How to Get Accepted to Chicago Medical School at Rosalind Franklin University

Admissions Straight Talk

Please join me as I speak with Dr. Michael Ellison, Associate Dean for Admissions at Chicago Medical School at the Rosalind Franklin University. Dr. Ellison shares his insights on what makes Chicago Medical School unique, how to impress its admissions committee, and what all this information means for you as an applicant. Thanks for joining me for this, the 544th episode of Admissions Straight Talk. I'd like to highlight for today's listeners a wonderful resource when you're invited to a medical school interview, and that is Accepted's free download, The Ultimate Guide to Medical School Interview Success. In the guide, you will learn how to prepare for interviews (including those difficult questions), how to make sure your body language matches your intent, and proper interview follow-up. Download your complimentary copy today! Now, let's move into today's interview. With a focus on interprofessionalism, the Chicago Medical School is one of five graduate schools in healthcare at Rosalind Franklin University in Chicago. I'm delighted to have as a return guest on Admissions Straight Talk, Dr. Michael Ellison, Associate Dean for Admissions at Chicago Medical School. Dr. Ellison earned his doctorate in educational leadership from Roosevelt University of Chicago. He has worked in higher education, and specifically in medical school admissions and administration, for decades. Dr. Ellison, welcome to Admissions Straight Talk. Thank you so much for joining me today. [1:53] Linda, it's my pleasure to be with you again, and thank you for asking me to come back. My pleasure. Can you give us an overview of the Chicago Medical School program focusing on its more distinctive elements? [2:02] Sure. I think the university itself is really focused and dedicated on improving healthcare outcomes for the patients that our future providers will provide. And in doing so, interprofessionalism is really a strong tenant for the university and for the medical school, and other programs as well. You mentioned about five colleges. Now, we have a sixth college, which is the College of Nursing, that have some entry-level programs for those who are seeking advanced degrees, and it is now an additional tool in our toolkit to help with interprofessionalism. And so you'll see, again, students from the medical school taking courses with students from other health science programs, whether it be podiatry, pharmacy, physician assistant, path assistant, and then nursing. And so when I talk to students, they certainly talk about their level of excitement of sitting in a class with a classmate who is in a different program and kind of learning from them and how they will be looking at the patient that will be a little different from the way that the medical physician will be looking at the patient and they feel that it's very helpful for them. We are certainly moving into a society that it is... we're more team-based and team-approached. And so I think incorporating that into our learning structure, our learning environment is most helpful for our students. And so we continue to work on this interprofessionaism. Our students also work in the sim lab with students from other programs as well, so not only do they get to learn theory, collaboratively, they also get to do practical kinds of opportunities as well in terms of our simulation lab. What's new since we last spoke in 2021? Hopefully, the pandemic is in our rearview mirror, which was not the case then. [4:08] Well, again, I just mentioned the new College of Nursing that is on board, so that is something that is new. The medical school itself is always reinventing itself in terms of how we can better service our students, and so we've made a lot of changes in our student affairs staffing. We brought on additional staff to help advise our medical students through all four years of their medical school experience. We have learning communities at Chicago Medical Schoo...