Admissions Straight Talk

Dr. Richard Beddingfield, a practicing cardiothoracic anesthesiologist in Wisconsin, is the author of Med School Uncensored: The Insider's Guide to Surviving Admissions, Exams, Residency, and Sleepless Nights in the Call Room. The book provides a comprehensive view of the entire becoming-a-doctor process, from choosing to become a physician and taking the MCAT, through med school acceptance, rotations, residency, specializations, and getting your first position, along with a succinct discussion of the different exams you’ll need to take and the hoops you’ll need to jump through along the way.

Can you tell us a little about yourself? Your background and where you grew up? [2:04]

I grew up in the southeast, in Florida and Georgia. I went to college at the University of Michigan. I considered a variety of majors, but ended up in Computer Information Systems (CIS) - not the prototypical path to medicine! I worked with a small start-up tech firm offering internet services in the late 90s when that was a magical mystery to companies and users. During my senior year of college I first started thinking about becoming a physician. I attended a mini med school function at Michigan that sparked my initial interest. At the time I didn’t want to delay my college process – I didn’t have any pre-reqs to speak of, so I would have had to delay my graduation. I continued working in CIS (which actually has come in handy with electronic medical records!), went back to school first part-time and then full-time to cram through my pre-reqs at the University of Minnesota. Then I got back to the normal path – MCAT, applications, interviews, etc., and started medical school in 2006.  

You were initially a computer science major and worked for a couple of years between college and med school. What made you decide to step away from that career? [5:43]

When you are at that age tiny little decisions can take you in a completely different direction. If things had happened differently, maybe I would have stayed with computers. In the past I had done service jobs, and really enjoyed working and chatting with people. I missed that at my job behind a computer desk. The med school seminar was over a 7-8 week period. Lectures were given by med school faculty on a variety of topics (pathology, cardiology, etc), and I was really fascinated and wanted to know more - how the body works, how disease occurs, medical intervention. So I started researching more and more.

Prior to that point I had never been premed, going through the regimented tasks, so I had to learn all that stuff on the fly, and make sure it was something I really wanted to do, since it would set me back in terms of my education. I shadowed a couple physicians, did some volunteer work, some research, and got involved as much as my time would allow. Ultimately I decided medicine is what I wanted to do.

What motivated you to write Med School Uncensored? [9:16]

I really first had the idea to do something like it in 2010. It was my final year of med school and I had volunteered to mentor premed students at the University of Minnesota. I chatted with a student over email and then met him at a coffee shop. I sat down with this guy and he started asking me questions. I was 3-4 months from graduating, so I expected there would be questions about what it’s like to be in medical school, but the questions were variations of, “How do I get into med school?” and,

Joe Pavlisko is the founder of Referrio, a start-up that makes getting and writing recommendations easy. Joe graduated from the University of Alabama with a bachelor’s degree in economics and a concurrent master’s degree in finance. In addition to English, Joe speaks Spanish and German and taught English in rural Spain. After graduating from college he went to work as a data scientist at Autobytel. He left after two years to found Referrio.

Can you tell us a little about yourself? Your background and where you grew up? [1:33]

You already covered a lot of it in your intro, but I’ll add that I was a foreign exchange student in high school. I was one of those people who never knew what I wanted to do – I was excited by everything. I went from econ in undergrad to computer science in grad school. I am from Cleveland but ended up at Alabama – beautiful weather helped!

How did you come to found Referrio and what is it? [2:57]

Referrio is a platform that makes writing letters of recommendation simple. It can be used for college, grad school, jobs, study abroad, whatever. You get the recommendation once (you can never see it, it is always confidential), but you can reuse it anytime for the rest of your life.

Referrio makes it easy for the recommender since it formats the letter, inputs dates, names, contact info, recipient name and contact info, which is entered in box format online. The only thing the recommender has to do is write a 3-5 paragraph letter body. We have also curated advice from the Harvard admissions office on how to write paragraph by paragraph in a really compelling way.

Let’s say I was going to use Referrio for two letters of recommendation. What steps would I have to take? [4:22]

You would login to the platform and select that you are asking for a letter of recommendation. A few questions will flash through – where is it going, who are the recipients, universities applying to, how it will be sent (email, physical address), that type of thing. Then we will ask for all the information we can about the recommender – name, email, professional address to plug into the letter body. We ask you to give the recommender a few bullet points to talk about. We don’t ask for a resume since we don’t want a recommender just rehashing your resume. Instead we ask you to remind the recommender of some moments spent together that showed positive personal qualities about you. Then we send the request to the letter writer.

How much does it cost? [5:57]

It is free. With the free version you can use the letters for one year. The Plus version allows you to reuse recos anytime for the rest of your life (for a fee of $17.99/year) .

How does Referrio help recommenders to write the recommendations? [6:56]

First with all the stuff I previously mentioned – saving them time not having to put in recipients, addresses, etc. The only thing they have to do is the 3-5 paragraph letter body. We even do the formatting. We did a lot of research on what types of formatting are appealing and ours is ranked very high. It looks pretty, and that can really make a difference. It updates for every recipient. We also have a letter writing wizard to help. If the recommendee wants to reuse the letter, the recommender is sent an email, “Is Joe allowed to reuse this letter?” So the recommenders always have control of when/where their letter can be used.

Our guest today is Andrea Benedict, Physician Assistant, creator of the YouTube channel, Life as a PA, and founder of MEDTakeovers. This very busy professional earned her bachelor’s degree at the University of Delaware in neuroscience, and went straight to the Lock Haven University of Pennsylvania's Physician Assistant program. She has wide ranging experience as a PA, from family medicine to acute leukemia, and currently works in a Pediatric ICU.

Can you tell us a little about yourself? Your background and where you grew up? [1:49]

I grew up in Pennsylvania. I went to college in Delaware, and then set sights on med school or PA school. I started my professional career bouncing around the country, soaking it all in.

How did you decide to become a physician assistant? [2:31]

It’s an interesting story, and all revolves around being busted for cheating. Initially I was on the med school track, preparing for the MCAT. In my organic chemistry class I and 50 other students had the “great” idea to make changes to our tests before submitting them for a regrade. We were found out, and because of this the committee at my school that wrote letters of recommendation wouldn’t write me a letter. At that point, I had no plan B, so I had to open my eyes to other professions. When I found out about the Physician Assistant profession I realized it was exactly what I wanted to do, and am glad about the outcome.

Think back on when you applied to PA school, what was the most difficult part of the application process for you? [4:31]

The minutiae - like how and where to put volunteer experience, how to classify things. If you put information in the wrong spot maybe you don’t get accepted – it’s stressful. Essay creation and writing is also not my forte.

What did you like about Lockhaven, which you attended to become a PA? [5:29]

I loved that it was close to my hometown. PA school was so overwhelming that having mom two hours away was comforting. In particular, though, Lockhaven’s priority is its students, not the program or money. They’ll bend over backwards to accommodate a personal issue. I feel like education generally is more sterile now, and Lockhaven has a friendly, warm, welcoming faculty with student’s best interests at heart. 

What would you have liked to change? [6:51]

I feel like students nowadays have so many amazing things at their fingertips (sim labs, models, ultrasounds) that weren’t there when I was there, and that would have been nice to have access to. In the grand scheme of things, though, there were no negatives that came out of it. I didn’t lack anything, and everything I needed was available to me.

What have you been doing since you became a PA? Can you walk us through it? [8:02]

I graduated PA school in 2008. I moved to Salt Lake City to do a rotation - Lockhaven allows you to go anywhere in the country for a rotation. I took a job in a family practice with focus on integrative medicine and some cosmetic procedures as well. I did that for seven months, but it was too slow-paced for me. I set my sights on higher acuity, and got a job in bone marrow transplant for four years. At that point I felt like picking a place on the map to move to and chose Austin with focused efforts on finding an ICU job, which I have been doing for six years.

I’ve watched a few of your videos. Why do you like being a PA?

This week we welcome Christie St. John, Director of Admissions at Vanderbilt University’s Owen Graduate School of Management. Christie earned her PhD in French and Italian from Vanderbilt and worked at Vanderbilt as Director of International Relations before becoming the Senior Associate Director of Admissions at Tuck. Christie returned to Vanderbilt as Director of MBA admission in 2012.

Can you give an overview of the Vanderbilt 2-year MBA program with a focus on its distinctive elements? [1:54]

Two things make our program distinctive. First, we are on a modular system, instead of semester, so we have seven week mods. Students get through all core courses in the first year, and they also start taking electives during their second mods. Students have three required courses and one elective in Mod 2, two and two in Mod 3, and in Mod 4, one required course and three electives. Second, we have the Leadership Development Program, which is distinctive in that we use executive coaches who have worked with mid-level managers from Fortune 500 companies and we pair up the students with coaches in the fields they are planning to go into. For example, if you are interested in going into finance, you would be paired with someone who had worked with businesses on Wall Street. The coaching is included in the program, and strictly optional, but 80+ percent of students participate. Students also work on their own leadership development plan for the entire two years and also as alums. We have staff devoted to leadership development for each of our degree programs.

Vanderbilt also has several one-year programs including a Master of Management in Health Care, Master of Accounting, Master of Finance, and a Master of Marketing. Can you touch on these programs and how they differ from the MBA? [5:00]

The main difference is that those programs are for people just graduating from undergrad without much experience. The Master of Finance is quite competitive and they do look for internships and quant proficiency – the GMAT is required. The Master of Marketing is new as of last year and growing fast, and the Master of Accounting is also quite new. Each degree program has their own dedicated admissions person, faculty member and career service person, and for the last five years we have had 100% placement with the Master of Finance. The Master of Accounting also has 100% placement as we work with the Big Four accounting firms on projects and early placement. The Master of Marketing is so new we don’t have stats yet. Each program is one year long. Graduates of these programs can get experience and then come back to Vanderbilt and get their MBA in three semesters with a guaranteed scholarship.

One exception is the Master of Management in Health Care, which was launched several years ago for people in the industry with 8-10 years of experience.

What’s new at Vanderbilt? [8:07]

We have the Turner Family Center for Social Enterprise, which resulted from the Turner family having given us a large grant to pull all of our coursework and programs that relate to the non-profit industry under one umbrella. The person directing that is a graduate who started a minority business lending institution when graduating and finds projects all over the local area as well as internationally. Our students work with these organizations to find a business solution to a social problem. If students are interested in going into this area when they graduate, the director of the program, Mario Avila, will help them with their job search.

Project Pyramid is the international projects that we do. This is an interdisciplinary trans-university initiative, which means not just a business school project.

Do physicians need leadership skills to be good doctors? Johns Hopkins professors Dr. Peter Pronovost and Dr. Chris Myers make an excellent case that the leadership elements of management should be a mandatory part not only of physician training, but of continuing education.

Here’s how and why management skills can make you a better doc.

What motivated you to research the need for management skills in clinical medicine? [1:46]

Dr. Pronovost: Doctors increasingly are expected to lead teams growing in complexity. These teams are expanding in numbers and geography, but the skills physicians need to do that are not formally taught, and as a result we often see disastrous outcomes. We know that teamwork and communication failures are one of the major causes of preventable harm - 120-160K deaths per year. We’ve seen change management programs stall because people don’t practice basic management skills. Good management matters, and is absent from many healthcare organizations. We need to make sure that medical students are ready when they come onto teams to utilize these skills.

Dr. Myers: Adding this training for medical students is critical. People think management skills are only needed later in their career, but when we think about frontlines it is often junior people making decisions. Medical students who have just graduated and are starting internships will be put in charge of small teams of providers and coordinate increasingly complex care. They need to learn leadership skills early in the process instead of playing catch-up.

What skills do you feel are important for physicians? [5:39]

Dr. M: We focus on leadership and hands-on management skills. While it’s important to understand finance, there are specialized people working in those areas. Every type of practice environment needs to be managing interpersonal dynamics, creating good relationships, motivating team members, coordinating information sharing between groups and units, and being attentive to processes of change and aspects of broader organizational culture.

Dr. P: As we thought about where best to focus efforts and what are the best skills and competencies that physicians need every day – influencing interpersonal relationships, information sharing, sense making came to the fore. We focus on things physicians need to do every day, and if they don’t do them well, organizations and physicians themselves suffer.

Where and how should management education be integrated in medical school curriculum? [10:01]

Dr. P: The training for med students is so chock full and every minute is precious. Getting anything added is a struggle. Part of the challenge is the curriculum hasn’t evolved from facts to theory – schools are cramming facts down students’ throats to remember them. Most facts will be outdated and maybe wrong by the time they graduate. We need to accept we’ve lost the facts race – teach theory and concepts so you can build upon facts and frameworks to learn. That is an opportunity to guide where we train.

The second opportunity is navigating curriculum where gaps will cause the most harm. In areas where doctors are suffering because of a lack of these skills, how can you not fit management in is our argument.

Dr: M: It’s a lot easier to Google the right dosage of a drug, rather than Google “How do I motivate a team?” We have an opportunity as medical education has evolved. Before, you’d have to have a whole career’s worth of experience to understand how to approach a management problem. The rise of high fidelity simulation can be used for clinical scenarios but also for interpersonal management competencies.

This week we are pleased to welcome Heidi Pickett, Director of the MIT Sloan Master of Finance Program. Heidi worked in financial services for 20 years before becoming Director of this program in 2011. She fills us in on what the program is looking for in an applicant, how to figure out if the program is a good fit for you, and the application process. Listen in for the inside scoop!

Could you give an overview of the MIT’s Master in Finance program highlighting its distinctive features? [0:28]

The program was launched in 2008 at the height of the financial crisis, in direct response to the crisis. Our finance faculty felt that there shouldn’t be fewer people in the finance function, but better trained people. It’s geared toward early career finance professionals and grounded in finance theory, models, and applications. Modern finance was invented here at MIT, and the tools and models developed here and used throughout the world are taught by those who created them.

The MIT Sloan MFin comes in a 12-month and an 18-month option. What are the differences? [1:53]

The 12-month track is our original and primary track. The degree requirements for both programs are the same, but the 18-month track is ideal for those that would like to take more time and take advantage of more courses, not just at Sloan but across MIT. The 18 month program also allows for an internship to gain practical experience, which is a great opportunity for people who haven’t worked full time in finance.

I understand that this is a program geared to early career applicants. Is that correct? [2:51]

Yes. Not all MFin programs are geared to early career applicants, but ours definitely is.

What is the typical amount of work experience? [3:23]

The average is around 18 months, however full-time experience ranges from zero to three years max, with one caveat. We feel strongly about training people in the public sector as well (central bankers, official institutions, regulators, etc), so we do attract people from those types of organizations as well. Those students tend to be sponsored and return to their organizations after graduation and are usually outliers with 5-10 years of experience.

Let’s return to the 12- vs 18-month options. Other than the internship, is it just the love of learning that would motivate students to do the 18-month option? [4:51]

There are a few reasons people choose the 18-month option. The program is very rigorous and intense. Many students who have gone through the 12 month program have told us they wished they had another semester to allow for participation in the other things available, like clubs, leadership opportunities or running conferences. Others want the extra time to load up on additional courses, sometimes in finance, sometimes in other subjects.

How does the MFin differ from an MBA with a concentration in finance or a Master in Financial Engineering? [6:15]

MFin vs. MBA: The MFin is early career vs an average of 4-5 years of experience in the MBA program. You also get double the amount of finance courses, so overall it’s more quantitative.

MFin vs MFE: Intention. The MFin offers a broader range of subject matter, resulting in a broader range of opportunities upon graduation as opposed to a sliver of the market with the MFE. Students can customize their curriculum, and we do have a MFE concentration within the MFin progr...

Meet Eliza Morrison and M4 Andrew Nimmich, the CEOs of Tutor the People and Nerdly.

Both of today’s guests attended the College of Charleston in South Carolina where Eliza Morrison majored in French, Russian and Comparative Literature. Andrew Nimmich also attended the College of Charleston and CUNY Brooklyn College and majored in Pre-Medical Studies. He is currently an M4 at BU’s School of Medicine. They are both the co-founders and CEOs of Tutor the People (founded in 2012) and nerdly (founded in 2016).

Can you tell us a little about yourself? [1:33]

Eliza: I grew up in Charleston. I was always passionate about language and literature.

I started out at a small liberal arts school, Goucher College (in Baltimore) for one year, then transferred to the College of Charleston where I studied French and literature. I decided to add Russian since I’d studied French my whole life.

I also tutored French and Russian, which set the stage to pursue tutoring and education.

Andrew: I grew up in Charleston as well – we actually knew each other in high school. I started out at the University of Miami in Florida, then decided to transfer back home to the College of Charleston. I studied accounting. I’d considered medicine but I wasn’t entirely sure what I wanted to do.

After graduating with a degree in accounting, I moved to New York City where I worked as a billing clerk in a legal office. I decided I wanted to go back to Charleston and study premed prereqs – that’s when Eliza and I started dating. We later went back to NY, where I took advanced science classes at CUNY while applying to med school. And I ended up at BU.

What’s the backstory to Tutor the People and Nerdly? [5:20]

Eliza: We moved to New York – I’d graduated and he’d just finished his postbac. He had experience studying for the MCAT and I had experience tutoring. We were both a little frustrated by the job opportunities. So we combined our experiences and started Tutor the People.

At the time we were living in Chinatown over a fish market – we were really inspired by our surroundings every day.

Andrew: I’d taken the MCAT and I’d done some of the more corporate courses, but I wasn’t a huge fan of the experience I’d had – it wasn’t individualized and felt very corporate. Our idea was to have really smart tutors and make it one-on-one that was comparable to the price of classroom. We also had this idea that for every hour that a student bought we did an hour of volunteer work – tutoring homework for kids with incarcerated parents. (As we’ve started to scale up that’s been hard to scale.)

What’s the difference between TTP and Nerdly? [10:10]

With TTP, there’s more administration – we do general academic advising, personal statement help, application guidance; we work with a lot of premed applicants.

Nerdly is a marketplace where students can connect directly with tutors.

There are a lot of tutoring platforms. What differentiates Nerdly? [11:25]

Andrew: You’re right, it’s a crowded market. What I like about Nerdly is that we put a lot of emphasis on user experience.

Our tagline is you can find and meet with a credible tutor in less than a minute. You can scan through 15 tutors in less than a minute and see the subjects they’re verified it – then go to an instant session in less than a minute.

I think once we roll out the final version in the next few months you’ll see it’...

It gives me great pleasure to have for the first time on AST, Judi Byers, the Executive Director of Admissions & Financial Aid at Johnson School of Management at Cornell University. Judi earned her bachelors degree and masters degrees from American University in Washington DC. She also worked for American University’s Kogod School of Business for a little over 10 years before moving to beautiful Ithaca New York in 2015 to become the Executive Director of Admissions & Financial Aid at Johnson School of Management at Cornell University.

Welcome, Judi!

Can you give us an overview of Cornell Johnson’s two-year MBA program? [1:30]

It starts every August. The first semester is built around a core curriculum, to give students a strong foundation in the fundamentals of business. We find that students are either seeking career advancement or changing careers.

In the second semester, students have the opportunity to pursue an Immersion area – there are eight areas of focus – bundles of electives and experiences focused around a career path. We want to prepare them for summer internships with hands-on experience and casework.

Feedback has indicated the immersions are a real differentiator.

The second year is more of an open canvas – there’s more flexibility. There are concentrations for breadth and depth, and elective coursework or the opportunity for dual degree study in hotel, engineering, labor relations, law, and medicine.

There are also 30+ international partners, so students have the opportunity to study abroad. The second year provides the opportunity to customize.

There’s also a 1-year program in Ithaca and the Cornell Tech program. How are they different? [4:40]

For Cornell Tech, we’re looking for students with a strong background in tech – often science and engineering, and often with an entrepreneurial focus.

The one-year program in Ithaca is different – there’s less of a tech focus. It’s really designed for professionals with more work experience, or who have advanced degrees or certifications.

What’s new at Johnson? [6:15]

There are a lot of exciting developments! I’ve been blown away by the growth since I joined.

Cornell Johnson is now part of our College of Business – integration has led to positive developments. There are 3,200 students across the College of Business, and the teaching faculty is one of the largest in the country, with a large operating budget. Integrating three schools helps the alignment across our teaching and recruiting functions.

We’re looking at new opportunities for areas of focus for MBA students in terms of academic specializations.

Another exciting thing: the opening of the Breazzano Family Center for Business Education. It’s important for a couple of reasons – it optimizes our facilities and it’s an early gift from one of our alumni/trustees.

Going back to the Johnson Immersion program – can you give an example of how it works? [11:45]

As I mentioned, the Immersions are a combination of elective courses and a practical component (a hands-on project or case). It allows them to apply their learning in a practical sense Some also include company site visits.

This is in the second semester of the first year.

This week we are airing an encore of one of the most populars shows of 2017.

Many applicants focus on the past - both the good and the bad - to the detriment of their applications. Find out the role your past plays in admissions and what you should focus on in your applications when you listen to Your Past Doesn't Define You.

To see the original detailed show notes, click here.

Related Links:

• Resources for Law School Applicants

• Resources for Medical School Applicants

• Resources for Law School Applicants

• Resources for Grad School Applicants

Related Shows:

• The Unbelievable Story of an Orthopedic Surgeon

• What to do About a Low GPA

• Wharton MBA Student, Single Mom, Entrepreneur

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About a year ago I received an email from someone interested in working for Accepted. She had admissions office experience, an MBA from a top business school, and investment banking experience on Wall Street and in Hong Kong.

About a week later, I received another email from another potential consultant who attended a different top MBA program, but also had admissions office experience, an MBA from a top business school, and had worked in investment banking in both Wall Street and Hong Kong. And their first name was the same, though spelled slightly differently.

They both joined Accepted and have been doing an outstanding job for our clients ever since.

Madelaine Baker and Madeleine Wang, welcome to Admissions Straight Talk!

Can you each tell us about your background prior to joining Accepted? [1:50]

M. Baker: My first experience in MBA admissions was working at MIT Sloan in 2002. Then I decided to go to business school – I went to Columbia. After b-school I decided to work on Wall St. I worked as a banker off and on for about ten years in New York and Hong Kong.

At CBS, I was always involved in admissions. When I decided I didn’t want to be in investment banking anymore, I contacted Yale SOM and worked as an outside admissions reader there. Then I joined Accepted!

M. Wang: After my undergrad, I worked in investment banking in New York and Hong Kong before business school. While I was in business school at Wharton I decided that I wanted to take on a part-time job as a grad member on the admissions committee – I really enjoyed it, and it was an important part of my b-school experience.

After I graduated I worked in management consulting. I was an active Wharton alum, interviewing candidates, etc. I also worked with people in my firm who were applying to business schools, and I really loved that process. Over the last few years I decided to take my work in a different (more flexible) direction, and that led me to Accepted.

You both spent a lot of time in financial services. What are critical qualities that investment banks and top financial services companies look for in applicants? [5:32]

M. Wang: I would say that I would look for strong quantitative skills. From a resume perspective that can be demonstrated by statistics, a high GMAT, and work experience that shows strong quant ability. From a personal perspective, they look for very hard workers – investment banking is very demanding. So banks are looking for candidates with drive and resilience.

M. Baker: They’re looking for smart, motivated candidates that have the grit and determination to succeed. And somebody who’s willing to play well on a team. I think that’s what b-schools want to see, too.

That’s just what I was going to ask next – do you see b-schools looking for the same qualities? [8:25]

M. Baker: Absolutely – very similar qualities. Quant skills will get you in the door, but they’re not enough – you need to be a team player. You need to be resilient and persistent.

M. Wang: I think some qualities are the same – being smart, having perseverance. But when you’re building a class for business school, you’re also looking at different things because...