Law School Applicant Volume Projected to Decline

After the 13 percent spike in law school applications in 2021, the numbers continue to normalize. Law School Admission Council data shows that, as of last Thursday, applicant volume was down 2.4 percent from last year.  

"It's a return to normalcy," said Susan Krinsky, the Law School Admission Council’s Executive Vice President for Operations. "It's very consistent with the last five years except for 2021." 

With the exception of 2021, applicant numbers have consistently stayed between 57,000 to 64,000 during the five-year period. Reuters noted that, according to legal industry experts, the one-year surge resulted from the confluence of the Covid-19 pandemic and its effect on the entry-level job market, the nationwide protests related to inequality and the death of George Floyd, and the presidency of Donald Trump. 

Despite the decline in applicant quantity, applicant quality and diversity remain high. The percentage of applicants with LSAT scores between 170 and 180 are up slightly from last year, suggesting that, despite the decline, spots at highly-regarded programs will remain competitive. And applicant diversity is up, with applicants of color making up 46.5 percent of the total, an increase from 45 percent last year. 

Establish a Self-Care Routine Before Starting Medical School

This blog is the third in a series that we are publishing on the soft skills and self-care rituals that all premedical students should work on developing prior to starting medical school.

The toll that medical school takes on students is well-documented. A 2020 article published in Medical Education Online summarized research findings on the impact of starting medical school on student wellness. “Prior studies suggest that mental health is especially affected, with higher levels of anxiety, depression, and perceived stress among medical students compared to age-matched non-medical student peers,” the article noted.

If you’re thinking, “Sure, medical school is stressful, but it’s temporary…,” you may be underestimating the problem. The American Medical Association references physician burnout as an epidemic, noting that just under two-thirds of doctors report signs of burnout including “emotional exhaustion and depersonalization.” In 2017, as a response to the gravity and universality of physician burnout and its negative impact on patient care, the World Medical Association amended the Geneva Declaration’s Physician Pledge, a modernized companion to the Hippocratic Oath, to include (among other things) the line “I WILL ATTEND TO my own health, well-being, and abilities in order to provide care of the highest standard.”

You must take care of yourself, to take care of others.

This is why we recommend that aspiring medical students do not wait to consider integrating self-care practices into their schedules. Because, while school is temporary and residency is temporary and fellowships are temporary—practicing medicine is not and it will continue to bring stress throughout the many phases of your career.

Although self-care looks different for everyone, there are some basic practices we recommend you consider. The Harvard Health Blog offers “four ways to nourish your body and soul,” that overlap considerably with the AMA’s recommendations for medical students.

• Physical Activity. Finding a regular exercise routine is a powerful way to ensure that you stay physically healthy, but it can be difficult. Harvard’s blog recommends that, no matter how, you make it a practice to incorporate movement into your day as much as possible. Park further away, take the stairs, stand up and stretch routinely while studying, discuss your coursework while taking a walk or flip through flash cards while on an exercise bike. The minutes and benefits will add up.

• Good Nutrition. Eat as plant-based and colorfully as possible. Try to avoid high-carbohydrate and sugar snacks, and don’t try to compensate for a poor diet with supplements and vitamins. Practice what you will (eventually) preach to the fullest extent possible. The AMA also recommends that students try to avoid high-sugar energy drinks and vending machines in favor of proper, nutritious meals.

• Obtain calm. Take at least a few minutes every day to engage yourself in something that calms you. This could be meditation, yoga, painting, reading, knitting, baking, or playing an instrument. What works best to soothe your busy mind?

• Sleep. Yes, even in medical school. Routinely get the amount of sleep that you need. Usually that’s around eight hours. And be sure to stay away from electronic devices and/or alcohol directly before bedtime. Erin Ayala, PhD, and the lead author of the medical student self-care study, provided the AMA with the following tips to improve medical student sleep:

  • Track your sleep so that you understand the amount you’re actually getting and what improvements you need to make.

  • Create a routine based on consistent bedtime and wake-up times.

  • Relax prior to going to bed, and don’t use your bed as a study spot.

  • Consider your caffeine and alcohol intake and how those may impact your sleep.

Read the rest of the series:

• Learn How to Accept Critical Feedback Before Starting Medical School

• Before Starting Medical School: Create a Study Routine that Works for You

Shorter GRE Available for Test Takers in September

The Educational Testing Service (ETS) just announced that, as of September 22, 2023, registrants for the GRE will receive a shorter test. The refreshed exam will take under two hours, about half the current testing time, and is the first in a series of planned updates to the GRE. The changes are intended to improve the testing experience and reduce test-taker anxiety and fatigue. 

Specific updates to the test include:

• Removal of the “Analyze an Argument” (analytical writing) section

• Fewer questions in the Quantitative and Verbal Reasoning sections

• Removal of the unscored action

• Faster receipt of official scores (8-10 days)

“As we continue to introduce product innovations, we’re committed to balancing two things—maintaining rigor and validity, while improving the test-taker experience,” ETS CEO Amit Sevak said. 

The ABA voted to allow the use of the GRE as an alternative to the LSAT for law school applicants in 2021. The organization has not yet commented on the reduction in the test length and if the changes will impact the ABA’s decision to continue to allow the GRE in law school admissions. 

Essay Tips: The Stanford Graduate School of Business

Stanford GSB has published deadlines for their MBA application submissions and it is never too early to think about your approach. 

Round Application Deadline Decision Notification

Round 1 12 September 2023 07 December 2023

Round 2 04 January 2024 28 March 2024

Round 3 09 April 2024 23 May 2024

*Materials must be submitted by 4:00 pm Pacific Time on the designated date.

Stanford’s Admissions Committee is looking for you to demonstrate intellectual curiosity and vitality (show them how you might contribute in a classroom), leadership skills (show them how you approach guiding others towards a common goal), and how you see the world (show them your values, beliefs, ambitions, and identity in action). They want to see a polished, but genuine, version of you (not what you think an ideal MBA candidate looks like).

Essay A: What matters most to you, and why?

For this essay, we would like you to reflect deeply and write from the heart. Once you’ve identified what matters most to you, help us understand why. You might consider, for example, what makes this so important to you? What people, insights, or experiences have shaped your perspectives?

In this essay, you will need to get deeply personal. If you’ve written this response correctly, it will make you a bit uncomfortable because it will touch on some of your toughest decisions, scariest learning moments, and/or most tender relationships. Stanford’s Admissions Committee asks the question to gain an understanding of how you view the world and how you make decisions and execute against the goals and priorities that you set. What you name as mattering most matters less than your ability to effectively show how you have lived in its pursuit.  

If you’re unsure of what matters most, you’re not alone. Start by brainstorming and writing down stories from your past. A lot of them. (And, bonus! This will serve as an excellent starting point for essay responses for other school applications and/or interview responses). In particular, think about your most meaningful experiences that changed or impacted your worldview. This may involve key decisions, moments of pride or shame, times when you’ve excelled or struggled, and notably strong or difficult relationships. Keep in mind that tough decisions, particularly when you feel torn between the options, are useful for pinpointing what matters most to you. Similarly, painful failures and mistakes can also bring to light what you care about. Consider why the situation was painful and what you learned from it.

While you’ll want the majority of your essay to reflect your adult life, the origins of what matters most to you may have occurred at a younger age, so keep your brainstorming broad. After writing these pivotal moments down, see what themes emerge. Did you turn down an undergraduate admissions offer to Harvard and later an appealing job to stay close to family? Did you move across the country (where you knew no one) to attend the best engineering school you were admitted to, and while there, worked around the clock? Did you quit a lucrative finance career to join a political campaign? 

If you read the question and immediately know your answer, what matters most to you, take a look at our writing process below to craft a strong narrative. 

Essay B: Why Stanford?

Describe your aspirations and how your Stanford GSB experience will help you realize them. If you are applying to both the MBA and MSx programs, use Essay B to address your interest in both programs.

In Essay A, you’ve given Stanford insight into who you are. In Essay B, you’ll explain to the Admissions Committee the specific components of the Stanford GSB MBA that you need to execute on your future goals. What courses, professors, experiential learning opportunities, and/or case competitions are you particularly intrigued by and why? What previous experiences reinforced your interest in these offerings? How will these opportunities help you achieve your post-MBA goals? We know the overwhelming popularity of courses like Stanford’s “touchy-feely,” but your response should feel personalized to your career path. Make the case that the Stanford MBA (not just an MBA) is the perfect bridge between your past and your future.

The Writing Process

Begin with a brainstorm. Do not underestimate the importance of this step. Document your experiences, positive and negative, that prompted an evolution in your perspective—you know, those “ah-ha!” moments without which you would be a different student, professional, and/or person today. Then, record those experiences that will show the reader your abilities in innovation (critical/creative thinking and problem solving), leadership, and teamwork, as well as those experiences that reinforced your interest in business school. Capture as many details as possible, paying particular attention to what you thought, felt, said, and did in each situation. Your focus should be on adult experiences (from the start of college and later), though stories from your youth could comprise up to 20 percent of this brainstorm.

During your brainstorm, don’t limit yourself by worrying about a cohesive narrative, the quality of your writing, and/or the number/length of your stories. Simply focus on collecting those situations that helped to guide your path to this point and impacted your decision to apply to the Stanford GSB MBA program.

Craft an outline. Select the key stories you will use to anchor your narratives. Remember that you’ll use your essays to go deep into experiences that demonstrate the traits you want to emphasize. Think about your application as a whole and use your responses to strategically cover any qualities that may not be adequately addressed in other aspects of your application. 

Write. Keep in mind that you must be showing, not telling the reader who you are. Invite the reader into your life by highlighting sensory details, such as smells and sounds, and don’t hesitate to engage your readers emotionally. Sprinkle in humor (if you feel comfortable doing so) or hit a poignant note. In contrast to your resume which provides a general overview of your experiences, your essay responses should go deep into a story that allows the reader to come to their own conclusions about some of your character traits and abilities. Highlight how you’ve struggled, triumphed, learned, and how these experiences have developed you into the person you are now.  

Review. Revise. Repeat. Confirm your word count and read your essay aloud noting where you stumble. Make revisions as necessary. Once it reads smoothly, set it down and walk away for at least 24 hours. Then re-read it. Is it you? Is it personal and authentic? You want the reader to see the real person behind the applicant number. While we caution against “oversharing,” being appropriately vulnerable will create connection. 

Related:

Essay Tips: Harvard Business School

Essay Tips: Haas School of Business at the University of California, Berkeley

Essay Tips: The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania

Essay Tips: Columbia Business School

Essay Tips: The University of Chicago Booth School of Business

Essay Tips: NYU Stern School of Business

Essay Tips: The Yale School of Management

Essay Tips: The University of Michigan Ross School of Business

National Conference of Bar Examiners Releases Details on the NextGen Bar Exam

The students starting law school this year will be among the first to experience the NextGen Bar Exam, slated for release in July 2026. The National Conference of Bar Examiners just released a 42-page outline providing deeper insight into the updated exam. 

The NextGen Bar Exam’s development stemmed from calls to create an exam that more adequately tests the legal knowledge and skills necessary for legal professionals today. The current bar exam faced criticisms that it “doesn’t reflect the actual practice of law” and that it tested memorization of legal concepts rather than skills. 

Reuters provided a summary of the changes, which include:

• Removal of the current exam’s three component tests: Multistate Bar Examination, Multistate Essay Examination, and Multistate Performance Test

• Usage of an integrated format that tests both skills and knowledge

• Seven legal skill areas: client counseling and advising, client relationships and management, legal research, legal writing, and negotiations 

• Seven legal knowledge areas: business associations and relationships, civil procedure, constitutional law, contracts, criminal law and constitutional protections of accused persons, evidence, real property, and torts.

• The test will require memorization for some content, but it will also allow the use of support resources for designated subject matter areas. 

• The test will remove subject matter related to family law, estates and trusts, the uniform commercial code, and conflict of laws.

Although the NextGen Bar Exam will go live in July of 2026, states will determine which exam test-takers will receive for a specified period of time. After a period of no longer than five years, all jurisdictions will move to the NextGen exam. 

Given the Choice, Most Physicians Would Choose Medicine Again. Most Would Even Opt for the Same Specialty.

Medscape recently published its 2023 Physician Income report. For this year’s report, over 10,000 providers, across 29 specialties, submitted responses.

We provide highlights from the report below:

Amidst the well-documented physician shortage and effects of the pandemic, which further reduced the supply of providers, it is not surprising that physician incomes are continuing to increase. From 2018 to 2023, the average physician income increased from $299,000 to $352,000. In 2023, Specialists’ compensation averaged $382,000, and Primary Care Physicians (PCPs) averaged $265,000. Male physicians continue to make more than women, with average salaries 19 percent higher for PCPs and 27 percent higher for specialists. The gap between the sexes, however, is smaller in 2023 than it was in previous years for both groups.

The top 10 highest paid specialties have remained relatively unchanged for the past decade with the exception of Plastic Surgery, which now garners the highest annual compensation ($619,000). Average pay increased the most from last year among Oncology (+13 percent), Gastroenterology (+11 percent), Anesthesiology, Radiology, Critical Care, and Urology (all +10 percent). The specialties with the biggest declines from last year include Ophthalmology (-7 percent), Emergency Medicine (-6 percent), Physician Medicine and Rehab, Nephrology, Allergy & Immunology, and Rheumatology (all -5 percent).

Most physicians (52 percent) feel that they are compensated fairly. Satisfaction does not correlate perfectly with average compensation, as physicians in some of the lower-paying specialties are among the most likely to report that they are satisfied. Physicians who work in Psychiatry (68 percent), Dermatology (65 percent), Public Health and Preventative Medicine (65 percent), and Critical Care (63 percent) are the most likely to feel compensated fairly. And, with the exception of Dermatology, none of the specialties fall within the top ten highest paid. Physicians working in Infectious Disease (35 percent), Ophthalmology (42 percent), Internal Medicine (43 percent), and Nephrology (43 percent) are the least likely to feel satisfied with their pay.

Almost three-quarters (73 percent) of physicians reported that they would choose medicine again and most would choose their specialty. Almost all Plastic Surgeons (97 percent), Urologists (96 percent), and Orthopedists (95 percent) would opt for their specialty again. The least likely to say that they would choose their specialty again are physicians working in family medicine (66 percent) and Internal Medicine (61 percent).

Physicians feel rewarded by their expertise and their relationships with patients, although they name many challenges. Just under one-third of respondents (30 percent) said that the work itself or “being very good at what I do” is the most rewarding part of the job. An additional 24 percent named “gratitude/relationships formed with patients,” and 19 percent said “helping others and doing good”. When asked about the challenges, physicians responded with a variety of items, including rules/regulations (21 percent), long hours (16 percent), dealing with difficult patients (15 percent), dealing with Medicare and/or insurers (13 percent), and working with electronic health records (13 percent), among others.

On average physicians spend 15.5 hours per week on administrative duties. This includes an average of nine hours on EHR documentation weekly. Specialists who spent an average of 18 (plus) hours per week on these duties, include Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation (19 hours), Critical Care (18), Internal Medicine (18), Nephrology (18), Neurology (18), and Oncology (18). On the other end of the spectrum, Anesthesiologists (9) and Ophthalmologists (10) spent fewer hours on administrative work.

Essay Tips: Harvard Business School

The Harvard Business School just posted the submission deadlines for applicants to the MBA Class of 2026, and confirmed the required essay.

Round Application Deadline Decision Notification

Round 1 September 6 2023* December 6 2023

Round 2 January 3 2024* March 27 2024

*Submitted by 12PM ET

The essay prompt, which remains unchanged from last year, asks: “As we review your application, what more would you like us to know as we consider your candidacy for the Harvard Business School MBA program?” It’s never too early to start planning your narrative response.

At HBS, as with other elite programs, the essay is a critical component of your application. Not only does it allow you to differentiate yourself among a large pool of highly-qualified applicants, but it provides an opportunity to show the character traits that Harvard values. HBS puts a strong emphasis on character and service, with a longstanding mission “to educate leaders who make a difference in the world.” The program also expressly calls out community values including, “trust and mutual respect, free expression and inquiry, and a commitment to truth, excellence, and lifelong learning.” Dean Srikant Datar describes one of his aspirations for the school as “...stretching HBS and its learners beyond notions of merely personal success toward becoming, collectively and individually, driving forces in redefining the role of business in society around the world—addressing inequality, exclusion, climate change, and other intractable problems.”

Begin with a brainstorm. Do not underestimate the importance of this step. Document your experiences, positive and negative, that prompted an evolution in your perspective—you know, those “ah-ha!” moments without which you would be a different student, professional, and/or person today. Then, record those experiences that will show the reader your abilities in innovation (critical/creative thinking and problem solving), leadership, and teamwork, as well as those experiences that reinforced your interest in an MBA program. Capture as many details as possible, paying particular attention to what you thought, felt, said, and did in each situation. Your focus should be on adult experiences (from the start of college and later), though stories from your youth could comprise up to 20 percent of this brainstorm.

During your time spent brainstorming, don’t limit yourself by worrying about a cohesive narrative, the quality of your writing, or the number/length of your stories. Simply focus on collecting those situations that helped to guide your path to this point and impacted your decision to apply to the Harvard MBA program.

Once you have these thoughts on paper, look again at all of your experiences. Start to think about the story you want to tell, and also how you can use your experiences to best position yourself with the admissions committee.

The Outline. As you start to consider how you will anchor and organize your essay, you’ll want to think about your application as a whole—MBA Admissions committees are looking for you to demonstrate MBA-readiness with high potential in the areas of innovation, leadership, and teamwork—so you can use your essay strategically to show those qualities that may not be covered in your other materials. For example, if you have a perfect score on the analytical section of your GMAT and fantastic work experience in an analytical career on your resume, you may wish to use your essay to take the reader on a deep dive into your most meaningful leadership and/or community engagement experience.

Create a draft. Now it is time to start writing. Keep in mind that your essay is memoir, not autobiography. A memoir requires more than a recounting of events from your life. Rather, you must show the reader that you’ve experienced transcendence. Marion Roach Smith calls it the “golden rule” of memoir. She writes, “Memoir is not about what you did. Memoir is about what you did with it.” The experience is not the focus or the reason for the writing, just the vessel for sharing a more universal learning with your audience.

As you write, keep the lessons that you garnered from your experiences as the primary focus. Highlight how you’ve struggled and triumphed and how these experiences have developed you into the person you are now.

And don’t neglect to make it clear why a Harvard MBA is your next step. The question is asking about you (rather than “Why Harvard?”), but you’ll want to write it so that the reader finishes with a clear understanding of why a Harvard MBA is your next logical step.

Review. Revise. Repeat. While there is no limitation on length, we recommend that you target about 1300 to 1500 words. Read your essay aloud noting where you stumble. Make revisions as necessary. Once it reads smoothly, set it down and walk away for at least 24 hours. Then re-read it. Is it you? Is it personal and authentic? You want the reader to see the real person behind the applicant number. While we caution against “oversharing,” being appropriately vulnerable will create connection.

Related:

Essay Tips: The Stanford Graduate School of Business

Essay Tips: Haas School of Business at the University of California, Berkeley

Essay Tips: The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania

Essay Tips: Columbia Business School

Essay Tips: The University of Chicago Booth School of Business

Essay Tips: NYU Stern School of Business

Essay Tips: The Yale School of Management

Essay Tips: The University of Michigan Ross School of Business

Law School Admissions Rates Increase for the First Time in Seven Years

AccessLex recently published its updated Legal Education Data Deck, which provides insight into law school trends and outcomes. Some of the key findings are summarized below. 

Overall, admissions rates increased in 2022. In 2022, 70 percent of law school applicants received at least one offer for admission, an increase of two percentage points from 2021 and the first increase in the admissions rate in seven years. Men maintained a higher admissions rate (71 percent) than women (68 percent), although women continue to make up the majority of law school applicants (56 percent).  Both men and women saw a one percentage point increase in admissions rate in 2022 compared to 2021.

When divided by race/ethnicity, the 2022 admissions rate for White/Caucasian applicants was the highest, with 78 percent of White/Caucasian applicants receiving at least one offer. Most other race/ethnicity groups fell below the average rate (70 percent). Applicants who identified as two or more races (67 percent) or as Asian fared the best (67 percent), while Hispanic/Latino (58 percent), American Indian/Alaska Native (52 percent), and Black/African American (48 percent) gained admission at rates significantly lower than average. 

Average tuition and fees have decreased over time. After adjusting for inflation, average law school full-time tuition and fees have decreased from 2015 to 2022 across all school types. In 2022, the average private school tuition/fees totaled $53,740, while public school resident and nonresident tuition/fees averaged $42,320 and $29,670 respectively. Between 2013 and 2022, the median grant amount awarded to students by law schools has almost doubled, ticking upwards from $15,000 to $22,500 (using adjusted 2022 dollars). 

Future employment opportunities look bright. Among 2021 graduates, 78 percent reported obtaining “bar passage required” employment. This is a small uptick from 75 percent in 2020 and a substantial increase from 68 percent in 2010. The “unemployed and looking” percentage has also reached its lowest point in the years since 2010, at just five percent for 2021 graduates. Additionally, there is strong continued demand for legal employees. The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics projects significant growth in legal positions. Among occupations requiring a graduate degree, law employment falls second only to nurse practitioners with an expected increase of over 80,000 positions between 2021 and 2031. 

Need Clinical Experience? Consider a Medical Scribe Position.

If you’re a pre-med on the hunt for some high-quality clinical experiences, medical scribing could be an excellent fit. This paid position can help you to develop a strong network of provider relationships, gain an excellent foundation in medical terminology, observe clinical decision-making first-hand, and learn about the daily work and challenges of life as a physician. 

The work. Medical scribes serve as assistants to a physician (or multiple physicians) taking notes and charting patient encounters, inputting documentation into the Electronic Health Record (EHR), responding to patient questions and messages as directed by the physician, locating health records, and even researching information as requested by the physician. Scribes play a key role on a medical team as they free up the physician to focus on patient interactions while the scribe takes responsibility for administrative tasks. Scribes work closely under the supervision of a physician and do not have independent decision-making responsibilities. They work across a variety of specialties, including but not limited to: Emergency Medicine, Oncology, Dermatology, Gastroenterology, Family Practice, Pediatrics, Internal Medicine, and Pain Management.

The training. After obtaining the position, medical scribes receive between a few weeks to a month of training in preparation for the position. This training is typically paired with a period of shadowing a fellow medical scribe. Even with this onboarding, most scribes feel overwhelmed early on in the role due to the steep learning curve. Scribes need to learn the styles and preferences of the physicians that they work alongside, including their preferred charting methods, as well as the EHR system and the new terminology. 

The benefits. 

• Medical school admissions committees view scribing favorably. A scribe’s work demonstrates their commitment to a career in medicine by showing that they have an intimate understanding of the work of a medical provider. They will gain foundational medical knowledge and experience that will be useful throughout medical school and may ease the transition between their undergraduate and medical studies, and inform their future career path.

• Scribes can gain experience within a specialty, including a more thorough understanding of the challenges that physicians in those roles face. 

• Scribes will have the opportunity to develop a wide network of provider relationships, some of whom may be willing, and able to write detailed recommendations based on their work alongside of them.  

• Scribes will demonstrate their ability to thrive on a team. Scribes must learn to work well with a variety of physicians who will each have a different style. They will also learn to deal with stress and be proactive in asking questions and picking up information quickly, which will benefit them as a medical student, resident, fellow, and attending physician.

Related: The Must-Knows if You’re a Premed Considering EMT Training

The MBA Application: A Results-Driven Resume

A key piece of the MBA application is a resume. It should showcase the breadth of your experiences and accomplishments. But remember, it should not merely communicate what you did in each role and extracurricular endeavor; each entry should explore WHY what you did and accomplished was so important to you and/or your team and/or the organization as a whole. What results did you achieve?  What impact did you have?  What did you learn?

MBA resumes should include the following components and should be no longer than one page:

1. Education. List all degrees and include a bulleted list in the Education section of internships and extracurricular involvements you participated in while in college. 

2. Work Experience. Using results-oriented bullets, show your progression in responsibility throughout your career. Elaborate on the impact you’ve had and/or lessons you’ve learned. Note also any awards and/or honors and/or significant recognition that you have received.

3. Additional Information. This section can include significant extracurricular and charitable involvements you’ve participated in, languages you speak, as well as noteworthy skills, certifications, and memberships.

Keep the following tips in mind as you craft your resume: 

Focus on results. We can’t emphasize this enough. Make use of active verbs to showcase your contributions. And, where possible, provide hard numbers that exhibit the results you’ve achieved and the impact you’ve made. 

Keep it relevant. Your resume should only include experiences from the start of college onward, and should showcase your abilities in innovation, leadership, and teamwork. 

Review the Guidance. Some MBA programs instruct you to “submit a resume,” while others such as MIT Sloan or UPenn Wharton, provide specifications for your submission. Review the school’s admissions page to confirm any instruction on page limits, font, and format. 

If the school does not provide formatting guidance, you should keep it simple. Opt for left-justified text in an easy-to-read font—we prefer Garamond—sized between 10 and 12. Additionally, while it may be customary in some cultures to add a headshot to the resume, this is not recommended for U.S.-based MBA programs. 

Use proper grammar. Even the best writers can get worked up about creating resume text. Don’t overthink it. Use proper punctuation and the appropriate tense (present for current activities, past for past activities). Read each line aloud and make sure that it flows smoothly. Do not lean on corporate jargon, rather you will want to ensure that you explain what you did and your results in a way that a fellow MBA classmate in a different field would understand. 

U.S. News Posts Updated 2023-2024 Best Medical School Rankings

The U.S. News and World Report has posted the final 2023-2024 Best Medical School (Research) rankings and Harvard Medical School is back on top. The final rankings are significantly different from the “preview” of the 2023-2024 top 15 programs published in April. A U.S. News spokeswoman explained the reasoning behind the changes in an emailed statement to Medpage Today. The preview, “did not include affiliated hospitals for NIH funding," she wrote.

Johns Hopkins and University of Pennsylvania’s Perelman each dropped by one rank to second and third, respectively. Vanderbilt and the University of Washington, which were not included within the top 15 programs in the preview, are now tied for the fifth and 13th ranks, respectively. 

See the top 13-ranked programs below, which due to a multitude of ties includes 17 schools. We also show the final and preview ranks. 

Final Rank Preview Rank School

1 3 Harvard University

2 1 Johns Hopkins University

3 2 University of Pennsylvania (Perelman)

4 6 Columbia University

5 9 Duke University (tie)

5 7 Stanford University (tie)

5 4 University of California—San Francisco (tie)

5 n/a Vanderbilt University (tie)

5 4 Washington University in St. Louis (tie)

10 14 Cornell University (Weill) (tie)

10 13 New York University (Grossman) (tie)

10 7 Yale University (tie)

13 14 Mayo Clinic School of Medicine (Alix) (tie),

13 12 Northwestern University (Feinberg) (tie)

13 9 University of Michigan—Ann Arbor (tie)

13 11 University of Pittsburgh (tie)

13 n/a University of Washington (tie)

It’s Back. U.S. News Posts Updated 2023-2024 Best Law School Rankings

The U.S. News and World Report has posted the final 2023-2024 Best Law School rankings. And there has been significant change since last year due to the new methodology. Notably, even since the preview released in April, Harvard has dropped one spot and NYU has ticked up one spot to form a three-way tie at the fifth rank with Duke University. 

Changes to the T14 from the 2022-2023 rankings include: 

• Yale shares the top spot with Stanford, which moved up from the second spot in 2022.

• UPenn climbed in the rankings from 6th in 2022 to 4th this year.

• Harvard dropped from the 3rd spot in last year’s ranking to tie for the 5th spot in 2023 with Duke. Duke moved up five positions from the 10th rank last year.

• Columbia dropped from the 4th rank in 2022 to tie for 8th with UVA this year. 

• Northwestern jumped up two positions moving from 12th in 2022 to tie for 10th alongside UC Berkeley and University of Michigan. 

Outside of the T14, highlights include: 

• USC Gould and the University of Minnesota moved up from the 19th and 22nd ranks last year, respectively, to tie for 16th with Vanderbilt, University of Texas, and University of Minnesota in 2023. 

• Washington University in St. Louis dropped from the 16th rank last year to tie for 20th with the University of Georgia. Georgia moved up from the 27th rank in 2022. 

• Ohio State and Wake Forest jumped from the 40th and 41st ranks, respectively, last year, to enter the top 25. They are both part of a five-way tie for 22nd along with Brigham Young, University of Florida, and University of North Carolina Chapel Hill. Brigham Young moved up to the 22nd rank from 29th last year. 

• Boston University fell out of the top 25, moving from the 20th rank in 2022 to 29th this year.

Rank School Name

1 Stanford University (tie)

1 Yale University (tie)

3 University of Chicago

4 University of Pennsylvania (Carey) (tie)

5 Duke University (tie)

5 Harvard University (tie)

5 New York University (tie)

8 Columbia University (tie)

8 University of Virginia (tie)

10 Northwestern University (Pritzker) (tie)

10 University of California, Berkeley (tie)

10 University of Michigan—Ann Arbor (tie)

13 Cornell University

14 University of California—Los Angeles

15 Georgetown University

16 University of Minnesota (tie)

16 University of Southern California (Gould)

16 University of Texas--Austin

16 Vanderbilt University

20 University of Georgia

20 Washington University in St. Louis

22 Brigham Young University (Clark)

22 Ohio State University (Moritz)

22 University of Florida (Levin)

22 University of North Carolina--Chapel Hill

22 Wake Forest University

Law School Early Decision: What You Need to Know

Due to the rolling admissions at most law schools, prospective law students should submit their application materials as early as possible in the admissions cycle. But, if early is good, is early decision even better? Well… it’s complicated.

Submitting an early decision application is an appealing choice. Generally, the applicant pool is smaller. Classes are still open and waiting to be filled. Admissions officers provide expedited decisions, which can relieve a lot of stress. And, it provides the applicant a chance to demonstrate commitment and enthusiasm for the program, which can be highly beneficial. However, despite these positives, there are some complexities to consider. 

Early decision applications are (almost always) binding. If you are admitted to a law school early decision, you agree to withdraw all other applications and enroll. There is no leeway. It doesn’t matter if you were also accepted to the dream school that you thought you’d never get into or if your financing falls through and you find yourself in need of merit-based scholarship money. And, for the most part, if an applicant applies early-decision they forego the possibility of receiving any scholarships.  This is because they have already agreed to attend if admitted.  The school doesn’t have to woo them with money. 

We’ve summarized the pros and cons to applying early decision below:  

Pros

• Applying early decision will place you in a smaller “yield protection” applicant pool than applying regular decision. This can advantage you if you’re seeking to gain access to a “reach” school, as you have clearly demonstrated a commitment to the program and will definitely attend if admitted. Schools are always interested in protecting their yield. Do note that some schools grant automatic scholarships to all students admitted early decision, which increases the competitiveness of their early decision round (Northwestern and Berkley). 

• If you have a slightly lower than a school’s average GPA or LSAT score, applying early decision may help you to gain admittance to a school you may not have otherwise. 

• You will receive an expedited response—an accept, reject, or move to the regular decision pool. If you are moved into the regular decision pool, your preference for the program, shown through your initial early decision application, may benefit you as schools are looking for applicants who will accept their admission offers. 

Cons

• Early decision deadlines come… early. So you will need to finalize all of your application materials, which includes recommendations and test scores, earlier. For most early decision deadlines, you’ll need to complete the LSAT/GRE by October (confirm the deadlines on the school admissions page). 

• By committing to the law school, you are giving up your ability to negotiate for scholarships. In fact, we recommend that you do not apply early decision if financial assistance is an important factor for you. This is unless you are applying to one of the programs (Northwestern Pritzker or Berkeley) that award assistance to all early decision admittances, and you are comfortable with that financial award. 

• You may not be able to defer your matriculation to the school, if admitted via early decision. If the option to defer is important to you, confirm with the admissions office their policy on early decision deferrals prior to submitting your application. 

• You cannot change your mind. Your admissions decision is binding (you are contractually obligated to withdraw your other applications) and you must matriculate at the school if you receive an early decision acceptance…even if you find out that you’ve been accepted to a more appealing program. 

The bottom line is that applying early decision requires a great deal of commitment on your part. While it can bolster your chances for admission in some cases, you want to be 100 percent sure that you would attend a particular program regardless of financial aid. 

The Medical School Application: Key Tips to Consider Before you Begin Drafting the Work and Activities Section

The AMCAS application allows for a total of 15 entries. For each entry, you will provide a description of the activity (700-characters including spaces), experience dates, and completed/anticipated hours. You will then designate three of these entries as your “most meaningful,” which will give you an additional 1,325 characters (including spaces) to provide depth on the perspective you gained during the involvement.

Key tips to consider before you begin drafting:

• Take advantage of all 15 entries. What have been your most meaningful experiences that influenced your decision to apply to medical school? To start, brainstorm and write them all down in chronological order, limiting yourself to college or postgraduate experiences. This section is purposely broad and can include activities from a multitude of categories. (Read about the newly established social justice/advocacy category here.) If you can’t find 15, think about that one-day community service event that had a particular impact on you, that tutoring involvement where you worked with middle school students, or how playing the piano helps you to de-stress. While not all experiences will be equally meaningful, several are probably still worth sharing if they influenced your path in some way.

• You may also include anticipated experiences—past experience(s) that you have participated in and expect to continue with after you submit your application or an entirely new experience you have yet to start, but have a good idea what your work will involve. Just keep in mind that you may not enter anticipated activities in the following categories: Honors/Awards, Conference, Publications, Presentation.  

• After brainstorming all of your potential activities, take note of the 15 most relevant, some of which should fall into clinical work, research experience, community service, and social justice/advocacy, though make sure to span a diverse array of categories.

• When selecting your three most meaningful experiences, highlight first those that will show the reader your commitment to medicine. Then think about those that will show the reader your abilities in critical thinking and problem solving and/or leadership, as these qualities set physicians apart from other members of a healthcare team. What did you think, feel, see, and do in each involvement? What did you learn? How did you grow? 

• After writing each of your descriptions, read them aloud, and edit. Confirm that you are within the allotted number of characters. Such a stringent character limitation emphasizes the importance of clear language and perfect grammar. Treat these descriptions with as much care as you would your personal statement.

• Note that medical schools receive entries in plain text. If you write your descriptions and paste them into AMCAS, do not use formatted text (such as bullets) as it may not come across as you intend and you cannot edit the section after submission. 

The Work and Activities section gives the medical school admissions committee a summary of your meaningful involvements since the start of your college career experiences, which reinforced your interest in the study and practice of medicine. Thus, it is vital to ensure each word moves your candidacy forward in a compelling way.

Related:

AMCAS Work & Activities Section: Hobbies

2024 AMCAS Work & Activities Section Will Include New Experience Category: Social Justice/Advocacy

Big Three Consulting Firms Delay Start Dates for MBA Hires

The Wall Street Journal recently reported that the big three consulting firms—McKinsey, Bain, and BCG—have delayed start dates for MBA hires. The firms, together nicknamed MBB, are perennially among the top employers of MBA graduates, as is the broader consulting industry. 

McKinsey plans to onboard MBA hires in a staged manner from post-graduation through February 2024. Similarly, a BCG spokesperson confirmed that they too plan to stagger start dates for MBA hires from late 2023 to January 2024. 

Bain, taking a different tact, offered its MBA recruits compensation to accept an April 2024 start date. For those impacted, Bain’s financial incentives include $40,000 to work for a nonprofit, $30,000 to learn a new language or take on another academic endeavor, and even $20,000 to become a yoga instructor or take a safari. 

According to the WSJ, the Big Three are not alone in adjusting their hiring practices this year. The article highlighted a recent analysis by William Blair & Co., showing that job postings at EY, Deloitte, KPMG, and PWC have declined by 62 percent year-over-year. 

Poets & Quants reached out to MBA career center professionals for additional insight into how the delays are impacting students. Most maintained their optimism. 

“We have yet to see (knock on wood) any offers—consulting or otherwise—get rescinded. What is impacting our Class of 2023 MBA graduates are start dates being pushed back. Most firms employing Scheller MBAs have offered a range of dates that are definitely later than in prior years. And at least one firm has offered some financial incentive to students who accept later dates. That is about the extent of it at this point,” Dave Deiters, Associate Dean of MBA Programs at Georgia Tech’s Scheller MBA Career Center, said.

Jeff McNish, Assistant Dean of the Career Center at University of Virginia’s Darden, also describes the impact as relatively minimal. “To date, we have not been made aware of any frozen or rescinded offers for consulting in the class of 2023. We have had one company ask a small set of students going to a specific city to consider changing the start date to later this year or early next year. It has impacted fewer than six of our students. This is the extent of what we know at present,” he said.

One unnamed career center director at a top-20 MBA program hypothesized to P&Q that the delayed start dates are simply “a reset to previous years.” They explained that in hot economic times, consulting firms ask MBA hires to start work soon after graduation, but that in slower economic periods it is not atypical for firms to opt for later start dates.

U.S. Continues to Dominate QS Global Ranking of Law Schools

QS just released its 2023 Law & Legal Studies rankings. For the second year in a row U.S.-based programs took seven of the top ten spots in the global rankings. There was no movement between 2022 and 2023 within the top ten. 

Harvard with a near perfect score, 99.8, continued its reign at the top, followed by Oxford (98) and Cambridge (97.1). The score is calculated using the following factors: Academic reputation (50 percent), Employer reputation (30 percent), Research citations per paper (5 percent), and the H-index (15 percent), which is a metric that measures the productivity and impact of an academic department. 

2023 Rank School Total Score

1 Harvard University   99.8

2 University of Oxford     98

3 University of Cambridge 97.1

4 Yale University 93.8

5 Stanford University     93.4

6 New York University       91.6

7 London School of Economics 89.9

8 Columbia University   89.7

9 University of California, Berkeley 88.9

10 University of Chicago   87.9

Outside of the top 10, a number of elite U.S. programs ranked within the top 50. They include: Georgetown University (ranked 21), UCLA (22), University of Pennsylvania (27), Duke University (29), and Cornell University and University of Michigan (tied at 34). University of Virginia fell out of the top 50 this year, to the 51st rank.

Before Starting Medical School: Create a Study Routine that Works for You

This blog is the second in a series on the soft skills that all premedical students should develop prior to starting medical school. 

Medical school admissions officers admit applicants who have demonstrated their ability to thrive in a challenging academic environment through competitive transcripts and test scores, meaningful experiences, and high-quality letters of recommendation.  Yet many first-year medical students find themselves shocked by the intensity of the curriculum. 

Dr. Aron Sousa, Senior Associate Dean of Academic Affairs at Michigan State University’s medical school, described this phenomenon in an email written to U.S. News and World Report.  "For the most part, the intellectual difficulty of the work is about the same as a meaningful upper-level college course, but there is so much studying and work that even very good students work long hours," he wrote. "Most medical schools expect their students to work 60-80 hours a week every week." 

David Delnegro, a fourth-year medical student at the University of South Florida, also via an email to U.S. News and World Report, echoed this sentiment. "The speed in which medical school material is delivered is breathtaking and will humble every incoming student, especially since little guidance is given on how to prioritize the mountain of material," he wrote.

We share this, not as a cause for alarm, but as a point for preparation. Incoming medical students often have a history of taking on academic challenges with relative ease, but many have not yet learned the study skills effective for an even more demanding environment.  

According to a Medscape article, Study Hacks for Medical School, written by Kolin Meehan, research shows that effective study habits can be distilled into three simple rules. “Accomplished students actively construct a study plan and configure the surroundings to maximize their chance of success. Whether using 3x5 flashcards or Quizlet, one highlighter or a rainbow of colors, effective study strategies share common features borne out in the literature: Fully remove all distractions, temporally disperse the material, and repeatedly test concepts. These three simple rules stand to beget untold benefits to students at every level,” Meehan wrote.

As the article’s title promises, Meehan also provides suggested “hacks” for meeting these three conditions: removing distractions, dispersing the material, and testing yourself. We’ve summarized them below. 

1. Mold your environment. Opt to go somewhere to study that is free of distractions. It should be away from others and quiet. Don’t just silence your phone, but keep it out of your sight. Meehan notes that research shows that even silenced and without notifications, keeping your phone within your field of vision creates a psychological distraction. You will waste energy trying to ignore it, so help yourself by keeping it put away.

2. Define your time. Meehan recommends that you use the “Pomodoro Technique.” This involves setting a timer for a set interval to work. For example, 25 minutes with no interruptions. Follow this with a five-minute break. Do this for about four iterations and then take a longer break, for about 30 minutes. Meehan explains why this strategy works. “Study sessions structured in this manner enable students to accomplish a day's work without perceiving the level of fatigue normally felt during long, uninterrupted study cycles. The short breaks punctuating the day are sufficient to initiate the consolidation process and enable longer study periods,” he wrote.

3. Slow and steady wins the race. While Meehan recommends the Pomodoro Technique for daily work, he emphasizes the need to study consistently throughout the full semester. Do. Not. Cram. Research shows that spaced repetition is necessary for long-term retention. “Study structures that incorporate spaced repetition vastly outperform single, large cramming sessions,” he wrote.

4. Test yourself. Use frequent self-assessments to ensure that you are recalling the information that you are attempting to learn. He notes that studies have shown the brain must be asked to recall the information to ensure retention. “Students face a very real ‘use it or lose it’ situation,” Meehan wrote.

5. Seriously, do not cram. Meehan again pointed to the superior results in studies of spaced learning combined with self-assessment and recall over passive review (or cramming). If you have been properly spacing your learning and testing yourself, the benefits of cramming are negligible. Save your time to enjoy a walk (or perhaps a quick rest!) before the exam. 

Try incorporating these three hacks into your day-to-day and let us know how they work for you. We think it will pay off.

Read the rest of the series: Learn How to Accept Critical Feedback Before Starting Medical School

Chicago Schools Come Out on Top in U.S. News’ Best MBA Rankings

University of Chicago Booth took the top spot in the newly released U.S. News and World Report’s “Best MBA” ranking. Booth was followed by Northwestern Kellogg at number two. University of Pennsylvania Wharton dropped to number three after sharing the top rank with Booth last year. This year’s rankings utilized an updated methodology with a greater emphasis on outcomes, which caused some shifts within the top 15. Highlights include:

• Dartmouth Tuck saw the largest uptick, moving from the 11th rank in 2022 to share the 6th rank with Stanford. 

• USC Marshall climbed four spots to the 15th rank, which it holds alongside Cornell Johnson.

• Harvard maintained its 5th rank position for the third consecutive year.

• Stanford, Columbia, and Berkeley Haas all dropped three spots from their positions last year. Columbia and Berkeley fell out of the top 10 into a three-way tie for the 11th rank with Duke Fuqua.

Along with the rankings, U.S. News shared key updates to its methodology, which increased the weight for “Placement Success,” to 50 percent of the overall rank. This is up significantly from 35 percent last year and includes two employment metrics as well as the mean starting salary and bonus for graduates. The overall rank de-emphasized the “Quality Assessment” to 25 percent of the total, down from 40 percent, and includes a peer and recruiter assessment score. “Student Selectivity” makes up the final 25 percent of the rank. It includes undergraduate GPA and acceptance rate, weighted slightly more than in previous years, and standardized test scores, weighted slightly less. 

Rank/School

1 University of Chicago (Booth)

2 Northwestern University (Kellogg)

3 University of Pennsylvania (Wharton)

4 Massachusetts Institute of Technology (Sloan)

5 Harvard University

6 Dartmouth College (Tuck)

6 Stanford University

8 University of Michigan--Ann Arbor (Ross)

8 Yale University

10 New York University (Stern)

11 Columbia University

11 Duke University (Fuqua)

11 University of California, Berkeley (Haas)

14 University of Virginia (Darden)

15 Cornell University (Johnson)

15 University of Southern California (Marshall)

17 Emory University (Goizueta)

18 Carnegie Mellon University (Tepper)

19 University of California--Los Angeles (Anderson)

20 University of Texas--Austin (McCombs)

20 University of Washington (Foster)

22 Indiana University (Kelley)

22 University of North Carolina--Chapel Hill (Kenan-Flagler)

24 Georgetown University (McDonough)

24 Rice University (Jones)

U.S. News and World Report Takes Down Law School and Medical School Rankings Previews

The U.S. News and World Report just removed the Best Law School and Best Medical School previews, which were posted earlier this month. In place of the previews, which showed the Top 14 Law Schools and Top 15 Medical Schools: Research, U.S. News posted this announcement, which explains that the organization has received a number of data update requests from law and medical schools:

As U.S. News previously announced, we are dealing with an unprecedented number of inquiries during our embargo period for the 2023-2024 Best Graduate Schools, including requests from law and medical schools to update data submitted after the collection period.

While we address these inquiries, we have removed the preview content for the 2023-2024 Best Medical Schools: Research and 2023-2024 Best Law Schools rankings published here on April 11. As previously noted, the rankings are not final until they are published in their entirety on USNews.com.

The previews’ removal falls after two announced delays in the publication of the full rankings for law and medical schools. The organization has not yet provided an expected publication date for the rankings, although it published other graduate school rankings, including business schools, today. 

U.S. News and World Report Postpones Law and Medical School Rankings Indefinitely

The U.S. News and World Report just announced that the release of the “Best Law School” and “Best Medical School” rankings will be postponed indefinitely. The news comes shortly after the organization delayed the publication of all graduate rankings by a week, from April 18th to April 25th, to account for additional data review and validation. U.S. News still plans to publish all other graduate program rankings, including business schools, on April 25th. 

The withdrawal of many law and medical schools from the rankings earlier this year spurred U.S. News to depend more heavily on publicly available data than in the past. After publishing a preview of the top 14 ranked law schools and top 15 ranked medical research programs earlier this month, the organization allowed school officials the opportunity to review the data under an embargo period. This standard practice led to an “unprecedented” number of questions and calls for additional review, which has apparently led to the delay. 

In a letter written to the U.S. News and shared with Reuters, Harvard Law Assistant Dean Marva de Marothy wrote, "Although we no longer participate in the U.S. News rankings, we expect the magazine to use accurate, publicly available numbers if it intends to continue to make representations about our law school.”