Kaiser Permanente Bernard J. Tyson School of Medicine is one of the newer medical schools it matriculated its inaugural class of 50 students in 2020but it is already one of the most competitive programs in the United States. With nearly 10,500 applicants in 2020-21, the medical school acceptance rate hovers around 0.05%.

Medical school student preparing her applications

Moon Prep sat down with Dr. Lindia J. Willies-Jacobo, MD, the Senior Associate Dean for Admissions. This interview reveals what the new medical school is prioritizing in their applicants and how students can be competitive applicants with resumes full of meaningful experiences, even during a pandemic. The full interview can be viewed here.

Dr. Lindia Willies-Jacobo is the Senior Associate Dean for Admissions and Equity, Inclusion, and ... [+] Diversity; Professor at Kaiser Permanente Bernard J. Tyson School of Medicine

Kristen Moon: What are the advantages and disadvantages of attending a newer medical school like Kaiser Permanente Bernard J. Tyson School of Medicine?

Dr. Lindia J. Willies-Jacobo: It's something we talk with students about during recruitment. Students are extraordinarily risk-averse, making it more difficult to commit to a brand new med school. However, I would argue that being part of a new school allows students to be innovative at our school.

For example, one of the things we've said to our students is they get to provide us with a lot of feedback. As the inaugural class, they have a significant impact on the direction in which the school goes. It tends to be the class that leaves a legacy.

The other piece I point out to students is that when you are building something new, you can think out of the box. I think when one goes to a traditional school that's been around for 10 or 50 years, it's a lot harder to enact even simple changes. With a new medical school, I think of it as a blank canvas that students really get to paint on.

Moon: What was the motivation for offering free tuition for the first five enrolling classes?

Willies-Jacobo: At our school, we do have free tuition and fees for any student who enrolls with us from between 2020-24. Many new schools do something similar and have built into that some level of tuition remission.

When you look at the cost of medical school education, it's astronomical. By offering free tuition, it allows students from economically disadvantaged backgrounds the opportunity to consider coming to medical school.

It also allows the students the opportunities to select specialties that really align with their personal and professional values without thinking too much about how much they're going to be remunerated as physicians later on. The reality is there are loans to be paid off. Students who may want to pursue primary care may decide otherwise because then the remuneration for someone who does primary care is often quite a bit less than someone who does a surgical specialty or another specialty. This frees students up to make specialty decisions beyond thinking about loan payments.

Moon: In 2020-21, the medical school received more than 10,000 applicants, with an acceptance rate of 0.05%. What did you prioritize in your evaluation?

Willies-Jacobo: It's important to know and understand the mission of the school to which you're applying. When mentoring students or talking to pre-med students, I emphasize putting together a portfolio that demonstrates mission alignment.

I've had people say, Well, every application must look exactly the same, but it doesnt. We utilize a holistic approach, and what we are always looking at is whether the student's personal narrative coupled with the experiences they've listed on their application and supportive letters of recommendation fit together in ways that show us that they are mission-aligned.

We designed our secondary or school-specific application and interview process in a way that allows students to demonstrate if their professional and personal goals are aligned with those of the school.

Moon: Another interesting statistic is that 30% or more of your students are non-science majors. How can these non-science majors stand out?

Willies-Jacobo: Unlike when I went to med school when it seemed like everyone was a science major, we now know that depending on the school, you can have upward of 30-40% of non-science majors in your applicant pool. Each year, we see more and more of these types of students applying for medical school.

When we are assessing applicants for readiness for medical school, there are still prerequisites and recommended courses that every student has to take. We want to ensure that students who are non-same majors can also demonstrate readiness from a science perspective. Many non-science students are still academically strong, but they also bring so much value to the institution. Many non-science majors often see things very holistically and with an entirely different set of lenses.

Moon: Can you tell me about your interview process?

Willies-Jacobo: We use the hybrid model because we know that some students tend to thrive in one-on-one interviews, and others may do better in the Multiple Mini Interview (MMI). The hybrid method allows us to attract a diverse pool of students.

This past cycle, we did something very similar but pivoted to a virtual platform. To do so, we cut back on the number of MMI stations because we knew that Zoom fatigue is real. With the hybrid approach, we often will compare how they performed in the MMI versus the traditional interview.

We do find that extroverted students tend to do a lot better in MMI stations. You have to be a self-starter in terms of conversation, and we find that more extroverted students tend to warm up more quickly than introverted students who require a little bit more time.

Moon: How would you recommend students prepare for the hybrid interview?

Willies-Jacobo: Im a huge believer in practice. Of course, some people suggest that you cant practice, but I disagree with that.

I typically encourage students to meet with a mentor and review practice MMI stations or questions to have them practice responding to them. In a virtual space, it is a little harder to answer interview questions because youre not getting as many cues as you would in person.

I remind students that anything that they put in their application is fair game, so remember what you listed. For example, review your research experience, community-based experiences, extracurriculars because inevitably it's going to come on their interviews. There's nothing worse than applying in June, getting interviewed in November and having not a clue what you wrote down.

Moon: How many students do you interview each year and accept?

Willies-Jacobo: We interviewed a little over 700 candidates for about 50 spots. Typically it ends up being about a two-to-one ratio in terms of acceptance versus who ends up matriculating, which is about average for a school of our size.

Moon: How important is it to apply early in the cycle?

Willies-Jacobo: Please apply early. This past year, 60,000 candidates applied to med school, and in any given year, about 60% of students don't get into med school.

If you apply in September or October, it takes four to six weeks for the Association of American Medical Colleges (AAMC) to verify the files. Even though youre a phenomenal candidate, you might not get an interview because school runs out of interview spots.

Moon: How has Covid-19 affected the admission process for students?

Willies-Jacobo: On the national level, there was an 18% increase in applications. Personally, we had an 11% increase in our applications. But another thing that we saw was to make adjustments for the number of experiences that students list on their applications. Students had Fulbright Scholarships canceled. Students had research or volunteer experiences go virtual or canceled altogether. In-person shadowing was also completely off the table.

We did see an increase in students working as Covid-19 contact tracers or virtual medical scribes. Although they couldnt go into hospitals, they still found virtual experiences. We had a lot of students being innovative and really rose to the occasion and made do with what was a very, very challenging admissions cycle.

Moon: What type of services do you provide students to help them succeed?

Willies-Jacobo: Support comes from our Office of Student Affairs. Wellness is a core value, so we have the wellness program coordinator. We also have a clinical psychologist on-site, and one of the things we've tried to do at the school is to normalize mental health. We've encouraged every student to check in with our clinical psychologists at least two to three times in the first year.

We also have pretty robust academic support for the student. We have someone who works with them on study skills and strategies. I also want to highlight our coaching program; every student is paired with a physician coach. Students meet several times a year with their coaching groups. This is a pretty distinctive and forward-thinking aspect of our program.

Students can learn more about Kaiser Permanente Bernard J. Tyson School of Medicine and submit their application through the American Medical College Application System (AMCAS).

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