Admissions Straight Talk

Interview with Kara Keenan Sweeney, Director of Admissions, Marketing, and Financial Aid at the Lauder Institute [Show Summary]

Kara Keenan Sweeney, Director of Admissions, Marketing, and Financial Aid at the Lauder Institute, takes us through the Lauder program: what is it, who it is a good fit for and who it’s not, and how to get in.

Learn what makes Wharton Lauder unique, and how applicants can distinguish themselves in their applications [Show Notes]

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

Can you give an overview of the Wharton Lauder Program? There may be some listeners who aren’t that familiar with the program. [1:56]

Our students earn a Master of Arts in International Studies at the same time they do the Wharton MBA program. It is a two-year, joint, integrated program, and all of the classes are taken at the Lauder Institute. The Institute was founded in 1985 by the family of Estee Lauder, and they have been very involved in the planning and execution of the program. We have six programs of concentration. Five of the concentrations are focused on a region of the world – they are East/Southeast Asia, Latin America, Europe, Africa and the Middle East. We also have a global track for those who already have significant international experience and are looking for a more macro take on global issues. There is no language requirement while in the program because they have to have those skills before being admitted. Students do both programs simultaneously, and we frontload a little bit with students starting in May. There are 70 students in each class, and they take a month of classes in Philadelphia and then do an eight-week summer immersion, so they have three months of class under their belts before the MBA program starts.

Wharton Lauder has a new director Dr. Martine Haas. I realize that she just started in July, but any idea of the direction that she’d like to take the program? [5:32]

She brings a lot of energy, and it’s great to have someone new as well as the first woman lead the institute. She is from South Africa, studied in the U.K., and has been teaching at Wharton for the last several years so she already knows a lot about our program. She continues to learn more about our program through our students, alumni, and board, and is very happy to help shape the vision for the next five years.

What else is new at Wharton Lauder since we last spoke two years ago? [6:22]

We changed the curriculum a few years ago from strict language-focused classes to a concentration focus. Those changes have been going very well with the new regional focus. We’ve added Korean as a language to our Asian track, and we also restarted our Anglophone Africa program this year. We’ve hired three new faculty members, one of whom oversees the Africa program right now. Another covers the Global Knowledge Lab. We also in the last month had a new fellow join the program, Professor Mohamed El-Erian, professor of practice at Wharton and Lauder, and it’s an amazing experience for the students to work with hi...

Interview with Dr. Micaela Godzich, Assistant Clinical Professor in the Department of Family and Community Medicine at UC Davis School of Medicine [Show Summary]

UC Davis has developed its Academic Coaching Program to provide support to medical students so they feel more connected to their medical school faculty and community. Today’s episode features the Program Director and UC Davis School of Medicine faculty member, Dr. Micaela Godzich, who shares the rationale behind the program and how it is being received by students.

Dr. Godzich discusses an exciting new mentoring program for med students [Show Notes]

I’m so pleased to have on the show Dr. Micaela Godzich, Assistant Clinical Professor in the Department of Family and Community Medicine at UC Davis School of Medicine. Dr. Godzich earned her MD at UCSF in 2007 and then did her residency and started her practice in central California. In 2012 she moved to rural Shasta County in Northern California and later rural Washington State and enjoyed a “full-spectrum family medicine practice” in both places. In 2017 she joined UC Davis School of Medicine. Her clinical interests include effective longitudinal relationships with patients in a variety of clinical contexts, and physician well-being and professional fulfillment. No wonder that she is director of UC Davis’ Academic Coaching program, which will be the focus of today’s interview.

What is the Academic Coaching Program at UC Davis School of Medicine? [2:35]

The program has been around for the last two years. It is quite robust now, with 15 coaches who spend individualized time with students during the course of med school. They mentor, provide insight into how students are progressing through med school, and how to achieve goals. There are lots of different ways to interact – there is dedicated course time called “doctoring,” where students learn how to take histories, do physical exams, and shape the practice of doctoring. Coaches also go over evaluations with students so they can understand what attendings are really saying with their feedback and how to make improvements.

What prompted UC Davis to start it and why did it appeal to you? [3:58]

UC Davis is very good about gathering data from students, and at the end of 2017-18 there was a survey of graduates to figure out where there could be improvement. From the survey it was discovered that students felt a bit disconnected from faculty. They didn’t get a sense that there was someone who knew them as an individual and how they could develop as they became doctors. They had solid info on logistics, good feedback on how they were doing in courses, but an absence of an individualized touch. We are often dealing with students who don’t have a lot of acculturation to medicine, and they need someone who can help them navigate the practice of academic medicine. The new assistant dean of students had come from a school with a coaching model, so in 2018-19 we had a pilot with five coaches that was overwhelmingly positive. The school expanded that to a total of 15 coaches this year.

What are the goals of the program? [6:16]

It is about helping students develop a sense of themselves within the practice of medicine, feel they are part of medicine as opposed to feeling like outsiders, and understand areas for growth and how to achieve their goals. It is also about developing lifelong habits of self-selected learning...

Interview with Shari Hubert, Associate Dean of Admissions at Duke Fuqua [Show Summary]

Shari Hubert, Associate Dean of Admissions at Duke Fuqua shares great information about major curriculum and programmatic changes the school is going through and why.

Learn about Duke Fuqua's unique location, curriculum and program offerings [Show Notes]

It gives me great pleasure to welcome back to AST Shari Hubert, Associate Dean of Admissions at Duke University’s Fuqua School of Business. Shari earned her BA at Dartmouth and her MBA at Harvard. She worked at several elite companies, and in 2009 became Director of Recruitment for the Peace Corps. In 2012 she returned to the MBA world when she became the Associate Dean of MBA Admissions for Georgetown McDonough. She joined Duke Fuqua as Associate Dean of Admissions in October 2017.

Fuqua has announced a curriculum redesign with three main changes. What are they and how will they affect the class entering in 2020? [1:48]

We are always trying to look for ways to remain relevant, and with the landscape we find ourselves in it is a challenging environment for business right now. There are so many polarizing issues. After talking about the needs of our students, we settled on their need for a greater emphasis on how to develop as a leader who can rally others to move toward a common purpose. The idea of teamwork has always been a part of our culture, and more recently embodied by Team Fuqua, as has the focus on innovation, but we wanted to be very intentional about equipping students with the right skillsets to tackle this new business environment. The curriculum focuses around three themes that are tackled right at the beginning of the first year and then again at the end of first year. The themes are leadership and common purpose, entrepreneurship as a mindset, and technology in business. Right after orientation there is a three-week period with three courses – one is leadership ethics in organizations, the second is entrepreneurship for a lifetime, and the third is focused on technology and ethics. We believe an entrepreneurial mindset is important, regardless of whether or not a student decides to own their own business someday. An owner mentality is very beneficial for resilience and creativity. Business is very complex with the technology transformation over the last few decades. There is no shortage of data, but what is lacking is leadership around making informed decisions with that data. So for us the focus is on building leaders who will be ethical about how to use it.

At the end of the first year there is kind of a capstone course around mobilizing teams for common purpose and the need to have courageous conversations. We do this at the end of the first year as students have built relationships by then and are able to more boldly participate. There is such polarization in the workforce, which is a reflection of society – one can’t seem to disagree agreeably. We look for students who can understand and embrace diversity and difference and this new curriculum equips students with the ability to navigate that and ultimately have a positive impact on society.

How will Fuqua's Accelerated MBA program work and who is it for? [13:17]

The program is a one-year MBA for those with a Masters in Management (MMS) from Fuqua and/or MMS from another institution. These are individuals who have studied the core competencies ar...

I am taking time off for family this week, and as a result I decided to air an encore of one of our most popular shows ever, Focus on Fit.

I chose it not only because of its popularity, but because the topic is relevant to so many, if not all, specialties. A solid understanding of fit is critical to success in so many parts of the application process, including the essays and interviews, either one of which just may be stressing you at the moment.

If you like this episode, I’d also like to recommend that you download our free guide, Fitting in and Standing Out: The Paradox at the Heart of Admissions. Your application needs to show that you will do both, and that’s the difficult paradox at the heart of admissions. Master that paradox, and you are well on your way to acceptance.

Thanks as always for listening to Admissions Straight Talk. I’ll talk to you again next week! In the meantime, here is Focus on Fit.

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

Related Resources:

• Fitting in and Standing Out: The Paradox at the Heart of Admissions

• Stand Out or Fit In? 4 Application Strategies to Help You Do Both

• Why Cornell Tech was the Perfect Fit for This Londoner

• Get Accepted to Harvard Business School

• Secondary Application Strategies for Essays That Score Interviews

• Multiple Mini-Interview Webinar

• Accepted's Admissions Consulting Services

Related Shows:

• How to Get Into Zucker SOM at Hofstra/Northwell

• How to Launch Your Career in High Tech Product Management

• Where MedEd Tuition Goes? This Resident Has a Surprising Answer

• What Does a UVA Law School Application Reader Look For?

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Interview with Dr. Rona Woldenberg, Associate Dean for Admissions at the Zucker School of Medicine at Hofstra/Northwell [Show Summary]

We interviewed today’s guest almost three years ago about Hofstra/Northwell’s fairly new medical school. A lot has changed since then and Dean of Admissions, Dr. Rona Woldenberg, bring us up to date on what’s new at the Zucker Medical School at Hofstra/Northwell, while also sharing gems on medical school admissions in general and Zucker in particular.

Dr. Woldenberg discusses recent changes at Zucker, and offers tips for med school applicants [Show Notes]

Today’s guest is Dr. Rona Woldenberg, Associate Dean for Admissions at Zucker Medical. Dr. Woldenberg earned her MD at the University of Pennsylvania. She is board certified in diagnostic radiology and neuroradiology. In addition to her duties as Associate Dean for Admissions, she is also a Professor at Zucker School of Medicine.

For those listeners who may not be familiar with Hofstra/Northwell Medical, what would be the first thing you would want applicants and potential future physicians to know about Zucker SOM? [2:06]

There are a few guiding principles that are different. We are learner-focused as opposed to teacher-focused. The education is driven by the learner which is critical. Student learning is also very much action-focused. We don’t believe in a passive learning process. Students are engaged from day 1 in clinical medicine with our EMT curriculum, which they do for the first nine weeks of med school, and they all become licensed EMTs in New York state. Getting that certification allows them to build a team-based approach and to be an active learner.

Can you provide an example of how being learner-based as opposed to teacher-based is reflected in a particular subject? [3:32]

It allows us to fully integrate the curriculum. It allows the learner to have a comprehensive approach to a patient where they can learn in an integrated fashion – learning biochem of the liver while dissecting a liver in anatomy of lab, while looking at liver slides, while looking at physiology of the liver. Learning is dictated by the need of the student, not the need of the faculty member teaching the course.

Since we spoke almost three years ago, the Hofstra/Northwell Medical School became the Zucker School of Medicine at Hofstra/Northwell at Hofstra Northwell University. Can you tell us about the gift that triggered that name change? [5:23]

Donald and Barbara Zucker gave a $60M gift of which $50M is dedicated specifically to scholarship. We are in a time now where schools are trying to go loan free, tuition free, with the primary focus of making the education as affordable as possible. We are proud that our students tend to be in the lower third of loans needed after medical school. We meet with each student one-on-one to help with financial planning.

Let’s look at the Zucker Medical application process. Any tips for the Zucker secondary? [7:01]

Ours is fact-based. We don’t make you write 5-6 additional essays. We do ask about an obstacle overcome and how you addressed it, which speaks to resilience, an attribute a physician needs. You have to be able to accept your failures, be resilient, and be an effective medical student.

Interview with Kenton Kivestu, CEO of RocketBlocks [Show Summary]

Kenton Kivestu is CEO of RocketBlocks, a firm that provides tools to help you prepare for and nail your Product Manager interviews at high tech firms. In today’s episode, he and Linda discuss the unique challenges of breaking into a product management career in high tech, and how to overcome them. He provides the inside scoop on big name companies like Amazon and Google.

Kenton Kivestu describes the role of a product manager, and offers insight on how to break into this exciting field [Show Notes]

I’d like to welcome back to AST Kenton Kivestu, who was previously a guest on Admissions Straight Talk in episode 188 a little over two years ago. Kenton graduated from UVA with a BA in economics and history in 2006. Upon graduating he joined Google in product development and worked there for 3 years until he moved to Hanover New Hampshire to attend the Tuck School of Business and earn his MBA. He interned at BCG, but returned to mobile product development when he graduated from Tuck in 2011, working in product management at both Zynga and Flurry following his MBA. For the last several years, he has been full-time CEO of RocketBlocks, which has helped applicants land consulting jobs and has expanded into prepping applicants for product management positions.

Since our last interview focused on landing a consulting job, this show is going to focus on product management positions in high tech.

What are the key qualifications in terms of work experience and personal qualities that high tech companies are looking for in PM candidates? [2:32]

Candidates for a PM role tend to run the gamut – could be someone with a computer science degree straight out of undergrad, or an English major coming into the role. Ultimately when you look at what tech companies like Google, Amazon, or Facebook want from a PM, they tend to look at the same set of skills. They want to know that people have a good product sense, and passion and excitement for a product. You need to be excited about what a product looks and feels like, and that you can think about deeply. Some level of tech fluency is important as well since you are working day in and day out with tech people - you need to be able to communicate effectively with them. Some firms like to hire people already with a tech background, but a lot of companies have realized that just because someone has a great tech background doesn’t necessarily mean they will be a great PM. You just need to be able to communicate effectively with software engineers. The third thing is similar to what a lot of companies are looking for. They want people who have strong leadership skills and know how to lead a team, and who can collaborate.

You had a degree in history. How did you prepare for this role? Did you take classes? [5:52]

The Project Manager role has really come into being in the last 20 years. If you did a study of job titles, a small amount would have been PM before then, but now there are thousands of PMs at places like Amazon or Google. I didn’t even know what a PM was until just before my 4th year at UVA - I found out about it from some friends. The job sounded incredible, and what I learned was that to get that job you needed to have a

Interview with Dr. Daniel Barron, MD/PhD, resident physician at Yale University and writer for Scientific American [Show Summary]

Dr. Daniel Barron is Chief Resident at Yale’s Neuroscience Research Training Program and Clinical Neuroscience Research Unit. In today’s episode he shares the various twists and turns in his med school education and career that helped him determine what he wanted to do. He also discusses his controversial article for Scientific American on where your med school tuition dollars really go.

Dr. Barron discusses his path to a career in neuroscience and shares his thoughts on the cost of medical education [Show Notes]

Our guest today is Dr. Daniel Barron. Dr. Barron grew up in Texas, and studied neuroscience and philosophy as an undergrad at UT. He then pursued his MD/PhD there. His research focuses on brain disease, and he is currently the Chief Resident at Yale’s Neuroscience Research Training Program and Clinical Neuroscience Research Unit.

Can you tell us about your background outside of medicine? Where you grew up? What do you like to do for fun? [2:00]

I grew up in many places, primarily in Texas, but also in Maryland and Utah, where I went to high school. I spent a lot of time in the countryside and really didn’t consider science until my sophomore year in high school. My biology teacher was a huge influence. I found the course really captivating and ended up doing well in it and then decided to pursue more science classes. As for what I like to do for fun, I have a two-year-old son and a hobby of mine is repairing old things. I recently fixed up an old sailboat, and we went on a sail yesterday. It was great.

You seem to have been attracted to neuroscience and been fairly directed all along in college. How did you select neuroscience and psychiatry? [4:35]

I remember my senior trip just after graduating high school, and I was reading a book that talked about a lot of neuroscience experiments. There was one in particular where monkeys would have nerves severed in their arms, but could eventually use their arms again. It was fascinating to me to know that by a matter of will these monkeys convinced neurons to grow. I was also interested in why people have the motivations, desires, and thoughts that they do. The first class I signed up for in college was neuroscience. It was taught by Michael Brown and was the hardest class I had ever taken. It was really difficult, but also really interesting. My first exam I got a low C which wasn’t very promising. I went to talk to him about it, and he gave me in retrospect some good therapy and then I went back at it. I started doing neuroscience research at the same time and really enjoyed it.

The decision to go into psychiatry wasn’t until my fourth year. I initially thought epilepsy was fascinating – seizure disorders, changes in consciousness, and looking for brain damage in epilepsy. I also thought I would go into neurosurgery when I studied in Bologna, and after observing I went all the way through to surgical intervention. I decided the lifestyle of a neurosurgeon wasn’t something I could endure. With psychiatry what I enjoyed in my rotation was a lot of exposure to patients whose world view was changed by treating specific symptoms in their cognition.

What was the hardest part of the med school and residency application process for you? [9:31]

I remember one conversation in particular with a guidance counselor in undergrad. I had real interest in research but also in intera...

Interview with Brigitte Suhr, international lawyer, former admissions reader and current Accepted law school admissions consultant [Show summary]

Accepted consultant Brigitte Suhr brings a wealth of law school admissions knowledge to today’s podcast. As an application reader at UVA School of Law, Brigitte read more than 2,500 applications, so she knows what works and what doesn’t. She shares her insight during this podcast.

Find out what a UVA law school application reader looks for [Show notes]

Our guest today, Brigitte Suhr, earned her BA from UT Austin and her JD from UVA. She then went on to travel the world as an international lawyer, working for Human Rights Watch, the International Criminal Court, and other foundations and NGOs. For approximately two years prior to joining Accepted, Brigitte worked as an application reader for her alma mater, UVA School of Law, and in that capacity reviewed over 2,500 applications. She was the one recommending admit or deny. Let’s find out how she made those recommendations.

You’ve had a fascinating career working in international and human rights law around the world, why did you decide to become an admissions reader at UVA? [2:04]

I had worked for many years at an international level and had to step back for family reasons. I started my own consulting company working with nonprofits and foundations. As I was building that up I had the opportunity to work with UVA and thought it sounded like fun and a great way to get back in touch with my alma mater. Now I am busier, but didn’t want to leave admissions completely behind, which is why I became an admissions counselor.

When you were reviewing applications for UVA Law, did you have a particular bucket of applicants that you reviewed? [2:53]

I typically reviewed applicants who were below the median in both GPA and LSAT or above in one and significantly below in the other.

When the numbers were low, what made you decide to say yes? [3:12]

That’s when other factors come in. The personal statement is really important, the reasons why (for example why was a GPA so low), and do they convince me that they are capable of doing well in law school and being a good lawyer.

How did you go through the application? Those that came to you were already behind the eight ball, right? [3:57]

Yes and no. When you think of a school as selective as UVA, it didn’t take much to be in my pile since the medians were so high - you could still be in the 90th percentile and be in my pile. I read the application from top to bottom, however it came from LSAC. Typically first was info on activities and service, then the personal statement, everything but the transcripts and LORs. The second attachment had those items. Essentially, I started building my impression from their own submissions, then I would go to the LORs.

What made a personal statement tell you that its author deserved your vote and recommendation? [6:01]

A personal statement could capt...

Interview with Andie Kaplan, Wharton MBA student and founder of ConnectEd [Show summary]

Andie Kaplan had an undergraduate degree in business, but knew she needed more formal training to successfully launch her own business, and one year into her MBA at Wharton, she has done just that! Andie shares her story of honing her business idea and working with Wharton professors and students to get it off the ground. Best part of her story: She saves international students money on their cell-phone bills!

Andie Kaplan discusses how and why she launched her business, ConnectEd, while at Wharton [Show notes]

Our guest today is Andie Kaplan, who graduated from UVA with a bachelors in Commerce and Math and minors in IT and Business Analytics. I guess she’s a numbers geek. Upon graduation she went to work for Bain for three years. In 2017 she joined Squarespace as a Data Scientist and later was promoted to Senior Data Scientist and Product Analytics Team Lead. She left Squarespace in 2018 to join Wharton’s class of 2020. And at Wharton she founded ConnectEd, which we’ll learn more about during the podcast, along with her story.

Can you tell us a little about your background? Where you grew up? [2:11]

I grew up in the suburbs of Philadelphia. I went to a large public high school and knew I wanted to study business in college which is what led me to look at undergrad business programs, and ultimately to UVA.

What was hardest part of the MBA app process for you? How did you handle that element? [2:59]

I wasn’t sure when I was first applying whether I wanted to go to school. People go to b-school for a host of different reasons. I had already studied business and wanted to make sure I was applying for the right reasons. A lot of the process you go through with applying is soul searching why you want to be at school, so for me the difficult part was checking the reasons why.

Your undergrad degree is in business and analytics. You worked at Bain for 3 years and then at Squarespace. What did you hope to learn at Wharton, given your extensive foundation in business? [4:01]

I was very fortunate to start at Bain where I was able to apply my skills in a variety of industries and fields, and at Squarespace applying my business analytics skills. For me I knew I wanted to start a company, and when I was in undergrad I was thinking more about leading an established company. Over the last few years I decided I wanted to start my own. A lot of entrepreneurs think if you have an idea, just go do it, but I wanted to put myself in an environment where I could flesh out an idea to take it from an idea to execution. I wanted to further my entrepreneurial skill set and be part of a community and network to make it a reality.

Has Wharton provided what you were looking for? [5:57]

I’m very excited to say we have launched ConnectEd. One of the reasons I chose Wharton is its very flexible curriculum and the ability to start right away. I was able to waive a lot of the core requirements which allowed me to flesh out the idea early on, and it’s been great to work with students and faculty on the idea.

What do you like best and what could be improved at Wharton? [6:50]

The best part is the people I’m surrounded by. I have so many talented and diverse classmates. The friendships,

Interview with Rachel Slutsky, Accepted admissions consultant [Show summary]

Want to know what makes for stupendous statements of purpose or impressive MBA essays? Our guest, and recent addition to Accepted’s team of consultants, is an expert at both. But, for some of you her main claim to fame may be her status as a Harvard PhD Student. In this podcast she discusses how she earned admission to Harvard for a fully funded PhD and what makes for great graduate school application essays. She has also worked with applicants coming from the military and discusses some of the challenges unique to that applicant cohort as well as how to overcome them.

Find out how to apply to grad school successfully from an admissions consultant and Harvard PhD student [Show notes]

Our guest today, Rachel Slutsky, earned her bachelors in English Lit and Jewish Studies from Yeshiva University, her masters in Judaic Studies from the University of Chicago, and is currently pursuing her PhD in Religion and Religious Studies at Harvard University. Since her days as an undergrad she has worked as a writing tutor and teacher, application essay editor and admissions consultant, and she has also edited for the prestigious Harvard Theological Review. Needless to say she knows a ton about the writing required of successful graduate school applicants and students, and she’s going to share that insight with us today.

Can you tell us about your background? Where you grew up? How did you come to pursue the academic path? [2:12]

As you mentioned, I am getting a PhD in religion. I am from the Boston area and had religious studies courses in high school, and my teacher really inspired me. I saw myself being her, and thought I would be a high school religious studies teacher, but when I was in my first year of college, I took a class with a professor who reminded me a lot of my high school teacher. I wrote to my high school teacher and wondered if this professor was at college when she was there, and in fact this professor had made HER want to teach. I switched my goal to teaching similar content but on a graduate school level.

You are in a fully funded PhD program in Religion and Religious Studies at Harvard. Getting into a Harvard PhD program is something many people would give their eye teeth for. How did you do it? [3:57]

I have to admit there is always some piece of luck to it. There is also persistence and actual skill. For persistence I applied to be a Harvard undergrad and did not get accepted. I was not too distraught about it at the time - I really felt like I could succeed there and could go there for another degree. They allow you to submit an application of any sort three times, so I decided for my masters not to apply to Harvard since I knew I wanted a PhD afterwards and wanted to try again then. The real skill thing was being able to honestly evaluate myself. Even though I look back now and think I would have been okay as a Harvard undergrad, I did not present an application that showed that at the time. I wasn’t thinking about the application in a complex way. It was only by the end of college that I felt I understood what it means to apply well somewhere.

In terms of skill, for the application specifically it involves tailoring. It cannot be a common application. You have to figure out a way to stand out. That is really important. It is a performance, and while not exaggerating, you have to put on your best outfit, your best face, and it is the time to show off.