Administration Profile: Robert Hinkley, PhD

By Alex Ortega
Medical Student

Dr.Robert Hinkley is the Associate Dean for Admissions at the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine in Miami, Fl. He has worked in medical admissions for 30 years and has been leading the medical admissions office at the University of Miami for 16 years.

In addition to his work in admissions, he is a Professor of Cell Biology and Anatomy as well as an Assistant Professor of Anesthesia.

He received his PhD in Comparative Biochemistry and Physiology from the University of Kansas. Recently SDN sat down with Dr.Hinkley to get his input on the medical school admissions process.

1. What do you think distinguishes the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine from other medical schools?

Miller is one of the busiest medical centers in the country with over 3,000 teaching beds on campus, a tremendous research enterprise with Bascom Palmer Eye Institute (ranked #1 by USN&WR for three years running), the Miami Project to Cure Spinal Cord Paralysis, the Diabetes Research Institute, the Ryder Trauma Center and the Human Genome Institute.

We provide comprehensive training to our students with ample opportunities for early patient contact, clinical responsibilities and leadership within a patient-centered curriculum that emphasizes continuity of care. What else? Well, there’s South Beach 10 minutes away, scuba diving in Key Largo, sailing and fishing on Biscayne Bay, the Everglades, the Heat, Dolphins, Marlins, Panthers, and Hurricane sports. And in the 29 years I’ve been here it’s never snowed!

2. What type of student are you trying to bring to Miami?

We’re trying to bring to Miller the best students we can for the study and practice of medicine. That’s an all-encompassing statement and includes far more than just GPA and MCATs.

3. What do you feel is the best predictor of a student’s future performance in medical school?

What are the best predictors? Passion, commitment, and determination, all of which are hard to attach a “number” to.

4. Recently the AAMC increased the number of MCAT test dates per year and switched the exam to a CBT format. How has this changed how Miami handles admissions?

Adding all those MCAT test dates is going to give admissions offices nightmares in terms of updating files that we send to the committee for review. But we have a plan in place that should allow us to do that in a timely way.

5. How important is an applicant’s personal statement? When reviewing it is there anything in particular you are looking for?

The applicant’s personal statement is tremendously important. It’s the first place the applicant has an opportunity to look like a “human being” to the admissions committee.

6. What level of patient contact or shadowing is expected from applicants?

Meaningful patient contact experiences are essential to the admissions decision. The operative word here is “meaningful”. The total hours spent shadowing or observing are far less important than how important the experiences were to the applicant’s decision to study and practice medicine and what the applicant gleaned from them.

7. What kinds of volunteer activities have successful applicants engaged in?

Successful applicants have volunteered in just about everything under the sun. But experiences that involve patient contact are undoubtedly the most important.

8. When examining an application, how do you interpret an applicant’s dropped classes? Is there a number of dropped classes that automatically kill an application?

This is one of those rumors that persists in premed circles. Applicants drop courses for any number of reasons – they discover they’re in-over-their-head, they get sick, they suddenly find a research or travel abroad experience. So the reason they withdrew is perhaps far more important than the “W” on a transcript.

9. When a student retakes a class they performed poorly in and improves their grade, does this help clear up any reservations the committee may have had about the applicant’s future academic performance?

Somewhat. But the question will always come back to why the student did so poorly the first time around. A frank explanation of any poor performance is greatly appreciated – and expected, by the admissions committee.

10. What advice would you give to an applicant with a low undergraduate GPA? Should these applicants seek out post-bac or masters programs to help improve their chances of medical school admission?

Most likely, yes. GPAs are reported to us in different formats. Students go off to university and they grow up, but have a poor GPA. Post-bac programs and graduate programs are great ways to show that you’ve finally matured and know what you want to do. Master’s programs maybe more important because they give you a leg-up in pursuing a PhD if medical school just isn’t in your future.

11. How important is research experience to the application of someone applying to Miami’s MD program?

This is another rumor rampant in the premed world. Let’s be honest, there’s very little of substance you can actually learn or accomplish by volunteering in a research lab part time for a semester or even for a year and admissions committees are well aware of that. They’d rather see the time spent in patient contact experiences. On the other hand, a prolonged productive research experience is essential if you are applying to an MD-PhD program.

12. As a follow up to that question, some students may not feel that research is for them and would rather focus their energy on developing clinical skills and being a strong clinician. Do you think these types of students will be happy at Miami?

These students will do exceptionally well at Miller. A multitude of research experiences are available, but at this level direct patient contact and development of rudimentary patient skills is far more valuable.

13. After receiving its secondary applications back, what process or criteria does the University of Miami use when deciding which applicants to invite for an interview?

This is complicated. Once an application becomes complete, it is sent to a number of committee members for a review. They score various parts of the application and then the scores are summed and that number is used to place the applicant on a ranked list of applicants who the committee would like to interview. We start with the highest-scoring applicant and work our way down the list until we’ve filled our interview slots.
14. What advice would you give to applicants in preparation for interviews?

The same things that are described at SDN: Read the school’s web site so you know something about the school, review your application, and just be yourself.

15. Can you tell us a little bit about how the admissions committee decides between offering an applicant admission versus placing the applicant on the alternate list?

Interviewed students are voted upon by the Committee using a 1-5 scale. Students with an average above a certain point are admitted immediately, students below that point are placed in a ranked order on the alternate list.

16. Many students who are placed on alternate lists or waitlisted fear that they will become annoying if they call the admissions office or write emails or letters. What advice would you give to an applicant who has been placed on the alternate list or waitlisted?

Always stay in touch with schools at which you have applications pending. We welcome email notes, updates about activities, awards, and grades received. But frivolous things will tend to annoy secretaries. We’re always interested in providing as much information to students – and collecting additional information – to make the committee’s decision a better one.

17. At some point in the application process every applicant thinks about the varying cost of attendance amongst the different Universities. Do you feel cost should play a role in an applicant’s decision on where to attend medical school?

My view is that cost should play no role, zero, nada, in deciding where to attend medical school. The simple fact is that the money is available to get you through even the most expensive school and unless you have unusual resources you’re going to go into debt no matter where you go to medical school. My advice as an associate dean of admissions and as a father is “Go to medical school were you’re going to be happiest. Happy students always do better than unhappy students.”

18. Medical school financial aid is a big mystery to a lot of pre-medical students. Can you tell us a little about how med students finance their medical education and what kind of support the University of Miami in particular offers in terms of scholarships?

Medical students finance their education through two major sources: The Stafford Loan and the Grad Plus loan. Together they will cover the cost of attendance at any school – tuition and all living expenses. I would also recommend the Armed Forces Health Professions Scholarships as a fabulous opportunity to pay back in time rather than cash. The amount of scholarship dollars most medical schools have to award varies tremendously. Last year at Miami Miller approximately 40% of the students received at least some kind of scholarship award.

19. In 2004 the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine opened a satellite campus at Florida Atlantic University in Boca Raton. Where do you see that program in 10 years and do you feel students will get the same level of medical education there as at the home campus in Miami?

In 10 years our satellite campus at FAU will still be affiliated with the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine and will probably have a class size of 64 students per year. Students at that campus will receive identical preparation for the study of medicine as those at the Miami Campus, but it will be more patient centered, emphasizing chronic and acute care management and community health. Students at our satellite campus benefit from the smaller class size and receive more individualized care and training.
20. Is there anything else you would like to tell us about the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine?

Under the leadership of our new dean , Pascal Goldschmidt, M.D., we’re expanding at an unprecedented rate. We are poised to join the elite medical schools in the country in terms of education, research, and community service. Through the Jay Weiss Center for Health Equity and Social Medicine we’re developed a track in international medicine and through the Human Genome Institute, we now have a pathway in Human Genetics.

Thank you Dr. Hinkley for the interview!

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Artwork by Steven Khov