Since opening its doors to its first class in 2019, the Burnett School of Medicine at Texas Christian University has quickly earned a reputation for producing more than just knowledgeable physicians—they’re cultivating compassionate, human-centered healthcare leaders. With a modern curriculum that prioritizes hands-on experience and soft skill development from day one, Burnett’s approach is deeply rooted in empathy.

“Our mission is to transform healthcare by inspiring empathetic scholars,” shared Jennifer Bridges, Director of Admissions. “We want our students to graduate with the necessary medical knowledge, but also the ability to connect with their patients and really make them feel seen, heard, and cared for.”

This commitment to authentic human connection is woven into every aspect of the Burnett School of Medicine experience—including admissions. From one-on-one meetings with the Dean to peer-to-peer conversations with current students, applicants are encouraged to explore the school’s values firsthand.

A key part of that experience is the school’s Multiple Mini Interview (MMI), a structured format designed to assess how applicants' traits, skills, and motivations align with the school’s mission. But when the interviews were conducted on Zoom, the process didn’t always reflect the same care and attention to detail.

“The Zoom process felt clunky. Technical issues often caused delays, and overall it just didn’t leave the best first impression of our program,” explained Bridges. “That’s why in 2023, we moved our MMI to Kira Talent.”

Building and scheduling at your fingertips

"Everything about Kira is user-friendly," shared Bridges. "The platform is intuitive and our dedicated Client Success Manager was on hand to help us get everything set up and show us the ropes."

"The efficiency of getting the entire MMI set up and ready in one day was amazing,” Bridges shared. “With Zoom, we had to manually build things out piece by piece, but Kira streamlined everything from the start.”

"This shift, combined with Kira’s intuitive scheduling, has saved us more than 30 hours over the course of the year."

The efficiencies built into the Kira process continued beyond interview setup. Having integrated Kira with their existing AMP system, the admissions team at Burnett School of Medicine can sit back and watch completed scores transfer seamlessly into their applicant records. 

Learn how NYU Grossman School of Medicine is benefiting from Kira’s seamless AMP integration

Minimizing interview day no-shows

One of the most impactful changes for Bridges and her team has been the reduction in interview no-shows. With Kira’s Admin Dashboard, they can now easily flag applicants who haven’t completed their set-up and may therefore not be planning on attending.

"For a Monday interview day, we require applicants to complete their Kira pre-check-in by Friday at noon, and if they haven’t, we call them," Bridges shared. "Having advance insight into which applicants hadn't checked in allowed us to follow up and confirm any declines or reschedules ahead of interview day, which saved us a significant amount of time." 

“This proactive approach means that out of 312 interviewees, only two or three didn’t show—and we knew in advance."

Positive feedback from Faculty and Staff

Beyond improved efficiency, the Burnett School of Medicine at TCU has received praise on an improved experience from both applicants and reviewers. 

"Our interviewers love our new process with Kira,” shared Bridges. “Allowing them to select their dates well in advance, along with timely reminders from Kira, made it easy for them to participate alongside their other responsibilities.”

“We've received consistent positive feedback—with many sharing how much they prefer Kira over Zoom."

"Kira’s on-hand support during interview days makes our experience, as the admissions team, so much more efficient and enjoyable as well,” Bridges continued. “If something happened, like a candidate dropping out at the last minute, they were able to broadcast to raters and stations so that everyone was informed, and we stayed on track."

"We truly do love the Kira platform,” she added. “It has made life in our admissions office very easy."