Admissions Straight Talk

Words of advice for premeds and medical school applicants [Show summary]

Dr. Sunny Nakae discusses CUSM’s approach to training the next generation of great physicians and shares wisdom from her book, Premed Prep: Advice from a Medical School Admissions Dean.

Are you curious about CUSM? Read on for info about this new program and for valuable tips for all medical school applicants [Show notes]

How do you prepare to become a physician? How do you prepare to apply to medical school? Our guest has written the book on the topic, after two decades in medical school admissions. 

Today's guest, Dr. Sunny Nakae, is the Senior Associate Dean for Equity, Inclusion, Diversity, and Community Partnerships at the California University of Science and Medicine School of Medicine, one of the country's newer medical schools. Dr. Nakae earned her bachelor's and MSW from the University of Utah, and then her PhD in higher ed at Loyola University of Chicago. She started working in medical school admissions in 2006 as Director of Diversity at Northwestern's Feinberg School of Medicine, moved to Loyola Stritch for six years as Assistant Dean for Admissions, Recruitment, and Student Life, and then another two years at UC Riverside, again as Associate Dean, and then last year joined CUSM as Senior Associate Dean for Equity, Inclusion, Diversity, and Community Partnerships. All that experience is reason enough to invite her to Admissions Straight Talk. However, I also want to discuss her fantastic book, Premed Prep: Advice from a Medical School Admissions Dean. 

Can you give us an overview of the CUSM MD program, focusing on its more distinctive elements? [2:18]

California University of Science and Medicine School of Medicine is a community-based medical school. That means that we are really focused on training in a lot of different sites. We're focused on primary care. Our main affiliation is Arrowhead Regional, but we also have sites at St. Bernadine's and other places. We're in inland Southern California, so about 90 minutes/a little under two hours from the coast. It's a very underserved and economically divested region of California, so our goal is to produce more physicians that want to train in our region, and stay in our region, and take care of the people that live here. We have early clinical experiences, where students are placed with preceptors and clinics, outpatient settings, so they get very comfortable with outpatient and preventative care and ongoing clinical home settings.

Another distinctive element that we're developing is we've recently changed our service learning into something called Change. Students will have a similar placement with a community partner that they do on the clinical side through the Care program. Care and Change together are going to create this opportunity for students to actually learn about structural determinants of health, and what our director calls health adjacent services. It's a way for us to give back as a school, which is important for us. We want to make a departure from the typical pedagogical models that use a colonialist approach of, "We're going to come in and do what we want on our terms, and demand certain things of you, and impose our learning objectives on you, and then go away. And then a new group of students is going to come in and do the sam...

How can an MBA degree help an entrepreneur? [Show summary]

Entrepreneur and Harvard Business School grad Ben Faw reflects on the value of his MBA and the role it played in his successful career.

Why this serial entrepreneur feels his time at HBS was invaluable [Show notes]

What happens to Harvard Business School MBAs after their first job? Do they still value the HBS MBA experience? Let's ask Ben Faw, who was a member of the HBS MBA class of 2014.

Ben Faw was previously a guest on Admissions Straight Talk way back in Episode 59, just about seven years ago. At that time, Ben had just graduated from HBS and was about to take a position with LinkedIn. Prior to attending HBS, Ben attended West Point as well as the US Army Ranger School, and served in Hawaii, Iraq, and Kuwait. What's happened since graduating from HBS? Let's find out from Ben.

When we last spoke, you were about to graduate from Harvard Business School and start a position at LinkedIn. What's happened since then? Bring us up to date. [1:53]

It's been a really interesting and exhilarating journey. There's been a couple of twists and turns. But to start with, LinkedIn was a super positive experience for me. I was able to get a lot of understanding around particularly technology and the digital advertising ecosystem and just a ton of exposure to what a top organization in the technology field can look like, and particularly what it takes to maintain a strong positive culture. As you know, none of these cultures come for free. They’re something you build and then have to maintain, and you’ve got to see all of that. 

Then, I had worked with a classmate of mine from business school on a startup project that got to the point where I could actually join full-time in the fall of 2015, about a year and a half after business school. That company, BestReviews, ended up growing quickly. We sold that in early 2018 to Tribune Publishing, which has published the Chicago Tribune and several other newspapers, for over a hundred million. I was fortunate enough to be able to help a lot with that integration, got a little bit of knowledge around the newspaper world, and transitioned to an advisory role there.

I have built out a new software company called AdVon Commerce, leveraging a lot of the insights and perspectives from working in that e-commerce and digital marketing world. I got married at the very end of 2019, which proved fortuitous given the situation that unfolded in 2020.

Do you feel like you're still using your MBA degree, either the network or the education, looking back on the experience? [3:54]

I personally believe, and the data would prove it out, that I use almost every aspect of the MBA every single day of the week. And that includes Saturday and Sunday. I don't always work all of those days, but for me, it's the network that is used almost every single day for me, certainly multiple days per week in one capacity or another directly, and then indirectly in the lessons and insights from the network every day. The skills and perspectives are an everyday occurrence for ...

Achieving balance: A resident's advice for succeeding in medical school without sacrificing your personal life [Show summary]

Dr. Wendell Cole, a Morehouse graduate and orthopedic surgical resident at Tulane, shares the personal experiences and med school survival strategies that led him to write The Med School Survival Kit.

How planning and time management pave the way towards greater academic success and personal fulfillment [Show notes]

Have you been accepted to medical school this cycle? Congratulations! Are you still hoping to be accepted this cycle? Are you planning ahead for next cycle? Today's guest is going to discuss his path in med school, as well as how you can excel in medical school while enjoying the experience.

Dr. Wendell Cole graduated with a degree in biology and medical virology from Georgia State University in 2014. He attended Morehouse School of Medicine and graduated in 2018, at the age of 24. He has been an orthopedic surgical resident at Tulane University School of Medicine and will complete his residency in 2023. He published The Med School Survival Kit: How To Breeze Through Med School While Crushing Your Exams in 2018 as he graduated med school. 

Can you tell us a little bit about yourself and your background? [2:03]

I am a first generation son of immigrants. My mom and my father are both from the Caribbean. They immigrated here in the '90s or '80s and had me. I was born in New York, and I moved around a lot, and I ended up spending most of my time in Georgia. Marietta, Georgia is where I spent most of my time. Then Atlanta, Georgia is where I spent the majority of undergrad and med school. Most of my life has been in Georgia.

Growing up, nobody really did medicine before me. There weren't any other doctors or anything else like that in the family. I liked sports a lot growing up, and I started playing sports in high school. I played football, and I ran track. Another thing that I started enjoying in high school was actually a TV show called House. They have a lot of different seasons, but it's an intriguing show on medicine. That combination of the two piqued my interest in medicine. I always liked science stuff, and I always liked sports. I thought, well, what's something I can do to combine the two? So I went through undergrad thinking I was going to do something sciency, but again, I watched House all the time, so I can say that heavily influenced me going towards the field of medicine, like sports. That brought me towards orthopedics. I kind of knew it was something I wanted to do.

I also injured myself and had to have surgery when I was in college as well, so it wasn't just House. I had personal injuries. When I was in college, I actually tore my ACL just horsing around, not even doing a professional sport. The thing that took me with that is that beforehand, I expressed my emotions by working out. I wasn't able to work out, so I felt a part of me was missing, I guess, for a lack of better terms. Long story short, I ended up getting an ACL reconstructed, being able to run again, do sports. That kind of birthed my interest and gave me that form of self-expression back. That's one of the reasons why I wanted to do orthopedics.

What was the hardest part of the medical school application process for you? [4:42]

Discover INSEAD's unique one-year MBA [Show summary]

Virginie Fougea, Global Director of Admissions and Financial Aid at INSEAD, shares what’s new for the school’s MBA program and what prospective applicants with global business ambitions should know.

Do you aspire to do business internationally? Consider INSEAD! [Show notes]

Are you a citizen of the world? Do you aspire to be one? Do you have global business ambitions? Then you should be interested in the business school for the world, INSEAD. Its Global Director of Admissions and Financial Aid, Virginie Fougea, is our guest today.

Can you give an overview of the INSEAD MBA program for those listeners who aren't that familiar with it, focusing on its more distinctive elements? [1:29]

INSEAD was started in 1960. We welcomed our first class around those years. Since the very beginning, we have had very international classes. We have a number of Europeans represented, but also people from outside Europe. Now we have, for example, 92 different nationalities in the current classes, so that is definitely in the DNA of the school. We have a campus in Fontainebleau in France, which is 60 kilometers south of Paris, as well as the campus in Singapore. We have a hub in San Francisco, that is the newest one, and we also have a campus in Abu Dhabi. The idea was to allow people to be on the ground, and not just talk about how to do business in Asia without having put a foot in the continent.

We have an MBA, MiM (Master in Management), Executive MBA, and Executive Master in Finance. For the MBA, we welcome two classes. One in September that starts in the end of August/beginning of September, and one starts in January every year. We welcome roughly 500 students, total per class, with 300 in Fontainebleau and 200 in Singapore.

It used to be really easy for students to move among the campuses, and most students did not attend the entire program in one campus. How have COVID travel restrictions affected that? [3:14]

It did affect some people during their studies. Those who were in the 2020 classes last year, obviously all the borders were closed and you couldn't reorganize your plans. Those people obviously had to stay on the location where they were. However, quite a number of people decided, when the countries were closing down their borders, to go back home. We had a few people doing that. Others decided to stay in Fontainebleau or in Singapore and keep sharing their apartments with their roommates. To be very honest, now with the quarantine and the fact that the countries have reorganized the travel and the possibility to enter the different countries, we are able to have all our students in person on both our campuses in Fontainebleau and Singapore. For example, we just had the Master in Management students who just all went to Singapore all together. They spent the first part of the program in France, in Fontainebleau, and they all moved -- the 90 of them moved -- to Singapore for the rest of their program as planned.

What is Duke's physician assistant program looking for in applicants? [Show summary]

April Stouder, Associate Program Director and Chair of the Admissions Committee for Duke’s PA program, explores what’s unique about this top-ranked program and what applicants can do to be competitive.

A focus on primary care makes Duke's PA program unique [Show notes]

Are you preparing to become a PA, or even just considering the field? Are you wondering how to apply successfully? Our guest today is the Associate Program Director at the first US PA program, and she's going to tell you all about it.

April Stouder earned her bachelor's at Manchester College and her master's of Health Science in Duke University's PA program in 2000. From 2002 to 2012, she worked as a PA at Duke. From 2012 to 2018, she was Director of Clinical Education at Duke, and she has served as Associate Program Director and Chair of the Admissions Committee since June 2018. 

Can you give us an overview of the Duke PA program, focusing on its more distinctive elements? [1:53]

Most PA programs are two years in length, and ours is no different. Perhaps what distinguishes us a little bit is our primary care-focused mission. Not every PA program is distinctly focused on primary care, but that is a big part of our mission, training primary care PAs. We are one of the programs that's been around the longest. We were the first, established in 1965. We had a class of four graduates in 1967, and then the profession took off from there. That's part of our proud history and always something that we like to bring up, but we're definitely not a program that rests on our historic laurels; we're definitely a program that likes to evolve and improve along the way.

We are one of the larger programs in the country. We have 90 students per cohort, a total of 180 students at any given time, and approximately 40 faculty and staff. As my program director always says, we're like a giant cruise ship, a big vessel in the ocean chugging along. We're a big program, and that does distinguish us from a lot of programs out there. We're also housed at an academic medical center. There are other programs at academic medical centers, but that does distinguish us from some of the programs out there as well.

The curriculum includes one year of didactic instruction and one year of clinical. Is that pretty typical for all PA programs? [3:08]

That is pretty typical. There's a few programs out there that are a little bit longer in length; maybe they’ll start someone in their junior or senior year of college, and then they go straight into the PA program. But the more typical thing now, because the terminal degree is the master's degree, is that most folks have finished their bachelor's studies and then come to PA school as a graduate program, which is two years in length.

How has COVID affected the Duke PA program, both the didactic portion and the clinical portions? [3:45]

COVID really did a number on medical education across the country, and we were certainly no exception to that. In the spring of last year, we had students out on their clinical rotations, and we had a first year cohort of students that were used to coming into the classroom,

Everything you need to know to about the latest incarnation of the LSAT [Show summary]

LSAT prep expert Steve Schwartz returns to the Admissions Straight Talk to discuss the demise of the LSAT-Flex, the future of the LSAT, and essential test prep tips for law school applicants.

How to prep right and crush the LSAT! [Show notes]

LSAC recently announced new test dates, the demise of LSAT-Flex, and the return of the LSAT, but remotely. Let's get the low-down from LSAT expert Steve Schwartz of LSAT Unplugged.

Steve Schwartz, of the LSAT blog and the LSAT Unplugged podcast and YouTube channels, graduated from Columbia University in 2008. In high school and college, he tutored students in a variety of subjects and also helped prep test-takers for standardized tests, including the LSAT. However, he really began to focus on the LSAT when he was applying to law school. He founded the LSAT Blog in 2008 and never looked back. Today, 13 years later, he has helped thousands master the LSAT, get into law school, and secure scholarships worth thousands of dollars.

We spoke almost exactly one year ago when the LSAT-Flex was new. COVID-19 was new. At the time we discussed the new and remote LSAT-Flex. Today, we're going to discuss the demise of the LSAT-Flex. What gives? [2:02]

The Flex was always meant to be temporary. That's why LSAC gave it the Flex name to distinguish it from the normal regular LSAT. But here we are, one year later, COVID-19 is unfortunately still with us to some extent, although hopefully things will be looking better later this year with the vaccine rollouts and such. But they can't keep administering the LSAT without experimental sections. They've got to be able to test out future questions. So starting in August this year, they're adding back in an experimental section, and they're going to start calling it just the LSAT again.

How is the LSAT going to be different from the LSAT-Flex, given that they are both remotely proctored exams? [2:55]

It's a very, very small difference. I don't want people to get overly stressed about it. It's still the same question types, the same difficulty level. You're going to have logic games, logical reasoning, and reading comprehension like before. It'll still be the same length of 35 minutes per section, but the overall test sitting will be longer by adding back in that fourth, unscored, experimental section. They'll also insert a break between the second and third sections. So the length gets a little bit longer: a 10 minute break, plus another 35 minutes for that fourth section. So test-takers are looking at roughly a 45-minute longer exam, but as you said, it'll still be online.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JBvTgPYsnG4

Are there any in-person testing centers planned for those who prefer that? [3:46]

Not currently. At the moment, I don't think that we'll see any for quite a while, but LSAC indicates they're open to the possibility, although they still will keep the online option, we're expecting. They've said it'll be online through at least June, 2022. But this is still much shorter than the pre-COVID LSAT, which had five sections: four scored, one unscored experimental. The LSAT, for the foreseeable future,

Do you fit with USC’s Herman Ostrow School of Dentistry?[Show summary]

Dr. Anita Tourah, Assistant Dean for Admissions and Student Affairs at Herman Ostrow School of Dentistry of USC, offers an inside look at the dental student experience and admissions process.

How an emphasis on research, education and patient care makes USC’s Herman Ostrow School of Dentistry unique [Show notes]

Are you thinking of a career in dentistry? Worried about how to get in? Wondering what a dental education requires before you earn that DDS? My guest today is the Dean of Admissions at a top dental school.

Dr. Anita Tourah is Associate Professor of Clinical Dentistry and Assistant Dean for Admissions and Student Affairs at the Herman Ostrow School of Dentistry of USC. She earned her bachelor's degree in chemical engineering at Tehran Azad University and earned her DDS from Herman Ostrow School of Dentistry, as well as a special certificate in prosthodontics.

Can you give me an overview of the Herman Ostrow School of Dentistry of USC's program, focusing on its more distinctive elements? [1:46]

Our school is focused on three fundamentals: research, education, and patient care. These are an integral part of who we are. If we go to the research, we've been consistently part of the top-funded private dental schools by the National Institute of Dental and Craniofacial Research, and we have trained many academic leaders who run NIH-funded research nationwide and worldwide. We encourage our students to do research, either basic research or translational research, and our faculty guide them to conduct that research and also put together the manuscript for publication. We host a very successful annual research day, and that's when our students, faculty, and postdoctoral fellows come together to show their innovative discoveries. We also have a publication, The Explorer, which has won multiple national awards that provides a comprehensive summary of all the innovative discoveries that we do at USC.

The second fundamental is patient care. We are located in the heart of Los Angeles. We have a great and extensive array of patients for our students, and we have very extensive community outreach programs, such as Union Rescue Mission, Mobile Clinic, QueensCare, and numerous rotations to the hospitals and communities that give treatment to our patients. Many of those treatments are free for our patients.

Education. We strive for the best education for our students and we always try to bring new technology, new equipment, new software, new faculty with new ideas. This commitment shines through in all that we do in the field of prosthodontics, endodontics, periodontics, and so on. So at Herman Ostrow, we provide the best education for our students, we provide the best treatment for our patients, and we're always trying to find new innovations through our research program.

Is research required for the students? How soon do they start in terms of patient care? [3:58]

No, it's not a required part. But if they're interested, we encourage them, and we guide them and we support them throughout the process.

Patient care starts in the third year. The first two years are mostly preclinical where they unlock skills and procedures.

Are you considering a Master’s in Finance or MBA degree? [Show summary]

Admissions veteran and Accepted consultant Dr. Christie St-John explores the latest in MBA admissions and provides insights for those applying for a master’s in finance.

Read on for must-know admissions insights! [Show notes]

In May of 2020, admissions veteran Dr. Christie St-John joined Accepted as an MBA and graduate admissions consultant. Today, I'm going to speak with her about MBA admissions and about master’s in finance admissions.

Dr. St-John was a guest on our old chats as Associate Director of Admissions for Tuck. More recently, she was on Admissions Straight Talk as Director of Vanderbilt Owen's MBA Recruiting and Admissions, and most recently as an Accepted grad school and MBA admissions consultant. Today, Dr. St. John is going to share her expertise with you and me, once again, on this podcast.

You've been advising applicants as a consultant for about a year now. How has your perspective on the admissions process evolved since you moved to helping applicants, as opposed to evaluating applicants? [2:37]

I'm looking at their resumes and their essays much more critically because I know what is going to be said and discussed on the other end of it. While they may think they have wonderful essays that explain everything, sometimes they are too close to what they're writing about, and the message is totally lost because they are leaving out important elements of it. That has really helped me get people on the right track to making their essays as detailed, yet still concise, as possible so that their best qualities will show up.

Let's just talk about the resume. What are some of the more common mistakes that you see, or that you are now correcting, that you saw as an admissions director? [3:41]

A lot of times the candidates would just put down a job description, and that is not what we're looking for. We're actually looking for results. Showing that you have initiative, that you have actually had an impact, however small, on the organization you're working with. That's what the admissions committees are looking for. In many, many cases, members of the career management staff will also be on the admissions committee. You can believe that's what they're looking for because their job is to get you a job. If you don't have the experience or the qualifications or any sort of leverageable skills that they can help you with, they are probably going to nix your acceptance because they can't help you. The whole point of your going to a school is to be helped to find a job. You need to be a bit more self-aware of what you know how to do, and what you don't know how to do as well, when you're coming up with your long and short term goals.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GCzcS1K-wyc

What about the essays? What are you looking to improve? [4:55]

The first thing is to make sure they're actually answer...

Ellisa's non-traditional path to dentistry [Show summary]

Ellisa Soberon, a dental student at UCLA with a nontraditional path to dentistry, shares her insights on the dental school admissions process and life at UCLA.

What makes UCLA School of Dentistry unique... and the perfect fit for this dental student! [Show notes]

So, you want to go to dental school? Let's hear from a UCLA dental student how she got in and how she likes it.

Our guest today, Ellisa Soberon, is a first-year dental student at UCLA Dental School. In 2014, Ellisa earned her bachelor's from UCLA in environmental science with a minor in geography and environmental studies. She worked mostly in business between completing her undergraduate education and starting dental school. 

Can you tell us a little bit about yourself, your background, and where you grew up? [1:48]

I grew up in a small town in Northern California called Alamo, about 40 minutes away from San Francisco. I grew up as an only child to two Asian-American immigrants, one from South Korea, my mom, and my dad, who came from the Philippines. I grew up as the only Asian-American in a predominantly white neighborhood. It was a great experience, honestly. I worked really hard in high school and was always an inquisitive person, and always had a love for the sciences. That carried over when I went to UCLA.

It was interesting growing up with two unique cultures that are very different. I didn't really know many other people who had that unique blend of different cultures growing up. Our Thanksgiving dinners were always really interesting. We always had Korean dishes, Filipino dishes, and American, and I feel like I was really lucky to have all three growing up.

As an undergrad, you majored in environmental science and then worked in business. How did you move from those pursuits to dentistry? They seem pretty far apart. [4:19]

I've always had a love for sciences. I really struggled in undergrad figuring out what I wanted to major in. I was undeclared for two years, and finally my counselor looked at me and said, "Hey you're approaching your junior year and you need to declare a major." My roommate was actually an environmental science major. I had not even given that major a thought. I thought that the classes that she was taking were super interesting, and I still had a love for science. So I thought, you know what, I'm just going to go for environmental science. And I'm glad I did. I honestly learned a lot with that major, and it's incredibly relevant today.

But in all honesty, I ended up choosing a career in technology and business right after graduation, purely because I needed a career. I needed a job after I graduated. So I stuck with that for about four and a half years before I thought, well, is this something that I really want to do for the rest of my career? I thought about it. I had what I like to call my quarter-life crisis, where I went around asking people, “How did you decide that you wanted to become X, Y, or Z?” And through talking to a lot of different people, I had a very honest conversation with myself and thought, I still want to go back to my roots which is the sciences. I ended up talking to my own dentist,

Thanks for joining me for the 411th 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 podcast so far in 2021. It actually is a solo podcast that I did for our 400th episode back in January entitled Application Trends to Watch in 2021, and a Look Back at 2020.

As one application cycle winds down to a close and the next one starts up, It’s a good time to review some of the points I raised in that episode. I discussed:

* the application surge at graduate schools in many different fields and how to respond to it.* The increasing availability of test optional programs and test waivers at programs that still require aptitude tests.* Reflections as we move forward, hopefully away from the 2020 pandemic.

For the MBA wannabes among you, especially if you are concerned about your GPA and test score, I’ve got a masterclass for you! I’m presenting Get Accepted to Top MBA Programs with Low Stats on Wednesday April 7, and you’re invited. You can accept this invitation at accepted.com/411MBA and reserve your seat today! It’s free.

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 get to spend it with loved ones. Have a wonderful time and thanks for listening to the encore of Application Trends to Watch in 2021, and a Look Back at 2020.

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

Related Links:

* Get Accepted to Top MBA Programs with Low Stats* Get Accepted to Medical School During an Application Surge* Test-Optional MBA Programs: Everything You Need to Know in 2021* Entering Law School Gets More Challenging as Number of Top Applicants Skyrockets* How to Answer Med School Questions about COVID-19 and Other Major Events of 2020 [Video]* Accepted Admissions Consulting Services* MBA Application Timeline: How to Get Accepted in 2021* The 11th Grade College Planning Timel...