Tony Brenneman, the Program Director shares what the program offers and how applicants can gain an invitation to the 25-student cohort. 

Interview with Anthony Brenneman, Program Director at University of Iowa's Physician Assistant Program [Show Notes]

Welcome to the 462nd episode of Admissions Straight Talk. Thanks for joining me today. This interview is all about getting accepted to PA school, specifically the University of Iowa's PA program, which began a half-century ago in 1972. In addition to listening to today's interview, I'd like to invite you to download Accepted's free guide, 10 Tips For Acceptance to a Physician Assistant Program. Grab your free copy for advice on selecting the best PA program for you, writing your personal statement, interviewing effectively, and simply presenting the best application you possibly can. It's a competitive field out there, so you need to do the best you can. 

Today's guest, Tony Brenneman, grew up in Oregon where he also earned his Bachelor's in Psychology and Piano Performance from Linfield College and an MSW from Portland State University. He worked as a social worker until he learned about the PA profession and joined the University of Iowa's PA program graduating with his Master's of Physician Assistant Studies in 1996. He worked in Bone Marrow Transplant, and in 2004, joined the UIPA program and became the Program Director in 2012 and a professor at the University of Iowa’s Carver College of Medicine in 2014. 

Before we dive into Iowa's PA program, can you talk a little bit about your own journey, from studying piano performance to social work in Oregon to then becoming a PA in Iowa? [2:19]

It does seem a bit convoluted, doesn't it? I think I had a journey that in some respects is very much like other people that have been thinking about joining the PA profession - they've started off in one career pathway or had bumps along the road, and thought, "Well, this isn't a field that I can get into anymore so I'm going to go off and try other things." I will say when I headed off to my undergraduate experience, I thought for sure I was going to go into medicine. As a 17-year-old, I was a young one going off into college, I wasn't quite ready to put my foot down to the pedal the way I needed to at that point in time. I'd always enjoyed playing the piano so I had enrolled with a biology and piano performance plan.

When I decided I needed to think about other things, I decided to switch it to piano performance and psychology thinking along the lines of music therapy. I still really wanted to be in that healthcare background so that's where that was going at the time. Once I graduated and learned more about music therapy, I decided it probably wasn't a field that fit who I was so I looked around to see what I could do with that psych degree, and a Master's of Social Work was one of the things that I could do. There were social workers that worked in hospital settings, so that was what really intrigued me.

After I graduated, I went on to a hospital there in Portland, Oregon. I started off working in the emergency room,

All you need to know about UW's Foster MBA program [Show Summary]

Amber Janke, Director of MBA Recruitment and Admissions at Foster School of Business shares everything potential applicants should know about the collaborative MBA program.

Amber Janke, Director of MBA Recruitment and Admissions at Foster School of Business talks about how to get accepted [Show Notes]

Welcome to the 461st episode of Admissions Straight Talk. Thanks for listening. You've seen the stats that most people have a great return on their MBA investment, but what about you individually? Are you going to see that return? How much is it likely to be? We created a tool that will help you assess whether the MBA is likely to be a good investment for you individually. Just go to www.accepted.com/mbaroicalc, complete the brief questionnaire, and you'll not only get an assessment but also the opportunity to calculate different scenarios. 

It gives me great pleasure to have for the first time on Admissions Straight Talk, Amber Janke. Amber earned her BA at Chapman University and then went to NYU, where she earned her MA in Higher Education Administration and Student Affairs. She also started her career in higher ed as the Assistant Director of Admissions at NYU. She moved to Foster as Associate Director of MBA Recruitment and Admissions in 2016, and became the Director of MBA Recruitment and Admissions for Foster School of Business in 2019. 

Can you give a basic overview of the Full-time MBA Program at Foster for listeners who may not be that familiar with it? [2:24]

Absolutely. We have your classic two-year Full-time MBA Program here at the Foster School. The first year is very focused on a strong MBA foundation. It’s focused on leadership, teamwork, and we're very big on hands-on experiential learning here at Foster. You get that in the first-year curriculum. In the second year, our students get to choose the elective courses that best suit their career goals. We don't have specific concentrations or areas of studies that students are required to choose. Instead, they really get to customize their degree in a way that makes sense for their career goals.

Do students graduate with a concentration? [3:09]

They don't graduate with a concentration, they graduate with an MBA, but we really encourage them to share the things that they've learned and worked on, on their resumes. 

Is the first year lockstep, where students are with the same cohort? [3:27]

Yes, we are a lockstep program. We're a pretty small cohort. We typically have no more than about 125-130 students. We're very focused on community and culture here at Foster. Our students are very big on helping each other achieve their goals. Our students are very driven and want to make a positive impact on the world, but they also want to help others do the same and it's something that I think is pretty special here at the Foster School.

What don't people know about Foster that you would want them to know? Is there a myth out there about Foster that you would like to dispel? [4:04]

I think there is an impression, and there is some truth to it,

Join us for some insights into MIT's Engineering Program [Show Summary]

Syed Shayan Zahid moved to the United States from Pakistan to pursue an education in engineering. He shares his journey from an undergrad at Purdue to a master’s at MIT and his next step, a career at Apple. 

Interview with Syed Shayan Zahid, student body vice president at MIT [Show Notes]

Hello and welcome. Thanks for joining me for this, the 460th episode of Admissions Straight Talk. Thanks for tuning in. Before I dive into today's interview, I want to invite you to download Applying To Graduate Engineering Programs: What You Need To Know. This free guide will complement today's podcast and show you how to select the right engineering program for you, differentiate yourself from your competition in a positive way, and present yourself effectively as a talented, innovative future engineer and problem solver. One who will bring credit to any program that accepts you. Download it for free.

I'd like to welcome to Admissions Straight Talk, Syed Shayan Zahid. Shayan grew up in Pakistan and came into the United States to study at Purdue University in Indiana and graduated in 2019 with distinction. While there, he pursued multiple internships at Cummins Inc. and also worked there full-time briefly. In 2020, he began his Master's in Aeronautical and Astronautical Engineering at the famed Massachusetts Institute of Technology, MIT. Now that's the skeleton of his story. Let's put some meat on those bones in this conversation. 

Can you tell us a little bit about your background? Where did you grow up? How'd you get interested in engineering? [2:17]

My name is Shayan, that's how I usually go by. Some people prefer calling me Syed, but whatever you prefer. I'm originally from Pakistan. I grew up in this metropolitan city called Lahore. It's one of the busiest cities, I would say, in Pakistan and is known for its historical significance and cultural heritage. We have, from the Mughal Empire dated centuries ago, a lot of historical monuments and buildings, and the city is divided into two parts. One is called Old Lahore, and the other is called just New Lahore, or Lahore in general. I am from the more modern part of it, but it was really interesting growing up in a place where you have a lot of history embedded in your day-to-day life.

What do you like to do for fun? [3:10]

That's a very good question. It depends on the time of the year, honestly. And then depending on how much time I have outside of my academic commitments. But mostly I like skiing. I've been doing ballroom dancing since 2015, since I moved to the US. I've been competing as well but COVID has stopped that spree of competitions. Hopefully they're going to start back up soon. I like to also pursue interests such as hiking, anything that involves being outdoors and traveling.

How did you get interested in engineering? [4:20]

That's a question I had a lot of difficulty answering for myself when I was applying to the US and undergrad. The main key thing that I looked to was what my experience was like in childhood and what I truly enjoyed. There were a few options. I took biology, chemistry,

Interested in a spot in Georgetown University SOM? [Show Summary]

Dr. Ellen Dugan, Georgetown Medical School’s Senior Associate Dean for Admissions and Financial Aid, describes how cura personalis, or care of the whole person, drives the Georgetown experience and curriculum. 

Interview with Dr. Ellen Dugan, Georgetown Medical School’s senior associate dean for admissions [Show Notes]

Welcome to the 459th episode of Admissions Straight Talk. Thanks for joining me. 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'll not only get an assessment but also tips on how to improve your qualifications and your chances of acceptance. Plus, it's all free. 

Our guest today is Dr. Ellen Dugan, Senior Associate Dean for Admissions and Financial Aid at Georgetown University School of Medicine. She is a Hoya through and through. She earned her MD at Georgetown University School of Medicine and then completed her residency training in Emergency Medicine, also at Georgetown. Following four years of service in the National Health Service in rural West Virginia, Dr. Dugan returned to Georgetown and has been on the faculty there since 1990. She served on the Admissions Committee for 10 years prior to becoming the Associate Dean. In addition to her admissions duties, she is an Associate Professor in the Department of Emergency Medicine and formerly served as the Vice-Chair and Interim Academic Chair in the Department of Emergency Medicine at Georgetown. 

Can you give us an overview of Georgetown University School of Medicine's curriculum program for those listeners who aren't that familiar with it? [2:10]

I'm happy to. That's our new curriculum, which they basically started revising in 2015-16. Our graduating class of 2021 was the first class to go all the way through, so it's fairly new. It's divided up into three phases. The first 18 months of the first and second year, or the foundational phase, are made up of six blocks of core content. They’re organ-system-based modules that integrate basic science disciplines with doctoring training if you will. The doctoring courses are called "cura personalis," referring to and uniting the development of professional skills that are unique to doctoring, like physical diagnosis, communications, ethics. This runs through all the blocks. There are also intercessions that are one week long that are emphasizing topics critical to physicians in healthcare. An example would be the opioid epidemic. Then they have medical student brand rounds all through the first three years.

The core clinical phase is the third year, which is blocked out into 4-8-week core clerkships. Those would be medicine, surgery, OB-GYN, pediatrics, family medicine, psychiatry, neurology, and three two-week selectives, or electives. Then there's the advanced clinical phase, which is the fourth year, and that's made up of 37 weeks. Three of those four-week blocks are required. One is four weeks in emergency medicine, and then the other two are four-week blocks in doing acting internships where they function as interns so that they get the confidence a...

What steps can you take to get accepted despite a low GPA? [Show Summary]

Linda Abraham outlines five steps for mitigating the impact of a low GPA so that you can move forward with a successful graduate school application.

Linda Abraham, Founder and CEO of Accepted shares her insights into overcoming low stats [Show Notes]

Welcome to the 458th episode of Admissions Straight Talk. Thanks for joining me. Before we dive into our main topic for today, I want to invite you to take advantage of Accepted's library of free downloadable reports, several of which discuss how to apply successfully with low stats. Check them all out today. 

Now to today's topic. I was recently doing some end-of-the-year/beginning-of-the-year review and noticed that one of our most popular podcasts is “Five A's For Your Low GPA”, which is now going to be replaced by today's podcast. I decided to address this topic again, because it is a recurring issue and because I'd like to address some factors that have changed since the initial podcast in 2016 which is almost six years ago. 

We're going to go through the five A's as I call them, or the five steps for dealing with your low GPA. You really have to do all of them if you have a below-average GPA, because you want to mitigate its impact or ideally eliminate its impact as schools evaluate your application. So to deal with a GPA that is causing you concern, I'm going to give you the following five steps.

The five A's are:

* Assess your GPA (is it really low?)* Analyze the causes of your low GPA* Address those causes* Add context to the low GPA* Avoid mistakes in addressing the GPA

Now let's go through each topic in more depth.

1. Assess your GPA (is it really low?) [2:41]

I define a low GPA as one that is 0.3 or more below your target school's average GPA for matriculating students on the US 4.0 scale. This information can usually be found in posted class profiles, or sometimes on US news rankings, or on Accepted's Med Selectivity Index, Law Selectivity Index, and MBA Selectivity Index. An alternative definition, which also works in my book, is a GPA that is below your target school's 75th or 80th percentile if you have that information. Usually, the information I started with is a little bit easier to come by, but if you have this, it works also.

Now let's take a look at these definitions and discuss what's good and bad about them because there's good and bad in both of them. First, the good. What I like about these definitions is that they are relative to the schools you are targeting. So if you have a 3.3 GPA and the average GPA for the entering class at your target school is a 3.3, you do not have a low GPA. You don't have anything to mitigate. You don't have anything to address unless possibly there's a downward trend in your grades. However, don't tune out yet. If you have that same 3.3 and the schools that you're aiming for have an average GPA for accepted students of 3.7 or above, as do several medical schools,

Find out what the Oxford Saïd MBA program has to offer [Show Summary]

Hannah Griffiths, Oxford Saïd Business School’s MBA Recruitment and Admissions Manager, shares how the school aims to equip leaders to effect change in various sectors all over the world. Additionally, Hannah highlights what it takes to get accepted. 

Interview with Hannah Griffiths, Oxford Saïd Business School’s MBA Recruitment and Admissions Manager [Show Notes]

Welcome to the 457th episode of Admissions Straight Talk. Thanks for tuning in. Before we get to our wonderful guest, I'd like to invite you to join me for our next live MBA webinar. I will present “How to Maximize Your Chances of Acceptance and Reduce Your Stress Before the 2022 Application Season,” and I'm going to present it tomorrow, February 16th. During the webinar, I'm going to give you a plan that can prepare you for a successful MBA application this fall. The presentation is free, but you do need to reserve your seat, and you can do so at accepted.com/457webinar. 

It gives me great pleasure to have on Admissions Straight Talk for the first time Hannah Griffiths, MBA Recruitment and Admissions Manager for Saïd Business School at the University of Oxford. Hannah earned her Master's in English from the University College Cork and shortly thereafter started working at Oxford in different roles and in different parts of the university. She's been there for most of her professional career. Since November 2019, she has been the MBA Recruitment and Admissions Manager for Oxford Saïd.

Can you give us an overview of the Oxford Saïd MBA program for those listeners who aren't that familiar with it, focusing on its more distinctive elements? [1:55]

Yes, absolutely. The Saïd Business School is a business school that is embedded within Oxford University. Our MBA program is a one-year MBA program, and given that the business school is embedded within a world-class university, that does impact the MBA experience in a number of different ways. One of those ways is that the students can expect in the one-year program a lot of academic rigor. Our program is an intensive one-year MBA. It aims to include everything that a candidate would maybe anticipate finding on a two-year program but packed into a 12-month period.

The main aim of the business school and of the MBA program is to prepare our students to be responsible business leaders and individuals who, as they move through their career in the future, are prepared to tackle world-scale problems, challenges, and to really see business as a vehicle to drive change, be that within the organizations that they work in, the sectors that they choose to work in, in their communities and sometimes on a larger scale in the countries that they choose to be based in.

In addition to academic rigor, another thing to highlight that students could anticipate finding on the Oxford MBA, is an incredibly diverse cohort. Our student body is largely international. Our current class is 94% international, with 71 different nationalities represented across the class. Diversity of thought is something that's very important...

Hear what it takes to get accepted to USC Gould School of Law [Show Summary]

USC Gould’s Associate Dean of Admissions and Financial Aid, David Kirschner, shares how students can get accepted to this top-ranked law school.

Interview with David Kirschner, Associate Dean of Admissions and Financial Aid at USC Gould [Show Notes]

Thanks for joining me for the 456th 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 program? Accepted's Law School Admissions Quiz can give you a quick reality check. Just go to accepted.com/law-quiz and complete the quiz. You'll not only get an assessment, but also tips on how to improve your chances of acceptance. Plus it's all free.

For today's interview, I'm delighted to have on Admissions Straight Talk, David Kirschner, Associate Dean of Admissions and Financial Aid at USC Gould School of Law. Dean Kirschner earned his undergrad degree at USC in Political Science and Film-Production. He then earned his JD at California Western School of Law. He has been in law school admissions since 2006 when he joined Loyola Law as Associate Dean of Admissions. In 2011, he became Director of Admissions at USC Gould, and in 2016, he became USC Gould's Associate Dean and Dean of Admissions and Financial Aid. 

Can you give us an overview of the more distinctive elements of the USC Gould JD program? [2:06]

Certainly. I think one of the elements that certainly differentiates us a little bit from some of our peer schools is our small size. At beneath 200 students, at least that's our goal each year to bring in a first-year class of no more than 200 students, it lends itself to a very collegial and collaborative learning environment where students, not only get to know their faculty members well, but they also get to know one another very well and support one another. I think that small size is a great facet of a Gould education. I like to say small size does not mean small opportunity. As a relatively small law school, we're set in the heart of a major top-tier research university that sits at the heart of kind of the de facto and default capital of the Pacific Rim, which is Los Angeles.

There's no shortage of opportunity. There's no shortage of individuals to learn from. Not only do we have a great full-time tenured faculty, but we're also able to draw from a pool of incredibly talented practitioners in Los Angeles who serve as adjunct faculty, and teach some of the more niche style upper-division courses. Students not only have the ability to learn from experts in their fields who publish in research and present, but then also learn particular areas from practitioners who are doing things every day. I really think it's that combination of small class size, a collegial and collaborative environment with all of the resources that a university like USC offers, as well as a world-class city like Los Angeles.

In preparing for the call, I saw that the first year is a very much standard curriculum and the second two years are entirely elective. Is that right? [3:53]

That's quite accurate. In the second and third years, there are a few requirements. There's an upper-division writing requirement and there ar...

How to Get Accepted to the Perelman School of Medicine [Show Summary]

Dr. Neha Vapiwala, Dean of Admissions for Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania, the first medical school in the United States, explores the values the school instills in its community while reflecting on the new wave of interest in medical careers that has developed over the course of the past two years. 

Interview with Dr. Neha Vapiwala, Dean of Admissions at PSOM [Show Notes]

Welcome to the 455th 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 Calculator can give you a quick reality check. Just go to accepted.com/medquiz, complete your 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. 

Professor and Vice Chair of Education in the Department of Radiation Oncology at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania, Dr. Neha Vapiwala is also the Dean of Admissions at Penn’s Perelman School of Medicine. She earned her Bachelor's in biology and Hispanic studies from Johns Hopkins and her MD from the University of Pennsylvania.Dr. Vapiwala, welcome to Admissions Straight Talk.

Could you start by giving an overview of the Perelman School of Medicine's curriculum? [2:00]

Absolutely. I really appreciate the opportunity to speak to listeners today about our idea of medical school education here at the Perelman School of Medicine. We think of it as learning for life, so really establishing the foundation of medical education, but recognizing it goes and extends well beyond our students' time with us and working to establish the best practices and the foundation for a lifetime of learning, which I think all of us in the healthcare field understand. It's a very humbling and constant reminder of how much there is yet to know.

We start in the summer of the first year of medical school with the core principles, what we refer to as Module One. It's all of the basic sciences. This is a pass/fail block. The idea is really for all of our learners, all of our students who may or may not have been science majors in undergraduate, who may or may not have done a post-baccalaureate year, it's bringing everyone onto that same page as far as our basic sciences.

After that first six-month period, we launch into Module Two, which is a full calendar year. It runs from January of the first year into December of the second year and teaches what's called Integrative Systems and Disease. It's taking all of those foundational basic science elements, and it's saying, "Okay, how does this apply to the human body? How do we think about the cardiovascular system, the pulmonary system, renal, and so on and so forth?" It goes through all of these disease site, organ-based modules with this idea that you're learning about the normal function of the human body, the physiology, and then learning to identify the pathology, both in terms of what you see under the microscope and what you see in the human patient, in front of you in the exam room, and really integrating all of it so that the learning in the classroom i...

The intersection of business and human rights led to the Oxford Said EMBA [Show Summary]

Anthony Triolo is a champion of social justice with an impressive work history serving countries all over the globe. He’s currently earning his Executive MBA at Oxford Said and shares what led him to the program and how he intends to incorporate his learning in the next steps of his career journey. 

Interview with Anthony Triolo, Oxford Said Executive MBA candidate [Show Notes]

Thanks for joining me for this, the 454th episode of Admissions Straight Talk. Before I dive into today's interview, I want to invite you to download Ace The EMBA, Expert Advice For The Rising Executive. This free guide will compliment today's podcast and give you suggestions on how to choose the right EMBA program for you, how to differentiate yourself from your competition - in a positive way - and how to present yourself effectively as a business leader who will bring credit to any program that accepts you. Download Ace The EMBA.

I'd like to welcome to Admissions Straight Talk, Anthony Triolo. Anthony has an absolutely fascinating background. After graduating from Yale with a bachelor's in history and political science in 2000, he went on to work on the Truth And Reconciliation Commission for Sierra Leone, where he worked from 2003-2009 in differing roles, all relating to justice.

He then worked as a Senior Associate for the UN’s Special Tribunal for Lebanon at the Hague. After serving in additional roles related to international law and justice, he became the Director of Strategic Initiatives at the Rule of Law Collaborative at the University of South Carolina in 2020. While all the above is extremely impressive and interesting, he has been invited to Admissions Straight Talk because he recently began his Executive MBA at the Oxford Said Business School as an Executive MBA Director Awardee, which earned him a sizable financial award. 

Let's get right to it. In preparing for the call, I saw the phrase “transitional justice”, several times in your bios and in your work. So I have to ask you, what is transitional justice? [2:35]

Transitional justice is a way to help societies who are grappling with the legacy of massive human rights abuses confront their past so they can move forward and have a more prosperous future. We usually talk about transitional justice in the post-conflict setting. I've worked on transitional justice initiatives on a global scale and usually what that means is prosecuting individuals who were responsible for war crimes that were committed during the conflict. It's about truth telling, telling the story of what happened during the conflict and making recommendations for the way forward. It's about reparative justice for the victims, and it's about institutional reform. How do we repair what was broken and make it better so that the occurrence of violence doesn't happen again? In reality, transitional justice is not only limited to post-conflict societies. It includes all societies across the board, including the U.S.

Given your career progress to date, why did you decide to even consider an Executive MBA? [3:51]