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New Home for Accepted Admissions Almanac

August 30, 2005 by

We’ve moved. At least we’ve moved this blog to its rightful home on Accepted.com’s home page. We enjoyed our comfortable digs at Typepad, but wanted to:

  1. Integrate the blog more closely with Accepted.com.
  2. Provide multiple subscribe options and RSS feeds.

I will post all future posts through the new blog, hosted by Squarespace, but we will maintain the Typepad blog for some time so that earlier posts will be available to our loyal readers. I am happy to say that in less than 1.5 years almost 87,000 people have visited the Accepted Admissions Almanac.  Keep on coming.

Filed Under: College Admissions, Grad School Admissions, Law School Admissions, MBA Admissions, Medical School Admissions

Medical Student Satisfaction: Opposing Views

August 30, 2005 by

Is the glass more than half-full or more than half-empty?

AAMC STAT cites a 2004 study that shows "Nearly 90 percent of graduating medical students are satisfied with the quality and content of their medical education."

These results contrast sharply with the results of an AMSA study quoted in last week’s post on medical student satisfaction.

There are lies, damn lies, and statistics.

Filed Under: Medical School Admissions Tagged With:

B-School Ethics

August 29, 2005 by

Dr. Jeffrey Garten has a thoughtful piece in  Businessweek titled "B-Schools: Only a C+ in Ethics."  Dr. Garten presents several ideas for strengthening the ethical aspects of MBA programs including a suggestion that b-schools ask probing questions about ethical "turning points" and business issues in both application essays and interviews.

Over the years a number of programs have asked students about ethical dilemmas and challenges. I have been struck by how few applicants  see value clashes when they stare them in the face. For example, everyone has to balance conflicting commitments to work and family. That on a very basic level is an ethical dilemma. Most of us value social commitments, respect for elders, and the closer ties we have with family. At the same time, we (usually) take seriously our responsibility to our company, shareholders, and customers. Frequently those values clash.  Applicants, however, rarely see this situation as a value conflict or ethical dilemma.

Business is filled with such conflicts: The short-term interests of current stockholders vs. those of those holding stock for the long run. The claims of employees vs. the claims of customers. The needs of employees, shareholders, and customers coexist but in a tension born of conflict.

If you are asked about ethical challenges you have faced, think of times when your beliefs, relationships, or constituents  were in conflict.  How did you handle the situation? What did you learn?

Filed Under: MBA Admissions

Law School Application Volume Declines Slightly

August 26, 2005 by

The National Law Journal reports that applications  at the nation’s top law schools declined  2%  this year from last year.  Applications had  been steadily climbing in recent years.

More interesting to me than the overall slight decline is the wide disparity among schools:

Declines:

  • UCLA: -13%
  • UT: -11%
  • Vanderbilt: -9%
  • Cornell: -8%
  • USC: -8%

Increases:

  • University of Minnesota: +22%
  • University of Pennsylvania: +21%
  • Duke:  +9%
  • University of Michigan: +4.5%
  • GWU: +3.5%

The article also reports on trends in minority enrollment.

Filed Under: Law School Admissions

Medical Specialties and Controllable Lifestyle

August 26, 2005 by

Academic Medicine has just published the results of a study on the role of “controllable lifestyle” in the choice of medical specialty. Conclusion:

“Controllable lifestyle was strongly associated with the recent trends
in specialty choice for both women and men and could not be explained
solely by the specialty preferences of women.”

Filed Under: Medical School Admissions

Beat the Sept. 1 Price Increase

August 26, 2005 by

Yes. Accepted.com is raising its hourly rate on Thursday
September 1. You can beat the price increase by purchasing on or before
August 31. That gives you just a few days. So don’t hesitate. Choose
the expert admissions
advising and essay editing that you need to navigate the
admissions process.

Filed Under: College Admissions, Grad School Admissions, Law School Admissions, MBA Admissions, Medical School Admissions

A Different Kind of Ranking

August 25, 2005 by

According to the Washington Monthly, colleges should " be engines of social mobility, they should produce the academic minds and scientific research that advance knowledge and drive economic growth, and they should inculcate and encourage an ethic of service."

With these criteria and publicly available data, they ranked US colleges and universities as follows:

  1. MIT
  2. UCLA
  3. UC Berkeley
  4. Cornell
  5. Stanford
  6. Penn State
  7. Texas A&M
  8. UC San Diego
  9. University of Pennsylvania
  10. University of Michigan

Certainly a different approach. Maybe this ranking that indicates where the government should invest its dollars. I’m not sure it reveals where parents should invest their dollars.

Filed Under: College Admissions

Medical School Curriculum

August 25, 2005 by

AMSA published the results of a medical student satisfaction survey,
“Are Medical Schools Teaching Future Doctors Everything They Need to
Know?” 322 medical students took the survey and only 17% are “very
satisfied” with their education.

Filed Under: Medical School Admissions

MBA Recruiters Chat with MBA Applicants

August 24, 2005 by

“MBA Talent Seekers Speak: Why We Value an MBA” is the chat Accepted.com is co-hosting with Michigan Ross School of Business on Wednesday September 21 at 10:00 AM PT/1:00 PM ET/5:00 PM GMT. 
Currently we have the following companies participating and available
to talk to MBA prospects and applicants about the value of an MBA and
how your can prepare yourself for your post-MBA career.

So far, the following companies are participating:

  • The Boston Consulting Group
  • Deloitte
  • Booz Allen Hamilton
  • Johnson & Johnson CPC
  • Bear Stearns
  • Deutsche Bank
  • JP Morgan

I
am very excited about this first-ever (to my knowledge) recruiter chat
for MBA prospects. As anyone who reads this blog knows, goals and
knowledge about career paths are critical to your MBA decision and
application.  Details will follow, but for now, mark the date!

Filed Under: MBA Admissions Tagged With:

Writing the Law School Personal Statement

August 23, 2005 by

A little glib, but good advice at Bad Glacier on writing the law school personal statement.

I
do want to caution you about having everyone and his brother commenting
on your personal statement as is suggested in some of the comments. You
will inevitably get conflicting advice and bad advice and good
advice.  Attempting to incorporate all of it, may just suck the
life out of your essay.

So definitely show it to others.
Professional writers have editors for a reason; they know writing
requires rewriting. They know their work benefits from a critical and
fresh eye. But they don’t ask everyone and his brother to review their
work!

 I recommend you show your essay to 2-3 people who
know you well and 2-3 people who know how to write well or are
experienced in admissions.

Thanks to Blawg wisdom for the link.

Filed Under: Law School Admissions Tagged With: ,
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