A Brief on Medical School Admissions

Today I’ve decided to take a look at the admission process of medical school. There are several major issues when deciding on medical school and whether it is right for an applicant or not. There are some key things that one should be aware of when applying to medical school in general.

There are three major issues that usually result in the rejection of a candidate from medical school according to a US News article. Just an analysis of the applicant pools at different colleges on websites such as mdapplicants.com would give one a great impression of what is occuring in the applicant pool. The major three problems have much to do with the undergraduate experience. Extracurricular activities, grades, and which school someone applies to may determine the final outcome for a candidate.

We know that being qualified is the norm, but what isn’t explained is how often that similar candidates still get rejected. The applicant pool is fairly large, and medical schools tend to be very small. Sometimes with only 175 students admitted every year, it is easy for Medical Schools to quivel over small errors or discrepancies in an applicants profile.

Depending on the rigor of the medical school, and the rigor of the undergraduate applicant (including their alma mater), it can be presumed that medical admissions is very difficult, tiresome, and hard to understand. The days where top students only attended other top medical schools are long gone. Though things have shifted, there still is a strong commitment to priority admissions based on the rigor of the alma mater. It can be presumed that this, along with other circumstantial aspects of an application, has the ability to discourage many applicants.

In America, most applicants are happy with ability to be admitted to a medical school. The amount of extracurriculars that one takes makes a huge difference on whether or not an applicant is accepted. Furthermore, even with stellar grades, scores, and extracurriculars, applicants often have to find schools that will accept the applicants prototypical package.

This process is very stressful and very expensive. Some people resort to finding a mentor. Others find tutors for the MCAT process. A post-baccalaureate degree may allow medical applicants the opportunity to fulfill pre-medical school requirements, as well as focus on extracurrricular activities, including research, that should allow the candidate to pursue medical school.

Corporate Governance and Complexity Theory by Marc Goergen

I just finished reading Corporate Governance and Complexity Theory, a short book about the features of the United States, EU and Japanese systems of corporate governance. The book began with an introduction to the role of corporate governance in major corporations. Corporate governance is the control of a company by an elected Board of Directors who determine major decisions about the inner workings of a corporation.

One of the major issues with corporate governance is the relationship between Board of Directors and the stakeholders of a company. Stakeholders of a company are constituted by a large range of groups. Shareholders, employees, interest groups, government agencies, regulatory bodies, consumers, and product intermediary companies are all examples of stakeholders to a company, and there are many more than that. Also, shareholders usually determine what occurs in a corporation by voting on representatives, especially in the case of fiduciary corporations, to represent them in the board.

This book looks at some of the legal aspects of a corporation. It explains the general law of what defines a corporation (as opposed to a LLC, etc). It also mentions how the government has had an effect on what occurs in a corporation. One consideration was the role of lawyers, accountants, top staff, and the board of direction when mitigating problems of fraud, trickery, or any illegal action by a corporation. People who work for corporations usually feel that it is unnecessary to report unlawful activity if it would damage the corporations credibility in the public light. Furthermore, questions were raised in the book about what group should be considered liable for corporate fraud. Should auditing agencies be accountable for any mistakes? Should other people be added to the board by regulatory bodies such as the SEC to assure there are no market mistakes? Are the officials in the company fit to whistle blow on themselves?

Lawyers in a company may be likely to ignore certain patterns of behavior that are unlawful. If in a corporation, there is a tendency for males to be promoted to higher ranks over females, lawyers in a corporation may see this as an ongoing trend and may reason or rationalize why it has occurred and not that it is an inherent problem. When someone becomes seasoned to a condition that isn’t necessarily just or fair, they are more likely to be a detriment to the corporation’s success by ignoring issues that stakeholders would find to be illegal or unfavorable.

The book goes on to talk about internal controls, management theories, and so forth. The final part of the text, though, goes over the basics of how to understand the relationship between stakeholders in a corporation. The network of relationships between board members of a large number of national companies, is said to be a small-world, meaning that though there is a large network of people, the actual friendship between any two people in the network can be found between only 1 -2 movements within the network of people. Complexity theory can be depicted by hierarchical trees, or neural networks. Complexity theory aims to explain the pattern of relationships of not only people, but also policies and decisions. Complexity theory helps us understand that with a laissez faire economic system, corporations will not create a state of equilibrium, but will create more complex systems, that tend to create optimal rules or structures that allow for more profit using more economical methods.

 

One group has e…

One group has estimated that over $21 trillion American dollars in secret tax havens were stashed by the end of 2010. Others have said that $21 trillion is a conservative figure, and the real amount of income being stashed is around $32 trillion.

Mind you, this is trillions of dollars, not billions. Tax Havens such as the Cayman Islands, Geneva, and other locales make it easy for wealthy people to store money and avoid national taxes of the their home country.

Upon investigating this trend, I came across an article about a doctor in Florida who earned just under $300,000 one year. Instead of filing taxes, he wire transferred the money to one of the Caribbean tax havens. He claimed only $36 dollars in earnings to the IRS, and paid only $4 dollars in Federal taxes. He was later charged and prosecuted by the IRS and did several years in prison for tax evasion.

It is said that less than 100,000 people worldwide own 9.8 trillion dollars in offshore assets. That is an average of 98 million dollars per person, though there is no real method to determine how many of these people may be hiding a significant portion of their wealth from their home governments.

The Power of Introverts: A Summary of an HBR Podcast

A third to a half of the population are introverts. In our society, we don’t really notice that. We usually think it’s a small percentage of people. Introverts usually have to conform to the habits and actions of extroverts. This is known to actually stop introverts from being able to function as well as they possibly can.

This week’s HBR podcast goes over the intrinsic differences between introverts and extroverts. Introverts have a tendency to work better in quieter environments. Psychologists have studied the effect of noise on introverts and extroverts, and found that introverts worked worse in loud environments. Introverts usually feel more energized in lower key environments.  Introverts aren’t necessarily the quiet girl in the room who dislikes talking to anyone.

Introverts usually work better by having one-on-one conversations where decisions may be made by arriving at a consensus. On the other hand, extroverts are much more likely to thrive in environments where many people are giving input on one topic. Often, in this environment, dominance, control, group think, and other methods of decision making are employed that disrupt the thought process of introverts.

In the HBR podcasts, Susan Cain talks about how she wishes that people in organizations would end the constant creation of group work. It can lead to group think, and people often begin to create similar opinions as other people within the group. The group often creates a point of view about how people should work. The most creative people actually have thrived on the use of solitude in their life. Solitude allows many of us the ability to grow on our own and create our own opinions.

Introverts should not be seen as weak people. If you give introverts and extroverts a difficult problem to solve, introverts usually spend more time setting up the problem. Introverts will also spend more time on developing a solution to a problem before giving up. Susan Cain quotes Einstein as a fantast who voiced his willingness to solve problems well because he tended to spend more time on developing a solution.

Introverted leaders are known to, according to research, lead proactive employees better than extroverted leaders. Introverted leaders are more likely to allow proactive employees the ability to shine and grow. Introverted leaders let their subordinates grow and take on more responsibility than extroverts normally do. In a company like Google, where employees are constantly creating innovative ideas, an introverted leader would help its employees grow the organization and grow their own spirit. I wouldn’t be surprised is Larry Page and Sergey Brin were not both introverted leaders.  (Cain 2012)

Works Cited

Cain, Susan. “The Power of the Introvert in Your Office.” Harvard Business Review – HBR Idea Cast. Harvard University. 19 Jul 2012. Podcast. 23 Jul 2012.

450 Years of Debt

Have you ever had a debt that you had forgotten about? Maybe you forgot to pay a doctor’s co-pay? Or pay the old landscaper? Well Berlin has found itself in a bit of a predicament. It has a debt obligation that is over 450 years old.

A small town, Mittenwalde, in Eastern Germany, gave money in exchange for a note to Berlin in 1562. They lent 400 “guilders” to be paid at six percent interest a year.

This seemingly small debt now has grown very large. After accounting for inflation and compound interest, the debt is easily trillions of dollars.

In todays terms, the debt is around 112 million dollars, but the interest and inflation lead to a much larger grand total.

Every 50 years, the town asks for repayment and Berlin refuses to pay the obligation.

http://www.csmonitor.com/Business/Latest-News-Wires/2012/0718/450-year-old-debt.-Trillions-owed.-But-will-German-village-get-repaid

High Paying Certifications in Technology Related Fields

It’s always great to know what industries will be in demand in the future. Often, folks go off to college in anticipation of finding a job only to learn that there are few jobs in their chosen fields. Post-undergraduate employment usually depends on what major one does, and the rigor of the college that they chose. It isn’t a bad idea, though, to choose an in-demand field even though you may have majored in another specialty. I searched the net and found several certifications that one can could do after college that would allow one to work in high paying, in-demand industries. Nearly all of these jobs lead to near-six-figure earnings. However, at further glance, it seems that many of them require years of experience.

Many of these certifications are based around the computer science industry, such as the Cisco Certified Voice Professional certification and the Microsoft Certified Solution Developer certification. The highest earning job on the list, Project Management Professional (PMP) has much less to do with computer science, but many of its high earners have several years of experience, and it still pertains largely to technological solutions. A bachelor degree isn’t necessary for all of these fields, but it is very helpful in the hiring process.

To learn more about them, check out the details listed at about.com: http://jobsearchtech.about.com/od/educationfortechcareers/tp/HighestCerts.htm