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MBA Admissions: UC Berkeley Haas and Finance

May 8, 2011 By

  

This post about Haas and finance is part of a series of interviews of top MBA programs called “MBA Career Goals and the B-Schools that Support Them.” Please subscribe to our blog to ensure that you receive all the interviews exploring the elements at each school that support career goals in finance, consulting, general management, entrepreneurship, marketing and more.

  1. What kind of background and skills do you like to see in applicants expressing interest in a career in finance?The Berkeley MBA Program is delivered from a general management perspective, and thus attracts applicants with a diverse range of backgrounds and interests. We seek candidates who have solid professional experience and leadership potential, and who possess the Berkeley values of confidence without attitude and a willingness to look beyond the status quo.

    Candidates who wish to pursue a post-MBA career in finance should demonstrate at least one of the following pursuits through their application: previous work experience in a finance function or industry, extracurricular involvement in finance with a leadership role, or comprehensive research into specific positions or organizations for post-MBA employment. Candidates who are making a career-switch into finance should also be able to clearly articulate how they intend to leverage their skill set and work experience to date to successfully make this transition.

    Learn more about the Finance Program at Berkeley-Haas or read up on general admission criteria.

  2. What aspects of your curriculum do you feel are best suited to students who want to eventually pursue a career in finance?Elective courses comprise over 60% of the curriculum, and students begin to customize their own course of study in the first year of the program. Students have access to numerous elective courses in finance, accounting and economic analysis, designed to prepare them for the rigors of a career in the field.

    Students can choose from a range of finance electives specific to their area of interest:

    In addition, student-initiated courses bring finance leaders and practitioners to the classroom for first hand insights. These courses have included The Private Equity Speaker Series, Investment Speaker Series, Microfinance and Real Estate Speaker Series. Each year students initiate new finance speaker series to reflect the interests of their classmates and current economic environment.

    Haas’ general management curriculum teaches students fundamental business concepts – from accounting and finance to marketing and strategy. Through core and elective courses, experiential learning and a global focus, the Berkeley MBA Program helps students develop skills to become innovative leaders.

  3. Which school clubs and extra-curricular events are most relevant to people interested in finance? Providing students with hands-on exposure to real-world business situations is a key strength of the Berkeley MBA Program. Experiential activities are required for graduation, and numerous out-of-the-classroom initiatives give students the opportunity to build on their business skill set.

    Finance courses are integrated with successful practitioners in financial firms. Students have the opportunity to develop skills outside the classroom through:

    • Clubs: Most students take a leadership role in the industry club that aligns with their career interests, such as the Haas Finance Club, Haas Investment Club and Haas Private Equity Club. In recent years, the clubs have organized career treks to Wall Street and Hong Kong, as well as an annual trip to meet Warren Buffett. Treks also explore career opportunities in the Bay Area and Southern California.
    • Conferences: The Berkeley Finance Conference is an annual event featuring top financial industry executives and academics, as well as students from the Haas MBA program. It is the only student-run finance conference on the West Coast.
    • Business Competitions: Case competitions challenge students to apply classroom learnings to real-life business problems. Berkeley-Haas students have participated in many nationwide competitions, such as the Wells Fargo Finance Case Competition (1st place), the Wharton Buyout Case Competition (3rd Place) and the UNC Kenan-Flager Alpha Challenge (3rd Place).
    • Haas@Work: This experiential learning course gives students an opportunity to develop innovative recommendations to address a competitive challenge posed by the sponsor company. The strongest recommendations are then added to the client’s business roadmap for implementation. Haas@Work projects often have a finance component, and sponsor companies have included Visa, Wells Fargo and Charles Schwab.
    • Haas Socially Responsible Investment Fund: The Haas Socially Responsible Investment Fund (HSRIF) is the first and only student-led investment fund of its scale ($1M+) with a leading business school focused on both social and financial returns. HSRIF Principals are MBA and MFE students interested in finance and corporate responsibility. Through the Fund they have the opportunity to test the investment and corporate responsibility principles they’ve learned in the classroom, and to experience the complexities, challenges, and rewards of the investing world.
    • Industry Leaders at Haas: Each year distinguished leaders are brought to campus to share their real-world experiences and insights. Recent speakers with a finance bent include Janet Yellen, President and CEO of the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco, Nils Tcheyan, Director for Strategy and Operations, World Bank, and Laura Tyson, Member of the President’s Economic Recovery Advisory Board and Haas faculty member.
    • Career Management: The Berkeley-Haas Career Management Office was ranked #4 nationwide by recruiters in a 2008 BusinessWeek survey. Career Management plans workshops, panels, networking events, job fairs, company visits and receptions specific to all phases of the finance job search. For finance students, it has also facilitated outside programs such as Training the Street, Bloomberg and Factset.

    Learn about other extracurricular activities directly from Haas students on the Berkeley MBA Student Blog. Browse the blog library or find finance specific posts using relevant keywords.

  4. Since “finance” is a very broad term, can you break down some of the sub-categories in the field that your school excels in?The Berkeley-Haas Finance Program covers several sub-categories, including corporate finance and investment management. Classroom learning and experiential opportunities prepare students for careers in:
    • Investment banking (including industry coverage, for example technology or healthcare/biotech clients)
    • Investment management, including hedge funds
    • Corporate finance departments
    • Private equity
    • Venture capital
    • Economic development
    • Management consulting firms
  5. Which financial services firms recruit at Haas? How many graduates of your 2010 class received offers from each of these firms? Berkeley-Haas remains one of the world’s leading centers for the study of finance. Approximately 15-25% of students gain full-time employment in a finance function after graduation.

    In 2010, dozens of firms recruited on campus for finance jobs in investment banking, corporate finance, asset management, financial services, and private equity. A selection of firms includes Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley, JP Morgan, Citi, Barclays, Dodge & Cox, Franklin Templeton, Parnassus Investments, Scharf Investments and numerous others.

    Learn more about the finance career paths post-MBA from upcoming graduates:

    Students can also apply for the Haas Investment Banking Fellowship, awarded to a select number of students who are pursuing careers in investment banking. As a fellow, students receive a partial tuition credit, get paired with an industry mentor, and receive priority for finance courses and career treks.

    Learn more about careers post-MBA, view an employment snapshot of recent graduates or see a list of firms that recently recruited on campus.

By Morgan Eckles, Assistant Director, Haas Full-Time MBA Admissions.

Filed Under: MBA Admissions, UC Berkeley Haas Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , ,

Harvard Medical School Media Fellowship Deadlines Approach

January 26, 2011 By

Two spots in the media fellowship program at Harvard Medical School (HMS) are open for applications from reporters until the February 7, 2011 deadline. The themes for these two fellowships are “How Regenerative Biology is Changing the Future of Medicine” and “Cancer Genetics: Interrogating One of Medicine’s Greatest Adversaries.” The fellowships will be awarded to reporters who will work with HMS staff to develop a program based on the fellowship theme. They will meet with about 20 faculty members and with relevant stakeholders.

For more information view the Harvard Gazette article, “Deadline looms for two HMS fellowships.”

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Filed Under: Grad School Admissions, Medical School Admissions, Residency Tagged With:

Notre Dame Mendoza Announces High Stakes Applicant Case Competition

January 19, 2011 By

Unlike most business schools which reserve their high stakes competitions for current students, Notre Dame Mendoza has launched the Mini Deep-Dive Challenge, a case competition for applicants with hundreds of prizes, including a $10,000 fellowship to the Notre Dame MBA program.

The competition highlights a key part of the Notre Dame MBA curriculum to prospective students and enables them to immerse themselves in a real-life business challenge offered by Green Mountain Coffee Roasters.

Participants must submit a one-page proposal for a social responsibility plan for the global coffee company.

To participate you need to register in advance on the Notre Dame site (like now). The case briefing will be unveiled on January 25. The deadline for entries is February 4.

Visit the Mini Deep-Dive Challenge for more details on contest rules.

Good luck! 

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Filed Under: Fellowship, MBA Admissions, Notre Dame Mendoza Tagged With: ,

Consortium: Interview with Admissions Directors

November 18, 2010 By

Last week’s Consortium Q&A was a huge success and tons of important issues were addressed by Rebecca Dockery, the Consortium’s Recruiting Director, and a panel of representatives from top MBA programs, including Dartmouth Tuck, Emory Goizueta, Michigan Ross, NYU Stern, Rochester, UCLA, UNC, USC, UT Austin,.

To review the entire discussion, please read the full transcript or download the MP3.

Here is an excerpt from the Q&A that we found particularly illuminating:

Linda Abraham: The next question is, “How important is it that I rank my schools on the Consortium application?”

Karen Marks DARTMOUTH: It makes no difference; it’s not a factor in admissions decisions. It comes into play during the fellowship component, but in terms of your admissions decision, it doesn’t play in at all.

Jon Fuller MICHIGAN: When the Admissions Committee gets an application, the rank list is electronically blacked out, and that is not actually released until we’ve already made our admissions decisions. That is just our own internal process for that. So just as it was mentioned, the ranking plays no factor in admissions decision or in membership; it really only comes up from a fellowship perspective.

Shana Basnight EMORY: I would just advise that you do your due diligence before you lock in your ratings because once you do, they are set in stone and you can’t change them. So whether you get a chance to visit different campuses or talk to different alums that have attended different schools, do as much research as you can before you completely drop the Consortium application and put in your rankings because you only have one chance to do them.

Jon Fuller MICHIGAN: I think candidates spend some time thinking about whether there is a way to increase the likelihood of them getting a fellowship by how they rank a school, and there is  a lot of agony that goes into that. The advice I give to candidates is that if Ross is your first choice, then you should rank us first. If another school is your first choice and we’re your second choice, then you should put us second and you should put that other school first. Because just as it was mentioned, it’s an individual decision based on the school; it just goes down the rank order of the process that is explained relatively well through the

Consortium documentation that is available on their website. But don’t try to over-think because it just doesn’t work. So rank the order in terms of your enthusiasm of how much you want to attend that particular program.

Rebecca Dockery CONSORTIUM: I’m going to give you an Amen!

Jon Fuller MICHIGAN: Thank you!

Kellee Scott USC: Just to add a little more relief hopefully to this effort with the rankings, the process is that you are only allowed to hold one fellowship that you can call Consortium, but that doesn’t stop other schools from offering you school based scholarships if you qualify for them. So the rankings may say that you are only allowed to get one scholarship that is called Consortium, but if school #3 and #4 really want you, that doesn’t stop them from offering you aid outside of the Consortium scholarship, or offering you any kind of merit based money outside of the Consortium scholarship. So you are not limited in this process; the rankings do not limit you in any way.

View the full Q&A transcript or listen to the mp3 recording of the event now!

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Filed Under: Admissions Consulting, Consortium, Dartmouth Tuck, Emory Goizueta, MBA Admissions, Michigan Ross, NYU Stern, UCLA Anderson, UNC Kenan Flagler, USC Marshall Tagged With: , , , , , , ,

Law School News Round Up

November 1, 2010 By
  • Rachel Moran has assumed her position as the new dean of UCLA Law School, UCLA Today reports. Moran taught at Berkeley Law for 26 years, and was also instrumental in launching UC Irvine’s law school in 2009. In her new role, Moran hopes to complete UCLA Law’s $100M campaign to build on its endowment. She is the first Latina dean of a Top 20 law school.
  • The University of Miami School of Law has a new public interest fellowship program, Legal Corps, which will pay unemployed grads a monthly stipend of $2,500 and place them in public interest positions for six months, according to New York Lawyer. While other law schools have initiated similar programs, Legal Corps lasts longer than most and is not limited by number of applicants—all who meet the criteria will be accepted. Over 100 employers from across the country have already agreed to admit a Miami fellow. Participants in the program will also be required to “take part in biweekly professional development sessions that will count for CLE credit.” Above the Law praises the school for facing reality in this harsh economy: “[The school is] telling students to rethink going to law school, it’s trying to keep its expensive education a little less expensive, and now it’s willing to pay graduates for up to six months if they can just find an employer to hire them for free.”
  • The University of North Carolina School of Law will initiate a new LL.M. program for international students this fall, pending approval from the ABA, New York Lawyer reports. This will be the first LL.M. program offered by the law school, and will start out with five to seven students in its first year. Although mostly concentrated on the needs of state residents, the school has been endeavoring to add an international focus to its curriculum.
  • As reported by New York Lawyer, Georgia State College of Law has started a new service called SHARP, Short-term Research Assistance Pool, in which lawyers who need research help are linked with third-year law students and recent grads. This service is particularly geared toward solo lawyers or lawyers in small firms who don’t have associates or paralegals who can help them with research.  GSU Law vets the students and alumni through résumés and recommendations, and they are then assigned jobs in order of their number in a pool. The lawyers set the price, but GSU proposes paying at least $15 per hour. Besides providing a service, the program can potentially lead to longer-term job opportunities for students.
  • According to The National Law Journal, the scope of legal education must change in order to be sustainable. At least that was the consensus agreed upon at various recent forums, including the FutureEd 2 conference held at Harvard Law School. The focus of the conference was making legal education more relevant considering the shifting legal industry. While most agreed that change is necessary, exactly how to implement that change was up for debate. Thirty proposals were submitted, covering “the use of technology and distance learning, different ways to incorporate practical skills and simulations into curricula, the importance of providing a global perspective on legal issues, looking beyond the LSAT in admissions and forming tighter partnerships between schools and practitioners.” The proposals will then be narrowed down and researched more thoroughly, and then broached again at the final FutureEd conference in April.  
  • Choosing between law schools and would like more information to differentiate between them? A great source of research can be found at AdmissionsDean. The site provides plenty of helpful tools to facilitate your law school search, including interviews with law school admissions deans and professors. For example, here’s what USC Law Associate Dean and Dean of Admissions Chloe Reid had to say about personal statements: “The personal statement becomes the vehicle we use to shape the class. A well-written and carefully executed personal statement can sometimes be a tipping factor. Don’t forget to give us the answer to the obvious question. Tell us why you want to go to law school. It may seem obvious to you, but it doesn’t always come out as clearly to us.” Check out the site for more useful tips.

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Filed Under: Law School Admissions, LLM, UCLA Law Tagged With: , , ,

Consortium Admissions Director Interview

October 26, 2010 By

If you attended our recent Consortium Q&A, then you know that we had an overwhelming number of questions and simply not enough time to address them all. Rebecca Dockery and Stacy Thomas, Consortium Recruiting Directors, have agreed to answer the remaining questions here on our blog.

So here you go…a continuation of last week’s Consortium Admissions Q&A interview:

  • When is the best time to apply through the consortium?

You should apply one year before you plan to start school (i.e. if you want to begin classes in Fall 2012, apply in Fall 2011).  

  • What would you say is the number one item prospective students often overlook but is extremely important to admission into the Consortium and their desired b-school?

The Consortium’s common application makes the process of applying easier for applicants, but there is still plenty of work for an applicant to do. Applicants should fully research their schools of interest, visit as many schools as possible, attend recruiting events, and communicate with recommenders and interviewers to ensure that supporting documents are submitted on time.

  • Is the diversity essay looking for a response that revolves around your ideology or your actions?

To be invited for membership in The Consortium, an individual must demonstrate a commitment to The Consortium’s mission using examples from his/her professional or community activities.   

  • What type of career background do most Consortium applications come from?

Consortium applicants come from a wide variety of academic and professional backgrounds, and are pursuing numerous career paths. One of The Consortium’s greatest assets is the alumni network, where applicants can find contacts in almost every industry and function.

  • Is there a better chance of consideration for Consortium Membership and Fellowship by applying in the first round versus the second round?

The timeframe in which admission decisions are released by member schools varies greatly, and can range from December to early March. All Consortium membership and fellowship decisions are made in mid-March, regardless of when an application was submitted. 

For more information on The Consortium please listen to the audio clip or view the full transcript from last week’s Q&A session.

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Filed Under: Admissions Consulting, Consortium, MBA Admissions Tagged With: , , ,

Consortium 2011 MBA Application Questions, Deadlines, Tips

September 9, 2010 By

Consortium 2011 MBA Application Essay Questions

My comments are in blue. This year’s core application questions are identical to last year’s, and I’ve posted their guidelines from 2009 as well below:*

The following essay questions provide us with an opportunity to evaluate your strengths and weaknesses, experiences, and any other traits and abilities that are considered relevant to your educational goals and long-term career objectives. Please include your full name and essay number or subject on each page. Type your essays in a standard size 8 1/2″ x 11″ MS Word document. Please limit each essay to no more than two double -spaced pages.

Core Essay #1 (Required): Please describe your short and long term goals post-MBA. How has your professional experience shaped these goals and influenced your decision to pursue an MBA degree?

This is a straightforward goals question. You need to connect the dots between your past and desired future with an MBA in the middle.

In discussing your professional experience, don’t regurgitate your resume. Highlight specific, influential, and impressive events or projects in your career to bring out both what you like and are good at.

Core Essay #2 (Required): The mission of The Consortium is to enhance diversity in business education and leadership by helping to reduce the serious underrepresentation of African Americans, Hispanic Americans and Native Americans in both our member schools’ enrollments and the ranks of management. What have you done in your business, academic or personal life to demonstrate commitment to this mission? Please provide specific example of your involvement, actions and results.

When have you led a project, team, or community service event dedicated to improving the representation of under-represented minorities in business school and management? This is not a place for an ode to equality. The Consortium wants to see action and commitment to its mission.

Core Essay #3: Is there any other information you would like to share that is not presented elsewhere in the application? You may also use this essay to provide further explanation of employment gaps, test scores, etc. (Optional)

On one hand, this is an open-ended question. On the other hand, the Consortium makes it quite clear that this is the place to explain anything that might need explaining. Use it for that purpose. If you are one of the lucky ones who doesn’t need to explain, then you can use this optional essay to provide the admission committee with a different perspective on your candidacy by revealing something not brought out in the required questions.

If you would like help with your Consortium application, please consider our essay reviewing and editing services. 

Consortium 2011 MBA Application Deadlines

Application Deadlines
November 15, 2010
January 5, 2011
Interview Deadlines
November 6, 2011
December 20, 2011
GMAT Taken by
November 6, 2011
December 20, 2011
Admission Decision
Varies by school
Fellowship Notification
Mid-March

 

By Linda Abraham, President and Founder of Accepted.com.

Filed Under: Consortium, MBA Admissions Tagged With: , , , , ,

USC Marshall 2011 MBA Application Questions, Deadlines, Tips

September 7, 2010 By

USC Marshall 2011 MBA Essay Questions

This USC Marshall 2011 MBA Application tip post is one of a series of posts providing MBA application and essay advice for applicants to top MBA programs around the world. You can access the entire series at http://blog.accepted.com/acceptedcom_blog/tag/2011-mba-application-tips. My tips for answering Marshall’s essay questions are in blue below.

1) What are your short-term and long-term post-MBA goals? How will USC Marshall help you achieve these goals? (750 words) If interested in a dual-degree program, please address in this essay.

This is a straight-forward goals question. As always with this type of question, connect the dots. Let the reader see that your goals grow organically from your experience and are achievable given your experience and an MBA from Marshall.

2) How will other USC Marshall MBA students benefit from your background, experience, leadership and teamwork skills? (500 words)

What can you contribute to your class? Where at Marshall do you want to contribute. In which clubs and organizations do you want to invest your talents?

I suggest you choose 1-3 examples from your past where you contributed to your school, club, church, or company and show how the very qualities you utilized then you intend to use at Marshall. Is Social Enterprise calling your name? Then perhaps Marshall Net Impact is where you intend to have impact? Perhaps you are a vet. Can you contribute to the Marshall Military Veterans Association. How will you contribute? 

3) Select three from the following and describe: (250 words each)
  a) A challenging international experience
  b) A personal or professional setback
  c) An entrepreneur you admire
  d) Your family, including any ties to USC
  e) Your most significant accomplishment
  f) A situation where your professional ethics were challenged

The first issue you must address when looking at #3: “Which three do you choose?”. Answer: the three that, when combined with your required essays, allow you to present the most impressive, textured, and comprehensive picture of you. Try to present experiences that are from different areas of your life.

4) Optional Essay: Please add any additional information that you would like the Admissions Committee to consider in evaluating your application. (250 words)

Please see ”The Optional Essay: To Be or Not to Be.” 

For Re-Applicants:

If you applied within the past two years, please answer the following:
1) What steps have you taken to strengthen your application since your last submission? Also, please reiterate your short term & long term goals.

2) Select two from the following and describe: (250 words each)
  a) A challenging international experience
  b) A personal or professional setback
  c) An entrepreneur you admire
  d) Your family, including any ties to USC
  e) Your most significant accomplishment
  f) A situation where your professional ethics were challenged

Show that you have grown since your last application. Reveal that you have addressed weaknesses. Demonstrate increased leadership. Present evidence that you have improved enormously since your last application. For more information, please see:

For one-on-one guidance through the Marshall application process, please check out Accepted.com’s USC Marshall Application Package or our other MBA essay editing and MBA admissions consulting.

USC Marshall 2011 MBA Deadlines

All application materials including official score reports must be received by the deadline at 12:00 AM Pacific Standard Time.

Round Deadline Notification
1 November 1, 2010 February 1, 2011
2 January 15, 2011 April 1, 2011
3 March 15, 2011 May 15, 2011

 

Applications can be submitted for one of the three application periods listed above. You may apply only once a year. Please note: If you are an international student, or want to be considered for a fellowship, the recommended application deadline is January 15, 2011.

By Linda Abraham, President and Founder of Accepted.com.

Filed Under: MBA Admissions, USC Marshall Tagged With: , , , , ,

5 More Days to Save 20% on Financing Your Future

July 27, 2010 By

Time is running out for you to save 20% on Accepted.com’s essential scholarship resource guide, Financing Your Future: Winning Fellowships, Scholarships and Awards for Grad School.

In Financing Your Future, Linda Abraham and Rebecca Blustein reveal practical, hands-on advice to help you complete your fellowship, scholarship, and award applications, and obtain those critical funds that will make attending the grad school of your dreams possible.

Buy Financing Your Future: Winning Fellowships, Scholarships and Awards for Grad School and save 20% when you use coupon code FUTURE20 by July 30, 2010.

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Filed Under: Admissions Consulting, College Admissions, Fellowship, Financial Aid, Grad School Admissions, Law School Admissions, MBA Admissions, Medical School Admissions Tagged With:

Plagiarism in Residency Essays: Just Don’t

July 22, 2010 By

The WSJ’s Health Blog recently posted “Study: Medical Residency Applicants and Plagiarism” which cites a study in the Annals of Internal Medicine by a team of researchers at Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston.  The researchers found “evidence of plagiarism” in 5.2% of residency application personal statements by comparing the essays to publicly available material as well as to previously submitted essays. When they saw text that matched more than 10% of material on other essays, they felt it “showed evidence” of plagiarism.

Drs. Papadakis and Wofsy, both from UCSF, wrote in an accompanying editorial that:

“plagiarism is only a ‘symptom’ of a larger trend toward using professional essay prep services. (One charges $2,730 for a ‘complete, rush 10-hour package service.’) While such services ‘may not constitute plagiarism,’ the authors write, ‘they certainly constitute misrepresentation of the applicant’s independent capabilities.’”

Let me respond to the main points in this editorial that relate to my work and to Accepted.com.

  1. Plagiarism is “the act of taking the writings of another person and passing them off as one’s own.” according to the Encyclopedia Britannica. Accepted.com and all legitimate admissions consultants oppose plagiarism. Period. Please see the Principles of Good Practice of the Association of International Graduate Admissions Consultants (AIGAC), of which I am a founding member and past president.
  2. There is no connection whatsoever between plagiarism and use of essay editing services. The editorial authors don’t have a clue as to what admissions consultants do if they associate our work with plagiarism or misrepresentation of abilities. Consulting a specialist is an enhancement of one’s capabilities, not a misrepresentation of them.
  3. Just as patients must distinguish between doctors and quacks, doctors must distinguish between essay writing services and services provided by legitimate admissions consultants, such as those in AIGAC.
  4. When residency applicants turn to a consultant they are seeking the help of a specialist so they can present themselves — not someone else — at their best. This is the same service provided by many medical school advisors, parents, friends and family. However, we have the combination of experience, knowledge, time, and commitment that is lacking in other possible advisors. Furthermore, our service is similar to the assistance that high school counsellors and college consultants provide college applicants. And it is similar to the services provided by universities and private consultants to medical school applicants.  Accepted.com’s Cydney Foote, author of Write Your Way to a Residency, makes the argument forcefully in her comment on the WSJ blog:

I have been working with the Accepted.com team as a professional admissions consultant for nine years, and I’d like to respond to the claim that services such as the ones my company offers “constitute misrepresentation of the applicant’s independent capabilities.” I think this reflects a profound misunderstanding of what admissions consultants really do. My job is not to misrepresent applicants’ capabilities but to encourage them to look deeper into who they are and what they have to offer their particular specialty. This level of introspection isn’t necessarily easy, especially for students embroiled in med school’s day-to-day challenges, but with the support and guidance of an experienced admissions consultant, applicants reflect more deeply on their personal goals and start to identify in clear terms exactly why they are pulled to a particular field. I then can help them convey the results of this self-reflection in interesting and engaging ways. This process is neither plagiarism nor misrepresentation; it is merely consulting a specialist and expert in the field.

A good admissions consultant will help the applicant craft his or her unique story in a way that won’t work for anybody else. In my opinion, that’s the measure of a successful personal statement–how well it reflects the applicant’s true capabilities and individuality.

If you would like to know more about reputable admissions consultants, I encourage you to look to the Association of International Graduate Admissions Consultants (www.aigac.org). This organization was founded specifically to address concerns like the ones you’ve raised, as well as to implement ethical guidelines for our profession.

Drs. Papadakis and Wofsy argue at the end of their editorial that perhaps residency programs should eliminate the residency personal statement. If programs do not find that the 95% of the residency applicants who write their own essays provide useful insight, then maybe the personal statement should be discarded. Of course that would imply higher costs associated with interviews, recommended by Drs. Papadakis and Wofsy, or no understanding into what moves and motivates residency candidates.

However, the value of the essay is a separate question from the integrity of the authors or of a profession devoted to aiding and guiding applicants. Don’t scapegoat and malign admissions consultants if you want to find an alternative to essays.

Roughly five years ago the business school world was rocked by charges that MBA admissions consultants were corrupting the admissions process. Several consultants and I reached out to the schools. The resulting dialogue led to the founding of AIGAC and to a much more constructive relationship with the schools as evidenced by AIGAC’s annual conferences, (See 2010 AIGAC Conference in Boston for information on the most recent event.) which have included presentations by admissions directors and deans from schools including  Chicago Booth, Kellogg, Wharton, Columbia, NYU, MIT, Harvard, Dartmouth Tuck, INSEAD, UC Berkeley’s Haas School, UCLA Anderson, UVA Darden, Michigan Ross and other leading business schools.

Similarly, I look forward to the development of a constructive relationship with medical schools and residency programs marked — not by sniping  and accusations based on ignorance — but by dialogue, professional collaboration, and a commitment to integrity in the medical school, residency, and fellowship application process.

By Linda Abraham, President and Founder of Accepted.com.


 

Filed Under: Admissions Consulting, Medical School Admissions, Residency Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , ,
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