This week’s show begins with a rundown of all the activity on MBA LiveWire for the last week, which included MBA admissions decisions from Berkeley / Haas, Northwestern / Kellogg, UCLA / Anderson, and UPenn / Wharton. This upcoming week will be a little quieter with Washington / Foster and Indiana / Kelley scheduled to release their Round 1 decisions, but hopefully all of those tuning into the show who are awaiting word will receive some good news before the holidays! After the opening segment, Graham highlighted the Real Humans pieces from Dartmouth / Tuck and Minnesota / Carlson, while also running down the latest employment report for Chicago / Booth. The average starting salary of $175,000 is very impressive (up over $20K from last year!). Like many peers, Booth also experienced a slight downturn in tech sector hirings, with a small upswing in placement for financial services.
As usual, this WireTaps episode tackles profile reviews for three MBA applicants who shared their details on ApplyWire:
First up is a candidate who is on the Dartmouth / Tuck waitlist from Round 1, and is also waiting for their decision from Northwestern / Kellogg (they will know this decision when the podcast airs). They have improved their GMAT score from 710 to 730 since they originally applied in Round 1, and Alex and Graham think this improvement will make a difference. They are preparing their Round 2 strategy and had questions about how to proceed in light of the new score and waitlist situation. This week’s second candidate has an interesting background in retail and food. They are targeting next season, and we think they should be aiming high, especially in the first round. Their numbers (740/3.65) are pretty fantastic, as is a potential narrative that weaves together their background on a farm, experience to date, and professional aspirations. This week’s final candidate has been through a life experience that’s almost unimaginable. Since then, they have spent several years in the US Army, and appear to have done very well. That said, Alex and Graham worry about their numbers (312/2.7) and provide some guidance in terms of what they need to do to optimize for Round 2, or even think about Round 1 next season.
Improved GMAT, Round 2 strategy?
Interesting profile, aim high
Turnaround story, tough circumstances
Happy listening!
Be sure to post to MBA ApplyWire, MBA DecisionWire or MBA RankingsWire if you’d like Graham and Alex to offer admissions advice.
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