Duke Medical School’s Curriculum and Admissions [Show Summary]

Dr. Linton Yee, Associate Dean for Admissions at Duke University School of Medicine, shares with us the unique curriculum of the program and the thought process behind it. He also fills us in on what applicants should consider as they fill out their Duke Medical secondary applications, which will make it more likely to be invited for an interview.

Interview with Dr. Linton Yee [Show Notes]

Our guest today, Dr. Linton Yee, earned his bachelors and MD at the University of Hawaii. He then did his residency in pediatrics at Harbor UCLA Medical Center and a Fellowship in Pediatric Emergency medicine at Children’s Hospital in Los Angeles. From 1996 to 2007 he practiced and taught pediatric emergency medicine in Hawaii and California before taking a position at Duke University as an associate professor in the Department of Pediatrics, Division of Emergency Medicine and as a pediatric emergency room physician. He is also Duke Medical’s new Associate Dean for Admissions, having been appointed to the post in May.

Dr. Yee, can you give an overview of the Duke Medical’s highly distinctive curriculum? [2:15]

The curriculum is a little different than the vast majority of US-based medical schools in that you do the basic sciences in the first year, a clinical year in the second year, a research or advanced degree in your third year, and the last year is the same as most schools, with rotations and other preparations for graduation. The curriculum has been different than most schools for the last 40 years, with the goal to produce leaders in medicine. We believe research works hand in hand with the advancement of clinical medicine.

How does Duke Medical condense what many schools take 18 months or more to teach into one year? [3:42]

You have to be efficient in how you are presenting material and make it relevant to how students are learning. We put our students in the clinical realm really early, seeing patients even in the first few weeks of school. A lot of it is integrating material, taking fairly complex ideas and clinical scenarios that go back to basic science in order to see relevance to the basic realm. One example I always talk to students about is shock. The definition of shock is inadequate profusion at the cellular level. If you look at that definition, how are you going to treat it? You have to reverse the profusion, so you need flow, so your carrier would be fluid, you need delivery of oxygen, and an energy source. To maximize oxygen, you need a pump to circulate what is carrying oxygen and fluids, and you need to maintain pump stability. You learn a lot of this stuff in basic biology in junior high school. You have a complex clinical scenario that you actually knew how to treat way back when, you just didn’t know how to integrate it.

Can you give me a few examples of how students spend their 3rd year at Duke Medical? [11:52]

The goal of the third year is to choose their own direction. Most of their academic life to this point has been pre-determined, so allowing them to choose is key in determining their thought process and ability to think critically and objectively about things. Some examples are we have a scholarship to Singapore to do infectious disease research. A lot of students do work in Tanzania as well. People have gone to Geneva to the World Health Organization, or gone to the London School of Economics for a masters there, and people go all over the place for research opportunities - it is pretty much an open book.

Interview with Michigan Ross’ Soojin Kwon and Diana Economy [Show Summary]

Soojin Kwon, Managing Director of the Fulltime MBA Program, and Diana Economy, Director of Fulltime Admissions at the University of Michigan Ross School of Business, share a wealth of information about the Ross MBA program, admissions process, and how you can be admitted. In recent years Ross has increasingly focused on action-based learning, having students work in teams to solve real business problems for both local and international organizations. It’s no surprise, then, that in the application they are evaluating applicants on how they will thrive in environments such as this – from self-awareness to empathy to the ability to work with a team to arrive at the most equitable solution. Listen in for all you need to know to arm yourself for success at Michigan Ross!

Michigan Ross MBA: It’s about REAL, Clear, and Teamwork [Show Notes]

Both Soojin Kwon, and Diana Economy are returning guests to AST. I’m thrilled to have them back so that we can learn more about the University of Michigan’s Ross School of Business MBA program.

For those listeners who aren’t that familiar with Ross’ program, can you give an overview of it, focusing on its differentiators? [1:21]

Soojin: There are three we like to highlight.

You learn best by doing and there isn’t a better place to get your MBA than Michigan Ross. Our portfolio of action-based learning opportunities is second to none. In addition to MAP (more on this later) we have a whole portfolio of subjects that people can do under the umbrella of REAL – Ross Experiences in Action Learning.

Go Blue Go Anywhere – that is our mantra. If you come here you can go anywhere – geographically, industry-wise, career-wise. Everything is your opportunity having the Michigan brand and network behind you.

Ann Arbor provides the opportunity to be part of a tight-knit community. More than 90% of students come from outside of Michigan so they don’t have a pre-existing network, so the focus of their experience is their MBA and their classmates.

Ross appointed a new dean, Dean Scott DaRue approximately two years ago. He believes that MBA students should experience four things while in b-school: Start, Advise, Lead, and Invest in real-world businesses. He proudly announced at the AIGAC conference in June that Ross students in this year’s entering class will be able to perform all four functions. When do Ross students do all that? [3:10]

Soojin: Some of those things are co-curricular experiences. Some are through coursework like MAP, which I’ll talk about in a second, but some of them are parallel to the academic experience. For Start, they can get seed money for startups from our Dare to Dream grant money funded through our Zell Lurie Institute for Entrepreneurial Studies. They can get advisory support for their startup ideas through our entrepreneurs in residence program, and they can learn how to start a business through our business development seminars. Students can do all these things at any time during their MBA program.

For Advise, all MBA 1s in the last quarter of their first year do MAP (Multidisciplinary Action Project), which are projects that can be anywhere around the world and in any industry,

Yoga Instructor, Holistic Health Coach, M4: Clare Brady Fits it All In [Show Summary]

Clare Brady is currently a fourth year med student at St. Louis University, though she got to med school in a roundabout way. During her recovery from an eating disorder in college, she learned a lot about the human body and found it fascinating. While she began her career in marketing, which her degree was in, she maintained her interest in health and wellbeing through an integrative nutrition program, which helped her realize that a career in medicine was really the right move for her. After graduating from UVA’s postbac program, she began medical school at St. Louis University in 2015. In addition to her studies, she manages to find time to teach yoga, run a beauty counter business, and blog.

Interview with Clare Brady, M4 at St. Louis University School of Medicine [Show Notes]

Can you tell us about your background? Where you grew up? What do you like to do for fun? [1:57]

I grew up in St. Louis, and I am the middle child with older and younger brothers. Growing up I did Irish dance and music – there is a big Irish heritage in my family – and I did that all through high school. I went to a private all-girls high school and was a very type-A studious kid and then went on to Notre Dame where my dad went. I was very unsure of what I wanted to do, but ended up majoring in marketing and design. After school I had a job in marketing and then advertising, and I also am into yoga and fitness. I teach yoga, I love all forms of exercise and healthy eating, and I do keep myself pretty busy with yoga teaching, blogging, and school. I like to travel as well.

How did you go from an undergrad degree in marketing and design in 2010 to starting a post-bac program in 2013? [3:22]

I started to get interested in health during my senior year in college. I was recovering from an eating disorder that started when I was 17 and continued through the middle of college. A big part of my recovery was learning about my body and what the eating disorder was doing to my body, and I found it fascinating. I started getting interested in proper nutrition and health. At the time I was a senior, finishing up my marketing degree, and already had taken a job, so it was too late to make a career change at that point. When I started working fulltime in business I wanted something that could further my interest in that area, so that is when I enrolled in the Institute for Integrative Nutrition, which is a one-year online program that teaches you all about different aspects of holistic health and nutrition and sets you up to be a holistic health coach, which many people do as a job when they are done. I didn’t intend to do that, I just wanted the education. Through my blog I did get a lot of requests for health coaching, many who were struggling with eating disorders, and I started taking on a few clients after work. I really loved these pseudo patient/doctor relationships but would get frustrated by my limitations as a health coach. These people often needed to go to their doctors to get answers to questions I didn’t feel comfortable talking about without more education.

At the same time I was getting a little frustrated with my marketing and advertising jobs – I wasn’t feeling stimulated or passionate, and I didn’t see myself getting there in the future in that field. I had reached a point where I was either going to change jobs or change careers, and I looked at a lot of different things – nutrition, clinical psychology, nursing, PA, and looked at education requirements. I didn’t think I could do a medical degree since I hadn’t taken a science class since high school. It was actually a family friend who mentioned a

Hospitality to Kellogg MBA [Show Summary]

Libby Angst is a 2018 graduate of the Kellogg MBA program and Accepted’s newest MBA admissions consultant. Libby shares her experience in the hospitality industry, her motivations behind her job changes, her decision to pursue an MBA and what she thought was most valuable in the Kellogg MBA program. Along the way she also shares insights into the unique qualities of the hospitality industry and in the Kellogg MBA program as well as the lessons she learned as Co-Chair of The Kellogg Student MBA Admissions Committee.

Interview with Libby Angst [Show Notes]

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

I grew up in a suburb 45 minutes north of Chicago. I went to a high school with over 1,000 students in my graduating class, so with a class so big it was important for me to find a niche. Mine was the tennis team, volunteering with organizations around Chicago, and my big activity was policy debating on a national circuit with my high school varsity debate team before I ended up going to Northwestern for undergrad.

You worked in the hospitality industry before joining Kellogg. How did you choose that industry to launch your professional career? [2:50]

During high school and college I always had odd jobs in the service industry. One of them was working at a high-end boutique folding and selling clothes, and I also worked as a tennis instructor for a nearby country club, so both required me to deliver a high level of service to discerning customers in my teenage, formative years. Additionally, in college I developed a passion for traveling after studying abroad in Madrid my junior year, my first trip to Europe. After I got back I really wanted to learn the ins and outs of the hotel industry from a highly regarded luxury chain, so luckily Four Seasons Hotels and Resorts had a worldwide sales office that hired me as an intern for two summers.

Why did you choose to work for TravelClick, and then why did you decide to earn an MBA? [4:05]

I had been working for Four Seasons in their property in Palo Alto, and I began using a lot of the TravelClick products to help me achieve my sales goals. A lot of them were benchmarking our performance against competitive sets - I used the tools to figure out what times of year I could charge higher rates for my corporate and group clients in order to reach my goals. After a number of years using their products I had developed a relationship with our TravelClick representative, and began exploring opportunities at that company in a sales role where I could work with large hotel chains to share how TravelClick products could add value to their companies.

While I was at TravelClick working with the large hotel brands I began working a lot with asset managers. I realized the real estate side of the hotel business was not something I knew too much about, but was probably one of the most important things to know to progress my career in the travel industry. So after working at TravelClick for two years I decided I needed to learn more about business. With a liberal arts background I didn’t have the skillset, particularly in finance, that I needed so I decided to earn an MBA in order to transition into the business side to progress my career.

What do you think are some of the more distinctive elements of the hospitality and travel industries? [6:30]

The industry feels immediate impacts from the economy. Hotels are signing essentially 24 hour lease agreements and are extremely sensitive to things going on in the economy.

Why Should Medical School Take Four Years? [Show Summary]

Dr. Deborah Powell believes that a competency-based medical education can be just as effective if not more so than the traditional four-year model that has been in existence for over 100 years. She has been testing that theory with an innovative program called EPAC (Education Across the Continuum in Pediatrics), where four medical students per year are selected to progress through a competency-based program and move on to residency at the same medical school once they have proven they have acquired those competencies. The program currently has two groups of residents moving through, and once they finish their residency Dr. Powell aims to show that these residents are just as successful as those with the highest board scores.

Interview with Dr. Deborah Powell, Dean Emerita of the University of Minnesota Medical School [Show Notes]

Our guest today is Dr. Deborah Powell, Dean Emerita of the University of Minnesota Medical School and professor in the Department of Laboratory Medicine and Pathology at the University of Minnesota Medical School. At the University of Minnesota, Dr. Powell instituted the medical school’s Flexible M.D. program, an individualized model of medical education designed to be more adaptable to students’ career and learning goals. Dr. Powell served as chair of the AAMC Board of Directors from 2009-10 and was the first female chair of the AAMC Council of Deans in 2004. She is currently working on a pilot study of a new, competency-based model for training medical students who want to go into pediatrics that combines undergrad and medical education. This model is currently being tested in four US medical schools including the University of Minnesota.

Dr. Powell, let’s start with the basics. Why do you want to move away from the 4-year model, which has been in existence for about 100 years? What’s wrong with it? [2:03]

Intrinsically there is nothing wrong with it, but nobody has ever said four years is necessary for a medical school education. It was proposed first by Abraham Flexner after a model in use by many US medical schools at the time which had two years of basic science followed by two years of medical education. No one has ever proven that amount of time is needed to complete a medical education and move to residency training. There have been several examples of three year medical schools. There was a famous one back in the 70s when the fed government felt we didn’t have enough doctors, so the four years was crammed into three years and it didn’t work out very well. The main point is that everybody learns at different paces – some people need more time, and some people need less. I am not a big fan of time-based education, I think it should be more about flexible medical education that is competency-based.

What is a competency-based model? [4:28]

The idea is that you would have a defined set of competencies which could be knowledge, skills, attitude, or all of the above that students would be expected to achieve at a specific level of achievement, at which point they would be deemed ready for the next stage of their education. With that kind of a model you can allow some flexibility, because students will achieve competencies faster or slower than others. The problem is that we currently live in a time-based medical education system, and a competency-based system should be time-variable, moving when you are ready.

Gaining Leadership Skills & In-Depth Knowledge of China through the Schwarzman Scholars' Program [Show Summary]

Dr. Rob Garris, Global Director of Admissions for the Schwarzman Scholars Program, discusses the Schwarzman Scholars’ program and admissions policies. Through the program, participants from around the world earn a Masters in Global Affairs at Tsingua University in Beijing. The entire program is focused on providing the scholars with in-depth knowledge of China while developing their global knowledge and leadership skills. Modeled after the Rhodes Trust, Schwarzman Scholars provides full tuition, room and board, and a stipend to participants during the year of study.

Dr. Rob Garris, Global Director of Admissions, Speak About the Schwarzman Scholars' Program [Show Notes]

Today’s guest, Dr. Rob Garris, earned his Ph.D in European History from UNC in 1998. While at UNC he also launched his career in academic administration when he worked as the Director for Educational Programs for UNC’s Center for European Studies. That was followed by other positions including a stint as Senior Associate Dean for Columbia’s School of International and Public Affairs and Managing Director of the Rockefeller Foundation. All these positions prepared him for his current role. Since 2014 Rob has worked as the Global Director of Admissions for the Schwarzman Scholars Program, where he oversaw the development of the Admissions Office for Schwarzman Scholars and has spearheaded recruitment efforts.

Let’s start with the basics since there are probably listeners who aren’t familiar with the Schwarzman Scholars program. What is the Schwarzman Scholars program? [2:15]

The Schwarzman Scholars program is an educational and leadership development program designed to ensure that decades from now there are people in leadership roles in every part of the world and in every major professional field who are better at what they do because they understand China and who also function together as a network and as an intermediary between China and the world. China is already playing an important role in many different aspects in global trends. We think it is important that people have factual knowledge of how China interacts with the rest of the world coupled with professional and interpersonal relationships so there can be much smoother flows of information between China and other major world powers.

At Tsinghua there is a very strong academic program developed by Tsinghua and other universities around the world about how China relates to the rest of the world. In addition to the classroom experience, we give students incredible opportunities to learn outside of the university about China and its role– students travel around the country, visit with professionals in fields they are interested in, discuss topics including the environment, health, technology, and urban planning. We also match each scholar with a senior mentor in his/her field to learn in a firsthand way from someone who has been successful in that field. At the end of the year we help place scholars into an internship-like experience to continue learning in a workplace environment. We have relationships with 70+ institutions in Beijing so students can end their year with a very practical hands-on experience.

Can you give us a bit of background on how it came into being? [7:44]

The program was inspired by a particular moment in the prof...

Become an MD Through the Army, Debt Free! [Show Summary]

Are you interested in practicing medicine in an environment that allows you to focus on clinical excellence? Do you want to have the option of practicing medicine in a host of different environments? Is it important for you to emerge from medical school debt-free? Do you wish to serve your country? If you answered yes to these questions, a medical career in the military might be right for you. Captain Jennifer A. Cox, current Officer in Charge at the Charleston, South Carolina U.S. Army Medical Recruiting Station, shares everything you need to know about the various options available to practice medicine in the military – and have your entire medical education paid for.

Be All You Can Be - Become an MD Through the Army [Transcript]

Our guest today is Captain Jennifer A. Cox. She graduated from Lewis University in 2011 with a BSN. While earning her BSN, she was also an Army ROTC cadet. She entered active duty as a Second Lieutenant in the Army Nurse Corps and has served at Fort Hood TX and Joint Base San Antonio TX. She earned her Critical Care Registered Nurse license in 2016 and then worked in the Neuro-Surgical Trauma Intensive Care Unit. Currently, Capt. Cox is the Officer in Charge at the Charleston, South Carolina U.S. Army Medical Recruiting Station. She has embraced this opportunity to commission fellow Army Medical Department Officers (while enjoying Charleston with her husband) and looks forward to her next assignment.

Can you tell us a little about your story? How did you come to be an army nurse and recruiter? [2:16]

Growing up I thought I wanted to be a special ed teacher, but when I got to college I had a revelation when meeting with a guidance counselor – there was a schedule for nursing clinicals on the wall, and I thought that is kind of perfect - I can help people and be involved in science, which was my favorite subject at the time.

I grew up in the military. My dad is a Naval Academy graduate - I had Saturday morning room inspections before I could go out and play with my friends - so it was a natural progression. I found the ROTC brochure during a school tour, met with the ROTC director, and before I knew it was going to Fort Knox for training that summer.

In terms of becoming a recruiter, I spent the first six years in the military as an RN, only seeing military treatment facilities and the hospital side of things, and I wanted to see more of the army. I applied for a broadening assignment, and when I found out I could be the officer in charge I thought that would be a good leadership challenge for me being a junior captain, and the opportunity to live in Charleston didn’t hurt, either. I really liked the opportunity to pick my medical department family, which is how I got here.

How does the U.S. Army help MD and DO wannabes become debt-free doctors? [5:01]

There are two different routes – one if you are wanting to go the civilian medical education route, and the other if you want to start in the military right away. The first is an active duty option, it’s called the Health Professions Scholarship Program (HPSP), which provides 100% of tuition and academic fees with a monthly stipend in medical school of about $2200. This is a 3-4 year scholarship when you begin medical school. You are commissioned as a second lieutenant, which is the first officer rank, and when you graduate you are promoted to the third officer rank,

U.S. News Answers All Your Rankings Questions [Summary]

Normally, when U.S.-based applicants talk about “the top programs,” especially when they refer to the top X, as in the top 10 or the top 20, they are referring to U.S. News Rankings, the granddaddy of educational rankings. Today we’ll hear from U.S. News Executive Editor, Anne McGrath, and Chief Data Strategist, Robert Morse.

Interview with Anne McGrath and Bob Morse of U.S. News & World Report [Transcript]

*Transcript is not literal and includes paraphrasing.

Linda: I’m so pleased to have on the show Anne McGrath, Executive Editor of U.S. News & World Report, and Robert AKA Bob Morse, Chief Data Strategist at U.S. News & World Report. Anne has been with U.S. News since 1985 and Bob has been with U.S. News since 1976. Both are pioneers in the realm of rankings. Now for all the questions I’ve ever had about rankings but was afraid to ask, and hopefully these are some of yours. I can actually get answers.

Anne and Bob, welcome to Admissions Straight Talk.

Anne: Thank you, good to be here.

Bob: Thank you. We’re looking forward to doing our best effort to answer all your ranking questions. Here’s your chance to get U.S. News to answer them.

Linda: I was just thinking that this is very unusual. Usually representatives of U.S. News are asking the questions, not answering them! And I’m usually the one reading about it. It’s a pleasure to have you here. I’m really looking forward to this and I appreciate your taking the time to join me.

You’ve both been at U.S. News since the beginning of the college rankings, I think it was the 1980s, right? Around 1987 – correct me if I’m wrong.

Bob: Yes. It actually started in ’83 and ’85. They were very short versions in the weekly magazine. 1987 was the first guide book. That’s when we started doing them annually.

Linda: Can you give a little of the backstory – how did this get started? What criteria were there and how did you choose the criteria that you focused on? Has there been an evolution of the criteria over this period in the rankings?

Bob: There has definitely been an evolution of the criteria. At first the rankings were based on reputation alone. College presidents picked their top 10 schools, and the schools that had the most mentions were the ones that were rated. ’87 was the last reputation-only ranking.

Then we realized that for the rankings to become relatively more acceptable in higher education, we needed to bring in statistical data. We met with a lot of higher educators and came up with criteria to measure academic quality which is the basis for the rankings today. We knew that there was a big gap in needing consumer information on how to compare schools to each other, and we thought we could fill this gap by bringing in statistical and reputational data.

And we have evolved the methodology over time from at the beginning we had put more emphasis on inputs and recently we’ve been evolving towards putting more emphasis on outputs, graduation and retention and predicted graduation rate, what’s now account for thirty percent of the methodology and we’ve deemphasized – to at least to some degree – inputs.

Linda: Like test scores, grades, etc?

Bob: Well we never had grades –

Linda: Right.

Bob: Like at one point we had yield, and we dropped yield. And we have reduced the weight of high school class standing ...

About the Johns Hopkins University Postbac Program [Show Summary]

For many future doctors, the simple step between college and medical school is not so clear cut. For various reasons, some sudents will choose to attend a pre-medical post-baccalaureate program to help boost their skills and experiences and to help them get into medical school. Dr. Alex Tan is the director of the Johns Hopkins postbac program for premed career changers and founder and director of the postbac Health Science Intensive (HSI) program. Her approach to the premed experience is thoughtful and is strongly influenced by her passion for guiding students to med school and to better self-exploration.

Interview with the Director of the Johns Hopkins Postbac Program [Transcript]

Linda Abraham: Postbac programs for physician wannabees can make all the difference between rejection and acceptance for academic enhancers and career changers. Let's learn about the two postbac programs offered by Johns Hopkins University from their director, Dr. Alexandra Tan.

Dr. Tan earned her BS at the University of Central Arkansas and then went on to get her PhD in Biology at Johns Hopkins in 2009. Somewhere along the way, she got bitten by the premed postbac educational bug. She became director of Johns Hopkins post-baccalaureate pre-medical program for career changers in 2012 and founded and became director of the Johns Hopkins post-baccalaureate Health Science Intensive program, also in 2012. Her approach to postbac education is highly analytical and data driven. She's been working to identify objective predictors of success in the medical school admissions process and develop tangible steps that help students achieve that success.

Linda Abraham:  Let's start with the basics, what is the post-baccalaureate pre-medical program at Johns Hopkins and who is it for? [1:59]

Dr. Alex Tan: Sure. So, postbac programs, in general, for anybody who isn't familiar, are essentially programs that are designed to give students an extension of their undergraduate time to accomplish a particular set of goals. There are two types of postbac programs. They are classically called career-changer programs or academic enhancer programs.

The premedical program is a career-changer program, which means it's essentially designed for students who need that extra time to be able to complete the lower division science classes. These are students who haven't had the year of biology, general chemistry, organic chemistry, and physics. More specifically, Hopkins, in general, is true to its reputation for being very strong in research. We certainly care a lot about leadership and independence and support for our unique, individual students. So, this program also encompasses a lot of those other qualities, as well.

Linda Abraham: Okay, so the postbac pre-medical program is for career changers. What about the Health Sciences Intensive? How is it different, both in its structure and its outcome? [3:28]

Dr. Tan: Sure, yes, that's true. In both cases, the students have the same goals. That's very true. As I said, there are two kinds of programs. The Health Science Intensive program is categorically considered an academic enhancer program, which essentially means that you've had the biology, the general chemistry, the organic chemistry, and the physics courses, the associated labs, and all of that completed.

So, postbac programs vary a lot, if you just look at what they accept and nationally what they look like. But, generally speaking, students who are eligible for one program would be ineligible...

MIT Sloan Executive Education [Show Summary]

Today we’re going to look at executive MBA program options: MIT Sloan’s executive MBA program, which is relatively new, but more typical in structure; MIT's part-time MBA program; and the MIT Sloan Fellows program, a full-time immersive executive MBA program. We are going to learn about them from Johanna Hising DiFabio, Director, Sloan Fellows and EMBA Programs.

Interview with the Director of MIT Sloan EMBA and MIT Sloan Fellows Programs [Transcript]

Johanna worked in business after earning her undergraduate degree from Ithaca College in 2000. She came to MIT Sloan as Associate Director of Student Life and Learning in 2010, became Director of MIT’s EMBA program in 2014, and added the Sloan Fellows program to her responsibilities in 2017.

Johanna, can you provide an overview of both programs, the MIT EMBA and the MIT Sloan Fellows program? [1:54]

The Sloan Fellows program, at over 80 years old, is I believe the oldest executive degree program in history. It’s a one-year, mid-career, intensive fulltime program. Our students come from all over the world for a year to study a curriculum in general management. They start in the summer, and in the fall and spring they have lots of electives to choose from if they want from within the full-time program, as well as other opportunities to fully immerse at Sloan and MIT.

Eight years ago we started the EMBA program. We were a little late to the market with this degree in comparison to other universities out there. We started it with the aim of the curriculum being heavily action-learning focused. Students come every second or third Friday/Satday and spend six hours a day in class with the focus on going back to work on Monday and applying what they’ve learned. It is a 20-month executive program, and we are looking for general managers with experience managing teams and managing businesses. The EMBA program provides an opportunity to earn a general management degree with a few electives but not as many as Sloan Fellows has.

What do the two programs share and where do they differ? [3:50]

They share the core general management curriculum, and with both degrees we expect significant work experience coming in. Both programs also have fantastic cohorts – we hear that across the board. One aspect where they differ is on the EMBA side we expect them to have a job and be working, while with Sloan we expect them to not be working and fully immerse themselves in the program. The Sloan Fellows program is 12 months vs 20 months for the EMBA program. Sloan Fellows also offers many more elective opportunities, while the EMBA is fairly lock step and action learning focused to apply their learnings immediately. On the EMBA side 45% of students are born outside of the US but the vast majority are working in the US, and with Sloan Fellows 75-80% of the population is from outside the US, with most bringing their families. Neither program requires financial sponsorship, but of course time sponsorship is required for both.

MIT puts a strong emphasis on innovation. How does this strong emphasis on innovation play out in each of the two programs? [6:43]

There is innovation in the content students are taught. In the core there is an innovation-driven advantage in Sloan Fellows, and on the EMBA side there is entrepreneurial-driven innovation.