Admissions Straight Talk

How this non-traditional medical student transitioned into medicine as a second career [Show summary]

Efrat Bruck is an M4 at Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, as well as a parent and MCAT video creator for Khan Academy with a nontraditional path to medicine. She shares how the program has given her the flexibility and support to balance these responsibilities and thrive in medical school. Listen to the show >>

A career-switcher's journey from teacher to medical student [Show notes]

What's it like to attend Mount Sinai's Icahn School of Medicine? And how does this M4 juggle the responsibilities of parenting, med school, serving on the Mount Sinai Student Admissions Committee, and being an MCAT video creator for Khan Academy? 

Efrat Bruck is a non-traditional medical school student  who attended medical school as a mom and had a successful career as a teacher. Now, she’s an M4 at Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai in New York.

Can you tell us a bit about your background outside of medicine? Where did you grow up? What do you like to do for fun? [1:45]

I grew up in Brooklyn, New York in the neighborhood of Borough Park. My parents immigrated to the US about one year before I was born to seek medical treatment for one of my older brothers who has congenital kidney failure, and much of our childhood revolved around his medical situation. I think, by the time I was in high school, he had had three kidney transplants. My dad is a rabbi and a teacher in the community. My mom was mostly a stay-at-home mom, but also taught intermittently, so I come from a family of teachers. I'm one of 10 children. I have seven brothers and two sisters, and I am seventh, part of the younger crew.

After high school, the expectation was to get out there in the real world and become financially independent, so I went to a one-year program that trained me to be a teacher, and then I got a job as a high school teacher. At the age of 18, I started teaching high school and started what would be an almost decade-long career in education that I really, really enjoyed. In my last year of college, I started working at Columbia University Medical Center in a research lab in nephrology. I had a really personal connection to nephrology because of my brother. I think my work at the lab was the springboard that eventually led me to go to medical school.

When did you go to Columbia? [3:20]

To backtrack, I went to college a few years after high school. Maybe three years into teaching, I went to Touro College in Brooklyn, New York. And then in my last semester of college, as part of one of the honors projects, I started working at a lab at Columbia, a lab in nephrology. The principal investigator was Dr. Jonathan Barasch. That was, as I said, the springboard for applying to medical school.

You mentioned that because of your brother's situation, you were drawn to nephrology. When you went back to college, were you thinking of getting more of an education-oriented degree and staying in that field, and then you decided to make the switch? Is that how it worked? [3:49]

I'll backtrack a little.

I am swamped at this time of year with clients facing early January deadlines so I decided to end 2020 with one of our most popular shows of the year, my interview with Accepted’s own Esmeralda Cardenal.

For you MBA applicants applying during this very tough cycle or planning to apply in the next cycle- take advantage of Esmeralda’s experience, both as an MBA admission director and experienced MBA admission consultant for Accepted. Here are a few of the questions she addresses:

* What are your top tips for dealing with a low GPA?* What do you wish applicants did before they come to you for assistance with their applications?* What are some of the differences between applying to a typical MBA program and applying to a Master's in analytics program?* What can applicants do to learn about a school since they can't visit now, and fairs or receptions are pretty much nonexistent?* What advice do you have for MBA re-applicants, both as an admissions consultant and former admissions officer?

The interview actually took place last March. It’s also interesting to hear what the concerns were less than a year ago. What’s the same, and what’s changed.

As we put away or throw out our calendars from 2020 and turn to 2021, I also want to share a few thoughts. For most people it’s been a really tough year. Health challenges. Financial pain. Social isolation. Restrictions galore.  Social unrest. A divisive election in the U.S. 

I think most of us will be glad to close the books on 2020. Even though it has shaken our world and maybe our confidence in the future, I hope that AST’s listeners will muster their courage and determination, their positivity and ability, to pick themselves up and 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 Accepted Senior MBA Admissions Consultant, Esmeralda Cardenal. >>

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

Related Links:

* Work with Esmeralda Cardenal* Fitting in and Standing Out: the Paradox at the Heart of Admissions, a free guide *

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 normally I would be enjoying the company of extended family at this joyous time of year. Thanks to COVID, however, our extended family is not gathering in person. I suspect that your celebrations are also somewhat muted this year. 

However, depending on where you’re at in the application process, you may still have a move to plan after hearing of an acceptance, applications to complete, decisions to anticipate or make, interviews to prepare for, and next year’s application plans to start working on.  And you may even have some work to do. 

Consequently, now is an excellent time for an encore show. Since it was one of the most popular med admissions interviews of 2020 and is really relevant to anyone having to draft a personal statement or narrative , I decided to replay the  interview with Accepted’s Dr. Mary Mahoney. An English professor, Dr. Mahoney’s specialty is narrative medicine. In simple terms she’s expert in helping you tell your story and that’s the topic for this show. 

We’ll run that interview in just a second. Right now I want to take this opportunity to thank you for listening week in and week out, or whenever you find a show you like.  There are lots of different ways for you to spend your time, and it’s greatly appreciated that you choose to spend it with AST’s guests and me. So thank you so much!

I also want to wish you a Wonderful Holiday Season and a Happy, Healthy and Prosperous New Year, a new year filled with the realization of your educational and professional dreams, and of course acceptances. A year in which COVID and the pandemic become history so that next year, my family and yours can celebrate in person. 

Now the interview with Accepted’s Dr. Mary Mahoney.

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

Related Links:

* Mary Mahoney's Bio* From Example to Exemplary, a free guide to writing outstanding admissions essays* How to Answer Med School Questions about COVID-19 and Other Major Events of 2020, a short video* 9 Secrets to Telling an Attention-Grabbing Story* The Miraculous 15-Minute ROUGH, ROUGH Draft* Why Should I Spend Money on an A...

The Kellogg MBAi: Where business and technology intersect [Show summary]

Kate Smith, Assistant Dean of Admissions and Financial Aid at Kellogg School of Management, breaks down the school’s brand-new MBAi joint degree and how it prepares students for careers at the intersection of business and technology.

Interview with Kate Smith, Assistant Dean of Admissions and Financial Aid at the Kellogg School of Management [Show notes]

As if its impressive portfolio of MBA programs (not to mention the pandemic) wasn’t enough to keep Kellogg busy, it also launched a brand-new program at the beginning of this academic year. Let's catch up on what's new at Kellogg and learn about its new accelerated joint MBA at the intersection of business and technology management.

Kate Smith is the Assistant Dean of Admissions and Financial Aid at Kellogg School of Management. Kate earned her own MBA from Kellogg in 1998, then worked in marketing for leading brands including General Mills, Quaker Oats, and Pepsi. She returned to Kellogg in 2012.

Let's start with some basic information about the MBAi. First of all, what is it? Who's it for? What's the structure? And what degree do graduates actually receive? [2:05]

Thank you for opening on what is an exciting innovation here at Kellogg. We have just introduced this new program in the Kellogg portfolio of MBA options. The MBAi is a new joint degree. It has been launched by the Kellogg School of Management and the McCormick School of Engineering at Northwestern University. The vision for this degree is that it is at the nexus of business and technology management.

The MBAi is building on a long legacy of innovation and collaboration between Kellogg and McCormick. The two schools launched, years ago, a dual degree called the triple M program, which provides rigorous business education integrated with a strong foundation in design innovation. The MBAi is a new specialized program that is meant for students with prior undergraduate STEM experience, and/or prior work experience in the tech sector. Examples could include having worked as a product manager, a data scientist, a software engineer, an R and D associate. We're going to be building what I'd say is a real nice diversity of backgrounds leveraging tech and STEM expertise so that they can contribute that on a journey to accelerating their knowledge and foundational expertise at this intersection of business and technology.

It's going to be a fast-paced, five-quarter program, which is (I think) very appealing in terms of the speed at which you can pursue and complete your MBA degree experience and immediately jump into what is a rapidly evolving tech sector. The curriculum will include the entire Kellogg MBA core curriculum, as well as technical courses in topics such as machine learning, artificial intelligence, data wrangling, robotics, computational thinking for business. That will also be complemented with the entire Kellogg MBA core curriculum. Students will have the opportunity to round out their degree with just a few electives, choosing between both Kellogg and McCormick.

This program is intensive, with a five-quarter format as opposed to our two-year program, which is a traditional six-quarter program format.

Learn about The Consortium for Graduate Study in Management, and how it can help YOU gain acceptance at a top business school. [Show summary]

Danni Young, Director of Recruiting for the Consortium for Graduate Study in Management, breaks down how the Consortium helps hundreds of students from target populations get accepted to top MBA programs each year.

Are you planning to apply to top MBA programs? Listen in to discover if applying through The Consortium is right for you. [Show notes]

Danni Young, Director of Recruiting for the Consortium for Graduate Study in Management, earned her bachelor's degree from Lincoln University in Missouri and her MBA from Washington University in St. Louis. Let's hear from her how the Consortium can help you get your MBA.

Let's start with the basics. What is the Consortium? [1:41]

The Consortium is a nonprofit organization that's been around for over 50 years now. Our mission is to ultimately increase the representation of three target populations in our member schools, MBA programs, and in the ranks of management in corporate America. Our mission is focused on African Americans, Hispanic Americans, and Native Americans. Our goal is to ultimately increase representation of those three target populations in our member schools. Over the last 54 years, we've offered $510,000,000 in fellowship support.

What are the benefits of membership? [2:35]

It starts with our common application process. If you're thinking about pursuing your MBA at one of our 20 member schools, we definitely encourage you to use our common application. With that common application, a prospective MBA has the ability to apply to up to six of our member schools with one common application. Obviously, the benefit of that is that you'll save time and money when you're applying to business schools, but you're also having an opportunity to apply for Consortium membership, which is very valuable in itself, and then also to be considered for the Consortium fellowship.

The application process is very streamlined. You don't have to apply directly to our member schools. You can apply through us, and your common application will serve as your application to the business school. It will serve as your application for membership as well as your application for the fellowship consideration. It's a one-stop shop.

Ultimately, the benefit of Consortium membership is that aside from the fellowship consideration, you'll have an opportunity to be a part of our exclusive network. Our network consists of our 20 member schools, roughly 1000 students across our 20 schools currently. We have 10,000 alumni in the US and abroad, and we also have roughly 90 corporate partners that are part of the Consortium as well. That's our network, and that's what membership entails: being a part of that network. Membership also means that you have access to our online career center. It's called CGSM Online, and it's a platform only for Consortium members. It's a great way to have connections with our co...

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Can business school support an entrepreneurial venture? [Show summary]

James Chance, a 2019 London Business School MBA graduate, reveals how his experience at LBS impacted his path as an entrepreneur, along with how he’s transforming online privacy protection through his startup, yourself.online.

Learn how entrepreneur James Chance launched his start-up while at London Business School. [Show notes]

James Chance graduated from the University of Bristol in 2011 with a degree in mechanical engineering. He then worked as a strategy consultant for Accenture UK, until he joined Google in 2016. He earned his MBA at London Business School in 2019, which is where he also launched yourself.online, his startup. We're going to learn more about James's MBA path and experience, as well as about the launching of yourself.online and how it can help you maintain your privacy.

Can you tell us a little bit about your background, where you grew up, and what you like to do for fun? [2:03]

I grew up in Central London, not too far from the City, the financial district, right in the center, quite close to St. Paul's. That was a real eye-opener in terms of this very fast-paced world, and growing up, I was fortunate enough to, from that experience, see a lot of things, arts, culture, different businesses, all sorts of different stuff as a kid and as a teenager. When I reached the end of secondary school, then I decided I wanted to get out of London and go to the University of Bristol, as a change of scenery.

In terms of what I like to do for fun, I've always been really passionate about traveling. I was fortunate enough to have a few occasions where I've traveled for work and worked in different countries, the US, Australia. But then I’ve also done more adventurous travels as well. I was fortunate enough, with a friend of mine in 2011, after I graduated from college, to drive halfway around the world from London to Mongolia in a car we bought on eBay for just under a thousand dollars. It's an adventure called the Mongol Rally, which was great fun. And I've always been trying to find those sorts of, not quite as adventurous, but trips that are a little bit off the beaten track. But unfortunately that's all on hold this year, but big plans for next year, hopefully. Next year, post-pandemic, I'd really like to do more of South America, since it's not really somewhere I've explored much. I'd really like to do some of the Argentina, Brazil, bits of Peru as well.

You worked as a strategy consultant for Accenture for almost four years, then for Google as an analytical consultant, and also in e-commerce for a family business in Norway. With all these different experiences, why did you decide you wanted or needed an MBA? [3:50]

I first started to think about doing an MBA when I was in consulting. This is something throughout, really: I had come into business coming from an engineering background, so coming from a technical background, where my quantitative skills and analytical skills were good, but I didn't have that much grounding in terms of finance, management, stuff like that. And I was fine for probably, I would say, the first few years of my career. But I found when I was at Google,

Learn what's new at Berkeley Haas, as well as tips for crafting admissions-worthy applications. [Show summary]

Eric Askins, the newly appointed Executive Director of Admissions at UC Berkeley Haas, explores the school’s full-time MBA program and its admissions policies, as well as how it’s adapting the MBA experience to COVID-19.

Interested in applying to Berkeley Haas? Read on for info about special programs and application advice. [Show notes]

UC Berkeley Haas has a new Executive Director of Admissions: Eric Askins, formerly Haas’s Senior Associate Director of Admissions. He’s here today to explore Haas’s full-time MBA program, as well as how the school is adapting to COVID-19.

Can you give an overview of the Berkeley Haas full-time MBA program for those listeners who aren't that familiar with it and focus on its more distinctive elements? [2:37]

The first place to start is our location. Based in the San Francisco Bay area, our program is incredibly close to the center of innovation that exists out here. I think some of that is probably evident if you look at our outcomes. Berkeley Haas has graduates in tech. About 15 to 20% of our students each year are going into startups. But if you were to ask us for the most defining feature of our program, it's likely our defining leadership principles (Question the status quo. Confidence without attitude. Students always. Beyond yourself.). It's a set of culture-forward initiatives that we have here, about 10 years old now, that really hold our core values up-front. You'll find, I think, very few programs that lead with values, and we're certainly one of them.

What's new at Berkeley Haas (other than lockdown, the pandemic, and smoky air)? [4:08]

Certainly, all of those things are new, and they are challenges. But there's a silver lining in there too. Let's talk about some of our academic programs first. Chief among the things that we launched in pilot mode last year that are truly new this year are a joint degree with our school of engineering, an MBA/MEng program. This program is two years, so no additional time. It is a cohort model that is part of the MBA cohort, so it doesn't operate separately, which is really a great opportunity to continue to stay connected with the broader community here at Haas. Additionally, the students select from among seven different engineering programs to really give you that niche opportunity that you might be seeking and give you the skills that you need to take advantage of some of the great opportunities that exist in the career world.

You can go, let's say, into electrical engineering/MBA, artificial intelligence/MBA, all kinds of different engineering specialties, including nuclear engineering, if that's what you're looking for. Chemical engineering. We took a nuclear engineer this year. This program launched in pilot mode last year. We didn't recruit heavily for it. We simply listed it on our website. We are beginning to look at expanding it. We now have a cohort of about 30 students, 15 in each class here. There is a community.

M2 Sotonye Douglas shares how she never lost sight of her dream to become a doctor. [Show summary]

Sotonye Douglas describes herself as an “imperfect” medical school applicant who nevertheless became a student at Quinnipiac Netter School of Medicine, overcoming tremendous barriers in the process.

An "imperfect" applicant discusses her path to medical school. [Show notes]

There's a myth out there that med students never fail, never drop a class, and all have high MCATs and GPAs. They're perfect. Or they don't get in. 

Our guest today is determined and hardworking, but she has also overcome significant challenges on the way to medical school. She doesn't fit the myth of the perfect med student, but she is nevertheless a proud M2.

Sotonye Douglas is a second year MD student at Quinnipiac Netter School of Medicine. She was born to immigrant parents from Jamaica and Nigeria and grew up in Brooklyn in New York City. From a young age, she wanted to be a doctor, but working her way through high school and college made it hard to get good grades, much less prep for the MCAT. Yet today, she is an M2. Let's hear her story of hard work, perseverance, and tremendous determination directly from her.

Can you tell us a little bit more about your background outside of medicine? When did you start working? What do you like to do for fun? [1:59]

To go back in time a little bit, I did start working when I was in high school. I was working, but I was also student body president. I was also a cheerleader. I was very, very busy even then. I think that's when I started learning how to multitask. That's what kicked it off in high school: me learning how to be professional and how to juggle and how to run from one thing to the next. But for fun, I like to spend time with family and loved ones when I can because I do have a lot of family internationally. I love visiting family and trying to get away and travel. That's my release.

How did you figure out that you wanted to be a doctor? [2:56]

From a very young age, I found this interest in science. It just seemed so interesting to me. I also speak about having a very deep and robust interest in art. As a kid, when people would ask me, I would say, "Oh, I want to be a doctor." But as I started to get older and as I got into junior high school, I had this opportunity: There's this program that is no longer in New York City called the Gifted Program. It was for students who were talented and gifted, basically students that were performing higher on exams and stuff. They had special classes and things worked into our schedule. I had the opportunity to be exposed to a Saturday program for anatomy, and there were models and stuff. They brought different organs. And I had never seen any of that before. I knew what organs were, I knew what a heart was, I knew what a brain was. I knew what these things were, but I had never seen models. I would have been around 11 or 12. And seeing the models, they reminded me of sculptures. The arteries are in red; the veins are in blue. It was seeing the vibrancy and real organs. Since being in anatomy lab, I know that that's not actually what it looks like, at least in anatomy lab, but just seeing it at that age, it caught my attention because it reminded me of a sculpture.

How can MBA hopefuls- especially those who are members of special applicant groups- best position themselves for acceptance? [Show summary]

A valued and recent addition to Accepted’s staff, Dr. Christie St-John reveals what her career as an admissions director taught her about applying to business school (particularly for veterans, international students, and those from underrepresented groups), plus what’s ahead for the future of MBA programs.

MBA admissions advice from an admissions insider [Show notes]

Previously, Dr. Christie St-John was a guest on our chats as Associate Director of Admissions for Tuck, and more recently on Admissions Straight Talk as director of Vanderbilt Owen’s MBA Recruiting and Admissions. Now, this MBA admissions veteran just joined Accepted as an MBA and Graduate Admissions Consultant. Today, I'm going to speak with her about MBA admissions and graduate admissions in general, as well as specific subgroups, including veterans, international students, and underrepresented groups. I'm also going to get her insight into the impact of COVID and business schools going test-optional.

How did you get into Admissions? [2:10]

It was one of those peculiar things about who you know and being at the right place at the right time. I was doing my PhD at Vanderbilt and a friend of mine in the Spanish department had been recruited to the business school to run their program that they were doing in Latin America. When she was promoted to do that, she called me and said, "They're looking for somebody to fill my former job with exchange programs, and they want somebody with international experience, and you'd be perfect." And I thought, the business school, really? I was on my way to becoming a university professor of languages.

So I went over and talked with them. I convinced them that I knew the difference between Saks Fifth Avenue and Goldman Sachs. I had worked in the business world before I went back to school and in the U.S. and in Europe. It was not like business was a strange thing to me, but I'd never really known this kind of job was available. Had I known, I would've started it years ago because I had only been in the position at Vanderbilt about a week, and the Dean came down to me and said, "Okay, you're going to go to Miami with Lori on Friday, and then you're going to South America for a month." I said, "Okay, let me just dust off my passport and I'll be ready to go.”

That was the start of it. It's been the most fun job I've ever had. It’s almost like not really working, although it is; it's tiring, going through all the time zones. There's a lot of work to do, but it's been great because I love getting to know all the students and seeing where they're from and being able to talk to them about, "Yes, I've been to Delhi." "Yes, I've been to Seoul" or wherever it might be. That helps, I think, create a rapport with them.

You have a wealth of experience in MBA and grad admissions. How do you feel about moving to the other side of the admissions desk? [4:30]

As you know, when I was at Tuck,