Doctors Wages Up!

A Medscape.com article talks about the increase in physician compensation over the last year following a decline in pay during the previous several years. The numbers, which the article goes on to detail, are based on Medscape’s 2013 Physician Compensation Report which also talks about an increase in frustration associated with medical practice. So while things may be getting complicated (insurance issues, the escape from private practice, patient-doctor time problems – see the article for more), at least doctors are receiving increases in compensation – there’s definitely a silver lining here!

Here are additional highlights from the report:

• Orthopedic surgeons have the highest income, earning about $405,000 (mean). Orthopedists reported a 27% increase in income from the previous year.
• Cardiologists come in second with a mean income of $357,000, followed by radiologists who make $349,000.
• Specialties with the smallest paychecks include pediatricians (at $173,000), family doctors ($175,000), endocrinologists/diabetes physicians ($178,000), and internists ($185,000). The lowest earning specialty is HIV/infectious diseases with a mean income of $170,000. (Last year, pediatricians made the least.)
• Two out of the 25 specialties that saw decreases in their income over the past year – endocrinologists by 3% and oncologists by 4%.
• Gender pay gap update: Last year male physicians earned 40% more than their female colleagues; this year the gap has narrowed to 30%. In primary care, the pay gap narrowed from 23% to 17%.

The Medscape article offers loads more data from the recent report, so head over there for more details.







Accepted.com ~ Helping You Write Your Best

INSEAD application deadlines are coming up!

There are a bunch of INSEAD application deadlines coming up, both for January 2014 intakes (class of 2014 – December) and for September 2014 intakes (class of 2015 – July).

Mark your calendars and please let us know how we can help you meet your INSEAD (or any other school) goals!

For January 2014 Start Date

- June 12, 2013 – R2 application deadline
- August 7, 2013 – R3 application deadline

For September 2014 Start Date

- October 2, 2013 – R1 application deadline
- November 27, 2013 – R2 application deadline
- March 5, 2014 – R3 application deadline

The first deadline on the list (in June) is less than a month away, and the others will creep up on you shortly thereafter! It’s time to get to work on those INSEAD applications!

For specific advice on how to get into INSEAD, check out our INSEAD B-School Zone. For one-on-one guidance through the application process, see our MBA Application Packages.

Accepted.com ~ Helping You Write Your Best

These tips can help you formulate the best strategy in applying to a postbac program. For over five years, I managed the postbac program application process for UC Davis School of Medicine. In this position, I reviewed thousands of applications. I have created the following tips to help you avoid the most common mistakes that applicants make in their application.

1. Do Your Homework

Before applying to a program, be sure that you fit all the basic requirements for the program. These are often listed on the program website. There’s nothing more frustrating than spending hours on an application, only to find out later that you are not eligible for the program based on a technicality.

2. Attend Informational Workshops

At these events, the program faculty or staff will provide presentations on their program. They can provide inside information that is not available on the website. Sometimes, students in the program host a panel—answering any questions that prospective applicants might have. This is a valuable source of information and an opportunity to network.

3. Request Letters of Recommendation Early

It can take a while for your letter writers to submit their recommendations. Be sure that you give them enough time to write you a great letter! Request your letters early. The most common reason that students applications are not given serious consideration is because they are missing letters of recommendation to support their application.

4. Submit Required Materials by the Deadlines

To be successful in any type of application process, it’s critical that you meet all deadlines for required materials. If there is any confusion about a deadline, contact the program staff and double-check the dates. Give yourself enough time. Meet those deadlines.

5. Complete All Sections of the Application

If there is any confusion whether a section of the application may be optional, be sure to ask for clarification. Even better, check the word or character limits on all essay sections and use the maximum amount of space available. This demonstrates your interest in the program.

This advice can ensure that you are successful in matriculating into a postbac program. If you have any questions, you can always contact the program staff. Often, this is a great opportunity to get to know the people who will be working with you during the program.

Alicia Nimonkar is an Accepted.com advisor and editor specializing in healthcare admissions. Prior to joining Accepted, Alicia worked for five years as Student Advisor at UC Davis’ postbac program where she both evaluated applications and advised students applying successfully to med school and related programs.

Get ready to read about our next student blogger, Victoria Knight, who blogs at

Accepted: Let’s start by getting some basics: Where are you from? Where and what did you study as an undergrad? Where did you work before heading to MIT?

Victoria: Hi Accepted.com! My name is Victoria Knight and I am a second year student in MIT’s Leaders for Global Operations program. I grew up in Massachusetts, but have also lived in Michigan for three years. I studied Architecture at MIT for my undergrad degree and, after school, I worked for an architecture firm and then in medical device manufacturing. My goal in going to graduate school was to continue to do something tangible afterwards, like manufacturing, rather than make a career transition to finance or something like that.

Accepted: Can you tell us about the dual degree you’re pursuing and about the Leaders for Global Operations program you’re in?

Victoria: Leaders for Global Operations (LGO), is a dual degree program between MIT’s Sloan School of Business and MIT’s School of Engineering. It requires a minimum of two years of work experience and was founded 25 years ago with the goal of supporting US manufacturing excellence. It is now more global and also has a focus on operations. After 24 months (18 months of classes and six months of internship), students graduate from the program with a MBA and a MS in an engineering department of their choice. You do have to write a thesis.

I chose Engineering Systems Division (ESD) for my engineering master’s. ESD is a department which covers lots of things, most of which I characterize as “meta engineering” – they look at high level systems problems. These can be anything from supply chain issues and transportation network planning to technology policy. Many of the classes I take are cross-listed in the Mechanical Engineering department.

Accepted: What is your favorite thing about MIT? Least favorite?

Victoria: My favorite thing about MIT is that it is impossible to be bored. Where MIT could most improve is probably is helping people find out about all the cool stuff that is going on and all the resources the campus (or their website) has to offer. I continue to learn about new offices, programs, lecture series, services, etc. that I never knew about before. I did not even know about LGO while I was at MIT for undergrad; I only found out about it in a young alumni email.

Accepted: What is your favorite class?

Victoria: My favorite class that I have taken as part of LGO would have to be a seminar called Lion Teams – we split into teams and acted as consultants for manufacturing companies in China. As part of the class, we visited these companies in China and complete additional on-site work. That was the first time I had been to Asia and it was a fantastic real world opportunity. I think it also gave me useful credibility for my position at Corning Incorporated.

Accepted: Congrats on your job offer! What will you be doing at Corning Incorporated? How did MIT help you find or secure that position?

Victoria: I will start there in mid-July and will be working on manufacturing strategy for their displays division. A large portion of my job will be visiting Corning’s manufacturing plants, many of which are in Asia, and completing analyses for them related to cost, capacity, etc.

I originally applied for a general strategy position at Corning which was listed on MIT Sloan’s Career website. To prep for my interviews I contacted a recent MIT Sloan alumnus who had worked in that role to get more background on the position and the company. After my on-site interview, the HR person from Corning suggested me for this manufacturing focused strategy position and which is the one I ultimately accepted. So, I would say that MIT helped me make the initial connection, but Corning worked to coordinate the final match.

Accepted: Why did you decide to blog about your grad school journey? What have you gained from the experience?

Victoria: I decided to blog about my LGO/grad school experience because of three things:

1. Reading current LGO student blogs was very helpful and important to me in learning more about the program; I wanted to continue that tradition.
2. As an MIT undergrad alumna, I felt that I could add extra information to my blog about how to make the most of campus and things in the Boston/Cambridge area that other LGOs could not.
3. I had kept a personal blog for three years before beginning LGO and so it was something I felt comfortable continuing.

Benefits that have come or will come from my blogging experience are: awesome satisfaction when an applicant tells me that my blog helped them decide to come to LGO, getting to share more about a school I love and finally, having a great set of “memories” written out that I can refer to in the future. I printed the personal blog that I had referenced earlier in a book form and intend to do the same for Let’s Get Operating.

Since I found out about LGO, to some extent, by chance, I am very happy that Accepted.com asked to interview me and that I could help more people learn about the program.

Do you want to be featured in Accepted.com’s blog, Accepted Admissions Blog? If you want to share your MBA/EMBA journey with the world (or at least with our readers), email us at mbabloggers@accepted.com.







Accepted.com ~ Helping You Write Your Best

So all you Stitcher people: run, don’t walk, to your nearest iPhone, Androiod, iPad, or PC and join Linda for a bi-weekly discussion of what’s new, thought-provoking, and useful in the world of graduate admissions.

• Former McKinsey consultant, resume screener, and case interviewer.
• Passed 60 out of 61 case interviews and landed 7 consulting job offers.
• Author of Case Interview Secrets, an extremely clear and well-written book on excelling in case interviews.
• Since 2003, strategic adviser and consultant to owners of mid-size business in service or web- based industries with $1M – $25M in sales.
• Speaker and expert on business issues turned to by media outlets including TIME, The Wall Street Journal, Inc, Fortune, and others.

I plan to focus this segment of Admissions Straight Talk on preparation for a career in management consulting.  I have a bunch of questions I know I want answers to, but I am also wondering:

What would you like me to ask Victor? What would you ask him if you could?

Please put those suggestions, requests, and questions in comments below. Don’t be shy. I am asking this same question in various social media too.

I’ll take the ones I’m dying to ask along with the best ones you send me, and they will be the building blocks of the next Admissions Straight Talk podcast.

We’ll post the segment here on Thursday May 23. To make sure you don’t miss it or any other segments of Admissions Straight Talk, the podcast for graduate school applicants, please subscribe:

• iTunes
• Stitcher
• Accepted’s blog

It can’t be easier, just put your questions in a comment below.

If you keep your eyes on the prize, then in all likelihood you’ll be wearing a white coat someday.

In our last Medical School Reapplicant Advice: 6 Tips for Success segment, we talked about how to best present yourself in your secondaries and interviews. Today we’ll move forward and discuss ways to boost your GPA, another important feature of your med school application profile.

Feeling a bit fragile after these first two sections? That’s to be expected – you’ve just gone undergone a pretty brutal review of your life. But the admissions committee is scrutinizing submissions with the same critical eye. Anticipating the problems so you can correct them is critical for success in your next attempt. And to start out, let’s look at how you can “fix” a poor GPA.

A low GPA is probably the hardest area to improve. This makes sense – it was years in the making, and can’t be undone without time. It can take about a year in advanced level science courses to bump a high 2.x GPA over 3.0. The lower your GPA, and the more classes you’ve taken, the longer it will take to reflect improvements in your academic record.

Fortunately, whether your GPA is just a bit off the mark or well below the competitive level, there are steps you can take.

Apply to an international medical school. Pursuing a medical degree abroad might be a viable option for you. The required GPA is often lower than the U.S. average and in some programs, the MCAT is not required. Courses are often taught by U.S. academic physicians with clinical rotations in the U.S. But if you do decide to attend an international medical school, realize that you will have to contend with many different challenges – from language barriers to culture shock – that could affect your studies.

Probably the biggest challenge for international medical graduates is securing a residency program after completing medical school. Only 54% of IMGs match to PGY1 programs, although the Educational Commission for Foreign Medical Graduates reports a consistent increase in this number over the past decade. I’ve worked with many successful IMGs over this same time period. What sets them apart is that they make up for any lack in their initial qualifications by working harder than the average medical student. They’re heavily involved in university activities, community healthcare initiatives, and international competitions. And significantly, they’re the ones who can express the advantages of their non-US medical education, including resourcefulness and the deep grounding in diagnoses that comes from doing without modern diagnostic equipment.

If you’re interested in an international program, do your research. Some Caribbean programs such as Ross University, St. George’s University, and the American University of the Caribbean have consistently high placement rates. Israeli programs like Sackler and Ben-Gurion have partnerships with American programs; likewise, the University of Queensland has an attractive option for U.S. students. And Ireland’s Atlantic Bridge program, although quite competitive, is flexible in its approach to the GPAs of qualified American and Canadian students.

Apply to a DO program. If your application is competitive but you just didn’t make the cut, you might consider an osteopathic medical program. Doctors of Osteopathic Medicine (DOs) focus on integrating the whole person into the healthcare process, which makes them especially strong in family practice, general internal medicine, and pediatrics. They are fully licensed physicians; they train in the same residency programs, take the same national board exams, and sit for the identical USMLE exams that the MD students do. Your chance of securing a residency might be less – in the most recent residency match, 75% of DOs matched compared to 94% of MDs – but the steady rise in DO matches suggests that any stigma against osteopathic physicians is changing.

The good news for borderline candidates is that DO schools have lower GPAs and MCAT requirements: The mean GPA in 2012 was 3.42 while the mean MCAT score was 26 (American Association of Colleges of Osteopathic Medicine). There are a number of programs worth exploring: West Virginia School of Osteopathic Medicine, Lincoln Memorial (Harrogate, TN), Nova Southeastern (Ft. Lauderdale), Touro (Vallejo, CA, Lake Erie (Erie, PA) and Western University (Pomona) all have strong programs that are less competitive. West Virginia, for instance, had the lowest reported average GPA (3.4) of all medical schools and an average MCAT score of 25. However, 55% of their graduates matched at their top residency program.

If you care more about being a doctor than the letters after your name, the DO route is definitely something to think about. However, getting into one of these programs is still going to require a strong GPA. So what can you do if your grades are lower?

Boost your GPA with post-baccalaureate classes. This is a popular route, especially for applicants who did well on the MCAT but need some help with their GPA. Retaking science classes can show you’ve mastered the material, but a better strategy is to take advanced classes and do well. If you have any doubt about your ability to get an A, then this is probably not the best path for you.

The quality of the institution offering the courses is important – community college won’t cut it. The best option is to see if your own alma mater will allow you to take additional courses; often this can be done at a reduced cost. If this doesn’t work out, Syracuse University has a very useful list of programs that offer post-bac courses in the sciences.

Improve your GPA with a science-based master’s program. This is another preferred route for would-be reapplicants, because it provides opportunities for more independent, self-directed research and demonstrates scientific acumen. It can be especially useful if you don’t have a research background already. Keep in mind though that you need to excel in your coursework and that you will have to finish the entire program; making below-average grades or dropping out before the program ends will do you more harm than good when you reapply to med school.

Master’s programs aren’t right for everybody – you might not want to commit to a multi-year program, or you might not be confident about your academic performance. Or you might not have the minimum GPA required for admittance in the first place. In that case:

Prove your potential in a special master’s program (SMPs). These programs, usually a year long, are often associated with a medical school. Students are immersed in a rigorous science-based curriculum almost identical to what they will face in medical school; often, they are even taking classes or being graded alongside first year med students. Success in these courses can show the admissions committee that you’re ready for medical training, which means that once you’re accepted into a SMP, the odds are very good you’ll eventually get into medical school.

Several programs cater to the lower end of the GPA/MCAT spectrum:

• East Virginia Medical School M.S. in Biomedical Sciences: In the past five years, 90% of students have been accepted to med school after completion of EVMS’ program. The program runs for two semesters; the majority of courses are taught by faculty in the medical school. They require at least a 2.75 GPA and a 27 on your MCAT. They recommend applying by April, but applications are accepted through May.

• The Virginia Commonwealth University: Pre-Medical Basic Health Certificate Program: Graduates completing the program with a 3.5 GPA/28 MCAT are guaranteed an interview at VCU School of Medicine. They require a 3.0 GPA and 25 MCAT for admission, and applications are accepted until July 1st.

• Drexel’s Medical Science Program (MSP): The year-long MSP offers graduate-level biological science coursework, formal MCAT preparation, community outreach, and undergraduate review courses in chemistry, physics, and organic chemistry. A 3.0 GPA and either a 17 on the MCAT or 70th percentile on the GRE is required for entry to the program. Success in the program guarantees admission to Drexel’s Masters of Biological Science or the IMS course.

• Drexel’s Interdepartmental Medical Science (IMS) Program: Students spend 18 months in first-year medical school classes. Successful completion of their coursework enables them to continue on for another year to earn the MS of Medical Science. They are also guaranteed an interview at the Drexel School of Medicine. Applications are accepted year-round; a 3.0 GPA and an MCAT score of 27 or better is required.

Because SMPs have a reputation as a more certain path to medical school, they can be quite competitive. If you are still determined to be a physician but don’t have the GPA to get into a program, there’s one more route available.

GPA bump followed by an SMP. This method is a bit circuitous, but it does work. First, you need to get your GPA up – a year of good grades in upper-level science courses might be enough to get you up to a 3.0. At that point, you can apply to an SMP with strong links to a medical school. This will take you a minimum two years, which might not seem appealing at this point. However, look upon it as a way to build your confidence and shore up the science and study skills that will enable you to excel in medical school.

Boosting your GPA is likely to test your resolve to be a doctor. The next year(s) won’t be quick or easy, and you may question whether the effort is even worth it. You might find it’s not, and that is fine – there are many other worthwhile careers you can pursue. But if you keep your eyes on the prize, then in all likelihood you’ll be wearing a white coat someday.

Next, we’ll look at some of the other concrete steps you can take to improve your profile – and your chances of succeeding in medical school. Still have questions? Contact Accepted.com to see how our admissions.







 By Cydney Foote, Accepted consultant and author of Write Your Way to Medical School, who has helped future physicians craft winning applications since 2001.

Examine the details of your scores and reflect on them in the context of a bigger picture.

A low GMAT score or a low GPA is not necessarily an MBA deal breaker. No adcom is going to admit or dismiss a candidate based solely on one semester’s poor GPA or a low verbal GMAT score without also reflecting on other numbers as well as the rest of the non-quantitative parts of the applicant’s profile. Average numbers vary according to school, as well as numbers within your demographic group. You should examine each of these aspects needs and weigh the strengths and weaknesses in your application before you can really start to worry. And once you’re worrying, figure out how to respond to those concerns.

That being said, there are certain numbers that will be significant hurdles. Say, for instance, you have a GPA of 2.9 and your top choice MBA program’s GPA average is 3.5. In such a case, your chances of acceptance have just taken a major hit. If, on the other hand, that same applicant applies to a b-school with a GPA average of 3.2, then he or she may have a chance of acceptance, provided, the rest of the application is solid, or better yet, above average.

Here’s another “it depends” situation: Overrepresented demographics—Indian engineers or investment bankers from over-represented ethnicities—will have a harder time getting into a top MBA program than a corporate finance executive from an under-represented background with the same stats. In such a case, a GMAT score in the lower part of the school’s 80% range and a GPA of 3.3 may be just too low for one person and just high enough for another.

The point is, you need to examine the details of your scores and reflect on them in the context of a bigger picture. Ask yourself these questions:

•    Is one score low, but balanced out by other higher numbers? Can you provide other evidence of academic ability?
•    Did your overall GPA improve as you matured through the college experience?
•    Do you have flawlessly-written, compelling essays that prove your strong writing and communication skills despite a somewhat lower-than-average GMAT verbal score?
•    Do you offer specific examples and anecdotes in your essays that highlight your quantitative skills, even though your GMAT quant scores weren’t as high as you’d like?
•    Do your recommenders vouch for your abilities—especially ones that the numbers don’t reveal?
•    Have you chosen schools that will view your scores as competitive?
•    Have you taken additional college courses in an attempt to boost your quant or verbal capabilities?
•    Have you written the optional essay to further boost your competitive edge?

You need to assess and interpret how you’ll be perceived with such scores and numbers, and then develop an application strategy to address those issues.









Accepted.com ~ Helping You Write Your Best

Deadlines Loom Ahead!

Okay, not really – you still have some time, but we wanted to get your attention .

Columbia Business School has a few different deadlines, each depending on when you plan on starting – in August or in January.

Take note:

• If you are planning on an August 2014 entry (as 70% of students do), then you’re looking at an early decision deadline in early October (2013) or a regular decision deadline in April (2014).
• If you opt for a January start date, then your application deadline is in early October (2013).

See the CBS site for more info.

For specific advice on how to get into CBS, check out our Columbia B-School Zone. For one-on-one guidance through the application process, see our MBA Application Packages.

Those October deadlines will be here before you know it, so hurry up and tackle those applications!








Accepted.com ~ Helping You Write Your Best

Those who have served in the military have a range of options for financing their MBA education.

Active duty service members and veterans who are pursing academic opportunities can turn to benefits offered by the military. Many service members take advantage of benefits to finance their education, either while they are serving or shortly afterwards.

Active duty members can use their benefits to expand their opportunities for new assignments and promotions, and, in some cases, to gain access to an officer candidate program.

Veterans can use their benefits to secure higher-paying positions when transitioning to the civilian world. In 2011, the average starting salary of an MBA recipient was more than two times higher than the average starting salary of someone who only held a BA. A graduate degree like an MBA can help veterans and service members advance their careers by developing knowledge and leadership skills that will benefit both their civilian and military careers.

Those who have served in the military have a range of options for financing their MBA education. Education benefit programs include Chapter 33 Post 9/11, Chapter 30 Montgomery GI Bill and the GI Bill Kicker.

The Chapter 33 Post 9/11 GI Bill is typically for individuals with 90 days of consecutive active duty service on or after Sept. 11, 2001. Disabled veterans discharged from active duty after 30 days also are eligible. This benefit includes funds for tuition, as well as a housing allowance and a book stipend. Service members might find that the availability of funds is greater under this allowance.

The Chapter 30 Montgomery GI Bill provides an educational supplement on a monthly basis. The current maximum benefit for a full-time graduate student is $1,564 per month, while the current maximum monthly benefit for a part-time graduate student is $782. Most veterans who receive an honorable discharge from the service are eligible for the Montgomery GI Bill. Basic eligibility requirements for the Montgomery GI Bill can be found on Military.com. In the event that the service member is unable to collect on hir or educational benefits, a family member might be able to collect in their place. All Montgomery GI Bill eligibility expires 10 years after the service member leaves the military.

The GI Bill Kicker, sometimes called the Army, Navy or Marine Corps College Fund, is offered to most enlisted service members who sign up for the Montgomery GI Bill program. The GI Bill kicker usually is offered as a bonus for taking specific high-need jobs in the military, such as positions in Special Ops, Communications, Military Intelligence and the Signal Corp. When a service member selects the kicker, his or her monthly benefit can increase by $950 per month.

The maximum possible lifetime benefit with the Montgomery GI Bill and the GI Bill Kicker is more than $87,000. These benefits could reduce the need for high-cost loans and debt. Veterans can determine their eligibility by completing the Veterans Online Application (VONAPP) through the Department of Veterans Affairs. Typically the process takes six–eight weeks. Active duty and veteran service members should always consult their education center and the Department of Veterans Affairs, respectively, to identify their funding options.

Earning an MBA can double one’s earning capacity while developing crucial skills for military and post-military success. However, tuition expenses at top schools can seem overwhelming at first glance. Fortunately, most veterans have a range of options to finance their graduate business education. To learn more about the options available to MBA@UNC students, visit our Veterans Benefits page. With options like Chapter 33 Post 9/11, Chapter 30 Montgomery GI Bill and the GI Bill kicker, active duty service member or veteran seeking a high-quality education from a respected institution will face fewer financial limitations to achieving their goals.

This blog post originally appeared on onlinemba.unc.edu.

The MBA@UNC is an innovative online MBA program offered by UNC Kenan-Flagler Business School that continues the school’s tradition of excellence embodied by each of our on-campus programs.

What’s different is how we deliver MBA@UNC. Blending state-of-the-art social technologies, prestigious faculty and rigorous course content, MBA@UNC gives working professionals anywhere in the world the flexibility of an online program combined with the top-quality business education offered on UNC’s campus.

Never post any comments or pictures that you wouldn’t want everyone in the world to see.

When Kaplan Test Prep released the results of its survey of business school admissions officers, revealing that 32% of business school admissions officers performed internet searches on applicants, 27% visited an applicant’s social media (Facebook, Myspace, etc.) page, and 10% had found something online that negatively impacted an applicant’s admission chances, applicants around the world collectively shuddered. Not only do we have to consider every comma and turn of phrase in the applications themselves, now we have to worry about what we may have posted online in the past as well?! YES! Here are a few tips to consider when using Facebook given these stark statistics.

1. Make sure that your Facebook profile is for Friends only (and not open to Friends of Friends or Everyone), and also remember to check that you’ve selected this option for every picture that you post.

2. As a general rule, never post any comments or pictures that you wouldn’t want everyone in the world to see. That way no one of your closest 1300 friends who is offended by your post can simply take a screenshot of it for global dissemination. Think very hard before using Facebook as a forum to comment on a political matter, your satisfaction with your job, your affinity for a particular teacher or supervisor, etc. Go through now and delete any questionable posts.

3. Even if your Facebook profile is private and viewable only to Friends, you need to keep in mind that some things are viewable by anyone on Facebook: all of the data you’ve entered in Basic Information, the names of Groups you’re a member of, the pages you’ve Liked, all of the pictures you’ve saved as Profile or Cover Photos, and any pictures or comments you’ve posted to an open group. Be conservative in your Group memberships and contributions to open groups, and delete any cover or profile photos that you don’t want in your application file.

 Jennifer Bloom has been successfully helping applicants demonstrate their readiness for the top MBA programs around the world for 14 years. 

Columbia Business School

Last week Wharton alum and longtime Columbia board and community member Ronald O. Perelman donated $100 to Columbia Business School.

The gift will help fund new programs on the new CBS Manhattanville campus. One of the two buildings on the new campus will be named for Perelman – the Ronald O. Perelman Center for Business Innovation. The building will be lay opposite the Henry R. Kravis Building, a building named for a donor of the same $100 million amount in 2010.

Last year Perelman donated $25 million to UPenn to create the Center for Public Science and Economics, and another $20 to UPenn’s new Perelman Quadrangle.

In a Poets & Quants article on the donation, Glenn Hubbard, dean of CBS says:  “The Perelman Center will allow Columbia Business School to continue pioneering breakthroughs in management education, such as moving beyond functional expertise or siloed learning and ensuring a more integrated curriculum for our students. It will help us create the classrooms of tomorrow and foster an even greater collaborative spirit among recruiters, students, alumni, and faculty members, paving the way for a stronger network and more meaningful outcomes for our community.”

For more info, you can check out the P&Q post, as well as a New York Times article, “Perelman Pledges $100 Million to Columbia Business School.”

You can read an article on the largest b-school donations by heading here: “Largest Donors to Business Schools,” also on Poets & Quants.








Accepted.com ~ Helping You Write Your Best

Have a couple of thoughtful questions about the program for each school you visit.

Applying to MBA programs this coming fall or winter? Then probably you’re planning to meet with MBA admission committee members at various types of events – school visits, MBA fairs, school receptions, etc. – as part of that process. An ideal time for school visits is in fall, when classes resume. The other types of events may occur anytime, as early as summer. So it’s not too soon to start preparing.

Adcoms also are preparing for you – in their interactions with prospective applicants they look to get an early read of your “social intelligence.”

Here are some tips to make a positive first impression while also getting the most out of the visits for your own informational and decision-making needs.

1. Polish up your resume to bring with you. You can always refine or modify it later if need be. Sometimes you may have a chance to show it to an adcom member or a current student willing to given feedback on your competitiveness for the program.

2. Have your overall “goals story” on the tip of your tongue. Most visiting applicants will have a sentence (“My goal is to become an IT manager in finance and eventually CIO). The goals story includes another sentence that includes why you have these goals (your motivation) and your vision for what you want to achieve (often these two elements are inter-related). This mini story will enable you to engage more meaningfully with adcoms or students – people will care about your goals when they know why you want to do it!

3. Have a couple of thoughtful questions about the program for each school you visit – ideally queries related to your learning and career needs. It never hurts to show ‘em the love. Moreover, your ability and willingness to identify your specific developmental needs reflects maturity.

4. Request contact info to facilitate follow-up when meeting students from your target schools. There are all kinds of opportunities to learn more about the program from students (for example, one student may connect you to a classmate who leads a club of interest to you) – gaining unique and fresh insights that can greatly enhance your essays.

5. Review my recent post on creating an elevator pitch and prepare one. In response to questions I was getting from clients, I wrote a post about creating an elevator pitch for visiting schools – it’s advice I still endorse.

The modest preparation sketched above will yield rich rewards: good impressions on adcoms, fruitful contacts with students, and deeper knowledge of the programs to fuel your decision making and propel your essay writing. Happy travels!








By Cindy Tokumitsu, author of numerous ebooks, articles, and special reports. Cindy has advised hundreds of successful applicants in her last thirteen years with Accepted. She can help you assess your strengths and weaknesses and develop a winning MBA admissions strategy.

You will require more than one night of preparation—regardless of how many cups of coffee you drink.

Studying for a test is easy. Right? You burn the midnight oil, pouring through a textbook, your class notes by your side. As long as you get a pint-sized cup of coffee in the morning, you should probably knock out a ‘B+’—before crashing a few hours later.

The GRE is very different. Achieving a high score is far more elusive than merely flipping through a book. You will surely require more than one night of preparation—regardless of how many cups of coffee you quaff.

Knowing how long to study for the GRE and how much to study are important questions to consider. In regards to the first question there is no easy answer. Two weeks to six-months is a range that will accommodate 99% of test takers. How hard the GRE is for you (basically your baseline score), how much time you can study each day, and the competitiveness of the program you are applying to are just a few of the other important factors to consider.

The GRE is important so regardless of the amount of time you study, you want to use the best resources. Below is a list of the best GRE books and resources, which will sustain you, whether during a two-week study tornado, or on your six-month quest to become a GRE guru and get you that hard earned and well-above average GRE score.

Manhattan 5 lbs. Book

This massive trove of questions will definitely keep you busy for a while. The quant is especially excellent, with each of the concepts given its own chapter and dozens of practice questions (if combinations have got you down, the practice in this book will bring you out of the quant doldrums).

The Official Guide to the GRE

No one quite writes GRE questions the way ETS does, the company responsible for creating the test. The official guide not only gives you plenty of practice questions, but you also get access to four full-length tests. Simply put, there is no better way to prepare for the test than this book.

GRE word lists

Don’t waste your time on a GRE word list with vocabulary randomly thrown together (or worse, in alphabetical order), with vague definitions to boot. Using a word list that places words into useful categories, offers memorable example sentence(s) for each word, or chooses words likely to show up on the test is the way to go.

Barron’s 1100 Words has most of the above, and more. Of course, it’s not a traditional word list, but more of a vocabulary exercise book replete with quizzes, crosswords, and context identification exercises.

To be fair, some of the definitions are vague and you’ll need more elaboration. That allows me to segue to my next recommendation: wordnik.com. It is not a word list per se, but rather a website that provides not only definitions drawn from a variety of dictionaries but also example sentences from a wide variety of sources. Anytime you need more clarification on a word, look no further than wordnik.com.

Manhattan GRE (MGRE) guides

If you are starting out, and want to feel as though a patient, adept tutor is walking you through the fundamentals of the GRE, look no further than the MGRE guides, which are a collection of eight books, broken down by math and verbal concepts. Purchase of any one book will also give you access to MGRE 6 on-line tests, a great way to prepare for test day.

Magoosh

For those who learn best online—or who are simply on-the-go and/or can’t afford a class—Magoosh provides the same comprehensive, robust prep as Manhattan GRE, but all in one tidy, easy-to-use website. A dashboard allows you to track your progress and pinpoint your weak areas. Magoosh is a veritable virtual tutor at your fingertips.

This post was written by Chris Lele, resident GRE expert at Magoosh. For more advice on taking the GRE, check out Magoosh’s GRE blog.

Here’s a talk with Tom, a SoFi scholar and current student at Columbia Business School. Tom is a U.S. Army veteran who loves b-school so much, that’s he’s trying to extend his education and stay for another year! Read on for some excellent advice about applying to Columbia (or to b-school in general). Thanks Tom!  

Accepted: Let’s start by getting some background info: Where are you from? Where and what did you study as an undergrad?

Tom: I’m from the Bay Area in California (Newark) and went to the military academy at West Point for undergrad.

Accepted: How did your experience in the U.S. Army lead to you wanting to pursue an MBA?

Tom: I helped with development and created jobs by hiring local nationals in Afghanistan during one of my deployments. I guess that planted the seed. I was involved with the basics of monitoring cash flows, reviewing business agreements, and negotiating contracts—albeit in more simplistic, yet arduous conditions than the confines of graduate school. I also enjoyed managing people, resources, and projects. If I wanted to leave the Army and continue to do those things without taking too much of a step backwards in my career, then an MBA was crucial.

Accepted: Was the transition from military life to student life difficult?

Tom: I don’t think I had a difficult time with the transition. I fully embraced being a civilian and tried not to compare the new environment with the one in the past. Military life and civilian life is completely different—I think those who struggle with the transition often forget about that and want to resist the change as much as they can. I also laid out the foundations of my transition by being proactive with networking and reaching out to various mentors who were more than willing to help me along the way. Months before transition, I did everything I could to prepare myself for what laid ahead. It was like training for a marathon. Transition is a total mental and physical process that requires the same level of devotion.

Accepted: Can you tell us about your experience with SoFi? How did you find the organization? How have they helped you in your b-school journey?

Tom: A fellow veteran & friend of mine recommended that I check out the company. He knew I was interested in working in technology and in the startup scene. I researched SoFi and was amazed by how they were turning an inefficient and antiquated model upside-down. I got excited and after a few phone calls and e-mails, was able to help them out as a MBA student ambassador here at Columbia Business School. They’ve been so great to work with and it’s a model that I’m completely confident in—so much so that I took out a loan through them as soon as I could. This past December, they even hosted a few students at Columbia during an education-startup networking event. It was a great turnout and really started generating the conversation about disrupting outdated models and looking into working either within the social impacting sectors or with startups.

Accepted: What do you plan on doing once you receive your MBA?

Tom: Try to see if I can extend my MBA for another year .

Accepted: What was your admissions experience like as an “older” applicant? And what is your current experience like as an older student?

Tom: I don’t necessarily feel different as an older candidate. I think we reference old as being more experienced, but younger candidates/students can have or bring the same amount of experience as older ones. I know there’s a perception that older candidates will have a harder time being accepted into business school. I can’t say definitively that statement is true. But if you have relevant experience under your belt and understand your projected career demographics, age shouldn’t be an issue. If you see that it is, then you need to re-evaluate whether business school is the right thing to do based on your timeline (specifically for career changers).

Accepted: What is your favorite thing about Columbia Business School? Least favorite thing?

Tom: The people are amazing, bar none. As a veteran who puts a high standard on personal relationships like those established in the military, Columbia has exceeded my expectations. Whoever said Columbia students are cut-throat clearly never set foot on the campus here. Also, location, location, location! I can see a Broadway play on a random Wednesday night, have sushi delivered to my door in 15 minutes, or jog in Central Park. Plus, it’s pretty cool to say that you live in New York City! Least Favorite—Too many options, not enough time to do them all.

Accepted: Can you share some admissions advice for applicants who may be applying to Columbia Business School (or general advice)?

Tom: Start early! The MBA application process is a journey in itself as you reflect on your strengths, weaknesses, career goals, and personal motivations. Second, schedule on your calendar—literally—an hour or two daily, weekly, or whatever to work on your application. You’ll tend to do it if it’s actually blocked off instead of just mentally telling yourself you’ll do it. Third, Columbia has a rolling admissions policy—it’s always better to submit your application in early rather than at deadlines. Plus, nothing’s better than to have your admission’s decision in before the holiday season rolls around.

Do you want to be featured in Accepted.com’s blog, Accepted Admissions Blog? If you want to share your MBA/EMBA journey with the world (or at least with our readers), email us at mbabloggers@accepted.com.

Accepted.com ~ Helping You Write Your Best

Shine as the unique individual you are!

Next up in our med school blog post series, A Second Chance at Medical School, we’ll move from describing WHAT a postbac is to HOW you can ace your postbac application essays. Read on for 3 terrific tips…  

One of the most important parts of the application to postbaccalureate programs is your personal statement. This piece of writing allows the admissions committee to get to know you—to hear your voice—and learn more about the obstacles you have overcome to pursue your educational goals. There are three important ways that you can make your personal statement resonate with your reader:

1. Honesty

By sharing how your interest in medicine developed, whether it was through an unusual sequence of events or took years for you to find your career path, the more honest you are about your experiences, the better. Writing what you think the admissions committee would like to hear will appear generic and not help you to shine as the unique individual you are. Tell your story!

2. Reflection

Taking the time to think through the events of your life can help you see with more clarity what you would like to tell the admissions committee through your personal statement. This is your chance to evaluate how your life experiences have made you the person that you are today. Using old journals or photo albums can help facilitate this process—allow you to remember those moments that shaped the motivations that govern your values and life goals.

3. Structure

By creating an outline and following it as you write your essay, you will be adding structure to it. Those essays that are well written are more likely to attract the attention of a reader who can become an advocate on your behalf during the admissions process. Submitting a strong and well-structured piece of writing can make an enormous difference in how your application is viewed.

These are only a few of the ways that you can significantly improve on the quality of your personal statement. By taking the time to read this blog, you are setting yourself apart as an applicant who is committed to success. Trust that with a little extra effort you will write a beautiful statement that represents you well and will lead to your acceptance!








 Alicia Nimonkar is an Accepted.com advisor and editor specializing in healthcare admissions. Prior to joining Accepted, Alicia worked for five years as Student Advisor at UC Davis’ postbac program where she both evaluated applications and advised students applying successfully to med school and related programs.

You have 2 more days (TODAY and TOMORROW) to celebrate Linda’s birthday and save 50% on all Accepted.com books! Don’t miss out on this opportunity to stock up on the books that will help you get accepted to b-school, law school, med school, grad school, or college! (P.S. Linda’s book, MBA Admission for Smarties, is included in the sale!) To receive your discount, just enter SAVE50 at checkout through Saturaday, May 11th, 2013.

Happy shopping!

Accepted.com ~ Helping You Write Your Best

Listen to the full recording for a great discussion about presenting yourself at your best in your med school applications, reapplying to med school, and more.

00:02:55 – You are a competitive applicant with a good MCAT scores, posed with pen in hand to start writing your personal statement. What’s next?

00:05:54 – Common mistakes in approaching the AMCAS: Leave the kitchen sink in the kitchen!

00:07:52 – Should you save some of your more impressive experiences for your secondaries?

00:09:40 – How to best present your most meaningful experiences in your medical school application.

00:12:01 – That list of 12 experiences: it’s what you did, not what the organization does!

00:13:23 – Cyd’s top tip for med school reapplicants.

00:14:55 – The big reapplicant question: To reuse or rewrite last year’s essays?

00:17:18 – Advice for M3s getting ready to apply for the residency match (This is a good one!)

00:19:33 – The key difference between the medical personal statement and the residency personal statement. Metaphor alert.

 Subscribe to Admissions Straight Talk in iTunes to keep up with the latest in admissions news and trends! You know you want to give us a 5-star rating!

Stitcher fans, we’ve got good news! Admissions Straight Talk is now available on Stitcher! Check it our here. 

*Theme music is courtesy of podcastthemes.com.

Shownote Links:

• Subscribe to Admissions Straight Talk Podcast
• Write Your Way to Medical School, an ebook
• Write Your Way to a Residency Match, an ebook
• Write Your Way to a Fellowship Match, an ebook
• Reapplying to Med School, a blog series
• Sample Medical School Personal Statements
• Ace the AMCAS, a free special report.
• 7 Signs an Experience Belongs in Your Application

1. SoFi  – This is a “peer-to-peer” lender that allows b-school alumni to provide loans to international students from their home countries. Interest rates are about 6%. (CommonBond is a similar peer-to-peer option.)

2. Pave – This crowdfunding start-up lets students raise funds from backers who will receive a share of future income as an investment. (A similar crowdfunding option is Upstart.)

See the FT’s article “Overseas students are lent a financial helping hand” for more details on these.







Accepted.com ~ Helping You Write Your Best

This next year could change your life forever.

In just a few weeks, medical school hopefuls will start submitting applications. This can be an awfully hectic time as you try to stay on top of everything. Here are ten tips to help you hit the ground running:

1) Get cozy with the AMCAS/AACOMAS.

These two services (the acronyms stand for the American Medical Colleges Application Service and the Association of American Colleges of Osteopathic Medicine Application Service) are the primary gateways for future physicians. (The Texas medical schools have their own application service.) You might already be registered for the AMCAS if you’ve taken the MCAT or applied for fee assistance; if not, you should register immediately.

You’ll spend lots of time on these websites this year – whether inputting your primary application, adding programs for submissions, or checking the status of your applications – so take some time now to register and explore them. In particular, look at their guidelines for completing your applications:

AMCAS information and AMCAS application guide
AACOMAS instructions

2) Get ready to spend a lot of money.

Applying for medical school is really expensive – and each program added to your list brings with it a hefty price tag. But don’t let the costs unfairly limit your choices. The AAMC’s Fee Assistance Program and the AACOM’s Fee Waiver were designed to defer costs of the applications and the MCAT. You need to be approved before you submit, or you won’t be reimbursed.

3) Decide where to apply.

One of the big decisions you need to make is how many program to apply to. The average applicant submits applications to 14 programs; some submit fewer, while many submit 30 or more. If your GPA and MCAT are above average, then you’re safe targeting a small number schools, but if in doubt, spread your chances out.

To help in your decision, be sure to look at each program’s admission requirements. You can find program demographic information on their websites or compiled together in US News & World Report (but be sure to take such rankings with a grain of salt).

4) Register for the MCAT.

If you haven’t yet, get onto the MCAT – spring/summer dates are in high demand. And if you require any accommodations, be sure to get your request in early.

And if you’re waiting on the MCAT to submit your application, don’t! Submit everything else for validation as early as possible; it will make the process go much more quickly once your scores are reported.

5) Apply early.

Schools set their own deadlines, and some of them might seem far away. But it’s always advised to apply early – June 4th is the opening date this year – primarily because there is less competition early in the season. Also keep in mind that the data you submit to the AMCAS and the AACOMAS has to be verified before it’s even forwarded to the med schools. This takes about six weeks during peak season – more if there’s a problem – so figure that time into your schedule.

6) Sort out your recommendation letters.

Hopefully you’ve already contacted the people who you’d like to write letters of evaluation. If not, think about who can write about your suitability for medical school – and supply them with an up-to-date CV along with any requests about areas to cover.

On the AMCAS, you can have up to ten letters (and pick the schools to which you want each one sent) and they can be submitted at any time. If a recommendation arrives after your application has been verified, it’s sent immediately to your selection of medical schools.

7) Start completing secondary essays.

After June 28th (the first date that AMCAS sends applications to medical school), you’ll be able to begin submitting secondaries. Many come automatically for the programs you select; others are sent by invitation after your application is reviewed. Heed the “apply early” rule here too – some programs have tight turnarounds and you don’t want to miss a deadline or get bogged down with a lot of new essays.

8) Prep for interviews.

If you applied early in the season, you should start getting interview invitations by late August, and September/November is usually the peak of interview season. If you haven’t heard anything by then, you might consider adding more programs to your school list.

Getting your first interview invitation is exciting, but it can also be nerve-wracking. They do get easier with practice, which is why I always recommend you start answering questions in the car, in the shower, while washing dishes, wherever you are. Just be sure you do that practice before, not during, the interview itself.

9) Start worrying, if you need to.

What happens if January rolls around and you haven’t heard anything – no interviews, no invited secondaries, just the silent treatment? Chances are you’ll need to start thinking about reapplying. However, there’s still one tactic at your disposal. Sending an appeal letter to the dean of a medical school where you have a real connection can win you an interview or additional review of your application. This should not be done indiscriminately – you need to be able to demonstrate a meaningful connection – but it can work.

10) Carry on carrying on.

Don’t put your life on hold while you apply for medical school. Keep doing the things you love doing, whether they be sport or volunteer work or community activities. Not only will you be a lot happier and a lot less anxious about the whole admissions process, but you’ll also have something to share if and when you get those coveted interviews.

If you’re applying to start medical school in 2014, this next year could change your life forever. Get started right and stay on top of things, and you’ll be able to make sure it’s an enjoyable as well as a momentous year.







By Cydney Foote, Accepted consultant and author of Write Your Way to Medical School, who has helped future physicians craft winning applications since 2001.

Harvard Business School

The Blavatnik Family Foundation donated $50 million to Harvard University to launch the development of a major initiative to support early-stage breakthrough therapies and cure of diseases, reports a recent article in the Harvard Gazette.

The gift will create the Blavatnik Biomedical Accelerator to identify new technologies and prepare them for commercial development and licensing, as well as the Blavatnik Fellowship in Life Sciences Entrepreneurship Program at HBS. This program will provide MBA students with life science entrepreneur experience through exposure to the work done through the Accelerator.

The Blavatnik Family Foundation is headed by Harvard Business School alum Len Blavatnik (MBA ’89). “By partnering with Harvard’s world-class biomedical research division, I am delighted to help accelerate the development of new therapies,” says Blavatnik. “Moreover, by increasing the collaborative efforts between Harvard Business School and Harvard’s scientific community, we will empower the next generation of life science entrepreneurs and provide a further catalyst for innovation and research development.”

The dean of HBS, Nitin Nohria adds, “By bringing together expertise and experience from across Harvard, the Accelerator and the HBS Fellows program will further enhance Harvard’s commitment to innovative research and entrepreneurship. With student interest in entrepreneurship at an all-time high and with the resources of the University’s Innovation Lab and HBS’s Arthur Rock Center for Entrepreneurship at the ready, we are well positioned to make the most of this generous gift from the Blavatnik Family Foundation.”

See the Harvard Gazette article for more info.







Accepted.com ~ Helping You Write Your Best

It’s a good idea not only to focus on what you’re studying but how you’re studying.

In the next section of our Medical School Reapplicant Advice: 6 Tips for Success series, we’ll move from increasing your GPA to improving your MCAT score.

Fortunately, it’s easier to tackle a poor MCAT score than a poor GPA. While you should not retake the exam too many times (don’t bother retaking if you’ve scored above a 30), a better-prepared second or possibly third attempt can be a sound strategy.

Many people find that studying independently or with a group of friends works well. Reviewing your old class notes and introductory tests provides the most solid basis for your test preparation. Scrutinizing old tests remains one of the best ways to identify the areas where you’re weak. And, as Baylor College of Medicine recommends, practice the test questions “until they come out of your ears.”

There are numerous resources available for self-study. The AAMC should be both your first and last stop. Focusing on their practice tests, both at the start of your study and again in the weeks leading up to the exam, can put you in the right frame of mind. Alongside the AAMC guides, the Princeton Review comes highly recommended for studying the physical section, while Examkrackers tops the list for both the verbal reasoning and biological sections. (Note that a new optional trial section has replaced the writing component as of January 2013.)

For some people, professional test prep services can give their MCAT preparation a jump start. Taking an MCAT prep class doesn’t guarantee you’ll get a good score – you get out of them what you put in – but they can help by providing structure and keeping test-takers focused and on track. They can also really force you to tackle head-on those areas you’d rather avoid.

Whichever method you prefer, your goals in preparing for the MCAT should be to:

1. Understand why you got each wrong answer. If you understand the material, you may be having issues with the format of the question, and this is something you need to straighten out before test day.
2. Be able to choose right answers even when you don’t know the material. It’s unlikely that you can answer every question, but a keen test taker can read clues in the question that help narrow down the possible answers.
3. Finish every question in your timed practice tests with at least five minutes to spare.

And it’s a good idea not only to focus on what you’re studying but how you’re studying. Your university most likely has a wealth of information on study habits, like these helpful handouts from Princeton University, while sites like Lifehacker collect information about topics such as managing stress and establishing routines. Better time management and more effective study habits will help you not just on this exam but in your later studies.

If you identified test anxiety as one of your obstacles, then you have to address this before tackling the MCAT a second (or third) time. Exercise, breathing techniques and yoga can help alleviate stress for some people; other test-takers might benefit from addressing learning disorders and engaging in psychotherapy, as the Mayo Clinic suggests. College counseling centers, like the University of Washington’s, even offer biofeedback training as an option to combat test anxiety. And putting the books away and relaxing the day before seems to be a pretty standard ingredient for success. But only you can know what works best for you.

So how will you know when you’re ready to retake the MCAT? Again, this is a question that only you can answer, based on your performance in practice tests and your confidence levels. But try to sign up for an early exam so you can get your application to AMCAS in June. By counting backwards from your test date, you’ll be able to determine how much time you have to study, and what arrangements you’ll need to make to be as prepared as you possibly can be. (Some people consider studying for the MCAT a full-time job. This is great if it helps you get in the mindset of intense study, but try to maintain a good work-life balance or you’ll be miserable. If you manage your time well, you’ll also be able to eat healthy meals, exercise, pursue some semblance of a social life, and even sleep!)

In the end, there is no magic formula that guarantees MCAT success. Nonetheless, knowing yourself, including your study habits and needs, will go a long way toward building your confidence.

Next we’ll look at ways your experiences section can be strengthened. If you’d like to know more about formulating a study schedule and sticking to it, our Accepted.com editors would be happy to help. 







 By Cydney Foote, Accepted consultant and author of Write Your Way to Medical School, who has helped future physicians craft winning applications since 2001.

Hi everyone! It’s me, Linda Abraham, CEO and founder of Accepted.com, and today is my birthday.

For me, birthdays are a time to appreciate life and the people around me who have contributed to making my life special. It’s also a time to celebrate, and I’d like to do that with you by offering you 50% off Accepted.com’s entire stock of books and ebooks!

For 5 days only (Monday, May 6 – Saturday, May 11), you can use coupon code SAVE50 at checkout to save big on all our admissions books.

Visit our bookstore now!

Happy birthday to me and happy shopping to you!

By Linda Abraham, president and founder of Accepted.com and co-author of the new, definitive book on MBA admissions, MBA Admission for Smarties: The No-Nonsense Guide to Acceptance at Top Business Schools.

How Much Do College Grads Make?

The National Association of Colleges and Employers just released a report on the starting salaries of college graduates.

Here are some highlights from the April 2013 report:

• Business majors had an average starting salary increase of 7.1%, from $50,633 in 2012 to $54,234 in 2013. The specific majors that saw particularly high increases were finance, international business, and hospitality services management.
• Communication majors saw an increase of 3.8%, from $41,550 to $43,145.
• Students who majored in computer science-related fields saw starting salary increases of 4.3%, from $57,529 last year to $59,977 this year.
• The five industries this year that showed the highest number of new graduate entrants were: Educational Services (455,400 new entrants), Professional Scientific and Technical Services (307,900 new entrants), Healthcare and Social Assistance (274,300 new entrants), Federal, State, and Local Government (203,500 new entrants), and Finance and Insurance (100,200 new entrants).
• Top paying industries for 2013 new entrants are: Mining, Quarrying, and Oil and Gas Extraction ($84,182 average starting salary), Management of Companies and Enterprises ($56,955), Construction ($56,837), Manufacturing ($55,084), and Finance and Insurance ($52,875).

You can read a summary of the report for free here: NACE Salary Survey April 2013 Executive Summary.







Accepted.com ~ Helping You Write Your Best

IMD in Lausanne, Switzerland, offers a 1-year MBA program focused on general management and leadership. While there are only 90 students in each class, the diversity among that class is wide: students hail from 45 countries: 43% from throughout Europe, 26% from Asia, 11% from the Middle East and Africa, 9% from North America, 8% from South America, and 3% from Oceania (Australia/New Zealand and the surrounding islands). Unlike programs in the US, which tend to build the bulk of their classes from students aged 26-28, IMD’s average student age is 31.

Graduates of IMD tend do very well in their careers after the program: the average graduate salary is over $142,000 per year. 75% of the class join industry (including Consumer Products, Industrial Products, Technology, Healthcare, and Energy) when they graduate, 20% enter Consulting, and 5% pursue Financial Services careers. IMD enjoys a global reputation that affords its graduates some flexibility in their career destinations: while 63% of the class remain in Europe after graduating, 23% find employment in Asia, 8% in the Africa or the Middle East, and 6% in North or South America. IMD is consistently ranked among the top programs in the world: BusinessWeek ranks it #9 among international programs, the Financial Times ranks it #19, and Forbes named it the best 1-year international MBA program.

Essay Questions:

1. What do you consider to be your single most important achievement and why? (1500 characters)

Your single most important achievement should ideally show impact, leadership, and cross-cultural and cross-functional savvy. If you can’t have all the above, make sure you have at least two.

You have room here (1500 characters is approximately 250 words) for a concise story but it must engage the reader and convey the “why” and not just the “what.”

You may want to review a few of these resources before writing:

• Five Fatal Flaws to Avoid in Your MBA Essay
• Leadership in Admissions, a free special report.
• Insights into Common MBA Essay Topics

2. Please comment on a situation where your leadership skills proved to be inadequate and what you learned. (1500 characters)

Briefly describe the inadequacy – and make it a real one – a time when you really blew it. Take responsibility for your actions and show self-awareness. Discuss lessons learned and how you implemented those lessons successfully in similar, more recent situations. 

3. IMD develops global leaders…what does global leadership mean to you? (1500 characters)

This essay is your opportunity to briefly summarize your ideas on what it takes to be a global leader and share an example of your own cross-cultural, cross-border leadership.

4. Give us four bullet points that clearly differentiate you, that identify your unique contributions to the program. (1500 characters)

Your MBA essays up to this point are probably very professionally focused. Several of the bullet points could be personal. IMD wants to know about you as a person, as well as you as a professional. This may be a great place to inform the reader of distinctive features in your background or personal life since your resume and the other essays will have already told them about unusual aspects of your professional life. 

5. Give an example of the most unexpected thing that you’ve ever learned. (1500 characters)

I love a wild card question like this one: what a gift! Here’s your opportunity to talk about anything in your background that’s interesting as long as it highlights one of the seven qualities that the admissions committee wants to hear about. To make the essay interesting, you could start by describing the learning experience itself and then reflect on how this has changed your actions or methods since then.

6.
A. For people who are planning to consider new jobs and/or organizations after the MBA: Please give us your short term career goal post-MBA. Which function, industry and geography do you see yourself working in? Are these changes for you, and, if so, why? How will you approach your job search? (1500 characters)

This is a forward-looking, connect-the-dots MBA goals question with a twist. To answer this question, you need to know what you want to do after you complete IMD’s short, intense program, and you also need to explain how you plan to move into that position. You need to know what IMD career services offers and how you will use and supplement those services.

OR

B. For people who are company-sponsored, confirmed going back to their previous company, entrepreneurs planning to go back to their own firm, and/or members of a family who are planning to work for the family business after graduation: Please let us know your short-term career goals and plans after your MBA. (1500 characters)

Even when your future is “assured” with an offer or clear career path after the program, you need to demonstrate to the admissions committee that you have a purpose and a plan. In this essay, you need to explain what impact you hope to make on the company and how you plan to do that.

7. Additional Optional Essay: Is there any additional information that is critical for the Admissions Committee to know which has not been covered elsewhere in this application? (Optional essay). (1500 characters)

With IMD’s seven essays, this may be the one application where the optional essay is really unnecessary. Nonetheless, if you have something to explain – a low GPA, low GMAT, a gap in employment, etc. – or something to add, this is the place to do it.

If you would like professional guidance with your IMD MBA application, please consider Accepted’s MBA essay editing and MBA admissions consulting or our  MBA Application Packages, which include advising, editing, interview coaching, and a resume edit for the IMD MBA application.

IMD 2014 Application Deadlines

February 1, April 1, June 1, August 1 and September 1.

*While you can choose any of our application deadlines, we encourage you to apply as early as possible.
Apply for the February 1st or April 1st deadline to have the option of being interviewed in Singapore.
Apply for one of the first four deadlines if you are a citizen of a country that requires a visa process of over 6-8 weeks. (We recommend that you check with your local embassy, especially if you are bringing your family with you as this can prolong the process.)

By Jennifer Bloom is a Certified Professional Resume Writer and is available now to create an easy-to-read document that highlights your exceptionality. Creating this document now will help you see where you need to generate more content – i.e., take more action – before the fall deadlines .

Take the MBA Search Survey, and win $100 and our sincere gratitude! The anonymous data will be shared with admissions officers from top programs. Make your voice heard!

We’d like to invite all of our MBA readers to share their school selection priorities and views on the MBA application process.

The survey should take no more than 10 minutes to complete. Please complete it by May 15th, 2013. Everyone completing the survey will be entered to win one of three VISA gift cards (contact email will be used for prize purposes only). We’ll also be sharing the results of the survey this spring to help candidates better understand the nature of today’s applicant pool.

Click here to take our MBA prospect survey.

Accepted.com ~ Helping You Write Your Best

It sounds like you could use some expert advice.

Join us on Wednesday, May 22, 2013 at 5:00 PM PT / 8:00 PM ET for That GMAT Score: Implications for Your MBA Application, a free webinar during which we will explore the intricacies of GMAT scoring and answer the questions above.

Spaces are limited – reserve your spot for That GMAT Score: Implications for Your MBA Application now!

  Accepted.com ~ Helping You Write Your Best

It’s been an interesting few weeks.

Starting with the day of the Boston Marathon a little over two weeks ago, I have seen and heard amazing stories of resilience and fortitude. And no, I was not in or even near Boston. As a city, it has demonstrated those qualities, and those injured in the bombing and grieving for lost loved ones will need even more strength in the weeks, months, and years to come.

Coincidentally that night I went to see the movie, No Place on Earth. It is a documentary narrated by the people who lived it: six elderly Holocaust survivors who hid in a cave for over a year and a half. Actors act out the scenes. The elderly people, who have since lived seemingly normal lives, raised children, and enjoyed the privilege of seeing grandchildren and in some cases great–grandchildren, relate an amazing story of fortitude and resilience brilliantly presented in this outstanding movie.

Then two weeks later, I traveled with my 83-year-old mother, herself a Holocaust survivor, and attended the 20th anniversary of the founding of the U.S. Holocaust Museum. Here we again heard stories of courage and heroism as the conference honored survivors, veterans who liberated Europe, and rescuers who saved the persecuted. We heard from Nobel laureate, Elie Wiesel, President Bill Clinton, aged veterans, survivors, and rescuers. Most of the honorees are in their 80’s and 90’s. Almost all were accompanied by their children and grandchildren. The younger generations’ attendance evidenced their elders’ resilience – their ability to move forward and rebuild their lives.

Former Buchenwald prisoner, Elie Wiesel, represented the survivors and spoke movingly of how he and 400+ orphans freed from that hell on earth and sent to a children’s home in France after World War II, should have been emotional cripples. All 400+ became doctors, lawyers, teachers, tradespeople, rabbis, leaders, businesspeople, and writers. Despite the scars, they moved on. Despite the pain, they picked up the pieces of their lives. Refusing to be victims, they became survivors.

Similarly the Stermer family from No Place on Earth emerged from their cave, literally dusted themselves off (layers of dirt), and began their lives anew. They moved to the U.S. and Canada, built businesses, and had families. They moved on.

On some level the people of Boston demonstrated that same strength after their week of horror as they resumed their lives.

From the depths of my heart I hope that none of you have been tested in the way that those whose lives were torn apart by World War II were tested, but I know that’s not true. Some of you have been persecuted. Some of you are vets. Some are heroes. Your ability to recover despite the pain or the scars defines the difference between a tragic victim and a resilient survivor.

For the rest of you — the lucky ones who haven’t endured the horrors of war or genocide, lived in a cave for a year and a half, or been under lock-down in a city in the grip of a murderous terror attack – you too can demonstrate that endurance.

What does resilience mean for applicants leading blessed lives with more pedestrian challenges, frustrations, and aggravations and having to answer questions either in an essay or interview about failure, setbacks, or mistakes? It means showing through examples that you have the ability to come back, learn, and move forward. It means that after your leg, broken in a skiing accident, heals, you return to the slopes. It means that after your first “patient” dies, you continue with your plans to be a doctor. It means that after your start-up fails, you resolve to get an MBA so that you can successfully manage your next business.

When asked about failures, setbacks, and mistakes, you just have to show that you have the strength and courage to deal with events within and beyond your control, to recover from disappointment and failure, and to pick yourself up, hopefully learn from the experience, and yes, move on. That’s resilience.








By Linda Abraham, president and founder of Accepted.com and co-author of the new, definitive book on MBA admissions, MBA Admission for Smarties: The No-Nonsense Guide to Acceptance at Top Business Schools.

Your final opportunity to put your best verbal face forward.

Recently I talked about overcoming the challenge of a low GMAT quant score. Today we’ll discuss how to handle a less-than-perfect verbal score.

With such a strong emphasis on teamwork and communication in b-school (and for the rest of your life as a successful businessperson), it’s no wonder that stellar written and spoken verbal skills are essential for MBA students.

If your verbal GMAT score is low (in the bottom of the 80% range or lower for your target programs), then you will need to construct expressive, flawlessly written essays. Maybe you couldn’t prove it with your test performance, but now’s your final opportunity to put your best verbal face forward. In addition, be sure to include examples and anecdotes that highlight your solid communication skills.

There are two more steps you can take if you’re worried that your low verbal score may interfere with your chances of acceptance:

• You can enroll in additional writing and/or communications courses at a local college (and earn As). This option is particularly important if you’ve received low grades in your college English courses in addition to scoring poorly on the GMAT.
• You can ask your recommenders to comment positively on your written and verbal communication skills.

Read other articles in this series:

• How to Approach the Quantitative Aspects of Your MBA Application
• How to Handle a Low GMAT Quant Score

Accepted.com ~ Helping You Write Your Best

Next up in our med school blog post series, A Second Chance at Medical School, we’ll move from the topic of WHO to the topic of WHAT – what types of postbaccalaureate programs are there?  

There are many different types of pre-medical postbaccalaureate programs. They are all designed to assist students with matriculating into medical school but provide different levels of support and target different parts of the application.

Single Focus Programs

This type of program allows students to focus only on improving their academic record or taking the premed requirements. This option is great for students who already have an extensive record of long-term service in multiple areas but who simply need to demonstrate that they are ready for the rigorous curriculum of medical school.

Dual Focus Programs

While taking coursework, students are encouraged to participate in research, clinical or volunteer work. This combination allows students to strengthen their academic record as well as their activities section. Students often take coursework only part-time in these programs, which frequently provide outstanding opportunities in community outreach or research.

Multi Focus Programs

This type of program provides the most comprehensive level of support—often in multiple areas. Depending on your needs, this may significantly increase your success in the application process. They may help with general advising, class selection, study skills, academic achievement, MCAT preparation, activity opportunities, as well as the application process. Each program is unique in its structure and strengths. It’s a more comprehensive option.

Postbac programs, like medical schools and applicants, differ. First assess your needs and what you want to accomplish in a postbac program. Then, look for the programs that provide what you seek. This approach will most effectively enhance your chances of medical school acceptance.

Check in next week for the next post of our A Second Chance at Medical School series!

 Alicia Nimonkar is an Accepted.com advisor and editor specializing in healthcare admissions. Prior to joining Accepted, Alicia worked for five years as Student Advisor at UC Davis’ postbac program where she both evaluated applications and advised students applying successfully to med school and related programs.

“I was the odd shaped piece, the creative piece.”

Here’s a talk with Josh Howatt who was recently accepted an offer to join the CMU Tepper class of 2015. Josh blogs at Taking on Tepper. Thank you Josh for sharing your story with us…and congrats on your acceptance!

This interview is the latest in an Accepted.com blog series featuring interviews with current MBA students, offering readers a behind-the-scenes look at top MBA programs. We hope to offer you a candid picture of student life, and what you should consider as you prepare your MBA application.

Accepted: First, can you tell us a bit about yourself: Where are you from? Where and what did you study as an undergrad? What other degrees do you hold?

Josh: Well…I was born and raised in Orange County, California. I attended the University of California – Irvine, and originally entered with the intention of graduating Pre-Med. However, after a few semesters, I realized that my heart really wasn’t in the medical field. So I went were my heart called, which at that time was Theater and Music (I had been playing piano since I was 4 years old). After graduation, I moved to New York City in pursuit of a myriad of creative enterprises: I created a freelance graphic design business, became a published writer, and the typical New York casualty of singer-songwriter. After 5 or so years of admittedly floundering, I decided it was time to do something with my career and began to consider going back to school and getting my MBA. At first I assumed this was a lost cause, being that I was such an untraditional candidate; but as it turns out, many of the skills I had gleaned throughout my college years and beyond were surprisingly applicable to a corporate environment.

Accepted: How many b-schools did you apply to? Did you apply to safety schools as well?

Josh: Let’s see…I applied to 6 schools in total, which to me seemed like a nice safe number, but from what I’ve learned is on the higher side. I applied to 2 safety schools: Boston University and Boston College. Both, I felt, had strong programs and promising post-graduate placement in CPG Marketing.

Accepted: Why did you decide on Tepper? What made you the perfect fit for that program?

Josh: I finally decided on Tepper after visiting the campus in November. It was definitely a difficult decision, as I had received very enticing scholarships from both BU and BC, and I could see myself living in Boston. However, when it came down to it, I had to ask myself: which school had the greatest ROI; had the tools I lacked; had a strong reputation in Marketing (my concentration), as well as Finance, Technology, and Accounting; had a challenging environment; and – most importantly – had an overall feel of community. Since my first touch point with Tepper – corresponding with a 2nd year student via email since April – I have felt nothing but love from this community. Every single person I interact with seems to be completely dedicated to helping each other. I think this stems from Tepper being such a small school. Everybody knows everybody, and the faculty and students truly want to see you become the best you can be. And so I felt I fit in perfectly there, BECAUSE I was that missing piece. I was the odd shaped piece, the creative piece. People were so enthusiastic when they found out my background: “You were an actor? You know Photoshop? We could have totally used you on our last Branding case study.” And so I feel that I bring a totally untapped resource to the student body, and can’t wait to see what alternative skillset I can bring to the table.

Accepted: What are you most looking forward to in starting b-school in the fall? What are you least looking forward to?

Josh: Funny enough, I’m looking forward to the quant-heavy classes. I know this is my weakest area and the place where I will really need to work the hardest if I want to go into recruiting season with confidence. I feel fairly secure in my soft skills, and want to develop into a well-rounded full package.
I’m actually least looking forward to the Business Acting classes. And I know you’re saying, “Hey, wait a second…” But as a Theater major, I know the pressure is going to be on to, well, perform, and after being out of the “acting scene” for almost 8 years, I’m certain to be somewhat rusty. Not that we’ll be tackling Chekhov or anything, but…I joke.

Accepted: I see that a lot of your work history is at the W Hotel in Times Square. Do you plan on staying in the hotel industry? Or do you have other plans for once you receive your MBA?

Josh: I unequivocally do not plan to return to the hotel industry after graduation. After working in hotels for as long as I have, I realize that it’s really not where my heart is. While it is an interesting field, I would much rather be working within a realm that touches most consumers on a day to day basis (whether that manifest in CPG or Tech) in Brand Development, Strategy, and Advertising. I feel that this is a field where I can influence not only consumer behavior, but also how we market to (and in some ways alter the perceptions of) certain marginalized groups, eg: women, LGBT, etc. Although, I have been toying around with the idea of Consulting, as well. I’m just not sure if (being 33) I have the stamina to hack the hours and travel schedule that Consulting requires. Still, knowing myself, I’m sure that my trajectory will undoubtedly shift at some point during my time at Tepper.

Accepted: What was the most challenging step for you in the MBA admissions process? How did you approach it and overcome it?

Josh: First would have to be: the quant portion of the GMAT. And at a close second: struggling to rebrand myself as someone who is able to survive and thrive in not only business school, but beyond. So far I have yet to meet another Theater undergrad when engaging other MBA candidates; however, Tepper assures me that they are out there. In fact, they included a student profile in their most recent pamphlet, highlighting the testimonial of one such student.

Accepted: Why did you decide to blog about your experience? Has the process revealed anything new about yourself?

Josh: Ultimately, I decided to blog about my experience in applying and attending an MBA program, because I know that when I first start looking into the possibility of going back to school I became extremely discouraged. I thought for sure there is no way any school is going to accept a 33-year-old, Theater undergrad, with absolutely zero experience in Finance and Accounting. Turns out that not only was I wrong, but I was accepted into one of the top 20 programs in the Nation. That changed my entire perception of what it means to be an MBA candidate and to be part of a student body that prizes diversity and sees utility in all backgrounds. So maybe somewhere down the line, a painter, an archeologist, a swim coach – whoever – will read about my struggles, and say, “Hey, if this guy can do it, so can I.”

For one-on-one guidance on the Tepper application, please see our MBA Application Packages. For specific advice on how to create the best application for Tepper, see CMU Tepper 2013 MBA Application Questions and Tips.

Do you want to be featured in Accepted.com’s blog, Accepted Admissions Blog? If you want to share your MBA/EMBA journey with the world (or at least with our readers), email us at mbabloggers@accepted.com.

 This article was sponsored by PaGaLGuY. PaGalGuy is India’s largest network of MBA aspirants with 700,000 unique visitors per month. 80% of all GMAT takers in India use PaGaLGuY to network with schools and alumni for their application process, research, essays, VISA tips, etc. PaGaLGuY has been continuously solving one of the major challenges faced by a lot of B-schools outside India -to consistently reach-out to Indian GMAT takers/applicants who may be a good fit for their programs.

A More International Network

When choosing between business schools in Europe and the United States, the main thing to keep in mind is that the decision is very personal. Take a good look at the available options and do not let yourself be influenced by rankings. If your background fits in better with a school that may be a little outside the top 10, 20 or 30, don’t let that worry you. Here are some of the advantages European business schools have over their overseas counterparts.

Less Expensive. The two-year program is still considered to be the American standard for the full-time MBA. In Europe, the duration of an MBA program is one year or eighteen months, which becomes less expensive than a two-year program and entails lower overall living costs. Nevertheless the quality of the programs can be very high, which explains the growing number of triple-accredited business schools in Europe.

More Specialized MBA Programs. Europe boasts schools that are known for certain specific core competencies. Ranked the best European business school by the Financial Times in 2012, IE Business School is, for example, the perfect place to develop your career with its focus on  innovation, diversity and  entrepreneurship.

A More International Network. Reports by GMAC state that 38% of participants in US business school are from foreign countries. The percentage of international students in European MBA programs is 83%. Due to this, the teaching language at most business schools in Europe is English. University alliances and exchange programs contribute to highly diverse and international student bodies, and ultimately expand personal networks and ability to work on a global level. IESE Business School, which offers the fifth best worldwide MBA program according to The Economist in 2012, has between 26 and 28 exchange partners including 16 top US schools, such as Columbia and NYU-Stern. In 2010, IESE became the first European school to open its New York City campus.

High MBA Salaries. During times of economic growth or in times of crisis, it is important to have a diploma that employers favor. 87% of the European business school graduates of the class of 2012 were employed after graduation, according to a GMAC survey. Getting a European MBA is also a great opportunity to change careers or find a better job, as 43% of graduates found new employers after graduation. The median starting salary for all management program graduates in the Old Continent is higher by more than US$22,000. Last year, MBA employees in Europe were even better paid than in America – US$108,355 compared to US$100,000.

Better Return on Investment. The Financial Times value-for-money rankings show that European schools are doing better than their American counterparts. With all due critical attitudes towards such calculations and lists, the top 10 European and American schools would be as follows: The first 10 are made up of European institutions and the second 10 are American. The question of business school quality is open to debate, and can never be fully resolved. Although, in terms of ROI, the European MBA seems to be gaining the upper hand.

More Experienced Classmates. The age of MBA students in Europe is generally higher than that of American schools. This may give experienced professionals who want to go back to school an argument in favour of the Old Continent. On the other hand, US institutions accept a larger number of students in their programs.

Smaller Classes, More Individual Attention. The size and culture of a school are often overlooked when considering business schools. In general, US business schools are larger, with an average intake of 287 full-time MBA students, compared with 124 in Europe. Professors in the US may therefore have a limited amount of time for individual work with each student compared with professors in Europe.

Better Career Mobility. Thanks to the Bologna higher education accord, European degrees are recognized in most countries within the Eurasian continent, giving unprecedented access to career opportunities worldwide. This also means that MBA graduates are not confined to working in the country they graduated, but can benefit from the pan-European job market.

Cultural Diversity. Cultural differences between European countries shouldn’t be underestimated when considering the added value of an MBA program. Historically-built attitudes and social order vary greatly and create a secondary learning environment outside the classes.

Language Learning Options. It is a well known fact that a new language is most efficiently learned when in the foreign country. Even though English is the teaching language of MBA programs, students have the option to perfect their language skills with native speakers outside of the classroom.

By Access MBA Tour

ONE-TO-ONE MEETINGS: THE FIRST STEP TO ADMISSION

Created ten years ago, the renowned Access MBA Tour travels to 65 cities every year with a hundred international business schools. Access MBA gives selected candidates the chance to meet individually with Admissions Directors of top-tier MBA programs. Being held for the sixth time in New York, representatives of Full Time, Part Time or Distance Learning programs will be present at the One-to-One event on Wednesday, May 22nd 2013 from 4pm to 9:30pm at the Warwick New York Hotel.

Some of the business schools participating in the Access MBA Spring Tour 2013 include: London Business School, INSEAD, Duke University–The Fuqua School of Business, IESE, HEC Paris, IE Business School, Cass, ESADE, Hult International Business School, Manchester Business School, EDHEC Business School, Nottingham University, University of Chicago–Booth, SDA Bocconi, Northwestern University–Kellogg, IMD, University of Cambridge, Copenhagen Business School, Durham University, International University of Monaco

How can you take advantage of Access MBA’s exclusive services? All you have to do is register online on www.accessmba.com and bring your CV to the event. Early registration is recommended as places in One-to-One meetings are limited.

In the last part of our

With the multi-staged admissions process, applicants can make an impact at each step – or be weeded out. Your assessment continues by looking at other ways you communicated with the admissions committee, and whether or not they helped you past the next hurdle.

Secondaries: Your secondary essays go beyond the initial introduction and flesh out your application. The questions asked will generally give you a good indication of what the program values. In your review, you need to determine how well the information you provided demonstrates your fit with the values and offerings at that particular program.

• Did you answer the particular questions asked?
• Did your secondary essays offer a new or deeper look at your activities rather than regurgitating your personal statement? Viewed alongside your initial application, do they create a consistent but broader profile or is there a significant divergence from what was presented before?
• Did you research each school to see what made it unique? Did you bring this information into your answers, even if it was not specifically asked?
• If you recycled secondary essays from another program, did you tailor it to fit the new program? And did you make sure to use the right school name?
• Did you integrate their particular strengths and offerings into your skill set and interests?
• Did you return the secondaries in a timely manner?
• Were your secondaries free of typos and grammatical errors?

If you can answer “yes” to these questions, your secondary essays are probably not the source of your rejection. But if you aren’t confident of your answers, this is an area that you should note for your reapplication. Another sign of a problem is being invited to fill out a secondary essay, but not being invited to interview. This is a natural “weeding out” that happens throughout the season, but it indicates that your secondary essays need more punch to move to the next stage.

Interviews: If you were invited to interview at a number of schools, but didn’t receive any acceptances, it’s a pretty good signal that your interview skills need a polish.

• Do you think you practiced enough? Were you comfortable talking about yourself?
• Were you exceptionally nervous at the interview or did you feel at ease? If you were nervous, was it your first interview? If not, was there anything in particular that triggered your nervousness?
• Could you speak credibly about each program and did you know what made each one unique? Were you able to explain why you wanted to attend each program?
• If you had a multiple mini-interview, were you prepared for the format?
• Were there any questions that stumped you? Did you address these either in your thank you notes or in later communications with the program?

If you didn’t get any interviews, you should examine the issues in the sections above – you’re likely to find clues that explain your rejection there.

Finally, there are two remaining issues that have can significantly affect your application success:

Timing: Applying late might not be the only concern in your application, but your chance of admission declines as the season goes on. Those who start the process early tend to have much better results.

• Did you register with the AAMC and/or the AACOM in May and submit your application in June?
• Did you line up your recommenders early? Did you follow up to make sure they sent their recommendations in a timely manner?
• Did you take the MCAT early? Were your scores available when you submitted?
• Did you return your secondary essays in a timely manner?
• After an interview, did you send promptly thank you notes expressing your interest?

Answering “no” to any of these questions could signal a problem. Although some extremely competitive applicants do manage to secure acceptances late in the season, many more are “held,” wait-listed, or just rejected. Those who do apply later must face a larger applicant pool competing for fewer interview slots and, in many cases, fewer seats in medical school.

School Choices: It should go without saying that you need to make sure you meet each program’s admission requirements. But there are other issues to examine:

• How many medical schools did you select?
• Did you choose a spread of schools, including programs both above and below where you think you might be competitive?
• Were your state’s medical schools included in your list?
• Above all, did you consider your fit at these programs or did you just choose schools out of the blue?

The average med school applicant submits applications to 14 programs. Some submit fewer applications – if, for instance, they will only consider a particular geographic area – while some submit 30+. Highly competitive applicants can target fewer schools, but if your profile is less competitive, the number of schools should be higher.

How do you know where you’re competitive? Your basic stats are a good indication. Being within 2-3 points of a program’s mean indicates that you are a strong contender for that program – in other words, if a school’s mean GPA is 3.5, a 3.2 GPA with a strong MCAT score can be competitive. While it’s fine to deviate with a few “reach” schools, these should not make up the majority of your choices.

Also take a look at the percentage of applications accepted. Oklahoma State University accepts one in every 5 applications; Mayo and GWU accept one in 50. If all your chosen schools have a low acceptance rate, your profile will have to be much better than average.

Beyond your chosen program’s requirements, it’s also important to look at their admission preferences. Did you choose a lot of public programs in other states? Many state schools accept only a handful of out-of-state applicants. (And if your state’s medical schools aren’t on your list, this is a serious omission.)

Finally, take a good, hard look at your list of schools. Do you know something about each of them? Are these places you’d really like to attend? If you’ve completed the secondaries for each school and still can’t answer “yes” to these questions, that is a problem – one you can rectify when you reapply.

By now, you should have a pretty good idea of any missteps in your application. Unfortunately, addressing them is rarely a fast process. Often it takes years. Many people, fearing the time is ticking away, get impatient and reapply before they’re ready. Nine out of ten times, this backfires.

Instead, reapply when you are at your strongest. This will take time, but now that you have a good idea of where you went wrong, you’ll be able to focus your energies, enhance your profile, and ultimately submit a successful application.

In the next post, I’ll show you how to enhance your profile. If you want to improve your chances even more, take advantage of Accepted.com’s application review service to get a tailored assessment of your strengths and weaknesses.

By Cydney Foote, Accepted consultant and author of Write Your Way to Medical School, who has helped future physicians craft winning applications since 2001.

Oh, and if you don’t want to wait for the monthly posts, please download Preparing for College in High School: A To-Do List for Eleventh Graders. It’s all there.

Your high school path suddenly takes a detour. Your grades, which had been steady and consistent, take a nosedive. Perhaps it’s due to illness, personal or family issues, or a learning disability that eventually made itself clear. As you move forward into the summer before your senior year, it is time to consider whether or not this impacts the colleges you plan on applying to.

For most students, the answer is yes. Sometimes, the circumstances change your mind about how far you would like to be from home. In other cases, illness or other family issues have a financial impact that necessitates finding financial safety schools, or looking first to a nearby community college for a period of time. If your challenges impacted your GPA or course selection, then that also may impact the schools you choose to apply to.

Yes, you will have opportunities to explain your circumstances, and many times, you will be met with
a sympathetic reader on the other side of your application. Sympathy, however, does not guarantee
admission. Be prepared to discuss your situation. You can do this through your essay, an additional
statement, your guidance counselor recommendation, or, in some cases, a personal interview on campus with an admission counselor. In most situations, the admissions staff will be evaluating your response to the challenge. Did you overcome adversity? What did you learn from the situation? Is the college going to be able to meet any future needs you might have?

In most cases, it is to your benefit to discuss any aberrations or weaknesses in your academic
performance. The keys are incorporating your challenges into your college search and then finding the
appropriate avenue to explain your record.

By Whitney Bruce, who has worked in college admissions since 1996. She has served as a Senior Assistant Director of Admissions (Washington U), Application Reader (University of Michigan), Assistant Director of College Counseling (private prep school in St. Louis), and an independent college counselor. She is happy to advise you as you apply to college.

Accepted.com ~ Helping You Write Your Best

Interpret your scores as an adcom member would: Is the rest of your profile stellar? Do you have solid grades in quant-related courses? Is it possible that you’re just not great at standardized tests? Is your score perhaps not so low for people in your demographic group? Are you applying to schools where the average GMAT score is not far off from your lower-than-you-would’ve-wished score?

The following three tips are good strategic practices that you should utilize if you find yourself with a low quant score:

1. First, you MUST improve your quantitative abilities or demonstrate that you have them in some other way. In b-school and in the business world at large, knowing how to crunch numbers is essential. You’ll need to act quickly to show you are equipped for a spot in their next b-school class. Enroll in a calculus, statistics and/or accounting class at your local community college ASAP. (Make sure you have the prerequisite skills; you will need to earn an A! If you have time, also take additional quant-oriented courses, like finance or economics.

2. Next, in your resume and essays, highlight quantitative aspects of your work to further demonstrate your quant proficiency. Use vivid details, examples, and anecdotes that will prove to the adcoms that your low quant score was a fluke, and that it’s clear to you and those who work with you that there are no quant problems here.

3. Finally, ask your recommenders to highlight your quantitative achievements as well. Having a respected third party vouch for your skill will help you immensely.

Accepted.com ~ Helping You Write Your Best

The playlist was created based on a Stanford study that shows that certain types of music engage different areas of the brain and can improve skills such as paying attention, making predictions, and memory.

Check out Wash U’s blog post on Spotify Playlist here.

An Attention Enhancing Study Playlist provided by @WashULaw, an online LL.M Degree

Accepted.com ~ Helping You Write Your Best

Save on Med School Services Now!

This year’s med sale items are med school admissions consulting and application review – click on the links for service details.

Use coupon code MED30 at checkout to save $30!











Accepted.com ~ Helping You Write Your Best

What kind of prep does it take to get a good GMAT score?

You have signed up for the GMAT and you want to know: what GMAT materials should I use? What kind of prep does it take to get a good GMAT score? First of all, remember the Great Law of Mediocrity: if you do only what most people are willing to do, you will get only what most people get. If you want outstanding results, this requires outstanding preparation: not an attitude of “what’s the least I can do?” but rather “what else can I do?” The GMAT is hard — not impossible, but a good challenge, and with the proper preparation and enthusiasm, you bring your best to it.

Materials

Start with the best GMAT books and resources. That would no doubt include the Manhattan GMAT books, which are perhaps the finest GMAT prep source in print. I’ll also recommend a free GMAT ebook that summarizes the basics you need. In addition, it’s important to have a proper GMAT study plan, which will allow you to organize all this material and use it efficiently.

Play to your … weaknesses!

During your GMAT prep, you should give particular attention to those areas in which you have not traditionally shown strength. If you are a math whiz, then shore up you your Verbal. The best thing you can do for GMAT Verbal is simply read every day: the Wall Street Journal and the Economist magazine, periodicals with which you will have to be familiar when you are a manager, are obvious choices for anyone’s GMAT reading list. In everything you read, analyze grammar and sentence structure, and also analyze the structure of arguments.

If you are a verbal maven, then focus on math. As you probably know, you don’t get a calculator on the GMAT Quantitative section. Do mental math every day, ordinary arithmetic in your head. Practice estimation in real life situations. Study the graphs that accompany articles in the WSJ or Economist — you will need to understand graphs just like this on the GMAT Integrated Reasoning. Remember that the skills required on the GMAT are, in many ways, the skills a manager uses every day: look for the real world intellectual challenges that might be facing a good manager, and reflect on how you might puzzle through them.

The success mindset

Overall, preparing for a successful GMAT performance requires focus, dedication, and commitment — not unlike what brings success in many business undertaking. The sooner you can cultivate the managerial mindset in yourself, the more you will understand the GMAT not as an external obstacle but rather as part and parcel of the challenges you are embracing in pursuing this career. Best of luck to you!

This post was written by Mike McGarry, resident GMAT expert at Magoosh. For more advice on taking the GMAT, check out Magoosh’s GMAT blog.