Show Summary

In her final episode as host of Admissions Straight Talk, Accepted founder Linda Abraham shares reflections and lessons from over 30 years in the admissions world. As she prepares for retirement, Linda offers a mix of personal insight, practical advice, and hard-earned wisdom on navigating both graduate admissions and life’s challenges. She discusses stress, imposter syndrome, setbacks, and the power of resilience, encouraging listeners to take control of their future, own their story, and pursue their goals with determination. Whether you’re just beginning your admissions journey or reevaluating your path, Linda’s final message is one of growth and possibility.

Show Notes

Our guest today is me. I am Linda Abraham, the founder of Accepted, which I started over 30 years ago. I have worked as an admissions consultant since 1994. I put up the first Accepted.com in 1996, co-founded the Association of International Graduate Admissions Consultants around 2007 and served as its first president. I launched Admissions Straight Talk in 2012 and interviewed several hundred admissions directors and deans since then and perhaps an additional couple of hundred more when hosting text-only chats in the early 2000’s 


And today is the last podcast episode that I will host for Admissions Straight Talk because I am retiring in a few days. Although this show will air in July, I am retiring on June 30. Consequently, I want to share some broader reflections on the admissions process—and perhaps on life itself—in the spirit of a “Last Lecture,” though thankfully, unlike Dr. Randy Pausch, whose inspiring lecture was delivered while he was gravely ill, I am in good health.

I want to start by quoting Winston Churchill. I know. I know. I’ve said you shouldn’t quote from someone at the start of your essays because admissions readers want to hear from you and not from Churchill, Lincoln, Kennedy or even the Bible. Nonetheless, here goes, I’m going to quote Churchill, who experienced a lot of both failure and success

“Success is not final, failure is not fatal: it is the courage to continue that counts.”

I’ve spoken and worked with applicants who had suffered severe setbacks and didn’t let those setbacks stop them. They were inspiring and an honor to know and work with. I have spoken and occasionally worked with applicants, who dwelt on the unfairness of life, the admissions process, the world, and felt justified and perhaps even righteous in being stopped. 
Almost all, if not all, people experience trying times and difficulties, pain and loss at some point or other. The ability to overcome difficult, painful circumstances, even those perceived as unfair, frequently defines people more than the circumstances themselves. Your reaction to events is always in your control. You can focus on the future and build or rebuild. Or you can dwell on the unfairness of it all and sink into bitterness, despair, and hopelessness. Obviously I (and probably Churchill) recommend the former.
I also want to talk a minute about stress and imposter syndrome. 

I am definitely not a stress junkie or risk seeker. However, stress is a fact of life. It is particularly present in the lives of people striving to achieve something. If you want to be a contributor, a leader, a person of consequence, you’ll have more stress than if you kind of just want to always take the easy path. Most people applying to grad school are in the former group. Learn how to handle stress, whether it’s through self-talk, exercise, deep-breathing, meditation, listening to music, or whatever works for you. 



Before I turn to admissions, one last piece of more general advice: imposter syndrome or phenomenon. That much-talked-about feeling or fear that you will be exposed as a fraud because you’re not really competent enough to be doing what you’re doing.
If you have that fear or feeling, congratulations! You are striving to improve yourself or something and others have confidence that you can do it based on your past performance. That’s why you have this responsibility. Or perhaps you’re trying something just for yourself – an Ironman Marathon or a new invention. Acknowledge the feeling and embrace it. Celebrate it. I’m proud of you from afar and even though we’ve never met. You’re growing!

Enough life advice, let’s turn to graduate admissions for some thoughts. 

A graduate degree requires a goal

• MBA – function and industry – sometimes location.
• Healthcare – specific function and reasons why – based on experience in healthcare.
• JD. Some direction within the law – again based on experience
• Other grad programs – what do you want to do after you get the degree and why do you want to get it. 

Almost all grad programs want to know either in an essay or interview, how you intend to use your education and why you want to get that education in their program. The graduate degree becomes the bridge between where you’ve been and where you want to go.

Let’s discuss where you’ve been: Your academic record, professional and non-professional experience, character traits, achievements, sometimes your mistakes, and the grit, determination, and resilience you have shown in overcoming challenges. These all play a role in your application.

Some of you will find that your academic, professional, and extra-curricular record have prepared you well to apply to graduate school and pursue your chosen path. Great! Some of you will realize that your record to date is not optimal given your goals and your first-choice schools. You then have a few options:


• Change your goals. (Maybe PA or DO instead of MD)
• Change the schools you are aiming for. You are not all going to get into Harvard or its close cousins. However, you could gain admission with your current qualifications to an excellent program that supports your goals but doesn’t have the brand that the Ivy League and the Top X have. Still that education and degree will get you where you want to go.
• Improve your qualifications. 

These are all legitimate options, and I am a big believer in practicing the art of the possible. Choose the option that best suits your needs and resources, including time. Numbers 1 and 2 are particularly appropriate if you were performing at your best and didn’t have circumstances beyond your control hampering you. 

However, I’m going to focus now on those choosing option number 3.
If you really want to do something, whether it’s becoming a physician, a management consultant, or an attorney specializing in mergers and acquisitions on Wall Street, and you realize you need to improve your qualifications to gain admission to the programs that will prepare you for your dream future, don’t give up because you made a few foolish decisions 3, 5 or 10 years ago or had unexpected difficulties. Maybe you didn’t take school seriously as an undergrad, maybe you struggle with standardized tests, or maybe you don’t have the experience the admission committees typically look for. 

Or perhaps life, in the form of health, family, financial problems, or circumstances beyond your control, prevented you from performing up to your capabilities.
Again, quoting Churchill, 

“Success is the ability to go from failure to failure without losing your enthusiasm”.

In all the above cases, don’t let your past define you. You have the gift of change, and schools are generally open to reinvention, particularly when in addition to showing you can do the work, it demonstrates resilience, maturity, and grit. 



If your academic performance is not competitive at your target schools, you will need to show them that today, you can perform and do the work their program demands. A competitive test score is part of that reinvention. You should prepare for the test and only take it when practice exams show you earning a competitive score. If self-study doesn’t earn you that score, then consider a course or even hiring a tutor. 


If your grades are below average, then you need to take relevant courses and earn A’s in them. How many will depend on how far below average your grades are. Be smart. If you had poor study habits, work first to improve those habits so that you can earn those A’s. You can’t afford mediocre grades now.
If you don’t have the experience that schools like to see, get it. Usually experience that shows you know what you’re getting into and have an affinity for it. For healthcare, that will mean volunteering or working in a clinical environment and perhaps shadowing those performing the function you are interested in. For b-school it will be full-time work experience that allows you to develop and demonstrate the skills business schools want to see: leadership, teamwork, organizational skills, communications skills, vision, and the ability to motivate others. For lawyers, you will need to demonstrate strong writing and research experience. And other graduate programs usually have experiential wants, if not requirements, for example research-oriented programs will want to see that you have done relevant research. Again, if you don’t have that experience, get it either on a paid or volunteer basis.


Life may have handed you a few curveballs or you may have created for yourself a few curveballs in the form of mistakes. Assuming the circumstances that threw you the curveballs no longer exist or that you have learned how to deal with them, show the programs you can handle their curriculum. Improve to make yourself a qualified, competitive candidate for those dream schools if you choose option number 3.

If you are writing about some challenge that you faced and overcame, focus on how you have been strengthened as a result of this difficulty. Briefly describe the situation and the challenge and go into more details about your response and the effect of the experience on you. I want to caution you against whining, blaming, and/or finger pointing. You want the reader to be impressed by your response, resilience, and fortitude, not feel pity towards you because you seem weak or bitter. Two of the most impressive podcast guests I ever interviewed overcame enormous obstacles to achieve incredible academic and professional success. Check out podcast episodes #136 and #311 for the stories of Dr. Antonio Webb and HBS grad Ida Valentine respectively.

I also want to talk to you for a minute about the free and paid resources at Accepted. Ever since I put up Accepted’s first web site in July 1996, I have taken pride in the assistance Accepted provided via its free resources, starting simply with articles on the site. With the evolution of the web, we added text-only chats, a blog, social media, webinars (mostly during Covid), and of course this podcast. I am very proud of the thousands we helped who only used the free resources at Accepted, and I delighted in the emails I received that said “I used accepted.com but couldn’t afford your services and got into my dream school. Thank you” 



While I am happy for these applicants and appreciated those emails, there is a strong financial argument for investing in admission consulting if you or your family can afford it and maybe even if you need to borrow from relatives. Going back to my earlier point, graduate school is a means to an end, and for most of you that end has a financial benefit: You will make more money with your graduate degree than without it. 

In some cases, you will make substantially more with it. Furthermore, in many cases, you will have more opportunities and probably a higher income if you are accepted to certain top programs over other “less top” programs. 

That increased anticipated income usually justifies on a financial basis the expense of receiving personalized guidance geared to your situation and needs from one of Accepted’s outstanding admissions consultants. You see, the free resources are of necessity general. They can’t provide advice on the specific steps that you as an individual can take to improve your qualifications, select the right program, and effectively present those qualifications while showing fit with the programs you’d love to attend. 

As I mentioned at the beginning of this podcast, you can also sample the service with a free, half-hour consultation, get advice on the best service for you given where you’re at and your budget, and then decide if it’s for you. We’re talking about your professional future and having an experienced professional guiding you through a difficult process that you only want to go through once (or once more if you are a reapplicant.) To explore the services and sign up for that consultation, just go to accepted.com.

At this point I want to thank you, Accepted’s listeners, and all the guests we’ve had since 2012 when I launched this podcast for being part of this journey. And I want to wish you, AST listeners, much success in the application process, graduate school, and beyond.



Related Resources

• Free consultation 
• Accepted’s Free Guides
• Accepted’s Sample Essays

Related shows

• The Unbelievable Story of an Orthopedic Surgeon, podcast Episode 136
• Ida Valentine: Investment Banker, Inspirational Speaker, HBS 2021, podcast Episode 311

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