Admissions Straight Talk

Applying to MD/PhD programs? Here's what you need to know

Dr. Herman “Flash” Gordon, an Accepted consultant and former chair of the University of Arizona Tucson College of Medicine's admissions committee, provides a deep dive into the application process for MD/PhD programs, highlighting crucial preparation tips. 

Interview with Dr. Herman “Flash” Gordon [Show Notes]

Welcome to the 453rd episode of Admissions Straight Talk. Thanks for tuning in. Do you want to get accepted to medical school this cycle? We have a webinar that's just perfect for you. You're invited to the webinar titled Start Medical School in 2023: How to Get Accepted This Year. Watch the webinar here.

Our guest today is Dr. Herman AKA "Flash" Gordon, Accepted consultant and former chair of the University of Arizona Tucson College of Medicine's admissions committee. Dr. Gordon also served on PhD admissions committees while at the University of Arizona. Since joining Accepted, he's guided clients to acceptance at MD, PhD, and MD/PhD programs, sometimes to several acceptances at those programs. Dr. Gordon has been on Admissions Straight Talk several times in the past, and it's my distinct pleasure to have him on again today. 

We're going to focus this show on MD/PhD admissions. How and when did you get involved in med school admissions and then specifically the MD/PhD world? [1:58]

I started on the University of Arizona admissions committee about a decade ago. It was one of these things that's like, "Oh, it's your turn to take on a big service job." I knew nothing about what I was getting into, although I was teaching med students. It was interesting. I very quickly learned that it was actually a great committee and that for everyone who was on it, they felt like it was the best service they had ever done. It's a major responsibility, you're determining people's futures, you're shaping the class that you're going to teach, it's just a great opportunity. And you're doing positive things; it's not like a disciplinary committee or something like that.

How long were you the chair of the committee and roughly how many applications did you evaluate in that period? [3:06]

I was on the committee for four years, and I was chair for the last two years. At the committee level, about 600 applications make it through the interview and then go on to the full committee. So that's 600 a year of which, as chair, you have to look at all of those. But when you're on a subcommittee, or at least we ran with subcommittees, then you get about a fifth of those, so 120 or so. It's a lot of work. For a typical admissions committee member, it's about 200 hours which is a lot. As chair, it's probably closer to 600.

Although I had done PhD admissions in neuroscience, I was new to how the MD/PhD admissions worked. Different schools do it differently. At the University of Arizona, there was a separate MD/PhD committee and both that committee and the regular MD committee had to accept the applicant. So it was this sort of parallel process. At some schools, the MD/PhD committee has more autonomy, you have an allotted number of slots and get to fill them however you want.

An overview of the UT McCombs MBA program and what you need to know to get accepted [Show Summary]

Rodrigo Malta, UT Austin’s Director of Admissions highlights key factors that make the UT McCombs full time MBA program attractive to many. He discusses what students can expect from a virtual admissions process and gives tips he’s gleaned from his 10+ years in his role. 

Interview with Rodrigo Malta, Managing Director, MBA Recruitment and Admissions at UT McCombs [Show Notes]

Welcome to the 452nd episode of Admissions Straight Talk. Thanks for listening. Are you debating whether to apply during Round 3 of this year or Round 1 of next year? It's a great question, and there are pros and cons to each position. Join me on January 20th at 10:00 AM Pacific, 1:00 PM Eastern for our next MBA Admissions webinar when I'm going to dive deep into who should apply Round 3 and who would be better off waiting until next year. You can reserve your free seat for this webinar, our first MBA webinar of 2022 at accepted.com/round3. 

It gives me great pleasure to have, for the first time on Admissions Straight Talk, Rodrigo Malta, Managing Director, MBA Recruitment and Admissions at UT Austin McCombs. Rodrigo earned his bachelor's at Missouri State and his MBA from UT Austin McCombs in 2007. He started working in MBA admissions at McCombs in 2008 and became the Managing Director in 2010. In addition to his duties at UT Austin, Rodrigo is a member of the Board of Trustees of The Consortium for Graduate Study in Management, of Salesforce’s Recruitment and the Admissions Advisory Council and he's also UT's representative on the Graduate Management Admission Council. Rodrigo, welcome to Admissions Straight Talk. It's a pleasure to have you on the show.

Can you give us a basic overview of the full-time MBA program at UT, focusing on its more distinctive elements? [2:29]

Thank you, Linda, for giving me the opportunity to share a little bit about Texas McCombs. I'm going to speak and share information primarily about our two-year MBA program at our Austin, Texas, campus. 

For the full-time MBA program in particular, I think there are three distinctive elements that I would like the listeners to know about as they're considering different business schools to pursue their studies.

First, it’s a highly flexible and deep curriculum that we have for our full-time MBA students. So coming in, we bring in a class of about 260 students from a variety of walks of life and educational and professional backgrounds. It is really important for us to ensure they have kind of that core business foundation, the core classes. You do all your core classes, the majority of that first semester, together in cohorts. We divide those 260 students into four cohorts, and everybody gets that solid academic business foundation to then explore 100+ electives that we have across 20 concentrations in classes that you can take at the business school and outside the business school. This highly flexible and deep curriculum where over 70% of the program itself is self-selected coursework is one of the highlights of our program.

The second highlight that I want to share with the listeners are the people. We have amazing individuals pursuing their dreams here at Texas McCom...

All about the distinctive program at UWSOM and how to get accepted [Show Summary]

Dr. LeeAnna Muzquiz, Associate Dean for Admissions at UWSOM gives an in-depth look at the top ranking program, highlighting adaptations that have been made as a result of the pandemic and outlining each step of the University of Washington’s admissions process. 

Interview with University of Washington School of Medicine’s Dean of Admissions, Dr. LeeAnna Muzquiz [Show Notes]

Welcome to the 451st 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 get you a quick reality check, just go to accepted.com/medquiz, complete the quiz, and you'll not only get an assessment, but tips on how to improve your chances of acceptance, plus it's all free. 

Our guest today is Dr. LeeAnna Muzquiz, UWSOM's Associate Dean for Admissions. Dr. Muzquiz graduated from UWSOM in 2000 and received a Native American Center of Excellence certificate for successful completion of the Indian Health Pathway at UW. She did her residency at the Seattle Indian Health Board Clinic through the Swedish Family Medicine Residency Program in Seattle and was chief president from 2002 to 2003. She has tribal citizenship with the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes, the CSKT, in Montana. She worked as a family physician with a CSKT since 2003, and in 2011 became the medical director for CSKT Tribal Health. She's also taught medical students and physician assistant students for UWSOM for the past 12 years. She assumed the role of Associate Dean in 2018 after serving as Assistant Dean for approximately one year. 

Can you give an overview of UW’s curriculum focusing on the more distinctive elements? [2:32]

It's a fairly complex starter. We had a curriculum revision in 2015 where we really embraced the idea of clinical experiences early and often, incorporating that into a block style of curriculum taught over three different phases. We have our first phase, which is our foundation phase, which is mostly the basic sciences incorporated into a clinical experience way of presenting material. students get the opportunity to really learn basic science through some traditional lecture format and small group work, but are also assigned to do early clinical experiences with a primary care practicum and link to some mentorship early, as well as learning their clinical skills right at the outset of the start of medical school. Then they're able to take the basic science knowledge and the pathophysiology and apply that to patient care and see it in action, in real life. It really helps set that foundational knowledge. That lasts for roughly 18 to 24 months, because we're starting our year earlier actually coming up for the class entering in 2022. That lasts for the first part of medical school, and then the second phase is our clerkship phase, which is where folks do the traditional clerkships required. It's essentially the third year of clerkships, where it's the foundational family medicine, OB-GYN, surgery, internal medicine, psychiatry, etc. The final phase is the explore and focus phase. That's where we do our elective rotations. So there's a little bit more flexibility.

I am swamped now with clients facing early January deadlines so I decided to end 2021 with one of our most popular shows of the year, my interview with Kaiser Permanente Bernard J. Tyson School of Medicine’s Senior Associate Dean for Admissions and Equity, Inclusion, and Diversity, Dr. Lindia Wllies-Jacobo.The Kaiser Permanente School has not yet graduated its first class, but with its tuition-free approach, dedication to social equity, and emphasis on small-group learning, it has an acceptance rate of roughly 1% and is third on Accepted’s medical school selectivity index. It is very hard to get into.

However, in this excellent and very popular interview, Dr. Willies-Jacobo lays out clearly what Kaiser Permanente is looking for.

As we put away or throw out our calendars from 2021 and turn to 2022, I also want to share a few thoughts. When New Years Day comes and goes, some of us ignore the milestone, but many look back - and look forward. Whether your 2021 was a good one or bad one, I hope that AST’s listeners will muster their courage and determination, their positivity and ability, to plan to create a better year, a better future for themselves and the world. To paraphrase Stanford GSB’s motto “Improve lives. Improve organizations. Improve the world.” Again, thank you for listening to the podcast. I wish you much success in this brand new, exciting year ahead.

Now the interview with Dr. Lindia Willies-Jacobo of Kaiser Permanente Tyson School of Medicine.

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

Related links:

* Kaiser Permanente’s Tyson School of Medicine’s website* The Medical School Selectivity Index* Matching Your Values to the Medical School Mission Statement* Accepted’s Medical Admissions Consulting

Related shows:

* Are You Rushing to Attend Rush Medical College?* How to Get Accepted to Chicago Medical School at Rosalind Franklin* How To Get Accepted to University of Illinois College of Medicine* All About BU School of Medicine, a Social Justice-Minded Med School* What Med School Applicants Must Kno...

It’s a busy time of year now. We here at Accepted are busy helping applicants with the end-of-the-year application crunch and enjoying the company of family.

Perhaps adding to your happiness, you are planning a move to a new location after an acceptance. Or perhaps you’re not yet at that happy stage; you’re knee-deep in essay writing because your applications are due in January. Or maybe you are wisely planning ahead for a 2022 application with the intention to matriculate in 2023 – you’re preparing for your aptitude test and working to raise your GPA or get relevant experience.

Wherever you are in the application process, now is a great time for an encore show. Since it was one of the most popular MBA admissions interviews of 2021, I decided to replay the excellent interview provided by Lisa Rios, Assistant Dean of MBA Admissions at NYU Stern School of Business.

I want to take this opportunity to thank you for listening week in and week out, or whenever you find a show you like.

I also want to wish you a wonderful holiday season and a happy, healthy and prosperous new year, filled with the realization of your educational and professional dreams, and of course acceptances.

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

Related links:

* NYU Stern’s website* NYU Stern MBA Essay Tips & Deadlines [2021-2022] & Class Profile* Top STEM MBA Programs: A Comprehensive List and Overview of STEM-OPT Eligible B-Schools* Why MBA? a free guide* Accepted’s MBA Admissions Consulting Services

Related shows:

* An Interview with Dartmouth Tuck’s Former Admissions Director, Luke Pena* NYU Stern: An Insider’s Perspective on Getting Accepted* How to Get a CMU Tepper MBA* All About Becoming a Georgetown McDonough MBA* Wake Up to Your Amazing Career Possibilities* NYU Stern’s New Online Masters in Quantitative Management

An inside look at UCLA Law School and what you need to know to get in [Show Summary]

Robert Schwartz, Dean of Admissions and Financial Aid at UCLA Law, shares an inside look at the unique opportunities the program offers students and important tips for those seeking to attend law school.

Interview with Rob Schwartz, Dean of Admissions and Financial Aid at UCLA Law [Show Notes]

Thanks for joining me for the 448th episode of Admissions Straight Talk. Are you applying to law school this cycle? Or, perhaps are you planning ahead to apply to law school next year, or even 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 an assessment, but you'll get tips on how to improve your chances of acceptance. Plus, it's all free.

Now, let's move into today's interview. I'm delighted to have on Admissions Straight Talk, Robert Schwartz, Dean of Admissions and Financial Aid at UCLA Law. Dean Schwartz earned his JD from Cardozo Law and graduated magna cum laude. He then practiced law for several years before returning to Cardozo, where he served as Dean of Admissions for 11 years. He joined UCLA in October 2006. Dean Schwartz, thanks for joining me today on Admissions Straight Talk.

Can you give us an overview of the more distinctive elements of UCLA Law School's JD program? [1:52]

Sure, I can try to do that, at least for a little bit. I think it's a very distinctive school and program so there's a lot to say about it. In terms of distinction, I feel like we offer a lot of programs that are really on the cutting edge, that are very important in society today. So you take issues like climate change, we have the Emmett Institute for Climate Change and the Environment. You take issues like civil rights and racial justice, we have a specialization in critical race studies, one of the only schools in the country to offer such a specialization. Take the issue of LGBT rights, the Williams Institute for Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity Law is located here at UCLA. There are several others. We've recently launched a Center for Immigration Law and Policy, and a Technology Law Center. On the human rights front, we consider ourselves a powerhouse here on the West Coast, through the Promise Institute for Human Rights. So those are just a few examples.

I'm also very proud of our program that we offer in the first year, before the first full week of classes. We call it Law 101 and it's a five day program which gives students an introduction to what law school is all about. I think it makes them feel more comfortable, as they get ready to start their legal studies. You even get to take a practice law school exam at the end of the first week. It's just pass/fail but I think it gets the jitters out before you start your real classes.

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UCLA is famous for its strength in arts, entertainment and media law. I read that 29% of the students specialize in media, entertainment and technology law and policy.

Thinking of applying to NYU Stern’s Online MSQM program? [Show summary]

Launched right before the pandemic, NYU Stern’s online MSQM program offers a unique blend of business management foundations, leadership and analytics to (mostly) young professionals. NYU Stern’s Vice Dean for online learning, Dr. Kim Corfman, joins us to share details about the program.

Interview with NYU Stern's Vice Dean for Online Learning Dr. Kim Corfman [Show notes]

Welcome to the 447th episode of Admissions Straight Talk, thanks for joining me. Before we dive into today's interview, I want to mention an Accepted resource that can help you prepare your statement of purpose to the MSQM, to a data analytics program, or a master's in management, as well as to other graduate programs. Download Five Fatal Flaws To Avoid In Your Grad School Statement of Purpose to learn how to avoid the five most common mistakes we see in grad school statements of purpose. You'll also learn how to write an SOP that makes your story memorable and highlights your qualifications for your target program. Download this valuable, free resource at accepted.com/447download. 

Our guest today is Dr. Kim Corfman. She is a professor of Marketing at NYU Stern and Vice Dean for online learning. She has served as Vice Dean for MBA programs, Academic Director of the Langone Part-time MBA program, and Coordinator of the Doctoral Program in Marketing. Needless to say, she knows a ton about management education and NYU Stern specifically. As I mentioned today, we're going to talk about Stern’s fairly new MS in Quantitative Management program. 

What is the Master's in Quantitative Management at NYU Stern? Can you provide an overview? [2:22]

The MSQM provides business basics, essentially, the MBA core plus analytics courses. The combination is designed to help students become data-literate managers and leaders. That's the really short headline about it. 

It's 20 months from start to finish and it's lock-step, so there are no electives. Students take one course at a time for three to three and a half weeks per course. They come one right on top of the next and are pretty intense, but we've calibrated them so they are manageable for motivated students.

What kind of academic background are you looking for? [3:16]

We welcome applicants with any undergraduate major and we have a wide variety. We do have some undergraduate business students. We even have some people who got MBAs already. Lawyers. A couple of doctors. It's quite diverse, which is really fun. 

The other part of that is submitting a standardized test score is optional. Something we want to make very sure applicants understand that if they choose not to send us a test score, we do need to see strong evidence of the quantitative, verbal, and reasoning abilities that are necessary to be successful in this kind of program. They do need some math and reasoning ability. They need to be able to write and we need to be able to see that.

What would be the minimum level of math that you would like to see? [4:12]

Some calculus and a lot of the basic maths that leads up to that. On our website, we very clearly lay out exactly what prerequisites they should have.

Are less-than-stellar language skills preventing you from reaching your professional or academic or personal goals? [Show summary]

Christina Ball, Fulbright scholar and founder of Speak! Language Center and B-Speak! brings her love of cultures and languages to this episode. She describes the approach her programs take to making language learning enjoyable and effective for those looking to improve their English or learn a new language. 

Language issues don't need to keep you from reaching your dreams [Show notes]

Welcome to the 446th episode of Admissions Straight Talk, Accepted's podcast. Thanks for joining me today. Before we dive into today's interview, I want to share a free resource at Accepted that can benefit you if you are applying to graduate school. 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 & 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. Download your free guide at accepted.com/fiso. 

It gives me great pleasure to have on Admissions Straight Talk for the first time, Dr. Christina Ball. A Fulbright scholar, Dr. Ball earned her PhD in Italian language and Literature. In 2004, she founded Speak! Language Center to help people learn other languages. In 2012, she co-created B-Speak! English, a one-on-one coaching and educational service designed to help international graduate students, especially those applying to business school, and working professionals strengthen their speaking and writing skills in the English language. She's also a writer and actress. Let's hear her story and then cover how she can help you.

How did you get into the business of language instruction, both for Speak! and B-Speak!? [2:13]

It all started with my own passion for language and my interest in languages and cultures. Both sets of my grandparents were immigrants from Poland and Italy, so I grew up hearing lots of Italian and Polish in the household of my grandparents. I think it all started there. Then, in my own travels and studies, I just fell in love with Italian, French, Spanish, all of the literature, and meeting people and hearing their stories and learning about culture, so real love of culture. Speak! started in 2004. I have an academic background, so I was a college professor before starting my business. Many people in my family have businesses, so I think I definitely have the entrepreneurial gene. 

I was teaching at Yale, Wake Forest and here where I live at University of Virginia, and I just started to notice not only my own desire to have a language center, but also people kept asking me, "I'm not a student at UVA.  I'm an adult, and I'm going to Italy. How can I learn Italian?" I just saw there was a real need for a language center like you have all over Europe. You'll find private businesses, which are language centers, teaching people all of the languages of the world, but it's less common here in the US where we tend to rely on universities to teach us. 

So in 2004,

What to do if you have no interviews [Show summary]

What do you do if you still haven’t heard back from medical schools by Thanksgiving? In this episode, podcast host Linda Abraham shares how students can pursue parallel tracks to expand their opportunities.

Linda Abraham's advice for med school applicants who still haven't received interview invitations [Show notes]

Welcome to the 445th episode of Admissions Straight Talk, Accepted's podcast. Thanks for tuning in. 

I decided to do a solo show today. This is my second in a row, but don't worry we're going to go back to normal interview programming next week. This show is aimed at our premed listeners, but I think there is value to other applicant groups as well in listening in. But the focus today will be on medical school this time. 

As I mentioned, this is Thanksgiving week, a short week, and I have something timely to discuss, so I'm going to share it. I'm also going to keep this podcast a little shorter than usual in honor of the short week and also because I think I can cover the topic in less time and I'm not going to keep you on the podcast for no good reason. I'm going to dive into our timely topic in just a second. 

The freebie we're offering with today's show couldn't be more relevant to today's topic. One common reason for no interviews or ultimately rejection for medical school applicants is that they simply aimed too high. And you have to ask yourself, were you really competitive at your target programs? If you're aiming ahead, 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 the quiz, and you not only get an assessment, but tips on how to improve your chances of acceptance. Plus, it's all free.

Recent admission stats [2:38]

Now, let's face it. It's hard to get into medical school. The process is long, difficult and grueling. In my opinion, of all the graduate and professional programs, it has the most demanding process. One of the difficult parts of it, by the way, is the utter silence at this stage of the game. But leaving that aside for the moment, acceptance rates support my contention. The AAMC reports applicants aiming for the class that entered in 2020, where I strongly suspect acceptance rates were higher than this past cycle that entered in 2021, enjoyed a 41.9% acceptance rate overall. That means that most applicants were rejected. And the news from AACOMAS is even worse. The most recent data, which is only for 2018, shows that of 20,981 applicants to 20 DO programs, 7,415 were accepted. That’s a 35.34% acceptance rate. In other words, almost two thirds were rejected. Now, this data is all for the classes that applied before COVID. It is not for the class that applied through the pandemic when the so-called Fauci effect is believed to have contributed to a surge in medical school applications, the recession probably also had some role to play.

What medical schools are looking for beyond grades [3:57]

Most admissions directors whom I have spoken with are still seeing a high level of applications this year, but AMC data is not yet available for last year's cycle or for this one. Of course,

What are the M7 business schools?

* Harvard Business School* Stanford Graduate School of Business* MIT Sloan School of Management* Northwestern University's Kellogg School of Management* University of Chicago's Booth School of Business* Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania* Columbia Business School

Talk about diversity! Seven distinct, vivid cultures – each with its own history, values, characteristics, opportunities, and challenges. Sure, there are many commonalities among the M7 schools: all are highly competitive, all feature deep academic resources, all are supported by committed and involved alumni, all attract top-tier recruiters (even in down business cycles). Yet the most important commonality is their individual uniqueness! Their strong and determined “individualism” literally reflects their leadership in the MBA realm. They rise to their prominent position because they are the leaders in their domain, graduate business education. So, they reasonably expect you – their students and prospective students – to have correspondingly high ambitions, whether your domain be finance, healthcare, energy, social entrepreneurship, or something else. 

While these M7 programs all value diversity, together they also represent diversity.

What makes the M7s so magnificent?

Of course, there are other elite MBA programs. These 7 have a history together that continues –their deans connected with each other years ago and formed a group to regularly meet and share information. Eventually these meetings grew beyond just the deans to include others within their admissions offices, creating a consistent flow of information. Meetings and discussions address a range of issues, including best practices for components of the admissions process and responses to current events that directly impact MBA admissions.

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A deeper look at the M7s

Harvard Business School

There is not a day I regret going to HBS. The classes I am taking this year have been incredibly valuable, being taught by practitioners who have been incredibly successful in their careers. The case method is also incredibly unique. You are learning from peers who have collective experiences no individual could have themselves – from the military, Tesla, big corporations with different missions and visions, and all are invaluable to my learning experience.Tess Michaels, then a second-year student at Harvard Business School; today Founder & CEO of Stride Funding, on Admissions Straight Talk

Immersion could be the keyword for the Harvard Business School experience. The cornerstone of the program is the case-study academic approach: students read the case and then intensively analyze it both before and in class. The aim is to train students in real-world, complex decision-making. By continuously engaging with classmates from different functions and industries/sectors in these case discussions,