Admissions Straight Talk

Rejection and Reapplication: How to Respond [Show summary] Admissions guru Linda Abraham highlights four reasons that could cause a rejection and offers concrete, practical suggestions for moving forward.  Rejection and Reapplication: How to Respond [Show notes] Some of you unfortunately are facing a fistful of dings. Some of you haven't heard definitively. You are either in waitlist limbo or haven't heard anything, but you know that rejection at this point in time for the previous application cycle is a distinct and increasingly likely possibility. How can you respond to rejection? How should you respond to rejection? How can you reapply successfully if that's what you choose to do? One of the challenges of admissions is showing that you both fit in at your target schools and are a standout in the applicant pool. Accepted's free download, Fitting In and Standing Out, The Paradox at the Heart of Admissions, will show you how to do exactly that, and both of them. Master this paradox and you will be well on your way to acceptance.  I'm going to do a solo show today as I addressed the questions I raised a minute ago. It's going to be one where I both give a little high-level encouragement and then get down to brass tacks advice on what you should do if you decide to reapply. Rejection reality [1:42] First of all, let's face it, rejection is disappointing. It's frustrating. It's painful. It's maybe even a little embarrassing. Acknowledge your negative feelings. It's okay. You put a lot of effort into this year's applications. You spent money and time on them. You invested emotionally in this whole project, and some of you may feel that this is the end of the road for your particular career dream. Maybe you've applied before. Maybe you find rejection to be a terrible blow.  Realize that rejection is disappointing. It is a setback. It is not a tragedy. No one has died, no blood has been spilled. You haven't lost your livelihood. What about my dreams and goals [2:23] You may say, "But what about my dreams, my goals?" Well, I have two thoughts for you.  * You may not need to give up your dreams and goals. You may decide to reapply and we'll get to how you should do that more effectively in a few minutes. You may apply to different schools that are easier to get into and that still support your goals. You may decide to achieve your goals in another way that doesn't require a graduate degree or perhaps would benefit from a different graduate degree.  * You may need to modify your dreams and goals and replace them with new dreams. In other words, to re-dream instead of reapply.  I can tell you that there have been many times when my husband and I seemingly hit a dead end on a dream and had to re-dream, and things frankly worked out better than we had ever hoped.  For an example of someone who had to dream differently, please check out episode 234 for the story of Andrea Benedict, who had to abandon her dream of becoming a physician, became a PA instead, and absolutely loves her work and her career.

With years of experience preparing engineers for their careers – and as an Accepted admissions consultant since 2015 – I’ve seen what works and doesn’t work when one is applying to master’s and PhD programs in engineering. Whether you’re applying in software engineering, chemical engineering, computer science, civil engineering, systems, mechanical engineering, or biomedical engineering, you will benefit from the following tips: * Determine your graduate school and post-grad school goals * Understand GPA and test score requirements * Explore a wide range of graduate engineering programs * Know the research requirements * Write a sizzling statement of purpose * Prepare a relevant resume * Snag first-rate letters of recommendation * Reveal appealing personal qualities * Create an application schedule…and stick to it And, don't miss my Admissions Straight Talk podcast episode, where I chat with Accepted founder Linda Abraham about how to get accepted to graduate engineering programs. Determine your graduate school and post-grad school goals Why is it important for an engineering applicant to define their short- and long-term goals in their application? The most basic reason is that most engineering programs require a statement of purpose. It’s extraordinarily difficult to write such a statement when your only purpose is to obtain a graduate degree! There are far more substantive reasons that you should have, and you’ll need to demonstrate clear goals in your application. Many undergraduate engineering students decide to do further study in their field for the following reasons: * To develop their skills beyond the general education they gained as an undergraduate * To specialize in an engineering discipline * To further define or to change career direction These are all valid reasons for pursuing a graduate engineering degree, but they really don’t go far enough. Schools have learned from experience that applicants who understand the type of work they want to do post-graduation are more focused while studying and are better prepared for the job market upon graduation. Because applied engineering master’s programs are only one to two years in length, you don’t have as much time to “find yourself” as you did in undergrad. If you enter school with a clear goal in mind, you are more likely to do well academically and be better prepared to interview with hiring organizations when you’ve completed your studies. If you are pursuing a research program, the department will want to know what specific area of research you are targeting and with which professors. Aligning your goals with the vision of the program When applying to schools, you need to be accepted not only by the school but also by your target academic department, such as the following: * Aerospace engineering * Applied physics * Biomedical engineering

In this episode, Associate Professor and Assistant Dean of Admissions at Michigan State’s College of Human Medicine discusses ChatGPT in the admissions process, gives advice for reapplicants, and explains how med school applicants should choose where to apply. [SHOW SUMMARY] Michigan State’s College of Human Medicine provides an innovative, patient-centered curriculum with multiple specialties and multiple opportunities for clinical exposure. Sound appealing? Read on because today I am speaking with the Assistant Dean of Admissions at Michigan State University’s College of Human Medicine. An interview with Dr. Joel Maurer, the Assistant Dean for Admissions at Michigan State University’s College of Human Medicine and an Associate Professor of Obstetrics, Gynecology, and Reproductive Biology. [Show Notes] Welcome to the 522nd episode of Admissions Straight Talk. Are you ready to apply to your dream Medical Schools? Are you competitive at your target programs? Accepted’s Med School Admissions Quiz can give you a quick reality check. You'll not only get an assessment, but tips on how to improve your chances of acceptance. Plus, it's all free.  Our guest today is Dr. Joel Maurer, Assistant Dean of Admissions at Michigan State University's College of Human Medicine, and an associate professor of Obstetrics, Gynecology and Reproductive Biology at MSUCHM, or College of Human Medicine.  Dr. Maurer, welcome to Admissions Straight Talk. [1:34] Thank you very much. Thank you for having me. I'm delighted to speak with you today. Can you give an overview of MSU's MD program focusing on its more distinctive elements and specifically the shared discovery curriculum? [1:38] There's a lot going on there and I'll do my best to sort of give you a quick overview. College of Human Medicine is an allopathic medical school, so it grants the MD degree. It was founded in the mid '60s as a response from the people of the state of Michigan to create a brand new medical school that would initially have its primary focus on primary care physician development. The needs of the state at that time were very much in the line of primary care, frontline care. As the college grew and matured, the needs of the state became more encompassing. And so it is a medical school, that although primary care remains a critical component of what they hope to make contributions to, it's a school that appreciates the need of physicians across the wide spectrum of healthcare. The other thing of note, historically: it was the very first four-year MD granting medical school that used the community-based model as its foundation. And so Michigan State has always had a long history of looking at pedagogical approaches and teaching, and how to teach people to teach others. And at that time, they had an opportunity to create a medical school that looked at how everyone else was doing it and trying to figure out, "Is there a way that we can do it differently and maybe better?" One of the key tenets is that it always wanted its students to learn medicine out on the front line where it was happening. And so in order to do that, they decided that maybe it was best in those formative clinical years, years three and four, to put its students more out on the frontline all across the state of Michigan in order to see medicine happening as symptoms were co...

In this episode Dr. Ben Bernstein, author of Crush Your Test Anxiety, explains the role of mind, body, and spirit in performance enhancement. [SHOW SUMMARY] While aptitude tests are increasingly optional in graduate admissions, tests are a constant in graduate school and frequently in one’s career. How can you manage your stress and anxiety when facing a test, be it the MCAT, LSAT, MCAT, GRE, licensing exams, continuing education exams, or subject exams while in school? How can you perform at your best during a test? Dr. Bernstein will tell you how. An interview with author, coach, psychologist, and educator, Dr. Ben Bernstein, on how to crush text anxiety to raise test scores. [SHOW NOTES] Welcome to the 521st episode of Admissions Straight Talk. Thanks for joining me. Before we meet our guest, I'd like to highlight the featured resource for today's episode, Fitting In & Standing Out: The Paradox at the Heart of Admissions. Realize that the challenge at the heart of admissions is showing that you both fit in at your target schools and are a standout in the applicant pool. Accepted's free download, Fitting In & Standing Out: The Paradox at the Heart of Admissions, will show you how to do both. Master this paradox and you are well on your way to acceptance. Our guest today is Dr. Ben Bernstein, author of Crush Your Test Anxiety, and presenter of the masterclass by the same name, Dr. Bernstein or Dr. B as he prefers to be known, has been a performance coach for a wide variety of top performers, including Academy Award, Tony Award, and Pulitzer Prize winners, as well as CEOs, athletes, physicians, opera singers, and actors. Dr. Bernstein is the author of Crush Your Test Anxiety and three other books. He also posts regularly on Psychology Today. Dr. Bernstein graduated from Bowdoin College and earned his doctorate in applied psychology from the University of Toronto. In addition, he holds a master's degree in music composition from Mills College. Parallel to his career in psychology and education, Dr. Bernstein has extensive involvement in the performing arts.  Dr. Bernstein, thanks for being a guest on Admissions Straight Talk. [2:21] It is totally my pleasure, Linda. Thank you for inviting me. My pleasure. Let's start with something really basic. What is a performance psychologist? [2:29] Well, a performance psychologist is a term that I gave myself because I didn't know that one existed and the reason I gave it to myself was I was trained as a therapist, but when I started in private practice, I found that I didn't really take to that form of work, meaning that I'm a very active guy and I was really wanting to coach people more than do therapy with them, and so that meant I just started looking at where people wanted to perform better in their lives. Early on, it was parents or teachers, but then it became athletes and actors and dentists and doctors, and so that's what I do is that I'm really looking for what a person's potential is and what may be getting in the way of that. So we're looking at their performance, and hence, I'm a performance psychologist. How did you get into it? Was it just a matter of the fact that you didn't care for more traditional forms of therapy or- [3:36]

In this episode the Associate Global Director of Admissions & Financial Aid at INSEAD discusses the school’s unique language requirement, the role of the GRE/GMAT in admissions, and what to include in the optional essay. [SHOW SUMMARY] Are you a citizen of the world? Is it your goal to be a leader in international business? Then you should consider the Business School for the World: INSEAD.  An interview with INSEAD’s Teresa Peiro, Associate Director of Global Admissions, Degree Programmes. [SHOW NOTES] Welcome to the 520th episode of Admission Straight Talk, Accepted podcast. Thanks for tuning in. Sometimes I am asked, "Is the MBA worth it?" And my answer is, "It depends on your individual circumstances." But I've got good news. We've developed a tool that will help you evaluate whether an MBA is worth it for you and your individual circumstances and by how much. Check how much you're likely to benefit - or not - from the MBA. And using it won't set you back even one cent. It's free. It gives me great pleasure to have for the first time on Admissions Straight Talk. Teresa Piero, Associate Director of Global Admissions and Financial Aid at INSEAD, the Business School for the World. Teresa worked in marketing for several years before joining INSEAD in 2011. She focused more on MBA programs initially, but in 2021 became the Associate Director of Global Admissions and oversees the entire admissions process for all INSEAD degree programs on all campuses including the EMBA, which is going to be our focus today.  Teresa, welcome to Admissions Straight Talk. [1:52] Thank you very much, Linda, for having me here today. My pleasure. Now can you give us just a start, an overview of INSEAD's MBA program for those listeners who aren't that familiar with it? [1:57] Yes, of course. Linda, our MBA program is a 10-month program that brings together around 100 nationalities per cohort. You can either start in January or in the August intake. It's a very intense program. It's shorter, but our participants make the most out of it and we commonly hear all of our alumni saying that it was the best year of their lives. How do most students take advantage of that geographic diversity? If it was 10 months in Fontainebleau the whole time, that would already be intense. But if you have all these other options, how do they do it? [2:40] Indeed. So, our applicants have to make a decision of which will be their home campus. So what are the core courses? They will have to stay in their home campus. After that when the electives start, they can either change campuses, so if someone starts in Singapore, they can go to Fontainebleau and vice versa. And then we offer different partnerships, as you mentioned, with different schools in the US and China. So what happens is that they can go to that school while they're, say, in that school, they are full students from the welcoming school and they spend their period there and then they come back to INSEAD- So, where are the three campuses again? I know it's Fontainebleau, Singapore, and the third one- [3:31]  There are three campuses. Fontainebleau, Singapore, and Abu Dhabi. And we opened pre COVID San Francisco hub. So it's not considered a full campus yet, is it? [3:43] No,

Thanks for joining me for the 520th episode of Admissions Straight Talk. I am taking a week off for family time. As a result, I decided to air an encore of our most popular podcast so far in 2023. To my surprise it was the solo show I did in January on preparing to apply this year. While I was mildly surprised that the solo show was the most popular. On second thought I understood why: People are gearing up to apply in the 2023-24 cycle so the topic is timely. One of the points I make in this podcast is the sooner you start, the better your application will be.  And that’s true regardless of the degree you are applying for. I assume that many of you also took a spring break be it for a day or two or a whole week or more. I hope you spend it with loved ones, as I am doing so during my week off. I hope you had a wonderful time during your break. Thanks for listening to Admissions Straight Talk and specifically What Does 2022 Mean for Applicants in 2023. For the complete show notes, check out the original blog post. Related Resources: * Accepted l Get Admitted to Your Dream School * Accepted’s Med School Calculator Quiz * Accepted’s MBA Calculator Quiz * The Law School Admissions Calculator * Fitting In and Standing out Relevant Podcasts: * It’s All About Authenticity and Community in Graduate Admissions  * Casper, A Situational Judgment Test: All You Need to Know  * The Questions You SHOULD Be Asking – ANSWERED! * Approaching Your MBA Application * How to Get Accepted to Graduate Engineering Programs * What Does a UVA Law School Application Reader Look For? * How To Get Into Dental School * Encore: How to Get Into an MD/PhD Program Subscribe:

In this episode the Executive Director of Admissions and Financial Aid at Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth discusses what the Adcom expects from applicants. [SHOW SUMMARY] Would you like to attend an MBA program with a tight-knit community and a strong foundation in general management, but with enough breadth that you can still do a deep dive into a specific area of interest?  Dartmouth Tuck may be the perfect program for you, and today’s guest is its Executive Director of Admissions and Financial Aid. An interview with Lawrence Mur’ray, the leader of Tuck’s admissions and financial aid teams. [SHOW NOTES] Welcome to the 514th episode of Admissions Straight Talk. Are you ready to apply to your Dream MBA programs? Are you competitive at your target schools? Accepted's MBA Admissions quiz can give you a quick reality check. Complete the quiz, and you'll not only get an assessment, but tips on how to improve your qualifications. Plus it's all free.  It gives me great pleasure to have for the first time on Admissions Straight Talk, Lawrence Mur'ray, Executive Director of Admissions and Financial Aid at Dartmouth University's Tuck School of Business. Lawrence has been in higher ed since he graduated high school. He earned his BA and MPA at the University of Arizona and began his career in admissions there. He then became Assistant Director of MBA Admissions at Indiana University's Kelley School of Business, followed by a stint at UNC Kenan-Flagler where he rose to become the Director of the Undergraduate Business Program. He then served as Senior Assistant Dean of Graduate Business Programs at Fordham's Gabelli School of Business for over six years and joined Dartmouth Tuck as Executive Director of Admissions and Financial Aid just this past August. 7;'/ Lawrence, welcome to Admissions Straight Talk. [2:00] Thank you, thank you, thank you. I'm excited to be here. And I'm delighted to speak with you. Now let's start with a basic question, which is typically how I open these interviews. Can you provide an overview of Dartmouth Tuck's MBA program? [2:06] Yeah. Great. Thank you. Again, I'm excited to be here. Thank you for having me. The Tuck School of Business is at Dartmouth College here in Hanover, New Hampshire. We are an extremely rigorous, two-year, Ivy League MBA, nestled here in the Upper Valley, which provides an  opportunity to reflect and focus while you're here. It's an opportunity for students to really connect with one another. Again, it's a rigorous academic program. I think sometimes people think that coming to a small school means there's limited opportunities, but there are boundless opportunities here with a culture of collaboration and community. You can do almost anything you want to do in terms of your career aspirations. We have a culture of co-investment, so we see the students as partners along all dimensions of their journey, whether it's the admissions journey, whether it's the student services journey, or the career journey, and so that co-investment serves as the cornerstone of the Tuck ethos. And in terms of the opportunities, some of the opportunities that struck me in preparing for the call,

Tune in to hear all that University of California Irvine program in public health has to offer and learn about the future UCI School of Population and Public Health. [Show Summary] The Master in Public Health (MPH) degree experienced enormous growth since the COVID lockdown. One of the leading and largest programs in public health is offered by UC Irvine, and we are talking to the director of that program today, Dr. Bernadette Boden-Albala. Interview with Dr. Bernadette Boden-Albala, Director of the UCI Program in Public Health and Founding Dean of the future UCI School of Population and Public Health. [Show Notes] Welcome to the 517th episode of Admissions Straight Talk. Thanks for joining me. The challenge at the heart of graduate admissions is showing that you both fit in at your target schools and are a standout in the applicant pool. Accepted's free download, Fitting In and Standing Out: The Paradox at the Heart of Admissions, will show you how to do both. Master this paradox, and you are well on your way to acceptance. Our guest today is Dr. Bernadette Boden-Albala, director of the UCI Program in Public Health and founding Dean of the future UCI School of Population and Public Health. Dean Boden-Albala, prior to moving to UC Irvine in 2019, served as social epidemiologist at Columbia University and then as professor and senior Associate Dean at NYU. She earned her MPH and her doctorate in Public Health from Columbia University's Mailman School of Public Health.  Dr. Boden-Albala, welcome to Admissions Straight Talk. [1:45] Thank you so much. I'm really excited to be here. Can you give us, just for starters, an overview of UCI's MPH program focusing on its more distinctive elements? [1:52] Sure. So first of all, our MPH degree program was established, oh, almost over a decade ago. 2010.  It was accredited, which is critically important, by the Council on Education for Public Health, CEPH,  in 2012. And it was really the first professional degree of the UCI public health program, and a big component, again, of this envisioned UCI School of Population and Public Health. And I should say that even before we had an MPH program, we have a very large, one of the largest and most diverse undergraduate programs in public health. And so even though the program started about 12 years ago, we have a wonderful public health faculty that has really been doing public health for a longer time than that. And really the aim of the program is to create public health practitioners who really work independently and collaboratively to develop and implement strategies that are really going to reduce the burden of disease and disability globally, locally and globally. And I would say a real distinction is our focus on community and partnering with community. And I think we have some of the best, if not the best, community-based or community-engaged researchers. And Orange County, which is one of the largest counties in the country, is a very diverse county,

In this episode Dr. Patrick Reed and Prof. Robert Newman discuss the Engineering Management Program at Cornell and what the Adcom wants to see in applicants.

So, you want to be a dentist. This post will guide you through the dental school admissions process and offer tips on how to get accepted. What you'll learn:* Overview of the dental school application process: Primary, secondaries and interviews* General dental school application timeline and information* School-specific deadlines for the primary application* Academic requirements (Courses, GPA, DAT)* Dental admissions test (DAT)* Experience requirements for dental school* How to choose where to apply?* Components of the ADEA AADSAS Application* Recommendations: Whom to ask? What should dental school letters of recommendation include?* Secondary applications * Dental schools that require secondary applications* Dental school interviews* Wondering If Dental School Is For You?* Applying to dental school? To become a dentist, you will need to obtain either a doctor of dental surgery or doctor of dental medicine degree. It’s the same curriculum. The school that you attend will determine the one you receive. There is no difference between them. Dental education is similar to medical education in that a bachelor’s degree is required to apply to dental school and a dental education is a commitment of four years with the option of pursuing a specialty with additional study.   Similar to practicing medicine, dentistry maintains the same high ethical standards and long-term commitment to education through continuing education requirements.   Dental students can pursue specialties in Dental Anesthesiology, Dental Public Health, Endodontics, Oral and Maxillofacial Pathology, Oral and Maxillofacial Radiology, Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery, Oral Medicine, Orofacial Pain, Orthodontics and Dentofacial Orthopedics, Pediatric Dentistry, Periodontics, and Prosthodontics through additional professional training. For more information about these specialties please see the National Commission on Recognition of Dental Specialties and Certifying Boards website.   The best way to determine whether you would like to pursue dentistry and any of these pathways would be to shadow dentists virtually and/or in person, when possible. The Herman Ostrow School of Dentistry of the University of Southern California offers a virtual shadowing program. Keep in mind that many schools prefer in-person shadowing hours, but some schools will accept virtual shadowing hours, given the limitations in place because of the pandemic. 

In this episode Sadie Polen, M.Ed Harvard and Accepted consultant, explores authenticity and community in graduate admissions and explains how to get a Harvard graduate degree. [Show Summary] Have you dreamed of attending Harvard for grad school? Would you like to pursue a career in education with the premier brand in education on your resume? Let’s find out how Sadie Polen did it, and how she can help you get into an elite graduate program. An interview with Sadie Polen, Accepted admissions consultant and graduate of University of California - Davis and Harvard Graduate School of Education. [Show Notes] Welcome to the 518th episode of Admissions Straight Talk, Accepted's podcast. Before we dive into today's interview, I want to mention a free resource at Accepted that can benefit you if you are applying to graduate school. The challenge at the heart of admissions is showing that you both fit in at your target schools and stand out in the applicant pool. Accepted's free download, https://reports.accepted.com/guide/how-to-fit-in-stand-out-during-the-admissions-process, will show you how to do both. Master this paradox, and you are well on your way to acceptance.  I want to welcome today our guest, Sadie Polen. Sadie was raised in Alaska, attended UC Davis where she majored in community and regional development, and then earned her master's in education from Harvard in 2017, concentrating on education and community. She also worked at Harvard’s Center for European Students where she was an interim grants and internship coordinator and assistant to the directors. At Harvard's Kennedy School of Government from 2013 to 2022, she became, first, the program coordinator and then the program director. In that capacity, she directed the largest domestic internship program at Harvard, oversaw grant-making for 200-plus internships worldwide. She also frequently and informally assisted her interns when it came time for them to apply to grad school. As an applicant, Harvard administrator, and advisor, she has learned what elite graduate programs in the social sciences especially in government, education and law are looking for. It gives me great pleasure to have on Admissions Straight Talk for the first time Sadie Polen. Sadie, welcome to Admissions Straight Talk. [2:23] Thank you. It's great to be here. Can you tell us a little bit about where you grew up and your attraction to community work, which seems to be a theme in your educational and professional path to date? [2:26] Yes, it definitely is. I grew up in a small town in Alaska. Most towns in Alaska are small by standards outside of Alaska. It's this little town called Homer. It's beautiful. Alaska in general is beautiful. If anyone gets a chance to visit, I highly recommend it. If you like winter, winter is great. It's definitely winter. If snow is not your thing, wait till later, for sure. Small town, it was 250 miles away from a Costco, an hour-and-a-half away from a Fred Meyer, which is the northwest equivalent of a Target. I remember when the first Gap opened up in the whole state, small, small and rural in a way that not a lot of places are, but also a super wonderful place to grow up. The community was very tight-knit,

Our guest today is a fourth year medical student at Stony Brook who graduated from UC San Diego with a bachelors in Physiology and Neuroscience. Nothing too unusual there for a medical student. However, things start to get interesting, maybe even enchanting, when we learn a little about his hobby: magic. He has been performing magic since middle school. He performed at the well-known Magic Castle in Hollywood and at parties and events in the LA area. He retired from performing magic at age 20, but by then had founded MagicAid. Let’s learn more about that initiative now. Welcome, David! Can you tell us a bit about your background – where are you from? [1:25] I’m a fourth year at Stony Brook. I grew up in LA, and did my undergrad at UCSD. How did you come to medicine? [1:55] I actually had a pretty circuitous path. Since a young age I knew I was interested in science and medicine, but I wasn’t sure in what capacity. I was actually a dance major my first three years in college, and then switched to physiology and neuroscience in my fourth year. After graduation, I worked in entertainment (casting, etc.) and in tech, before applying to med school. How many years were you out of college before coming to med school? [2:58] I graduated in 2011, and took three gap years. I took the MCAT my senior year and applied to med school in the last year of my MCAT eligibility. How did you get into magic? [4:06] My mom would buy me magic tricks when I was a kid. And I had a magician perform at my Bar Mitzvah – and I was hooked! I had a group of friends in middle and high school who would play card games and do magic. Later I auditioned for membership in the Magic Castle. What’s MagicAid? [5:30] It’s dedicated to relieving stress and anxiety for the pediatric population (in the hospital setting) through performing magic and teaching them magic. We call it “magic therapy.” It started when I was in high school. I was volunteering as an orderly at a hospital. I saw a girl crying in her room – she was anxious about an upcoming surgery. I had a deck of cards on me, because I often carried cards to practice magic tricks. I spent time performing magic for her, and she completely forgot about her surgery. I went to my supervisor and asked if, in addition to my other volunteer duties, I could spend time each week performing magic for the patients. How has MagicAid grown? [7:30] One of the nurses on the peds floor nominated me for a “cool kids” segment on the local ABC news. And later I was invited by the head of Magic Castle to be on his innovation committee. But it wasn’t until I started med school that I revamped it and started performing magic for kids at Stony Brook Hospital – and training other med students and healthcare providers to participate as well. We now have 60 med students trained to perform magic. Are the participants all from Stony Brook, or are you branching out? [9:50] Right now, all from Stony Brook. But we’re getting a lot of media attention (we were featured on the NBC Nightly News), and interest is spreading. Looking back at your med school application process – what was the hardest part for you? [11:20] The essays – you have to write a lot! The personal statement is challenging – edit after edit, revision after revision. And every school has their own secondary essays.

Are you a quant jock with a bit of a poet in you? Learn about UCLA Anderson’s new MS in Business Analytics! Harvard Business Review declared in 2012 that being a data scientist is the “sexiest job of the 21st century.” Glassdoor last year claimed it’s the “best job of the year.” And in a February Business Insider article, Dr. Andrew Chamberlain, Glassdoor’s chief economist said, “It’s one of the hottest and fastest growing jobs we’re seeing right now.” Enter UCLA Anderson’s MS in Business Analytics and its newly appointed executive director, Paul Brandano. Paul earned his MBA from UCLA Anderson in Management and Marketing in 2006. After earning his MBA he worked for IBM becoming a Business Analytics Software Specialist before returning to Anderson to serve as the Executive Director for Marketing of Management Field Study Programs. This month, he became the Executive Director of Anderson’s new Masters of Science in Business Analytics – and that’s the program we’re going to discuss today. Welcome, Paul! Can you give us an overview – what is the MS in Business Analytics at Anderson? [1:50] Business Analytics has been part of our MBA program for a long time – in every one of our programs, quantitative analysis is a component (marketing, finance, operations, etc). But when you look at the world today, the data is growing, and the demand for an increasingly complex set of analytics is increasing with it. The tools for analysis also grow, and you get a very complex environment. When I was at IBM, I saw there was often a gap in the marketplace between the people in IT who understood the technologies, and the managers who were looking for that real-time feedback. We see an opportunity to create a liaison – a person with an MS and the analytical training and skills to understand new technologies, with real business communication as a foundation. What does the program consist of? [3:50] It’s a 13-month MS program. We wanted it technically oriented. Students start with a five-week intensive course (off-site, asynchronous). This is focused on making sure you have the skills to be successful – you take four courses in that first five weeks to acquire a strong business/technical foundation. Then there are two full (10 week) quarters of courses, followed by a summer internship, then a final fall quarter on campus before going on to your first job. Courses include: fundamentals of business; data management; prescriptive modeling; and an industry seminar each quarter (including case studies). What are the options for the industry seminar? [6:36] We’re initially focusing on internet, entertainment, and healthcare. These are areas where big data technologies are being applied each day, and where data scientists are in high demand. We also have many centers on campus focused on these (and other) key industry areas. If you look at Anderson as a school, we differentiate on that practical/experiential learning component – every student will have done something in the real world, working for a real company. Business Analytics is a mushrooming field. What’s distinctive about UCLA’s program? [8:50] We specifically put it in the business school. Business analytics programs can often be in the engineering school, the CS department, stats, etc. I mentioned earlier that gap in business practice between IT and business – we saw an opportunity to put it in the heart of our business school.

Let’s learn about the $90K fellowships awarded by The Paul & Daisy Soros Fellowship for New Americans. Today’s guest, Dr. Craig Harwood, earned his BA in Music from Queens College and then a PhD in Music Theory from Yale University in 2002. Dr. Harwood went on to serve as the dean of Davenport College at Yale University and the Director of Macaulay Honors College at Hunter College before becoming the Director of The Paul and Daisy Soros Fellowships for New Americans in 2013. Welcome! What are the Paul & Daisy Soros Fellowships for New Americans? [1:20] It’s a fellowship dedicated to honoring immigrants and the children of immigrants. We provide support – up to $90K – for them to go to grad school. It’s $90K over two years: $25K a year for stipend (to cover living expenses), and $20K for tuition. Who were Paul and Daisy Soros? [2:30] They were immigrants from Hungary who escaped Nazism and communism and made their way to the U.S. Early on, Paul Soros wanted to attend grad school in engineering, and he was accepted to top schools, but couldn’t afford the tuition. A friend pointed him to Polytechnic University, where he was able to afford graduate school. He had an extraordinary career in engineering – he specialized in systems for loading and cargo on ships, and became the world’s leader in the field. Later in life he invested with his brother George Soros, and he and his wife did very well. They became philanthropists and supported a many educational causes. How did the fellowship program come about? [4:45] About 20 years ago, Paul and Daisy Soros were thinking through how they could make a lasting contribution that honored their experience and especially how valuable grad school had been in their lives. They didn’t want to put their name on a building: they wanted to support other new Americans and propel them to accomplish their goals. Who is eligible to apply? [5:48] New Americans – immigrants and children of immigrants. There are three main categories of eligibility: • New American status: An applicant was born abroad, they need to be naturalized, a green card holder, adopted to the US, or have been granted DACA status. If you were born in the US, both parents must have been born abroad as non-US citizens. • Academic standing: You must be entering grad school or in your first two years of grad school at the application deadline, and attending grad school full-time in 2018-19. • Age: You can’t have reached or passed your 31st birthday by the application deadline. Can you describe the application process? [8:50] The application is on our website. There are some general questions – background questions, etc. We ask you to upload a resume. We ask for test scores (whichever scores your grad program requires). There are two essays. We have space for optional exhibits, and there are letters of rec. The essays are really important – it’s where we get to know you as a person. The first essay asks about your New American experience – what it means to you. We encourage people to start ahead of time to allow plenty of time to think – especially since this is a question that’s different from most grad school/fellowship essay questions. The second essay is a more typical grad school/fellowship type essay,

I was recently contacted about a fascinating new program at Harvard Medical School called HMX Fundamentals. I wanted to learn more, and I’m delighted to have AST listeners learn more along with me since I’m talking today to Dr. Michael Parker, Harvard Medical School’s Associate Dean for Online Learning and Faculty Director of HMX. Dr. Parker earned his Bachelor’s and master’s degrees in electrical engineering and computer science from MIT. He then worked in the software industry and studied exercise physiology at the University of Colorado. He went to medical school at the University of Colorado and did his residency in internal medicine in Boston. Today, when he’s not combining his technology and medical backgrounds to create innovative, ground-breaking educational programs, he is a practicing physician in the Division of Pulmonary, Critical Care, and Sleep Medicine at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center and an Assistant Professor of Medicine at HMS. Welcome! Can you give us an overview of HMX? [1:45] HMX refers to foundational online courses covering medical topics for people potentially interested in careers in healthcare, or individuals who simply want to know about these topics in greater depth. It might be useful to have some background on why Harvard and why now. About two years ago, we were going through a curriculum reform, thinking about how to get students into clinics earlier. This involved the compression of the preclinical years from two years to 14 months – the material has to go somewhere. How do we prepare students for this rapid start? We also recognize that we get students from a broad range of backgrounds – how do we level the playing field? We were thinking about what students struggle with, and what areas are vital for the future of medical practice – such as genetics and immunology. We came up with starting with four foundational courses: Genetics, Immunology, Physiology, and Biochemistry. We thought of a fresh approach that would be beneficial for our own students and helpful for students outside. For the last two years, the entering class at Harvard Med has been given access to these classes. Was there always a vision to offer this curriculum more widely? [6:05] Yes, there was always a vision to offer it more widely – that was part of the initial brainstorming process. If we were putting in this amount of effort and care, it made sense to offer it up more widely. What makes HMX special as an online learning experience? [7:10] People have a concept of what online learning is – watching lecture videos, etc. There are three major differences in what we’re creating: 1. The degree of clinical applications: we go into the hospitals and film with doctors and patients in authentic settings. Student see how doctors interact with patients and use the foundational knowledge students are learning. 2. High degree of active learning. Students have to engage with the material. For example, there are over 300 assessment questions in the Immunology course – this takes advantage of learning science. 3. Rich biomedical visualizations – including graphics and animations. We want to help students understand the mechanisms. Do these elements take the place of labs? [10:50] There’s still a need for labs, certainly for the experiential aspect. And the course is all online – no residential component? [11:40]