The rankings are not… The rankings are not objective measures of educational quality that apply across the board to all students. Nothing fits that bill. Educational quality is highly subjective, and experts debate it endlessly. Moreover, student objectives vary so “quality” differs from student to student. For example, a female student interested in strategy consulting…
MEDICAL SCHOOL ADMISSIONS
A Writing Lesson from President Obama
Take a writing lesson from President Obama. Newly sworn in, he ended his inauguration speech with these paragraphs: So let us mark this day with remembrance, of who we are and how far we have traveled. In the year of America’s birth, in the coldest of months, a small band of patriots huddled by dying…
Despite Recession, Medical Schools Expanding
Boom Amid Bust: Med Schools Grow As Economy Tanks reports that in response to an anticipated doctor shortage, medical schools are increasing enrollment and expanding their programs. In addition, new schools are sprouting across the country. According to the president-elect of the American Medical Association, Dr. J. James Rohack, the reason is simple: “Americans are…
Med School Admissions: The “Problem” of Multiple Acceptances
Being offered admission by two or more medical schools is certainly nothing to complain about, but it may make your life a bit more complicated if the schools in question aren’t among your top choices and you’re awaiting decisions from your favorites. AAMC has rules to cover this situation. Complete information is available at http://www.aamc.org/students/applying/policies/admissionofficers.htm,…
4 Steps to Writing About Your Potential to Contribute
Most schools, both undergraduate and graduate, want to see how you will contribute to the growth of your classmates and enhance the school’s program. There will most likely be room in one of the essays you are asked to write to show the strengths, interests and experience you will bring with you and how you…
What You Don’t Need to Know on a Waitlist
At the Ross waitlist chat yesterday, there were the usual percentage of questions related to waitlist stats. Indeed, at this time of year every year, waitlist applicants obsess over previous years’ acceptance rates at the schools waitlisting them. Nervous, tense applicants ask, “How many students at School X have been waitlisted and then accepted? Is…
Medical School Gender Balance
Although medical school enrollment currently has gender parity, men still dominate the ranks of senior faculty at medical schools. Many assume the imbalance may be due to female professors’ greater responsibilities at home and a lack of part-time careers in academic medicine. In The Second Shift in Academic Medicine, Inside Higher Ed reports on a recent study…
Medical School Admissions: What if I’m not accepted?
A new year brings, among opportunities for new beginnings and many other wonderful things, another dose of anxiety for those who hope to be in medical school in seven or eight months. The anxiety is of a happy variety for some as they weigh the two or more acceptances they’ve received or continue to go…
Medical School Admissions: Deferral?
“Suppose I want to defer….” Congratulations! You’ve made it into medical school! All your hard work has paid off, and you’re free of stress for the first time in years. Not exactly. Maybe you’re feeling more than a little burned out with the school scene. Maybe you’re thinking about the travel and study abroad opportunities…
Baylor Med School Dismisses President
The Dallas News reports that Trustees at Baylor College of Medicine and Peter Traber have agreed that he will step down as the school’s president and CEO, as of December 1. After serving as the medical school’s president for the last five and a half years, Traber will continue his affiliation with Baylor as president…
Exercise to Quiet the Critic
Most of us carry a very large critic inside our heads when we sit down to write. I have an exercise that helps writers defeat this critic who keeps them from writing. Dialogs to Diffuse The Power of Critical Voices Years ago, I was flying Southwest Airlines from Seattle to Tucson where I was going…
Maclean’s Magazine Issues Latest Canadian Rankings
The Chronicle of Higher Education reports that Maclean’s released its 18th annual Canadian University Rankings aiming to provide essential information that will help students find undergraduate and graduate programs that will best suit their needs. Some interesting highlights: For the fourth consecutive year, McGill University was #1 in the medical-doctoral category. The University of Toronto…
Getting Closer to Your Material: “This is a story about….”
When you need to remember the images and details of an experience, it can be helpful not to worry about chronology and narrative as you begin writing, because fresh to the page, you might become stymied wondering how to fit everything together. In that state, you may inadvertently start squelching details so you won’t have…
Approaching the Ethics Essay
No B-school application essay may be harder to write than the ethics essay. For most applicants, one challenge is simply identifying an appropriate story. Many applicants assume that the ethics essay is designed to put their morals to some stringent litmus test. They brainstorm for examples that show them proudly refusing bribes, pointedly excusing themselves…
The Many Faces of Leadership
“I figured it all out.” That’s how I would paraphrase the essays many of my clients—MBA applicants and others—write in response to the ubiquitous “Describe a leadership experience” question. Now of course “figuring it all out,” my shorthand for “I came up with a creative solution to a tricky problem” or “I developed a killer…
Write Killer Openings
On June 18th, 2006, I was pronounced dead for just over one minute. Want to read more? Good. That was the idea: to grab you from the start. Luckily, on June 18th, 2006, I wasn’t dead—to my knowledge. But if I had been, presumably as the result of some kind of horrible and quite possibly…
Innovation and Leadership
I just read McKinsey Consulting’s fascinating interview with director Brad Bird. While McKinsey’s focus was on the lessons one can learn about innovating from one of the world’s most innovative companies, Brad Bird’s story was also a story of laudable leadership. Many applicants find "leadership" the most difficult of the MBA qualities to demonstrate in…
Personal Statement Tip: Once Upon a Time…
Once upon a time there was a wedding (actually yesterday). The father of the bride wanted to give a speech. His wife (me) worried that he would bore the guests. Mildly insulted and not wanting to forgo an opportunity to praise the bride, his new son-in-law, his son-in-law’s parents, and to share a few words…
What is an Accomplishment?
Accomplishments constitute the bread and butter of personal statements and application essays. Nothing too exciting in that statement. However, a fascinating brainstorming session on Accepted’s Editor Mailing List reveals that applicants don’t always know what an accomplishment is. What goes into this application staple? The bread: Impact. Your accomplishment must show you as a contributor…
Admissions Tip: Banish Common Boring Openings
What are the most boring, non-starters for your application essay, personal statement, or statement of purpose? The openings that use wording from the question, or in the case of general questions, are so common that they will have a narcotic effect on any admissions reader wading through mounds of files. This morning Accepted’s editors discussed…
