The recent article, American Business Schools Seek Students Among Indian Executives, in The Chronicle of Higher Education reports that due to the current recession EMBA programs are increasing efforts to appeal to Indian companies. Many American companies that used to fully sponsor their executives, are now only covering up to half of the $50,000 it costs to enroll in an EMBA program. Therefore professors from nine universities, including George Washington, Northeastern, and Ohio State Universities, are meeting with Indian companies as a possible new source of revenue.

American universities hope that India will be a good source of income since, unlike the Unites States, India has very few EMBA programs. Faculty director of the EMBA program at Florida International explains, “Our university has lost corporate clients to the slowdown. We are in India to build a relationship with the companies here.” 

The Chronicle of Higher Education reports that Northwestern’s new policy to offer a select group of rejected applicants the opportunity to transfer in their second year concerns some legal educators. Critics claim that the transfer policy robs other schools of their best students and is simply a ruse to maintain high rankings. 15 to 25 (out of 5,000) rejected students receive a transfer offer from Northwestern, on the condition that they maintain a certain GPA or class rank.

Northwestern’s law dean David van Zandt says that strong students who succeed in their first year of law school “should be entitled to transfer and there’s no harm in us facilitating that.”

To read the full article, please click Northwestern U. Law School’s Transfer Policy Draws Criticism.

Although medical school enrollment currently has gender parity, men still dominate the ranks of senior faculty at medical schools. Many assume the imbalance may be due to female professors’ greater responsibilities at home and a lack of part-time careers in academic medicine.

In The Second Shift in Academic Medicine, Inside Higher Ed reports on a recent study conducted at University of Minnesota Medical School.

A few statistical highlights:

• Full-time female professors reported an average of 31 hours devoted to household duties per week, as opposed to 19 hours for men.
• 19% of women had no spouse or partner, compared to 5% of men.
• 16% of women responded that they had no children, compared to 9% of men.
• While 70% of women said that they had a spouse who was employed fulltime, only 36% of men did.
• 33% of women were interested in starting a part-time tenure track vs. 14% of men.

In addition, women were more likely than men to view certain policies as obstacles to their careers. Such policies included lack of part-time promotion track, meetings after 5pm or on weekends, lack of onsite childcare, lack of emergency childcare, and inadequate parental leave policy. 

A new year brings, among opportunities for new beginnings and many other wonderful things, another dose of anxiety for those who hope to be in medical school in seven or eight months. The anxiety is of a happy variety for some as they weigh the two or more acceptances they’ve received or continue to go to interviews. For others, the anxiety is the result of one or more rejections and/or deafening silence – no interviews and no word of any kind, although they sent some “feeler” e-mails or letters in November seeking to arrange interviews over the holiday break.

What should you do now if this is your situation, besides trying your best to accept reality? Let’s talk about what you shouldn’t do. You may know individuals who, after applying to medical school, applied to other kinds of health professions programs or graduate programs with much later deadlines than those of allopathic schools. You may also know people who applied to allopathic schools outside the U.S. All such programs have later deadlines, and some even offer matriculation in January of the following year. These are all worthwhile alternatives provided you’ve researched and thought them through carefully -- and you’re not allowing the fear of having no plans for the fall to guide your decisions.

Don’t plan to jump into a program this year and jump out next year. No one should apply to a graduate or professional program unless (s)he intends to complete the program and envisions a future in the particular field. Enrolling in a foreign medical school with the goal of transferring back to the U.S. after a year or two is not a good idea because transfer opportunities are very limited under the best of circumstances.

Wherever you may choose to go, plan to stick it out until you’ve finished.

By Joan Davis, who for eighteen years advised medical school applicants at the University of Rochester, can advise you as you go through the medical school application process.

We have two MBA admissions Q&A's this week:

• Join us for our MIT Sloan Application Tips chat on Monday, Jan. 5th, at 10:00 AM PT/1:00 PM EST/6:00 PM GMT when Jennifer Burke Barba, MIT Sloan's Assistant Director of MBA Admissions, and other members of the MIT Admissions Committee will participate in this chat devoted to mastering MIT's application. Jennifer can answer any questions about MIT’s application process, from early preparation, and the steps you should be taking at this point to the key elements MIT’s adcom are looking for in your essays & interviews!
• On Wednesday, January 7, 2009 at 10:00 AM PT/1:00 PM ET/6:00 PM GMT, Kellee Scott, Senior Associate Director of MBA Admissions and other USC Marshall Representatives will participate in an online USC Marshall admissions chat at Accepted.com. Learn what USC Marshall values in an application and how they distinguish among qualified applicants. Don’t miss this great opportunity to learn more about Marshall’s programs and admissions practices. Join us on Wednesday, January 7th and find out the answers to your Marshall MBA questions!

Please join us in the Accepted chat room.