Admissions Straight Talk

The Most Important Asset in Grad School Applications: Time [Show Summary]

This episode is devoted to how the precious and finite asset of time can help you get accepted when applying to graduate schools.

Linda Abraham, Founder of Accepted, Discusses the Importance of Following a Graduate Application Timeline [Show Notes]

The problem: Lack of time.

What’s the usual root of the problem? Applicants decide to apply one day and try to do so in too short a period of time.

What are the possible results?

A poor decision –

* Possibly applying to the wrong programs or the wrong schools

* Perhaps you’ll be accepted at schools that aren’t as good as they could be, or,

* You’ll be rejected and will face the additional costs and need additional time to reapply.

Sometime applicants start the application with plenty of time but procrastination or life gets in the way of them completing it. The most common way that life intrudes? Discovering that you need to retake an aptitude test. If you haven’t allowed that possibility, the retake can cause all kinds of problems and delays.

While it never makes sense to submit something less than your best, there are advantages to applying early. If you can submit either early in the application cycle for rolling admissions like medical school or in earlier rounds for most MBA programs, you are applying when the class is wide open. There are more interview slots and seats available.

How Much Time for Test Prep, Research, etc Prior to Application?

Here are my recommendations:

* For MBAs, allow for 6-12 months of research and test prep before planning to submit.

* For medical school, allow 12-36 months of taking classes, MCAT prep, and volunteering before actually applying.

* For law school, allow for 6-12 months of research and test prep.

* For academic masters and Ph.D. programs, allow at least 6-12 months for research and test prep, and it could be longer if you also have to get in volunteer or research experience. For these types of programs it is harder to give a rule because there is much more variety.

These time frames mean:

* You will have time to prepare for and if necessary retake an aptitude test.

* You will have time to research programs and visit those you are most interested in and are feasible for you to visit.

* You will have time to do the volunteer work or experience that is vital for some programs.

* You will have plenty of time for essays, statements of purpose, etc.

The other key element you need to know before applying for graduate programs is a post-degree goal. Most programs want to know that you have a goal they can help you achieve. Assuming you know that, and once you know your test score (and since you already know your GPA), you can move forward in choosing schools.

Important Things to Think About

Most MBA programs and all programs asking for a statement of purpose want to know the purpose of your studies. If you have no purpose, no goal, no solid reason for pursuing the degree,

NYU Stern School of Business: What's New and How to Get Accepted [Show Summary]

NYU Stern MBA Programs have undergone several transitions in recent years, from the launch last year of the one-year tech MBA and fashion/luxury MBA, to a dedicated program to help military veterans transition to the business world, to more focused offerings for the ever increasing population of students looking at careers in technology and strategy consulting. Isser Gallogly, Associate Dean of MBA Admissions at NYU Stern takes us through the basics of the fulltime MBA program as well as what NYU Stern is looking for in applicants.

Interview with Isser Gallogly, Associate Dean of MBA Admissions at NYU Stern School of Business [Show Notes]

It gives me great pleasure to welcome back to Admissions Straight Talk Isser Gallogly, Associate Dean of MBA Admissions at NYU Stern School of Business. Isser needs no introduction at Accepted. He participated in many of Accepted’s old text-only admissions chats. He’s also been a guest on AST before. During his last interview, we discussed several innovations that Stern introduced in the 2017-18 cycle. We’ll see how those developments have evolved since then and take a look at this year’s MBA application.

Let’s start with the basics. Can you give me a brief overview of the full-time MBA options at Stern, focusing on differentiators? [2:38]

On the fulltime MBA side, we have the two-year, fulltime MBA program that we have had for quite some time, and two new programs that are pretty innovative. They are both one-year MBA programs that are specialized in terms of focus. One focuses on technology, and the other focuses on the business of fashion and luxury. The fulltime program has the traditional format, with two semesters, an internship, and then another two semesters. The one-year MBA programs begin in May, so it’s summer, fall, and spring. The two-year program is 60 credits, and the one-year programs are about 51 credits - you really do get the lion’s share of credits packed into a 12-month format.

In terms of the two-year program, what differentiates us is our location in New York City, but more importantly how we leverage it. What I mean by that is the experiential learning that we offer through partnerships with companies throughout the New York City area. Many are for credit, some are not, but we offer a tremendous number of opportunities. The second thing that is a surprise to some people is the community. We are a medium-sized school and therefore offer a small village of support within New York City. One of our big differentiators is what we call IQ + EQ, which is the combination of raw intellectual capability mixed with emotional intelligence which helps Stern students and grads be good leaders and teammates, and manage through people as opposed to exclusively through numbers.

How have the two one-year programs evolved? They just started last year. What’s developed? [5:16]

We went through the first admissions process, hoping for about 30 in each program, and that’s pretty much what we ended up with. These are all people that have a strong passion to work in these industries. If you have that razor-sharp focus, these are the programs for you. The people who have done it are all innovators, wanting to be the first. They started this May and have already done a lot of experient...

Interview with Jef Davis, International Admissions Expert and Accepted Consultant [Show Summary]

Dr. Jef Davis’s nearly 30 years of experience in international student program management makes him exceptionally qualified to share the ins and outs of applying to U.S. schools as an international applicant. His perspective on the unique challenges of applying, but also the incredible benefits of attending U.S. schools, is eye opening, and if you are from abroad and considering attending a U.S. school, you don’t want to miss his insights, especially why now might be the perfect time to apply.

Getting Accepted to U.S. Universities from Abroad [Show Notes]

Our guest today is Dr. Jef Davis. who earned his PhD in International Higher Education from Boston College. He has taught or served in administration at leading universities including Clark University, Drexel University, Kent State, SUNY Stony Brook, Youngstown State University, and Wharton, and has travelled to over 30 countries around the world. He is the author of Intercultural Sensitivity in Foreign Student Advising and the co-author of the 6th Edition of Living in the USA. I am also happy to announce that Dr. Davis has just joined Accepted and is available to guide you to acceptance to U.S. graduate programs.

How did you get interested in international admissions? [2:09]

I began working with international students when I was still an undergraduate. Like many Americans I had a very limited knowledge of worldviews not just outside of the country but even my own region. I found international students provided a wealth of information from the larger world. They challenged me to think differently about my own values and assumptions, so I was very interested in working with them. I went on to pursue a masters in higher education working with supporting international students in the US. The PhD I got much later, after working for about 15 years in the field.

What do you think is the hardest part of U.S. admissions for international applicants? [3:26]

All the challenges U.S. students face in applying to colleges and universities are the same ones international students face, but they experience them at a greatly magnified level, like just trying to understand what it is schools are looking for with questions on the application, understanding why schools are asking the questions and what the appropriate response is. Cultural factors really play into it in terms of writing a statement of purpose or essay where a certain level of confidence and self-conviction are called for. The way that Americans might typically answer questions might strike international students from many countries as bragging or having a lack of humility in general, so being able to really express your best assets and why your strengths are a good fit for the program can get lost in more humble language.

What is the hardest element(s) for them to adjust to once they come to study here? [6:13]

The number one thing we tend to hear is food. The standard American diet is very different than most parts of the world, especially its emphasis on meat and more heavy foods, so students from East Asia in particular have a real challenge finding food that is satisfying to them. Another thing is it can be very difficult for them to participate in classroom discussions for the reason that many Americans will jump in without thinking through wh...

Interview with Laurel Grodman, Director of Admissions for Analytics and Evaluation at Yale SOM [Show Summary]

Laurel Grodman, Director of Admissions for Analytics and Evaluation at Yale SOM, shares her perspective on how Yale differentiates itself from its competition and what it takes to be a successful applicant. The school has experienced explosive year-over-year growth in application volume for the last five years. Let’s learn what Laurel sees for the future.

Yale SOM: The Curriculum, Admissions, and What the Future Holds [Show Notes]

It gives me great pleasure to welcome for the first time to Admissions Straight Talk Laurel Grodman, Director of Admissions, Analytics and Evaluation at Yale School of Management. Laurel is a Yalie through and through. She earned her BA at Yale University in 2002 and her MBA from Yale SOM in 2006. After working for Citigroup and Unilever she returned to Yale as Senior Associate Director for Career Development in 2010. In 2014, she became the Director of Admissions for Analytics and Evaluation.

Let’s start with the basics. Can you give me a brief overview of the full-time MBA program at Yale SOM, focusing on differentiators? [1:59]

I like to start with our mission, which is to educate leaders for business and society, which is the founding mission of the school and brings everything together. That mission in and of itself is a differentiator in terms of the candidates it attracts and where alumni focus their careers, but in addition to that there are three things:

1. We aim to be the business school most integrated with its home university. You really are part of Yale more broadly, with access to classes across the entire university. You can choose electives in any number outside of the school and we encourage students to take advantage of that.

2. Our objective is to be the most distinctly global business school in the U.S. We have a global studies requirement so every student will engage globally at least once. That is fueled by our membership in the Global Network for Advanced Management which is a network established six years ago that brings together 30 business schools from around the world to provide travel options and global experiences.

3. Our integrated curriculum: we teach the business fundamentals and we teach them well, but beyond that we go a step further in terms of how it all works together. Beyond traditional core curriculum we organize around organizational perspective. It’s much more deliberate in terms of how courses work together – with co-teaching, and experts from across entire university. Organizational problems require you to pull from a bunch of different areas so that is how we like to teach it to students.

What’s new at Yale SOM? [7:05]

We’ve continued our streak of strong new faculty hires in all areas. We’ve also continued to build our master degree programs. We have a masters in systemic risk, and we are bringing in our inaugural class in Master of Management Studies in Global Business and Society, a small but probably growing program for early career students. This brings an additional voice to campus, more perspective to the class which is great. We are also in the midst of a search for our next dean, in its earlier stages - more info gathering at this point.

Is the global nature of Yale mostly due to the network of 30 ...

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...