Admissions Straight Talk

Interview with Trisha Mathelier, MD/MBA student at UCLA [Show Summary]

In today’s episode Trisha Mathelier, an MD/MBA student with the Drew/UCLA Medical Education Program, shares her medical school journey as well as what led her to decide on getting an MBA in addition to her medical degree. She fills us in on the uniqueness of the Drew/UCLA program, as it provides her with the opportunity to be part of a small and close knit community at Drew (just 24 students per class), but also with the wealth of resources at the large world-class research program at UCLA. Trisha then lets us know what she has planned for the immediate term and the future as an MD/MBA – she plans to be a clinician and also a serial entrepreneur.

An MD/MBA candidate speaks about her passions for both the clinical and business sides of healthcare [Show Notes]

Our guest today is Trisha Mathelier, MD/MBA student participating in the Drew/UCLA Medical Education Program. Tricia grew up just outside New York City and graduated from Harvard College in 2013. At Harvard she majored in Psychology, Social and Cognitive Neurosciences, and Global Health and Health Policy. She took a gap year between graduation and started at UCLA in 2014. She intends to earn her MBA in 2020 and her MD in 2021.

Can you tell us about your background outside of medicine? Where you grew up? What do you like to do for fun? [2:41]

I grew up in a suburb outside of Manhattan. I am an only child, and was very active in my church and youth group. I volunteered a lot through my church, but most of my time was spent cheerleading – I was on a competitive all-star team. Before that I did competitive gymnastics and dance. Every weekend practically throughout high school I traveled all over the east coast for cheerleading competitions on a nationally ranked team – from Maine to Florida. When I wasn’t in the gym I just enjoyed being a kid. I would go to the beach, go to the lake, essentially a typical suburban New York life. One piece of advice that I really took to heart around that time that I would pass along to your listeners is to do things that you are generally passionate about, because people will see the passion and know you are genuine and not just doing something to impress an interviewer.

How did you know you wanted to be a doctor? [5:31]

I had a really close relationship with my pediatrician - he was a close family friend. After every appointment he would take me into his office to get a sticker. Looking at all the degrees and awards I was so impressed and told him so, and he said I was smart and I could be a doctor, too. I decided I was going to be a pediatrician just like him.

My mom was studying then to be a nurse and as a single mom of an only child she didn’t always have a babysitter so I would sometimes go with her to classes or the lab or listen along to her audio lectures. She would play them nonstop like music, and there were times in the tape where the lecturers would stop and ask questions to keep the listener engaged. There was a failure to thrive question in newborns around jaundice. It was an open ended question, and I answered it and was right. My mom was amazed and asked how I got it right. I said, “I’ve been listening to your nursing stuff and think I kind of get it.”

You took a gap year between undergrad and med school. What did you do and are you happy you did it? [9:55]

I started working for an NGO my senior year in college c...

Exploring the DBA (Doctorate in Business Administration) program at Grenoble Ecole de Management [Show Summary]

Would you like to be the kind of business leader who wants to define problems and design solution based on rigorous research? Are you seeking a global, part-time program that goes beyond the masters? Do you like the idea of being a chef as opposed to a cook?

Dr. Michelle Mielly, Academic Director of the DBA U.S. for GEM, gives us the scoop on Grenoble Ecole de Management DBA, a program that helps it students define problems and design solutions based on rigorous research.

Interview with Dr. Michelle Mielly, Academic Director of DBA U.S. at GEM [Show Notes]

Our guest today, Dr. Michelle Mielly, does a lot of different things as Associate Professor at the Grenoble Ecole de Management, AKA GEM, where she’s been since 2010. I’m not going to list them all, but the most relevant role for us today is as Academic Director of the DBA U.S. for GEM. Originally from the U.S., Dr. Mielly earned her bachelors at Southwestern University in Texas, a masters from Penn State and Harvard, and her PhD, in Anthropology and Francophone Civilization, is also from Harvard. She has worked in France, the U.S., the Ivory Coast, and Central America.

Dr. Mielly, I want to start with two really basic questions, but I think they are ones that a segment of listeners may have:

a. What’s the difference between a PhD and a DBA, or are they synonymous? [2:31]

They are very similar, and are both doctoral qualifications as well as terminal degrees. The DBA designates a traditionally part-time program that is in business administration as opposed to an academic qualification. DBA students are practitioners of management or do applied management, and are often linked to part-time and professional status. The DBA is a little less academic than a PhD. There are still a lot of PhD ingredients, but the level of contribution in terms of a thesis will be more practitioner-based than theoretical.

b. What can someone with a DBA do professionally outside of academia that someone with an MBA can’t do? [4:51]

When you get an MBA it’s very rigorous but you are often working on the case method learning how to establish and replicate good recipes. You have the ingredients and the recipes and you are cooking up great solutions. When you go for a doctorate you are writing the recipes. The MBA helps you become solutions-oriented. In the DBA you become the chef, creating recipes, testing them, and looking for different outcomes. There is a lot less certitude, and much of it is a period where you are exploring and changing your mindset.

In terms of careers, we have a lot of different outcomes. We have one graduate who worked to develop his own algorithm for a hedge fund for socially responsible investing, honing in on very specific skills. He is now applying that in New York. Often we have folks who were CMOs or CFOs and become attracted to consulting firms. They become managerial thought leaders because they can translate research to people who don’t do research, but also are the people in the room who know more about a particular subject.

What’s distinctive about the GEM DBA program? [10:16]

We have been around since 1993 and have learned how to work well with students who are part time and remotely located.

Accepted admissions consultant Cydney Foote sheds light on the medical school application process [Show Summary]

Are you not quite ready to submit your AMCAS application? Don’t panic. We’ve got the advice you need to polish off your personal statement, MMEs, and activity descriptions. Listen to the podcast for answers to “How many schools should you apply to?” “How should you choose where to apply?” “What’s the difference between the personal statement, the most meaningful experiences, and the activity descriptions.” Plus we’ll give you some tips on how to manage a deluge of secondaries and even your residency personal statement.

Cydney Foote shares her tips for applying successfully to medical school [Show Notes]

Our guest today, Cydney Foote, has been a medical school admissions consultant since she started at Accepted in 2001. Needless to say, she’s helped hundreds of happy clients get accepted to allopathic and osteopathic medical schools as well as residency programs. During this podcast she’ll address some of the most common questions we get and also some of the most common myths out there about med school admissions.

When this show airs it will be June 4. The first day to submit the AMCAS this year was May 31. If applicants haven’t submitted already, are they “late?” Have they missed the boat and is their application already doomed to the reject pile? [2:30]

That is a really good question, and people panic about this every year. To be honest it is one of the biggest myths out there that you need to get your application in on the first day. From recent years I know that even those who submitted on June 7th had their information sent the same time as those who submitted the first day. A week or two later than the first submission date is not late, but if you are getting into July and August that is not the ideal time to apply. I’ll also say, though, that it is really important for you to apply when you are ready. If you are a week away from getting what you need, it is far better to submit a week or two into June than start rushing.

How do you advise applicants to select the schools they are applying to? [3:55]

I look at the stats first – what’s the lowest accepted value of MCAT and cumulative GPA. If it is in the range, then I look at acceptance rates. Are they looking to apply someplace that only accepts a very small percentage of out-of-state applicants, or do they have an overall low acceptance rate? If so, those may not be the top picks. You want to choose a mix of schools where you are competitive, but also a few reach schools. I think a lot of people overweight their reach schools – while they might reach the lowest accepted value, they are not near the mean. Once the quant factors are set, then it is digging into the schools themselves – looking at position statements, or specialties you are interested in. You have to make the connection with what the applicant wants. In-state vs. out-of-state matters, too.

Linda: Accepted has the Med School Selectivity Index of almost all allopathic and osteopathic schools, and also tools that show acceptance r...

How to leverage an HBS education: The story of LeverEdge [Show Summary]

Do you want to save money on your student loans? Interested in earning an MBA with entrepreneurship as your goal? Considering Harvard Business School as the place to earn that degree? Pull up a chair, or at least plug in your ear buds. Learn how two current Harvard Business School MBA students got into HBS and founded a company that can save you money on your student loans.

HBS students talk about business school and their exciting new company, LeverEdge [Show Notes]

We have two guests today and a lot of ground to cover. So I’m going to give them very brief intros and leave more time for the interview. My guests today are Chris Abkarians and Nikhil Agarwal, both members of the Harvard Business School Class of 2020 and co-founders of LeverEdge, which can help you reduce your student borrowing costs. And that’s true whether you are applying to law, medical, or business schools.

Nikhil earned his Bachelors of Science in Aerospace Engineering from University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign in 2012 and worked for Boeing for six years before making the move to Boston in 2018. Chris earned his BA in Political Science and Public Policy from Duke in 2012 and then started his career at L.E.K. Consulting, where he worked for approximately three years before joining Netflix. He then worked for Netflix in Content Strategy & Analysis for another three years. Then he too made the move to Boston to begin his studies at HBS.

With that as background, let’s hear about their MBA experience at Harvard, the founding of LeverEdge, and the savings it can provide you.

Can you tell us a little about your background? Where you grew up? [2:55]

Chris: I was born and raised in Los Angeles in a large family. I am the biggest Lakers fan you could meet. I followed my love of basketball to Duke where there was no chance I could ever play for the team, but whenever I am not working I am always trying to catch a game or play if I have the chance.

Nikhil: I grew up and lived in India for my first 18 years. Then I moved to Urbana-Champaign where I was expecting skyscrapers but instead found cornfields. After graduation I went to work at Boeing in product development (and am particularly excited about the 777X coming out next year that I worked on), and then made my way to HBS.

What was hardest part for you in the MBA application process? How did you handle that element? [4:43]

Nikhil: For me it was wondering if I was even good enough to apply to HBS or the kind of person that could get in. It took a number of discussions with friends telling me that I was living in this bubble where I was surrounded by people like me doing cool things. The reality is there are very few people in the world who get to make airplanes, which gave me some confidence to get the ball rolling.

Chris: Figuring out how to weave a narrative that made sense, through all sections of the application. I went to Duke, I worked on political campaigns, then did consulting, then had a media career at Netflix. Sometimes you sit back and realize how difficult it can be to explain why you did what you did, and

Top LSAT tutor Steve Schwartz discusses the upcoming changes to the LSAT and their implications for law school applicants, the GRE vs LSAT question, his top tips for LSAT prep, and his growing treasure trove of LSAT prep resources -- everything from free guides and videos to private tutoring.

Interview with Ida Valentine, Associate at Barclays Investment Bank and Member of the HBS MBA Class of 2021 [Show Summary]

Our guest today is Ida Valentine. She earned her BA from UNC-Chapel Hill IN 2014, majoring in business administration and minoring in Spanish for the Professions. She joined Barclays Investment Bank upon graduation and today is an Investment Banking Associate in Barclay’s Technology Group. Her “side career” is speaking to children and adults about her experiences overcoming sexual abuse and the traumatic loss of her parents at a young age. Final piece of important information: Ida is about to join Harvard Business School’s MBA Class of 2021. Let’s hear her story.

Ida Valentine: Investment Banker, Inspirational Speaker, HBS 2021 [Show Notes]

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

I grew up in Charlotte, North Carolina. I’ve been dancing my whole life, starting at age three through college, competing nationally. I am a Tar Heel – I majored in business with a minor in Spanish and have been in California since graduating. I love doing yoga and love to give back – I am a member of the leadership community of SEO (Seizing Every Opportunity) and volunteer with rape trauma victims.

For the last four years you’ve worked in investment banking in Silicon Valley and focused on technology. What have you enjoyed most about your work? [3:41]

Every day is something new. I knew that I wanted to do something that wouldn’t have me bored within the first year and you will never be bored in investment banking. I work on M&A deals, IPOs, with all kinds of different companies, and I am doing so at a young age. It is really cool to do something meaningful. I remember my first deal when I was 21 - all the late nights and secrecy and then the deal was finally announced and there were articles about it and it was a great feeling. I just love the work flow, deal flow, and learning about different products.

How have you handled the hours while also maintaining your speaker career? [5:04]

It is not easy! I started doing more formal speaking engagements after a year or two in banking. I was able to communicate with my team well in advance of an engagement, and it’s not always the easiest conversation depending on the deal I’m on, but people were very supportive. Now that I am an associate I have more flexibility. I have an analyst that can cover for me when I am gone. If it’s important enough you can find the right balance.

In banking there are a lot of junior banker initiatives. It’s easier to be a banker now than maybe 10 years ago. Saturdays are “Protected Saturdays” and you have to have permission to work then. Saturdays are my days for yoga and to be with friends. There are also lulls in deal flow and I do stuff then. You can find the balance – it’s tough with the first year, but once you get the hang of what you’re doing it gets a little better.

You have an undergrad degree in business from UNC, and you’ve been an Investment Banking Analyst for the Technology Group at Barclay’s since 2015 dealing with M&A. Given your extensive business background, why do you believe you need an MBA? [8:23]

If I were going to stay in IB long term or go the traditional finance route I don’t think I would need an MBA. I am an Associate now which is where an MBA would start, but for what I want to do I need an MBA. My goal after business school is to be an entrepreneur and start ...

Interview with Dr. Laura Vater, resident physician and SMILE Score creator [Show Summary]

Dr. Laura Vater is a current resident in internal medicine, future hematologist/oncologist, mom, and inventor of The SMILE Score, a tool to help patients and health care providers simplify and prioritize health in their lives. She is also the mother of a beautiful little girl. How does an MD/MPH, resident and mom have the time to develop useful tool for measuring how well we are prioritizing our own health? Let’s find out in the interview with Dr. Laura Vater.

Life as a doctor and mom and how the SMILE Score helps [Show Notes]

Our guest today is Dr. Laura Vater. Dr. Vater did her undergrad at Notre Dame, majoring in Biological Sciences and Poverty Studies. She earned her MPH from the University of Pittsburgh and her MD at Indiana University School of Medicine, where she is currently a resident in internal medicine. She is also the developer of The SMILE Score, which we will learn about in just a few minutes.

Can you tell us about your background outside of medicine? Where you grew up? What you like to do for fun? [2:11]

All of my family is from Minnesota. We moved to Indiana when I was a child for my dad’s job. We planned to move back, but then my mom decided she wanted to go to graduate school and then medical school, enrolling at age 37 when I was 9. Today all of my family still live in Indiana.

In terms of what I like to do for fun, I have an almost three-year-old daughter and I’m a resident so I don’t have lots of time, but I love to be outside. I worked at Rocky Mountain State Park and just overall I love to hike and travel to national parks. I also love to read.

How did you know you wanted to be a doctor? [4:36]

My mom says I knew I wanted to be a doctor before her. I had a coach diagnosed with metastatic cancer when I was very young. I went with her to treatments and was with her when she passed away. This experience was very meaningful to me and I realized, that I wanted to be that person that helps someone navigate a serious illness - who lets them know they are not alone in that.

What was the hardest part of the med school application process for you? [6:42]

I went to Notre Dame and pursued a science degree. I had a lot of experience in global and public health so I took three years between graduation and medical school – I took a gap year and then got my MPH. I took the MCAT a few years after taking the rigorous courses, and I wish I had taken it when I was fresh.

Why did you decide to do a gap year between undergrad and your MPH? [8:06]

I had watched my mother go through the rigors of medical school and medical training. She started when I was 9 and started practicing medicine when I was 16 so I had grown up watching her go through it. All along I knew medicine was the right field for me, but I knew how challenging it would be. I was very interested in global and public health so decided to spend a year teaching in Haiti first. At Notre Dame they have a career fair and a service fair, where they actively encourage graduates to pursue service, and there was an opportunity to serve in Haiti after the earthquake in 2010. They needed help with teachers and community health, and it seemed like a great way to pursue something different.

Interview with Michigan Ross' Dr. Wally Hopp, Associate Dean for Part-Time MBA, and Anne Schoen, Associate Admissions Director for Part-Time MBA Programs [Show Summary]

Michigan Ross has a brand new MBA program – an online option to add to its menu of part-time programs as well as its flagship, highly ranked full-time program. We’re going to learn about this great new option among online MBAs in an interview with Michigan Ross’ Dr. Wally Hopp, Associate Dean for Part-Time MBA, and Anne Schoen, Associate Admissions Director, Part-Time MBA Programs.

All About the Michigan Ross Online, Part-Time MBA [Show Notes]

Our guests today are Dr. Wally Hopp, Associate Dean for Part-Time MBA, and Anne Schoen, Associate Admissions Director, Part-time MBA Programs at Michigan Ross. I’m going to omit my usual bios because they have long ones and because there’s a lot to talk about with the brand new online MBA program that Ross is offering.

Can you provide an overview of Ross’ new online MBA? [1:57]

The core curriculum is the same as our existing programs, with electives overlapping with other programs and other characteristics of our programs – the action-based learning component and MAP programs, for example, just like any other program. The requirements and rigor are the same, as well as the focus on group work. The real difference is the medium used to conduct the courses. The program is at a distance, of course, but we also provide career support, networking, and events that can be tapped into remotely, so we hope that the answer is it isn’t all that different from any other program.

What made Ross decide to add an online option to its menu of MBA programs? [3:32]

We are delivering to the niche of the market that wants more flexibility to pursue their MBA while working. They care a lot about being able to continue their careers, so value staying where they are and going at the pace they can go at. It became clear we could meet those needs more effectively by leveraging technology than we could by insisting on the traditional residential education. We got here in more than one step. Our weekend program is already 1/3 digital, so this was the next step in evolution, offering a bigger portion online and smaller residential format for people who need more flexibility.

The website touts the program’s flexibility. Is there a recommended time to complete the program? Or course load per semester? What is the shortest amount of time? Longest amount of time that you anticipate? [5:05]

The shortest time is probably two years, and that would be with a pretty hefty workload – four courses per semester. We expect there will be some students who opt for that, but the more typical pace is about 3.5 years, and there will be some who will go longer. 3.5 years is two courses per semester. Our courses are offered in half semesters, so it essentially involves taking one course at a time continually through the whole 3.5 years, which is about a 10-15 hour/week workload. That is manageable in our evening students and think it will be with online students as well.

Can you describe the residential component of the program? [6:31]

We want to make sure we provide the experiences that students can’t get through the online channel during the residential session.

I am taking a week off for family time this week and we are airing an encore of our most popular med podcast so far in 2019: Accepted to Med School in Mid-October: How Did He Do It?

It’s an excellent time for this podcast. Many of you are planning to work on your med school applications over the spring break or ASAP after final exams. You know that AMCAS will begin processing applications on May 31 and you want to be ready.

One of the things that this successful med student did is have an outstanding personal statement. I want to invite you to our next free, live webinar, How to Write a Winning Med School Personal Statement. During the webinar on May 1 at 5 PM PT/ 8 PM ET Lolita Wood-Hill will share her 25 years of experience in pre-health advising and postbac program direction. We expect a packed house for it, so be sure to reserve your spot.

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. Have a wonderful time and thanks for listening!

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

Related Links:

• Get Accepted to Medical School in 2020

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• Accepted's Medical Admissions Consulting

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Have you heard that Kaiser Permanente School of Medicine is enrolling its first class? Not only that, but it’s re-imagining medical education with a revolutionary approach intertwining clinical and didactic experience throughout the four years, minimal use of lectures, and a case-based curriculum. Let’s find out more from the program’s Associate Dean of Admissions.

Interview with Dr. Lindia Willies-Jacobo, Associate Dean for Admissions at Kaiser Permanente School of Medicine [Show Summary]

Our guest today is the Associate Dean for Admissions at Kaiser Permanente School of Medicine, which is recruiting its first class. In the process its re-creating medical education from the ground up – intertwining clinical and didactic experiences throughout the four years of its program, making minimal use of lectures, and developing a case-based curriculum. Did I mention that it’s tuition-free for the first 5 classes?

Kaiser Medical School: State-of-the-Art, Patient-Focused, and Free [Show Notes]

Our guest today is Dr. Lindia Willies-Jacobo, Associate Dean for Admissions at the Kaiser Permanente School of Medicine. While the KP School of Medicine may be new, Dr. Willies-Jacobo is not at all new to the field of med school admissions. She earned her MD at UCSD and served there as a professor of pediatrics from 1992 to 2019. For 22 of those years she was also the Assistant Dean for Diversity and Community Partnerships and Director of the Program in Medical Education-Health Equity.

Dr. Willies-Jacobo, Kaiser-Permanente is one of the country’s largest NFP health plans with over 12 million members and almost 23,000 member doctors. Why is it going into the medical education business? [2:38]

Having led the field in terms of health care delivery, Kaiser-Permanente (KP) has been in the business of training doctors for quite some time, often after they finish medical school. This seems like the natural next step for us. The concept of being able to introduce KP models earlier are essential for an integrated healthcare system.

What do you feel is missing in the field? How is KP filling it? [3:45]

The way healthcare delivery is structured is not accessible to every patient that comes in the door. The current model we practice is, a patient arrives in clinic and a doctor tries to assess the immediate needs of a patient rather than thinking more broadly about the environment the patient lives in and better integrating population health, the patient, and family. In other words, we are trying to think beyond the therapeutic and reimagine medicine so that we better integrate how a patient engages in our environment with our medical diagnosis.

You and your team have the opportunity to develop a curriculum that reflects KP’s priorities and frustrations with current medical education. Can you give us an overview of the Kaiser Medical School Curriculum? [7:10]

We are going to be a case-based curriculum, and are not going to be teaching utilizing a lecture format. All learning will happen in small teams. We are matriculating 48 students in 2020 who will be divided into cohorts of eight. All teaching will be taking place with two faculty preceptors. We will be operating a flipped classroom model with team-based learning, and engaging with a PCP from year one, and essentially putting into practice what they are learning every single day. Other unique features are that we will not be teaching anatomy using cadavers, instead availing ourselves of technology. We will be using virtual and augmented reality with organ systems and the enti...