Typical Medical School Interview Questions

Enter interview day ready to show how you can contribute to the entering class and why you are confident you are a good match for this particular program. You will have already spent loads of time looking inward at yourself and outward at your target program – so these points should be no-brainers by now!

The structure of the interview usually goes as follows: First there are initial questions to get to know you and help you relax; then the interviewer will move onto some standard questions; and then there will be some personal questions about your experiences and then some thought-provoking questions. You’ll find examples of questions in each of these categories below.

Initial Questions to Help You Relax

A good interviewer will work hard to help you relax initially so that you have a conversation, rather than a cut and dry Q&A session. Typical questions in this category include:

• Tell me about your parents? Your siblings?

• How was your trip here? Is this your first trip to this city? What do you think of the weather?

• What are your favorite sports teams?

• What are your hobbies?

Standard Questions about Your Education and Your Interest in Med School

Then the interviewer will move on to some basic questions about your interest in med school, such as:

• Why do you want to go to medical school?

• Explain your transcript discrepancies from your undergraduate record.

• Share your most meaningful extracurricular activity.

• Describe a time when you were in a caring role.

• Describe your clinical exposure. Was there significant patient contact?

• What was your most rewarding volunteer position?

• Describe your research exposure? What it bench or clinical?

• Describe the activities you had during your gap year.

• Why did you enroll in a post-baccalaureate program?

Personal Questions

Then the mood may change as the interviewer turns towards some more personal questions in an effort to better get to know you. These may include:

• Have you ever experienced adversity? How did you respond?

• What qualities do you possess that make you confident you can be a physician?

• What are your strengths? Your weaknesses?

• What are you most proud of?

• Who has had the greatest impact on your life, helping you get to where you are today?

Thought-Provoking Questions

They’ll then want to pick your brain a bit with questions such as these:

• What are your views on [choose any of these controversial issues – abortion/right to life/assisted suicide/Medicare/DNR]?

• Where do you envision yourself ten years from now professionally?

• How do you envision the field of healthcare in ten years?

• What do you think of managed care? Is this best? Will physicians lose all autonomy?

In a nutshell, you can expect questions to help you relax and questions that may challenge you. You can also anticipate questions about you, about healthcare, and about matters that will allow you to show fit with this particular medical school.

“Typical Medical Interview Questions” is excerpted from the Accepted guide, The Ultimate Guide to Medical School Interview Success. Download the complete guide here.

Are you ready to answer all of the above interview questions? Our expert admissions consultants will help you prepare, giving you the confidence you need to present yourself in the most impressive way possible while addressing these questions and others. Check out our Med School Mock Interview Services now!

Related Resources:

• The Ultimate Guide to Medical School Interview Success
• How to Discuss Failure in a Medical School Interview
• Practicing for Your Med School Interview: Conversation 101

Tags: Medical School Admissions

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Ivy Leagues Release Early-Acceptance Rates

Many students who applied for early decision/action to Ivy League schools can stop checking their mail for their acceptance letters. Nearly every Ivy League university has reported the number of applicants who were accepted early this year, according to a Business Insider article.

Harvard had the lowest acceptance rate, with just 14.5% of applicants receiving acceptance letters, versus 14.8% last year. Applications were up 5% over last year, increasing from 6,167 to 6.473.

All of the Ivy League schools reported an increase in applications this year. Princeton had the largest jump – 4,229 last year to 5,003 this year – an 18% increase.

Early applications come with conditions. Harvard, Princeton, and Yale are restrictive early-action schools. This means that students can only apply early to one school, but have until May to accept.

In contrast, Brown, Columbia (which does not announce acceptance statistics), Cornell, Dartmouth, and University of Pennsylvania are all early-decision schools. Students who apply early to these schools must go there if they get accepted.

Here are this year’s early decision/action acceptance stats for each Ivy League school:

Are you aiming for admission at an Ivy League university (or any other top school)? Check out our College Admissions Consulting Services for 1-on-1 guidance for every step of the admissions process.

Been rejected from a top program? Take a look at our Rejection Review Service, where we’ll help you understand what went wrong so you can reapply with confidence… and get accepted!

Related Resources:

• Preparing for College in High School: A To-Do List for Eleventh Graders, a free guide
• How to Choose a College Admissions Consultant
• 10 Reflections on Teacher Recommendations

Tags: College Admissions

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Weighting Your Needs & Wants When Applying to Business School

In our Choosing the Best MBA Program for You series, you’ll learn how to create a list of business schools that are the best fit for your educational, social, and professional preferences and how creating this list will boost your chances of getting accepted.

In our last post, we began discussing evaluating what you need or want in an MBA program. In this post, we’ll delve deeper into the needs and wants issue by weighting them – though not rigidly. Simply, understanding the importance of a given factor will save you time up front by not considering schools that don’t meet your core needs. It will also help to uncover any contradictions that you might need to resolve (like if you prefer to attend schools in the southeast, but also want to be near your significant other in Boston).

For each of the wants/needs you’ve identified, assign one of the following categories:

• Essential: This category applies to things that you must have no matter what – without them, you can’t attend a program. If you are making a career change into marketing, you need a program with strong marketing curriculum and recruiting. Period.

• Very important: This category applies to the things that are highly important to you, but are not “must-haves” like those above. Things that you would consider compromising on if you really, really had to, but really, really don’t want to. For some people that might mean a geographic location, for others a warm and open community, for others the chance to take courses in the university’s law or public policy program.

• Important: Consider this the “nice to have” category – things that would make a program more attractive to you but wouldn’t necessarily be a deciding factor.

• Neutral: This category means simply not a factor. Some people would just as readily have curriculum flexibility or structure or would just as readily live in Palo Alto or Fontainebleau, strange as that may seem.

The main purpose of this exercise is to think about and define your priorities. Some people may be comfortable keeping these rankings in their head as they go through the next steps; others will make a spreadsheet with them.

You can significantly increase your chances of getting accepted by applying to the programs that are the best fit for your unique qualifications, goals, and preferences. Our MBA admissions consulting services will provide you with the one-on-one guidance you need to submit the best MBA applications to the best MBA programs for YOU!

Cindy Tokumitsu has advised hundreds of successful applicants, helping them gain acceptance to top MBA and EMBA programs in her 15+ years with Accepted. She would love to help you too. Want Cindy to help you get Accepted? Click here to get in touch!

 

Related Resources:

• Navigate the MBA Maze: 9 Tips to Acceptance
• Are You Targeting the Right MBA Program for You?
• Which B-School is the Best for You?

Tags: MBA Admissions

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10 Tips and Tricks for Acing the IELTS

The path to passing the IELTS is not a straight line, nor a short walk. You can think of it more as a long hike, challenging but rewarding.

Now, if you go on a long hike, you’ll need to pack a bag of supplies. In the case of the “hike” to IELTS success, your supplies are a bag of tips and tricks. Below, let’s look at 10 tips & tricks for the IELTS. These can help you a lot on the road to your target score.

1. Practice with full-length IELTS Tests

Don’t just practice for the IELTS a few questions at a time, or one section at a time. While shorter practice sessions can be useful, it’s very important to also use some full-length IELTS exams in your test prep. Why? Because–and maybe I’m stating the obvious–on test day, you’ll be taking a full-length IELTS! The best way to prepare for the real exam is to take practice tests that have the same length and the same sections.

2. Use official IELTS materials

As I just told you, you want to use practice materials that are true to the real test day experience. So practice questions and tests from the official creators of the IELTS are a must-have! Only the makers of the actual IELTS offer test questions that are taken from real past IELTS exams. This kind of practice is very valuable. And you can supplement the official stuff with high quality unofficial questions from websites such as Magoosh IELTS. Magoosh also has a free guide on where to get good IELTS practice materials, including official practice.

3. Aim for a higher score than the one you need

Let’s say your university or employer wants a 6.5 IELTS score. Do you aim for 6.5? You could, but that’s actually risky. Instead, you want to aim for at least a 7. That way, you have room for a few unexpected mistakes on test day. Always aim for at least 0.5 higher than the required score.

4. Understand how IELTS scores are calculated

As the English-language expression says, “knowing is half the battle.” You should know how your Listening and Reading “raw scores” (your actual number of correct answers) will be converted to an official band score (band 6, band 6.5, band 7, etc.). You should also take a good long look at the scoring standards for IELTS Writing and Speaking. To learn all about your IELTS grading, check out this guide to IELTS scores.

5. Choose your IELTS test date wisely

Choosing an IELTS test date can be the “tightrope walk” portion of your journey. It requires delicate balance to schedule your test at the right time. But it’s worth the effort. Take the time to choose wisely. If at all possible, set a date that both meets your deadlines and gives you enough time to prepare. Also try to set a date that gives you time for a retake, just in case you need one. For a guide to registering for an IELTS test date, choosing the right day, and more, see this article on IELTS test dates and registration.

6. Know exactly where your test center is… before test day

Let me tell you one of the most preventable causes of low IELTS scores: showing up to the test center late… or showing up with no time to spare, tired and stressed-out from the trip. You can prevent this by visiting your test center in person before the test day. Learn exactly how to get to the building by actually going to the building. Know where the testing room itself is. And above all, make note of how long it takes you to get there. You want the end of your journey, the actual physical trip to the test site, to go as smoothly as possible.

7. Look at sample IELTS Writing essays

The best writers read a lot. And to be a good IELTS writer, the most important thing to read is samples of top-scoring IELTS essays. For model IELTS essays and tons of other IELTS Writing tips and tricks, read through these comprehensive guides to IELTS Academic Writing Task 1 and IELTS Writing Task 2.

8. Get feedback on IELTS Writing and IELTS Speaking

The first two sections of the IELTS, Listening and Reading, are graded with an answer key. But IELTS Writing and IELTS Speaking are both graded by a human team of scorers. So your practice with these sections should include the human touch. Find an actual person, whether it’s a teacher, a classmate, or a friend or family member with good English. Then have them give you feedback on your practice essays and your IELTS interview answers. Human feedback will help prepare you for the human scorers you’ll face when you sit for the exam.

9. Know what accents to expect

IELTS Listening focuses on standard British English. But those aren’t the only accents you hear on the exam. You may encounter any “native English” accent in IELTS Listening, including Australian, New Zealander, Canadian, American, and Irish. Know the different styles of English speech, and pay attention to the range of accents you hear in IELTS Listening practice sets.

10. Build up a good range of vocabulary for IELTS Reading

Written English is just “fancier” than spoken English. This means you can expect to see a pretty wide range of vocabulary in IELTS Reading. This is true both for IELTS Academic and IELTS General Training. So make sure you build your IELTS vocabulary well. Consider an official IELTS vocabulary workbook, such as Cambridge’s Vocabulary for IELTS. And when you go through practice IELTS reading passages, note and study any unfamiliar words you see.

David Recine is a test prep expert at Magoosh. He has a Bachelor of Social Work from the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire and a Masters in Teaching English to Speakers of other Languages from the University of Wisconsin-River Falls. He has been teaching K-12, University, and adult education classes since 2007 and has worked with students from every continent. Currently, David lives in a small town in the American Upper Midwest. When he’s not teaching or writing, David studies Korean, plays with his son, and takes road trips to Minneapolis to get a taste of city life.

Related Resources:

• Different Dimensions of Diversity, a podcast episode
• Affordable Online Test Prep, a podcast episode
• English Language Skills & Your MBA Admissions Profile

Tags: College Admissions, Grad School Admissions, Law School Admissions, MBA Admissions, Medical School Admissions

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Writing About Resilience in the Face of Failure

 Essay questions dealing with failure, risk, mistakes, and difficult interactions or conflict often cause applicants to cringe, squirm, and bite their nails. After all, you want to show yourself succeeding and conquering the world in your essays and personal statements, not falling down. But there’s a reason why these questions are common. Schools want to see how you grow following a setback: Do you show resilience? Do you smile and try again? Do you view the stumble as temporary, move on, applaud your effort, and accept a helping hand when offered? Reading about setbacks is a way for the admissions committee to learn about your character.

Here are three tips to portray your setbacks as growth opportunities and occasions of achievement:

1. Focus on how failures lead to successes.

All humans make mistakes, and mistakes often lead to great things. You may accidentally stumble on a new idea or invention that you otherwise wouldn’t have encountered, or you may grow and learn how to become a greater person from the failure or disappointment. Thomas Edison, the inventor and businessman who invented the light bulb and phonograph, once said about his scientific experiments, “I have not failed. I’ve just found 10,000 ways that won’t work.” Edison took his failures in stride and reframed them to pave his way to success. You should do the same!

TIP: Choose an experience for your essay where you experienced feelings of failure, disappointment, frustration, or inadequacy. Define your “blew it” moment, but use your “failure” to demonstrate success, accomplishment, resilience and character.

EXAMPLE: Perhaps you made a mistake in the lab that cost you weeks of work, but you learned something important about lab techniques, and now you’ve become a more fastidious researcher as a result. (Note: this needs to go way beyond the normal trial-and-error nature of research.) Or perhaps your failure was personal: maybe you neglected an important relationship, and as a result of that loss, you’ve made a point of treating people with particular respect.

2. Focus on why something went wrong.

Another important theme of your essay should be a deep understanding of your negative experience. By discussing what went wrong and why it went wrong, you’re showing the adcom that you don’t just place blame on circumstances, but that you look for real answers and real solutions.

TIP: In your essay, reflect on the reasons behind your failure and the steps you took to avoid similar mistakes.

EXAMPLE: If you pushed to complete a work project resulting in resentment among colleagues, then you should write about the extra attention you now pay to the suggestions and efforts of your colleagues.

3. Focus on what you’ve learned from the experience on a personal level.

Not only do your failures help you stay away from future failures, they also impact you as a person.

TIP: Write about the importance of owning up to your mistakes. The humility and maturity that accompany owning up to your error are excellent self-improvement qualities to highlight.

EXAMPLE: If you made a programming error, a client caught it, and you accepted responsibility for your actions, you can write about how you’ve since implemented more stringent quality assurance protocols, and how you’ve accepted that you need better QA – that you aren’t infallible.

Of course, don’t just talk about “resilience.” Demonstrate it through anecdotes that show you picking yourself up, improving, acknowledging effort, persisting, and ultimately succeeding in one way or another. By portraying these qualities in your essay, you will convince the adcom that you can indeed conquer the world, or at the very least pick yourself up after you stumble.

Not sure how to move forward with a failure-themed essay? Our consultants at Accepted can brainstorm with you on how to present your best self even in tough situations. Be in touch today!

Related Resources:

• Leadership in Admissions, a free guide
• The Past Doesn’t Define You, a podcast episode
• Flaws Make You Real

Tags: College Admissions, Grad School Admissions, Law School Admissions, MBA Admissions, Medical School Admissions

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What Should You Do During Your Medical School Interview?

Some of these tips are obvious, some less so. All are important and will help you maintain a sense of professionalism, project confidence, reduce anxiety, and prove to the interviewer that you’re a top med school shoo-in.

1. Make sure you smile. Chances are, your interviewer will smile back. This will help set the tone for a friendly conversation, ideally helping you eliminate nervousness and increase your ability to speak openly about your experiences.

2. Maintain eye contact throughout the interview. This lets them know you’re focused and paying attention. (And this will help you actually remain focused and paying attention if drifting off into la-la-land is something that happens to you during conversations.)

3. Relax as best as you can. A good interviewer will work to help you relax during those initial questions. Ideally you and your interviewer will have a conversation that flows rather than a disjointed and strained Q&A session.

4. Definitely don’t bring a cup of coffee with you (or any other food or drink).

5. Try not to fidget.

6. Take notes if it seems relevant. This shows that you are truly interested.

7. Be yourself. You can’t reinvent yourself, but rather try to shine during the interview with your best qualities. That means:

• If you are animated and outgoing, go right ahead and show it.

• If you are describing an experience that was particularly important to you, do show your passion.

• If you are shy that’s fine, but still try to find a connection with your interviewer.

8. Present yourself honestly. More specifically:

• If you are discussing a weak part of your record, own up to your mistakes and then stress your improvements. Don’t minimize your past, but try to move on to future positives.

• Be sincere, especially when talking about strengths and weaknesses. Confidence is fine but make sure you include a touch of humility.

• When answering questions about yourself think about what you really want the interviewer to know about you. What defines you? Make sure you share those traits. Show some level of self-reflection demonstrating a clear understanding of how you’ve gotten to this point. It’s ok to pause to think before jumping into an answer.

• If you have had to come back from adversity, share the experience. If you are one of the lucky ones who has not had many struggles in your life, then still think how to answer an adversity question. Adversity comes in many shades – physical, financial, personal, and/or emotional. Each of us has had some degree of struggle.

Most importantly go into the interview with a clear vision of what you want the interviewer to know about you and do your very best to get those particular key points across.

“What to Do During Your Medical School Interview” is excerpted from the Accepted guide, The Ultimate Guide to Medical School Interview Success. 

Are you nervous about your upcoming interview? Our expert admissions consultants will give you the confidence you need to present yourself in the most impressive way possible. Check out our Med School Mock Interview Services now!

Related Resources:

• The Ultimate Guide to Med School Interview Success
• Do I Really Need a Mock Admissions Interview?, a short video
• What I Learned as a Student Member of a Medical School Admissions Committee

Tags: Medical School Admissions

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Top MBA Programs That Defer

Most U.S. MBA programs will allow students to defer acceptance (push off starting the program for a year) for U.S. military deployment, illness, or illness of a loved one for whom the candidate is the sole or a major caregiver (you will need proof of the above).

Check with the individual programs, but here are a few specifics:

• Stanford GSB admits students directly from college, but suggests a 1-3 year deferral to gain experience.

• Harvard Business School has a similar policy, but applicants must be admitted through the 2+2 Program.

• MIT Sloan offers an automatic readmit to candidates they admitted in the prior year, but who could not attend. It’s basically the same as a deferral except the candidate must complete the application again.

Top 20 MBA programs rarely offer deferrals for financial or work related reasons (other than military and the exceptions I stated above). However, it never hurts to ask.

A Cautionary Tale

When I was the Director of Admissions and Financial Aid at Cornell Johnson (many years ago), I had a Cornell candidate who applied three years in a row due to work-related reasons (his consulting firm just kept giving him projects he didn’t want to turn down).

The first year he sent me a note about the new project and explained how much stronger a candidate he would be if I deferred his admission. I asked him to reapply because we did not defer for work-related reasons (except military deployment). He reapplied, and the second year I admitted him again, but he never sent me a note indicating that he would not be attending the program. He just didn’t show on the first day of class and assumed that was okay. It wasn’t.

He had the nerve to reapply the third year, and I did not admit him despite the strength of his application. His lack of communication when he wanted to defer a second time took a spot away from another candidate. That kind of hubris did not belong at Cornell (and I didn’t mind telling him my reasons when he called to find out why I denied his application… he was stunned).

What Should You Do If You Want to Defer?

• If you haven’t yet been accepted: If you have not yet heard a decision from the school, you should withdraw your application from further review. Explain why you are withdrawing your application, indicate that you will be reapplying next year and that you plan to attend the school if admitted (if true).

• If you’ve already been accepted: If you’ve already been admitted, request the deferral. The worst case scenario is that the school will tell you that they don’t grant deferrals.

Not sure if you should defer or not? Need assistance weighing the pros and cons of your unique situation? Our expert consultants can help you evaluate your admissions case to determine if, when, and how you should defer. Check out our MBA Admissions Consulting Services for more information!

By Natalie Grinblatt Epstein, an accomplished Accepted consultant/editor (since 2008) and entrepreneur. Natalie is a former MBA Admissions Dean and Director at Ross, Johnson, and Carey. Want Natalie to help you get accepted to business school? Click here to get in touch!

 

Related Resources:

• When & Why to Pass on a B-School Acceptance Offer
• Harvard, Stanford, Wharton: What’s the Difference?, a short video
• MBA Choices: Dream School vs. Scholarship School?

Tags: MBA Admissions

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History Made: More Women Than Men in 2017 Entering Med School Class

According to data recently released by the AAMC (Association of American Medical Colleges), for the first time in history there are more women than men enrolled in US medical schools.

Of the 21,338 matriculants in 2017, 50.7% were women, compared with 49.8% in 2016. This represents a 3.2% increase in females enrolling in med school this year, while male enrollees declined by 0.3%. The number of female matriculants has risen 9.6% since 2015, while the number of males fell 2.3% during the same period.

The report also showed that there is increased diversity in med schools around the country. The number of black or African American students enrolling in med school increased by 12.6% from 2015-2017, while the number of first-year students who were Hispanic, Latino, or of Spanish origin rose by 15.4%. However, there is still a shortage of American Indian/Alaskan Natives and black male med school applicants.

According to Darrell G. Kirch, MD, AAMC president and CEO, “This year’s matriculating class demonstrates that medicine is an increasingly attractive career for women and that medical schools are creating an inclusive environment. While we have much more work to do to attain broader diversity among out students, faculty and leadership, this is a notable milestone.”

Med school enrollment has increased by nearly 30% since 2002. However, as per an earlier 2017 AAMC study, there is expected to be a shortage of between 40,800 and 104, 900 physicians by 2030. Future physicians will face more demands due to a growing and aging population.

There are ongoing efforts to ensure that there will be enough qualified physicians in the future. Twenty-two new medical schools have opened in the last 10 years, with 2 opening just last year.

Increasing diversity in the physician population continues to be important in addressing public health needs. According to David Acosta, MD, chief diversity and inclusion officer at the AAMC, “Research shows that minority students are up to three times more likely to practice in a community made up of individuals from the same race or ethnicity and to practice in medically underserved areas.”

Acosta feels that med schools need to ensure that their institutional learning environment is welcoming and inclusive to groups underrepresented in medicine. The environment not only needs to help them survive, but to thrive as well.

Do you dream of becoming a doctor? Check out our medical school admissions services for help crafting an admissions strategy that will get you accepted!

Related Resources:

• Different Dimensions of Diversity, a podcast episode
• Applying as a Person Considered Underrepresented in Medicine
• Medical Minority Applicant Registry (Med-MAR): Who, How, & Why?

Tags: Medical School Admissions

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Revising and Polishing Your Application Essays

In our How to Write Exemplary Application Essays blog series, you’ll learn how to create exemplary essays by analyzing sample successful application essays.

In the last post, we shared tips on how to put pen to paper (or fingers to keyboard) to create that first draft. Now it’s time to revise and edit; outstanding essays are not sprung into the world on the first draft. Here’s how to edit and polish until your essay shines:

Step 1: First, let your essay sit for a day or two, particularly after an intensive writing session. You’ll return to your document with fresh eyes, and undoubtedly find ways to strengthen it immediately. One of the most common problems plaguing these types of essays is bland, forgettable writing. When you return to your essay, if you spot any writing as generic as in the next sentence, you have work to do:

“Although I have been responsible for a lot of exciting projects, I want to move into management, which may not happen on my current path.”

What kind of projects? What made them exciting? Why wouldn’t a management path be open to the writer? Let’s resuscitate this prose by adding appropriate details.

“My role as a product manager for a mid-sized giftware business has allowed me to develop my creativity as well as communication and market research skills. As exciting as it has been to have been involved in the planning and release of our innovative kitchen giftware, whose designs are based on famous Impressionist paintings, I want to move more into management, which seems unlikely at this family-owned and managed company.”

Adding details takes more room, but it makes your essay come alive. It’s also better to write about fewer examples and flesh each out in greater detail than to write a laundry list of either accomplishments or character traits you feel you possess. “Show, don’t tell,” remains a cardinal rule in writing.

Step 2: Ditch the passive voice – this will further enliven and tighten your writing.

“Negotiations over the extent of the website design were carried out by a team of managers and myself, representing the technical team.”

This passive construction is five words longer and drags a bit. Move the “doer” of the action to the head of the sentence for a resulting sentence that makes you sound like a leader:

“I represented the technical team in negations with management over the extent of the website design.”

Step 3: Read your essay aloud. Reading your work silently to yourself is quite different than actually hearing the words out loud. When you listen to your essay, you’ll likely catch small mistakes that you inadvertently missed during the editing process, and hear phrasing that you can strengthen.

Step 4: Make sure your essay achieves the job you set out for it. Do you sound like the irresistibly focused, thoughtful, and energetic individual you want to sound like? Make sure that the voice you created on the page resonates positively.

Summary Tips:

• Wait a day after writing a draft, so you can return to it with a fresh perspective.

• Look for instances of bland writing or passive voice, then replace with writing that is specific and active.

• Read your essay aloud so you can hear the voice you have created. Does it meet your goals? If not, keep revising and enlist an experienced editor to help get you to the finish line.

Work one-on-one with an expert who will walk you through the process of creating a slam-dunk application when you check out our catalog of application services. Our admissions consultants have read thousands of essays and know the exact ingredients of an outstanding essay.

Related Resources:

• Five Fatal Flaws to Avoid in Your Personal Statement, a free guide
• 3 Tips for Showing Strengths in Your Application Essays
• Bring Your Personal Statement to Life With Vivid, Active Verbs

Tags: BBA Admissions, College Admissions, Grad School Admissions, Law School Admissions, MBA Admissions, Medical School Admissions

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NYU Stern Names Rangarajan Sundaram New Dean

NYU President Andrew Hamilton and Provost Katherine Fleming have announced that beginning January 1, 2018 Rangarajan “Raghu” Sundaram will be the new Dean of the Leonard N. Stern School of Business. Professor Sundaram will succeed Peter Henry, who has held the position since January, 2010.

Professor Sundaram joined Stern’s faculty a little more than 20 years ago. He is the Edward I. Altman Professor of Credit and Debt Markets and Professor of Finance. He has been Vice Dean of MBA Programs since 2016.

Despite having a pool of prominent candidates for the position of Dean, Stern ultimately chose one of their own. “Raghu Sundaram has a strong, highly regarded record of leadership and innovation, scholarship and teaching, and collegiality and service to both Stern and the University. In a field of distinguished candidates for Stern’s deanship, Raghu stood out.” The search committee was headed by Batia Wiesenfeld, chair of the Management and Organizations Department and the Andre J.L. Koo Professor of Management at Stern.

Professor Sundaram’s areas of expertise include agency problems, executive compensation, corporate finance, derivatives pricing, credit risk, and credit derivatives. He has published articles in Econometria, Journal of Economic theory, Journal of Business, Journal of Financial Economics, Journal of Finance, and Review of Financial Studies. He has authored two textbooks: A First Course in Optimization Theory (Cambridge University Press, 1996) and Derivatives: Principles and Practice (McGraw-Hill, 2010).

Professor Sundaram has received research grants from, among other organizations, the National Science Foundation. He has been awarded the Jensen Prize, was a finalist for the Brattle Prize, and won the Stern School’s first Distinguished Teaching Award.

He received his BA in economics from the University of Madras in 1982, and his MBA from the Indian Institute of Management, Ahemedebad in 1984. He was awarded his MA in economics from Cornell University in 1987, and his PhD in economics from Cornell in 1988. He joined the faculty of the University of Rochester in 1988, where he stayed until he joined Stern’s faculty in 1996.

Professor Sundaram was chosen as Stern’s Vice Dean for MBA programs in 2016. Among his achievements as Vice Dean were the creation of new, specialized one-year MBA programs, securing the support of business leaders such as Amazon, Microsoft, IBM, PayPal, and others, and Stern’s entry into online education.

Do you need help applying to NYU Stern or other top MBA programs? Our expert admissions advisors can guide you through every step of the MBA application process, from initial brainstorming to acceptance. Contact us and we’ll match you with your personal consultant today! 

 

Related Resources:

• Best MBA Programs, a guide to selecting the right one
• What’s New at NYU Stern? A Lot!, a podcast episode
• NYU Stern MBA Essay Tips & Deadlines

Tags: MBA Admissions

The post NYU Stern Names Rangarajan Sundaram New Dean appeared first on Accepted Admissions Blog.

Final Med School Interviews Are Coming Up! Are You Ready?

Your primary app is submitted and your secondaries are in. Each step in the application process is bringing you closer to your goal of med school acceptance and the next phase of your training, as you prepare to become a physician. The next step? The med school interview.

Getting an interview invitation is exciting, and rightfully so – it means that the school is impressed by your application and wants to get to know you better. For many people, once the exhilaration of the invite starts to fade, anxiety sets in: How can you prepare so that you’ll have the best chance at impressing the committee on interview day? What is the committee looking for? What should you do – and not do – before and during your interview? How can you ensure that this round of interviews will be your LAST round, and that you won’t need to reapply next year?

We know that preparing for an interview is stressful. That’s why we’ve pooled together years of interview expertise into our free, one-hour webinar, How to Nail Your Medical School Interviews. Accepted med expert Cydney Foote will guide you through what you need to know to prepare for your interviews – and shine on interview day.

Your med school interview is the FINAL COMPONENT of the long application process. It all hinges on this. Make sure you’re ready to knock the interviewer’s socks off!

The webinar is free, but you must reserve your spot.

Tags: Medical School Admissions

The post Final Med School Interviews Are Coming Up! Are You Ready? appeared first on Accepted Admissions Blog.

Encore: UCLA Anderson MBA Admissions According to Dean Alex Lawrence [Episode 239]

As applicants, students, and admissions consultants are knee deep in family, celebration, and application essays we’d like to play an encore of one of the most popular Admission Straight Talk podcast episodes of the year.

Our conversation with Alex Lawrence, Assistant Dean of MBA Admissions and Financial Aid at UCLA Anderson, is loaded with information about Anderson’s outstanding MBA program as well important insights into MBA admissions at top business schools. Listen to the show to find out what an admissions director is looking for when he reviews MBA applications!

For the show notes, check out the original blog post. 

Related Resources:

• Anderson Full-time MBA
• UCLA Anderson B-School Zone
• UCLA Anderson Essay Tips & Deadlines
• How an MBA from Anderson Helped this Career Switcher
• B-School for Good: Pursuing Social Impact Through UCLA Anderson’s Fully Employed MBA
• UCLA Anderson Executive MBA Application Essay Tips & Deadlines
• MBA Admissions Consulting Services

Related Shows:

• UCLA’s MS in Business Analytics: Prep for the Sexiest Job of the 21st Century
• What’s New at NYU Stern? A Lot!
• From Wall St to Wharton, While Starting Wall Street Oasis
• What’s Life Like as a Darden MBA and Entrepreneur?
• Make a Difference at Michigan Ross: An Interview with Soojin Kwon

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Tags: Admissions Straight Talk, MBA Admissions

The post Encore: UCLA Anderson MBA Admissions According to Dean Alex Lawrence [Episode 239] appeared first on Accepted Admissions Blog.